Ethics & Legislation in Tourism

This report explores the ethical and legal landscape of the tourism and travel sector, examining key laws, regulatory bodies, and ethical dilemmas. It also discusses corporate social responsibility in the industry.

Ethics & legislation in
tourism and travel sector

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................3
TASK 1.............................................................................................................................3
P1 Law used to regulate the tourism and travel sector............................................3
P2 Role of regulatory bodies in regulating the sea, air transport and surface sector5
TASK 2.............................................................................................................................6
P3 Impact of safety, health and security legislation on the hotel.............................6
P4 Equality legislation applicable while managing and recruiting the employees in a
hotel......................................................................................................................... 7
TASK 3.............................................................................................................................8
P5 General features of some laws...........................................................................8
P6 Consumer protection legislation relating to avoid criminal or civil liability...........9
TASK 4.............................................................................................................................9
P7 Instances of ethical dilemmas and ways of dealing with dilemmas....................9
P8 Corporate social responsibility in travel and tourism industry...........................10
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................... 11
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Tourism law comprises the general government regulations and specific
hospitality and specific travel laws. The purpose of creating the travel law is to supply a
regulative model for proper development and management of the tourism industry . The
report will focus on the laws which regulates the travel and tourism sector. The report
will also discuss the regulatory bodies which impacts the surface, sea and air transport.
It will also discuss the impact of safety, security and health on the legislation of the
hotel. Also the report will outline the equality legislations applicable for the benefit of the
employees. Further the report highlights the general features and consumer protection
legislations of the travel and tourism industry. At last the report will focus on the concept
of the ethical dilemma and ways of dealing with it and also the concept of corporate
social responsibility.
In travel and tourism management, it has major influences of laws and regulation
which are relevant with securing the individual rights and brining the satisfactory
services among consumers. It includes laws relevant with transportation, confidentiality
of consumer and employment related legislatures.
TASK 1
P1 Law used to regulate the tourism and travel sector
Influences of legislative environment and laws in a country would be effective for
the government in relation with regulating ethical norms as well as brining a sustainable
business environment for travel and tourism sector. In UK there have been laws and
regulation which are being government by three governmental authorities on which
HMRC has played main role in operating the business activities effectively.
Law is important for every work, occupation, industry or the society. Laws are
certain rules and regulations and norms which provides for the proper guidelines and
the way one has to behave to sustain equity in the society (Cró and Martins, 2017).
There are different types of laws governing the different sectors of the society.
Classification of laws:
In accordance with the legislative environment in UK there has been influences
of two categories of laws such as statutes and common laws. Whereas, statutes are

relevant with the acts, amendments and regulation formed under the parliament and
based on various reading as well as debates on it. These are the acts which were
formulated by ministers and approved by royal ascent. Along with this, as per
considering the common laws these are the acts which were based on the real-life
cases as example. Thus, the laws were made as per the past incidents and judgment
facilized under such cases will be considered. However, it can be termed as case laws.
Criminal and civil court:
In accordance with the criminal cases such as robbery, murder and relevant
crime on which the hearing of such issues will be made at criminal courts on which
legislative practitioners used to analyse the cases and make relevant legislative
analysis over the facts. Along with this, as per considering the operational framework of
a civil court where cases are mainly relevant with rape, domestic violence, theft, fraud
etc. were regulated.
The sole aim of beginning the tourism laws is standard procedures, developing
tourism industry in an ethical and regulated manner and to safeguard the obligations
and the rights of the people and all the system and companies which are involved in the
travel and tourism industry. The laws regulating the travel and tourism sector are as
follows:-
Development of tourism act 1969- this act aims at coordinating all the
administration which are part of the tourism sector. This act renders financial assistance
out of public funds for the establishment of new hotels. The British Tourist Authority and
the English Tourism Council have now been incorporated to form a single entity named
'Visit Britain'. The Development of Tourism's acts aim was to co-ordinate all the
organisations that make up the tourism sector.
Package holiday, package tours and package travel regulations 1992- all the
UK tour businessmen offers package holidays which have been related to the package
tour, holidays and travel regulations (Xiang and Tussyadiah, 2014). These regulations
operated to make sure that there is proper behaviour and conduct by the tour operators
and companies with their customers. These regulations checks and keeps a watch on
what are the tour agents responsibilities towards their customers. And if the tour
operators and companies does not behave properly then what the customers can do is

