European regulators are close to finalising the updated Package Travel Directive and the UK will have up to two years to implement it.

One of the most controversial new types of booking that will become a package are so-called “click-throughs”. These occur when a customer books one element and then purchases a second from a separate trader, through an online link from the original website.

It will comprise a package if certain personal details are passed through to the second seller and if the second element - such as car hire or accommodation - is bought within 24 hours.

Speaking at the Association of Atol Companies’ summer update in conjunction with Lloyds Bank, legal advisor Alan Bowen said there would need to be rules in place to ensure companies didn’t try to artificially avoid selling packages.

“We’re going to have to find some method of trying to avoid the bad guys making sure that subsequent sales don’t take place within 24 hours because suddenly what wasn’t a package can become a package. There will have to be anti-avoid rules to make sure that doesn’t occur,” Bowen said.

He added that online travel agents had lobbied hard for “click-throughs” not to be included. “There were long arguments as to whether they would become packages or not. If there is a transfer of information from one to the other, then it becomes a package holiday.

Bowen offered the example of airlines selling car hire after a flight has been bought. “They all become packages if the second purchase is within 24 hours and data is passed on. A lot of the OTAs were absolutely determined to avoid this being a package - they failed.

“We’ll have to see how that’s going to work because the attempt will be to make sure the customer doesn’t buy within that 24-hour period.”