Legislation and Ethics in Travel and Tourism Sector

This report explores the impacts of legislation and ethics on the travel and tourism sector. It discusses the principles of health, safety, and security legislation and their effects on a UK tour operator and travel agency. It also analyzes legislation related to equality and its impact on the industry. The report further examines ethical dilemmas faced by the sector and analyzes the corporate social responsibility policy of a specified travel and tourism business.

Legislation and Ethics
in Travel and Tourism
Sector

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Leaflet.....................................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
2.1 Evaluate the impacts of the principles of health, safety and security legislation on the
travel and tourism sector with reference to a UK tour operator and travel agency................2
2.2 Analyse legislation that relates to equality with reference to a UK tour operator and travel
agency.....................................................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
Leaflet.....................................................................................................................................4
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................5
4.1 Analyse ethical dilemmas faced by the travel and tourism sector....................................5
4.2 Analyse the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy of a specified travel and
tourism business.....................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Travel refer to the movement of individuals from one place to another for business or
personal purpose. Travel and tourism in UK is very broad in scope. The tourism sector along
with hospitality sector provides their services together to a large number of travellers in UK.
These two sectors can attain high growth in the UK service industry when each and every law of
the government related to travel and hospitality must be followed properly by the firms. The
taken firm in this assignment report is TUI group which is a travel operator headquartered in
Luton, England. This report will discuss the legal and regulatory frameworks with specifically
referenced to England and Wales. This report will also discuss the health, safety and security
frameworks which are restricting the people in travelling. In the end , this report will discuss the
role of corporate social responsibility and business ethics in travel and tourism sector.
TASK 1
Leaflet
1

TASK 2
2.1 Evaluate the impacts of the principles of health, safety and security legislation on the travel
and tourism sector with reference to a UK tour operator and travel agency
The managers of TUI group must needs to determine the legislations which can directly
or indirectly impact the business operations (Fenclova and Coles, 2011). Also the managers
needs to prepare the training material by considering the health and safety of their workforce.
Some of the acts are discussed below:
Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974: This Act was introduced on 22 March, 1974. As
per this act, organisations like TUI needs to maintain a proper working culture and environment
in which the workers can work effectively without any problems related to health, safety and
security at workplace.
Occupiers Liability Act, 1984: The Act established on 13 March, 1984. According to this
act, organisations like TUI and their owners needs to convey the dangers associated with
property, working etc. and also they are liable when something wrong happens at the workplace.
This liability ends when the risks are conveyed to the employees by the owners.
Impacts of legislations and regulations
These acts were implemented for the safety and security of the employees who are
working in the travel industry during the training process. The main purpose of the Occupiers
Act is that the company is responsible for everything is something terrible happens during the
training process. This also address the enforcement issues in travel sector. Whereas the Data
Protection Act is useful for securing the data of workers and customers of travel business firms.
This act is also helpful in development and success of the firm by providing the safety and
security of the tourism customers. The personal information and data of employees and
customers can be secured through the data protection legislations. When these rules are not
followed properly, government can impose the taxes on the firms breaching the laws. Each and
every firm of travel sector needs to work with some regulatory and legal framework (Font and
McCabe, 2017). The goals of TUI are aligned with the National Development Policy and
National Tourism Policy which are also helpful in determining the core legal issues of the firm
and resolving them at earliest. If the health and safety of the customers is not managed well, then
it can heavily impact the profit and sustainability of the firm. The laws are covering the areas
2