also mentioned in this act. According to the act all the regulations and information
should be displayed correctly in the brochure of the tour operator company.
Transports Acts 1980 and 1985- this act is passed under the act of parliament in
the United Kingdom. This act initiated the abolishment of the coach services in the U K
and this act also allows the authorities to demolish the bus services which were earlier
given on a trial basis. The act of 1980 ended the licensing laws needed by the bus
operators which earlier affected the express coach routes of the buses. Also the act of
1985 demolished the route system of the buses and because of this abolishment the
private buses were allowed to operate through all the routes in UK.
P2 Role of regulatory bodies in regulating the sea, air transport and surface sector
The main and sole goal of the regulatory bodies is to regulate the management
and development of tourism industry by presenting new practices of tourism by deciding
the obligations and rights of the individuals involved in the tourism industry.
Sea transport-the ships and sea transportation is primarily regulated by the
International Maritime Organisation (IMO). It is a London based in United Nations and
this body is answerable for the life of workers working at the sea and also keeps an eye
on the protection of the employees and the marine environment. International Maritime
Organisation (IMO) has adopted a very broad structure of the detailed laws in the form
of the international diplomatic conventions which governs the security and safety of the
sea transports and the security and protection of the marine environment. About 90% of
world trade is carried on by the international shipping industry. If this sea transport is not
there then the import/export of affordable food and goods would not be possible. The
harsh quality of the sea bring out ships to face considerable quantity of the physical risk,
so a total seriousness to safety diffuses all deep sea shipping operations. Agency such
as Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) act as per preventing the loss of life on sea
and cost. However, there has been legislations and guidance relevant with marine
activities.
Air transport- air transport is governed and regulated by the Civil Aviation
Authority (CAA). This authority is answerable for all the ordinance and control of the air
power safety in the UK (Kaaristo and Rhoden, 2017). It decides the policy for how to
use the airspace and the economical regulations of the airports and the licensing and

the financial stability of the airlines. The CAA is an self-directed body which is
accountable for the economic, airspace policy, consumer protection and safety of them.
The CAA also regulates the UK authorities on how to deal with the aviation issues, how
to conducts economic and scientific research, how to produces statistical data and
represents it according to the consumer interests.
Surface sector- it includes the carriage done by the roads. It is an act passed by
the legislative assembly of the U.K. in order to implement the contract for the
international carriage of goods by road into the British laws. It assist and develops the
travellers that are travelling on the board of the mode of transportation. It may include
mental or physical disorders or damages to the passengers while travelling on the
carrier, loss of luggage etc. along with this, there must be ascertainment of operational
practices by Office of rail and road (ORR). It funnels the travellers regarding the route,
duration and facilities stated in such locations.
TASK 2
P3 Impact of safety, health and security legislation on the hotel
The primary and sole motive of the health and safety regulations of any tourism
company is to ensure that the working atmosphere provided to the employees is risk-
free and safe from all hazardous and contagious harms. It is the employer's obligation to
cater the need for the guarding the safety of the worker from any injury at the workplace
(Aydin and Karamehmet, 2017). For this the tourism and travel industry follow the
guidelines of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. this act specifies a wide variety of
duties and roles that the employer have to perform the employers must ensure and
protect the safety, health and welfare of the employees working at the workplace as well
as other people like the clients, casual workers, general public near the workplace and
the office premises and the visitors in the office.
Health and Safety at work Act 1974: As considering the framework of HSE UK on
which it can be said that, there has been major liabilities lies with the employer on
workplace activities and towards employees. Operating the well-conditioned
machineries, equipment as well as implicating all the safety measures would help te
organisation in preventing the uncertain risks or damages.

