So far there is no such system in Finland, while Denmark and Sweden have such systems in place.

The Managing Director of the Association of Finnish Travel Agents, Heli Mäki-Fränti, says that the new arrangement will not take effect before next autumn.

The insurance would recompense travel agencies for losses in cases where trips must be cancelled due to force majeure circumstances and customers’ money must be returned. This would for instance cover situations such as last year’s eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjalla volcano. At that point Finnish tour operators lost some 8-10 million euros.

Mäki-Fränti estimates that the insurance will add just over one euro per package tour. She notes that it will be optional for tour operators, but that she expects them to see it as giving them a marketing edge.

Icelandic Eruption Not Affecting Finnish Airspace