related to the customers, regulations, employment protection, health and safety, discrimination
etc. These laws provides the rights to the local and international travellers and also ensures the
rights of the employer firms. These laws are also helpful in estimating and analysing the existing
condition of the firm in travel industry. Also these can help in resolving the various issues of the
jurisdiction and legislation. These laws are enhancing the relationship among the workers and
firm of travel and tourism sector. These also helps the travel firms to expand at local and the
international level.
2.2 Analyse legislation that relates to equality with reference to a UK tour operator and travel
agency
Equality refers to the equal treatment of the people by the law without any discrimination
based on the caste, sex, colour, religion, region, gender, sex, etc. Government of UK has
implemented several policies and laws for eliminating the inequality and discrimination. Some of
the such laws are given below:
Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act, 1978: This act was introduced in the year
1978 for providing and protecting the rights of the workers who are working in an organisation.
When the employees are being discriminated then strict actions will be taken against the firm as
the discrimination is illegal (Hall, Gossling and Scott, 2015). This act also provides the terms and
conditions to the workers which must be followed by the employer or firm.
Race Discrimination Act, 1976: This act was launched in the year 1976 with an aim to
remove the discrimination based on the colour and complexion. This act makes it illegal to
discriminate the employees on the basis of their colour and skin, cultural background or nation.
This law also provides the equality to the White people. This act can negatively impact the TUI
group when colour based discrimination can take place among the workers.
Sex Discrimination Act, 1975: This Act was established in the year 1975. According to
this act, unfair treatment of women or employees at workplace based on the sex or gender is
illegal in the firms and is treated as unlawful. This law aims to create and maintain the healthy
working environment in the workplace for the employees. TUI group needs to determine such
type of discrimination in their workplace which can leads to demotivation among the workers
which can impact the business operations.
Employment Act, 2002: The Act came into existence on 8 July, 2002. This act was
implemented for removing the discrimination between the contract and fixed employees.
3

Through this act,the issues and conflicts among the workforce can be resolved for maintaining a
harmonious working environment for workers at workplace.
Disability Discrimination Act, 1995: The Act introduced on 8 November, 1995 with an
aim to stop the discrimination for the people who are disabled in providing the employment
where the disability is of not any worth. TUI group must take necessary steps for supporting the
employees with disability otherwise not following this act can leads to huge penalties on
organisation operations.
Human Rights Act, 1998: This Act was developed on 2 October, 2000 for providing the
rights and freedom to the people of UK. When breached this law, it is treated as unlawful. These
rights include right to live, freedom from torture, right to a fair trial, freedom of expression etc.
through which the people can live comfortably. When such rights are not provided to the
employees by the TUI group, government authorities can take legal actions on the firm which
will negatively impact the business operations and productivity.
These laws are implemented for maintaining the equality and harmonious working
environment in the workplace as well as in country. When the people are provided with suitable
working environment, then they can work with the full efficiency for performing their work in an
effective manner (Hudson and Miller, 2012). Through these rights and environment, the morale
of the employees stays boosted. Also, the equality provides the equal chances of opportunities to
the employees. This equality and non-discrimination are supporting the employees of TUI group
in doing their work efficiently for the growth and sustainability of the company in travel industry
of UK.
4

TASK 3
Leaflet
TASK 4
4.1 Analyse ethical dilemmas faced by the travel and tourism sector
The ethical dilemma in the tourism industry explains the rise of two basic elements for
the company. From those elements company has to select one and both the elements are not
suitable to act upon. The reason by which these dilemma occurs in the travel and tourism
industry are discussed below: Conflicts between society and the law: For a balanced work in tourism industry it is
necessary that the society and the law should be on same path of understandings. The
problems occurs when, at certain tourist sites, the law has not made any legal actions but
the society's views are also of some consideration because of genuine validity of points.
For example, developers buy a piece of land in the outskirts of the city to increase
tourism but the people who are residents their do not allow for the following proceedings
5