P4 Equality legislation applicable while managing and recruiting the employees in a
hotel
In general, equality refers to the situation in which everyone is treated equal. It is
important for a democratic society to promote equality and to fight for different issues of
inequality like inequality between the rich and poor, gender inequality, or racial
inequality. The different components of the equality legislation are as follows: -
The equality act 2010- the updated equality act came into existence from 1
October 2010. The equality act brings together over 116 separate items of civil law into
one act. They create a new act which provides a legal model to assist the rights of
individuals and promote and encourage equality among everyone residing in a country.
The act changes and strengthens the current system of the law and provides Britain
with a fresh anti- discrimination law which protects all the individuals and the society
from the unfair treatment by any organisation and promotes a clean and more balanced
society. Along with this, as per considering the equality and diversity on which it can be
said that it outlines various approaches such as diversity monitoring and recruitment,
delivery of services, training and assessment of impacts. Moreover, bringing equality in
workplace would be effective in terms of raising the profitable growth in the business.
Health and Social Care Act 2012- it is an act passed by the general assembly
of the UK. This act sets out the whole composition of the national health services in the
England. It is an act made to establish and make conditions about a National Health
Service Commissioning Board and clinical commissioning groups. It also aims to make
provision about the public health and also to make provision about controlling the health
and adult social care services. It also focuses on to make provision about the quantum
of public involvement in the health and social care matters.
Pension Act 2008- it is also passed under the act of the legislature of the UK.
The main alteration brought by this act is that all the workers will now have to choose
an occupational pension plan from the choices provided by their employers (Timothy,
2017). Second change brought by this act is the beginning of the national employment
savings trust. This trust is a public pension fund opened for those people who do not
have any occupational pensions provided by their employers.

Employment Rights Act 1996- it is also an act which is passed by the UK act of
legislative assembly passed by the government to systematize the existent law on
individuals rights. This act states that the contract of the employment must be in writing
and this contract should be provided to the employees within the period of two months.
TASK 3
P5 General features of some laws
There are many different types of the laws which governs different types of the
sectors of the society. Some of the different types of laws are discussed below.
The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977- it is an act passed by the act of the
parliament of the U.K. This act controls the contracts by limiting the legality of the
operations of some of the contractual terms. This act ensures that the contract made by
the parties are on the standard terms with any exclusion and limitation of the liability
must be reasonable. This law focuses on the following issues-
to strengthen the bargaining power of both the parties
to ensure that the customers agrees to all the terms and conditions
to make sure that the parties know where to exclude or restrict any relevant liability
Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulation 1999- this is an old UK legal
tool. The contract is considered to be unfair if it creates a momentous instability in the
dealer and consumer's positions. The regulation also required contract terms to be very
plain and in simple and understandable language (Pearce, 2014). The term unfair
means that the contract term and conditions have been breached and the reason
behind the causes of this significant breach by the parties and breach of their
obligations and the rights. Some examples of unfair contract terms are like terms which
allows the trader to change the terms of the contract according to his wish without
concerning the employees and other persons.
Sale of Goods Act 1979 – it is an act studies the sale of the goods which are
purchased and sold in the market and the binding contract between both the parties that
is the buyer and the seller. It is a commercial law passed by the parliament of the United
Kingdom in respect of the goods that are bought and sold. According to this act, the
contract of sale is the document of transfer of property from a seller to a buyer and this
transaction is completed when money is transferred from one party to another. The

money transferred is known as price. The goods must be appropriate for the purpose for
which the goods are purchased and it must be capable of satisfying the need of the
buyer.
Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982- it is an act of the legislative assembly
of the United Kingdom which ensures that the business operators provides services to
workman. It ensures definite completion of work on the decided date and at the pre
determined price within a reasonable period of time. This act applies to the relevant
contract for the transfer of the goods being those where one person agrees to transfer
property in goods that is ownership of the goods to another person.
P6 Consumer protection legislation relating to avoid criminal or civil liability
The consumer protection legislations means the protection of the interest and the
rights of the customers from being profaned by the business organisation and the travel
agents. It is a law which handles all the misleading and false statements provided by the
business to their customers (Page, 2014). These misleading statements can be like
related to the provision of holidays, travel arrangements and prices. The consumer
protection law is very important in travel and tourism sector to ensure that the
consumers are not cheated and if they are cheated or the contract is breached then the
company is going to pay penalty to the sufferer.
Enterprises and companies coming under the this sectors needs to ensure that
all the information which the company provides to their customers is not false or
misleading.if the company is providing any false statement then the company will be
punished in form of penalty (Vanhove, 2017). It is crucial for every company to provide
all the correct and authentic and accurate information to their customers so that there is
no misunderstanding.
TASK 4
P7 Instances of ethical dilemmas and ways of dealing with dilemmas
Ethical dilemma or moral dilemma refers to a situation in which a person has to
make choices between two or more alternatives. It is a process where the person has to
decide between two possible options out of which one is accepted and the other one is
rejected. Ethical dilemma presumes that the person choosing from the options will

