Travel agency licence requirements in Europe, country by country

The common floor: what EU law actually requires

The Package Travel Directive 2015/2302 sets a minimum that every EU and EEA state must implement. Any company selling packages must hold insolvency protection covering refunds for services not performed and, where transport is included, repatriation of travellers already abroad. That protection must be effective across borders and recognised in other member states.

The Directive does not create a single European licence and does not harmonise how companies are authorised. Each country builds its own registration regime on top, which is why the practical requirements differ so much within a single legal framework.

A revision of the Directive has been under discussion for some time, with prepayment limits and voucher rules among the contested points. If you are entering the trade, check the current requirement in your market rather than relying on a summary.

Country by country: who licenses whom

The list below covers the markets most European trips are sold from. Terminology varies, but each entry names the body that actually issues the authorisation.

• United Kingdom — ATOL, issued by the Civil Aviation Authority, is compulsory for anyone selling flight-inclusive packages. Non-flight packages require separate insolvency protection, commonly through a trust account or a bonding scheme. ABTA membership is voluntary and is a trade association, not a licence.
• Italy — authorisation is granted at regional level by the Regione, not centrally. Requirements include a technical director, professional liability insurance (RC professionale) and insolvency cover, with minimum sums set regionally.
• Spain — the agencia de viajes licence is issued by the autonomous community, so registration in Andalusia differs from Catalonia. Companies receive a regional registration code that must appear on advertising and contracts.
• Greece — the GNTO, still widely called EOT, issues the special operating signal (Eidiko Sima Leitourgias) required to trade as a travel agency. HATTA is the trade association and is voluntary.
• Turkey — TÜRSAB administers licensing under Law 1618, with groups A, B and C. Group A is the full licence permitting a company to organise and sell its own tours, and is the one to insist on for tailor-made work.
• Germany — package sellers must be covered by the Deutscher Reisesicherungsfonds, introduced in 2021 after the Thomas Cook collapse exposed the limits of the previous insurer-based model. A Reisegewerbekarte is required for certain itinerant or door-to-door sales activity.
• France — registration with Atout France in the register of travel and holiday operators, requiring a garantie financière from a bank or approved guarantor and professional liability insurance.
• Portugal — the RNAVT number, issued by Turismo de Portugal, must be displayed on websites and contracts. It is one of the easiest European numbers for a traveller to check.
• Croatia — licensing sits with the ministry responsible for tourism, with a qualified branch manager (voditelj poslovnice) required and insolvency insurance compulsory for package organisers.
• Switzerland — outside the EU, with no single national travel agency licence. Sellers of package travel must belong to a guarantee fund under Swiss package travel law. Mountain guiding is regulated separately and strictly, with IFMGA/UIAGM qualification the standard to look for.

Why regional licensing changes what you should ask for

In Italy and Spain the licence is issued by a region or autonomous community, which means there is no single national database to search. A company in Seville is registered in Andalusia; a company in Milan is registered in Lombardy. Asking for the licence number alone is not enough — you need the issuing region as well, or you cannot verify anything.

This also means standards are not identical within one country. Minimum insurance sums and the qualifications required of a technical director vary between regions, so a comparison between two Italian operators may be comparing two different regimes.

Guides are licensed separately, and this is where most gaps appear

A travel agency licence does not authorise anyone to guide. Italy, Greece, Turkey and Spain all license tourist guides individually, usually by region or site, and several major monuments admit only guides holding the specific badge.

The practical failure mode is a fully licensed agency sending an unlicensed guide, either to save money or because the licensed one was unavailable. It is common enough to be worth one direct question: is the guide personally licensed for this city or site, and can I have the number?

Mountain, ski and diving work is stricter again. IFMGA/UIAGM for high-mountain guiding, national instructor certification for ski touring, and recognised agency certification for diving. In these disciplines the qualification is the safety control, and the travel licence is close to irrelevant.

How to actually verify a number

Verification is a fifteen-minute job and almost nobody does it. The method is the same everywhere.

• Ask for the exact legal entity name, the licence number and the issuing body. A trading name alone is not enough — the licence sits with the registered company.
• Check the number against the issuing body, not against the company’s own website. ATOL holders appear in the CAA’s public register; RNAVT numbers are searchable through Turismo de Portugal; Atout France publishes its register; TÜRSAB lists licensed members.
• Confirm the name on the licence matches the name on your booking confirmation and the merchant name on your card statement. Mismatches between these three are the most reliable early warning of a problem.
• Ask which scheme holds the insolvency protection and get the scheme name in writing, not a reassurance.
• For regional regimes, ask which region issued it and check with that regional authority.
• For guided or technical activity, verify the individual guide’s qualification separately.

What a licence does not tell you

A licence is a floor, not a rating. It confirms that a company registered, met a capital or insurance requirement and has cover if it collapses. It says nothing about whether the guides are good, whether the hotel matches the photograph, or whether anyone answers the phone at midnight.

Insolvency protection also has a narrower scope than most travellers assume. It covers the organiser failing financially. It does not cover a subcontracted supplier going bust, a strike, a natural event, a booking that was simply poor value, or money you paid to a company that was never licensed in the first place.

And a licence can lapse. A number verified two years ago in a review is not evidence of anything today, which is the argument for checking it yourself rather than relying on a badge.

If you are entering the trade

Three requirements apply almost everywhere: a registered legal entity with a qualified person named, professional liability insurance, and insolvency protection appropriate to what you sell. Getting the third wrong is the one that ends businesses, because selling packages without compliant protection is an offence in most member states rather than a paperwork problem.

Selling only single services — accommodation alone, or a guiding day alone — usually falls outside package rules entirely. The moment you combine two, you are an organiser. Many small operators cross that line unintentionally by adding an airport transfer.

Requirements change, particularly around prepayment and voucher rules. Check the current position with your national body before you rely on any published summary, including this one.

How this connects to verification

Verification is licence checking, done consistently and repeated. ETC verifies the companies it lists — around 242 across Europe — by checking the registered entity, the licence with its issuing body and the insurance position, then re-checking rather than treating it as permanent.

That process removes companies that do not exist and companies that are not authorised to sell what they are selling. It does not, and cannot, promise that a verified company will run a good trip. That judgement is still yours, and it rests on the brief, the references and how precisely they answer your first email.