The EU Package Travel Directive of June 13, 1990 (90/314/EEC, Article 7[1]) stipulates that every tour operator must insure customer payments for a package holiday against insolvency or bankruptcy (§ 651k BGB).

A tour operator or travel agent may only accept payments once they have provided the traveler with a security certificate (“Sicherungsschein”).

This insolvency insurance must cover the following risks:

Refund of any advance payments already made

Reimbursement of the cost of returning travelers from the holiday destination to the planned end point of the trip

However, organizing the return journey itself is the responsibility of the traveler; the insurer is not required to provide logistical assistance.

The insurer or credit institution may limit its total liability for all claims settled in one year to 110 million euros (§ 651k para. 2 BGB). If this total is exceeded — for example, if a major tour operator or several smaller ones become insolvent — affected customers will only be compensated proportionally. Claims are only settled once it is clear that this annual total will not be exceeded.

If you purchase only individual travel services (“building blocks”), no security certificate is required [4].
The security certificate must generally include:

the name and address of the insurer or the guaranteeing credit institution,

a definition of the insured event,

specification of the insured event as “insolvency” or “bankruptcy,”

and a description of the types of insolvency-related losses that may be reimbursed.