choose by keeping in mind the social norms like the religious teachings, social code of
conduct etc. (Crotti and Misrahi, 2015).
These are the ways which the person has to follow when it is in the situation of an
ethical dilemma:
 by identifying the ethical principles involved in the emotions.
 Other way is to critically think about what a person can do to help others by
avoiding the thought that what will happen if this incident happens again
 another way is to analyse and understand what does the firm's Code of Ethics
say about the situation
 think about the consequences of making that choice and who would suffer from it
the most
 it suggest that the person should not rush to the judgement rather he should find
out that why this situation has arisen
 make your decision and share it with those with an interest in it
 the person should rationally think and decide what to do and how to do
 talk the situation through with a colleague; a problem shared is often a problem
halved
 keep an eye on the after effects of your decision and reflect on whether you
might have handled it differently (Sharpley and Telfer, 2015).
P8 Corporate social responsibility in travel and tourism industry
With increasing number of population there is a continuous rise in the energy
consumption and the related issues of environmental pollution which leads to increased
cost of waste disposition and garbage disposal, surface consumption and loss of
biodiversity put a lot of pressure on the environment. Tourism includes beautiful
landscapes, pure and pristine lakes, cultural heritage and the impeccable nature. Now a
days more and more people travel across borders and visit the places which are
untouched and unseen lands, ponder into the deep forests and because of this
biodiversity and the ambience is being threatened because of the indisciplined travel.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept where the companies
combines the environmental and social concerns with their business operations and in

their business operations. There are many strategy papers which helps and serves as a
guideline for the business to incorporate the CSR measures with the business activities.
The first step in fulfilling the corporate social responsibility is the use of the “Global code
of ethics”. It is a set of guidelines which are to be used for the sustainable and
responsible development of the tourism.
In the late 1990's the corporate social responsibility was first implemented in the
tourism sector by the International Hotels Corporations. After that many international
hotel chains started using the CSR measures like Marriott International, NH Hotels,
Hilton Hotel Corporations etc. Today many hotel chains have started publishing their
own annual corporate social responsibility reports on their own websites. CSR
measures of tourism business comprises of the responsible use of the cultural
resources and the natural resources. The tourism sector also focuses on the
minimisation of the waste and the pollution. It should also focus on the conservation and
perseverance of the cultural heritage of the society, biodiversity and conservation of the
landscape. The tourism and travel sector must behave fairly and must do responsible
treatment with the guests, employees and the other parties related directly or indirectly
with the business (Vellas, 2016). The business should fairly use the resources, local
products and services.
CONCLUSION
According to the research and the study it can be concluded that tourism law
refers to a combination of federal, state and international laws that regulates the
working of the travel and tourism industry. The report focused on the laws which
regulates the tourism and travel sector. The report also discussed about the regulatory
bodies which governs and impacts the surface, sea and air transport. The report also
discussed about the impact of safety, security and health on the legislation of the hotel.
Also the report outlined the equality legislations applicable for the benefit of the
employees. Further the report highlighted the general features and consumer protection
legislations of the travel and tourism industry. At last the report discussed the concept of
the ethical dilemma and ways of dealing with it and also the concept of corporate social
responsibility.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Aydin, G. and Karamehmet, B., 2017. Factors affecting health tourism and international
health-care facility choice. International Journal of Pharmaceutical and
Healthcare Marketing. 11(1). pp.16-36.
Cró, S. and Martins, A.M., 2017. Structural breaks in international tourism demand: Are
they caused by crises or disasters?. Tourism Management. 63. pp.3-9.
Crotti, R. and Misrahi, T., 2015. The travel & tourism competitiveness index 2015: t&t as
a resilient contribution to national development. The Travel & Tourism
Competitiveness Report, 2015, p.13.
Kaaristo, M. and Rhoden, S., 2017. Everyday life and water tourism mobilities:
Mundane aspects of canal travel. Tourism Geographies. 19(1). pp.78-95.
Page, S.J., 2014. Tourism management. Routledge.
Pearce, D.G., 2014. The internationalization of tourism research. Journal of Travel
Research. 53(3). pp.267-280.
Sharpley, R. and Telfer, D.J., 2015. Tourism and development in the developing world.
Routledge.
Timothy, D.J., 2017. Managing heritage and cultural tourism resources: Critical essays,
Volume one. Routledge.
Vanhove, N., 2017. The Economics of Tourism Destinations: Theory and Practice.
Routledge.
Vellas, F., 2016. The international marketing of travel and tourism: A strategic
approach. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Xiang, Z. and Tussyadiah, I., 2014, January. Information and communication
technologies in tourism 2014. In Proceedings of the International Conference in
Dublin.