because it will destroy their socio-cultural identity, diverseness and will lead to pollute
the area. Both the parties have valid points for their parts, but the tourism sector faces
dilemma as it will lead to increase the tourism on one hand but it will completely affect
the life of local community on the other hand. Finance and investment policies of businesses in tourism industry: It has been
experienced that places near the coastal areas has a great level of tourists as compared to
other places and various business companies also shows great interest in buying land near
such places (Swanson and Edgell Sr, 2013). From the business perspective the companies
are right on their point but their expansion will directly affect on the business of local
markets and the lives of the people living their nearby. This ethical dilemma is also
affecting the industry in a manner that investment will result in profitability and capturing
the market share but on the other hand it will lead to destroy the lives of the local people.
 Utilization of resources: This ethical dilemma is also faced by the tourism industry as the
usage of resources if not done in proper and appropriate manner than, it will lead to
scarcity of resources. The industry should avoid the exploitation of the resources for their
effective use in future.
These are the ethical dilemma faced by the companies in travel and tourism sector such as TUI
UK.
4.2 Analyse the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy of a specified travel and tourism
business
Corporate Social Responsibility in travel and tourism industry is defined as the plan of action
which leads the business to make their strategies, operations with taking into the consideration of
the social and environmental concerns. TUI UK had made its policies considering the ethical
environment. CSR policies of the company consists of sustainability vision in making the travel
experiences with great comfort and minimising the impact on natural environment. They believe
in respecting the social culture of people and arranging economic advantages to the local
communities through their business activities. CSR policies of the company consist of a strategy
of sustainability for three years to integrate the principles of environment and society into their
business (Whitfield and Dioko, 2012). TUI travel has been also shortlisted as finalist for CSR
strategy in the year 2014. The company is also coming in collaborations with various
organisations to initiate the conservation of wildlife and giving contribution in developing ways
6

to protect them. The policy also consist of creating awareness about the protection of the
environment among the employee's, suppliers and third parties so that they can also give their
contribution in protecting the environment. The CSR policies of TUI group also includes
assessing and managing the agreements which they are in with the service providers. It
influences the supply chain to raise the present-day environmental practise. TUI group has set a
CSR council for the purpose of sustainable development. They make sure the policies to be
followed in a appropriate manner and the use of resources should be done with the aim of
eradicating the impact on environment. The company is also enforcing risk based approach to
determine the required changes in the policies and also making their annual targets to check the
progress of the company.
CONCLUSION
The above given report can be summarised in a way that the travel and tourism industry
should dully follow the laws regarding the sector so that the business activities are processed
properly. This will maintain the profitability and sustainability ratio of the company in the
market. It will be helpful for both the clients and company at domestic as well as international
level. The tourism sector should take care of the environment and the natural resources with the
enactment of suitable policies.
7

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Botterill, D., Pennings, G. and Mainil, T. eds., 2013. Medical tourism and transnational health
care. Springer.
Burns, P.M., 2011. Controversies in tourism. CABI.
Cohen, I.G., 2014. Patients with passports: medical tourism, law, and ethics. Oxford University
Press.
De Grosbois, D., 2016. Corporate social responsibility reporting in the cruise tourism industry: a
performance evaluation using a new institutional theory based model.Journal of
Sustainable Tourism. 24(2). pp.245-269.
Fenclova, E. and Coles, T., 2011. Charitable Partnerships among Travel and Tourism
Businesses: Perspectives from Low‐Fares Airlines. International Journal of Tourism
Research. 13(4). pp.337-354.
Font, X. and McCabe, S., 2017. Sustainability and marketing in tourism: its contexts, paradoxes,
approaches, challenges and potential. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 25(7). pp.869-
883.
Hall, C.M., Gossling, S. and Scott, D. eds., 2015. The Routledge handbook of tourism and
sustainability. Routledge.
Hudson, S. and Miller, G., 2012. 13 Ethical considerations in sustainable tourism. Global
tourism, p.248.
Lovelock, B., 2008. Ethical travel decisions travel agents and human rights. Annals of Tourism
Research. 35(2). pp.338-358.
Robinson, P., 2012. Tourism: The key concepts. Routledge.
Sheehan, M., and et. al., 2018. Strategic talent management: A macro and micro analysis of
current issues in hospitality and tourism. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
10(1). pp.28-41.
Sigala, M., 2017. Collaborative commerce in tourism: implications for research and industry.
Current Issues in Tourism. 20(4), pp.346-355.
Swanson, J.R. and Edgell Sr, D.L., 2013. Tourism policy and planning: Yesterday, today, and
tomorrow. Routledge.
Whitfield, J. and Dioko, L.A., 2012. Measuring and examining the relevance of discretionary
corporate social responsibility in tourism: Some preliminary evidence from the UK
conference sector. Journal of Travel Research. 51(3). pp.289-302.
Online
Legislation and regulation. 2013. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.clickview.com.au/curriculum-libraries/video-details/?
id=3715848&cat=3708548&library=secondary>
8