Table of Contents INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 TASK 1...........................................................................................................................................1 P1.1 Legal and Regulatory framework of Travel and Tourism Sector.......................................1 P1.2 Surface, sea and air transport laws......................................................................................3 TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3 P2.1 Impacts of health, safety and security legislation...............................................................3 P2.2 Legislations pertaining to Equality.....................................................................................4 TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5 P3.1 Contract legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers........................................5 P3.2 Consumer protection legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers....................6 TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7 P4.1 Ethical dilemmas faced by travel and tourism sector.........................................................7 P4.2 CSR policy of a travel and tourism business......................................................................8 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
INTRODUCTION Tourism in general terms, is a movement of people for varied purposes like business or pleasure. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation in the year project of 2005-2007 explained and defined tourism as social, cultural and economic phenomenon which shows movement of people to different places outside of their regular environment for personal or business reasons. The report deals with the legal and regulatory framework and business ethics of travel and tourism industry. The report further focuses on the health, safety and security frameworks pertaining to the travelling people. The role of corporate social responsibility is explained by taking an instance of a travel company Thomas Cook. TASK 1 P1.1 Legal and Regulatory framework of Travel and Tourism Sector Legal Framework Thetourism industry is the fastest growing industry not only in the UK but across the world. The legal regulations and protections ensure that the industry prospers further and the UK government has formulated various legislations to extend that protection over the years.The various legislationsaffecting the travel and tourism industry are as follows(Mariani andet. al., 2014.): ï‚·Development of Tourism Act, 1969:This act was an initiative to coordinate with all the organisations of tourism sector and give them a single voice while unifying them. ï‚·Transport Acts, 1980 and 1985:These acts de-regularised and allowed private players to operate on various routes. ï‚·Licensing Act, 2003:This act regularised the sale of alcohol and regulated the offences related to alcohol. ï‚·DisabilityDiscriminationAct,1995:Thisactaimedatendingthe discriminations which the people with disability went through by promoting equal opportunities to such people in public places. ï‚·Trade Descriptions Act, 1968:this act provides provisions for prohibition of misdescription of accommodation facilities. 1
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Regulatory Framework Similarly, there are certain regulatory authorities to ensure that the travel and tourism operators are working efficiently or not in serving the travellers. There are different international, national and local bodies working in this regard which are as : Strategic Railway Authority The SRA was established under the Transport Act, 2000 to provide guidance to the railway department. International Air Transport Association IATA is world's airline trade association representing around 117 countries dealing with passenger safety and security. Civil Aviation Authority CAA looks into all the aspects pertaining to civil aviation in the UK including protection of passengers travelling. Association of British Travel Agents ABTA is a trade association having many operators as members providing guidance and various protections to the travelling people. Structures and processes The legal system is administered by the courts in the UK and there is a hierarchy of courts followed. The courts are levelled in the England and Wales as Supreme court – the highest court of appeal, Royal courts or High courts, Crown courts – administering criminal matters, Magistrate's court dealing both criminal and civil matters and the County courts dealing minor civil matters. ACAS is non departmental public body for providing support for amicable resolution of disputes. P1.2 Surface, sea and air transport laws The transport laws are the legislations covering the areas related to travel modes of passengers via air, road or sea. The legal provisions include the terms of agreement between a carrier and a passenger. There are various surface, sea and air legislations for the carriage of passengers which are as follows: Surface Legislations Carriage of Passenger by Road Act 2
, 1974lays down the provisions for regulation of contract for international carriage of passengers and luggage. Sea and waterways legislations TheRegulation (EU) No. 1177/2010deals with the passengers commuting through the sea and inland waterways by ferries, cruises, ships, that minimal levels for their security and protection are maintained. Air transport regulation The air transport regulations have shaped because of various treaties such as: Warsaw convention, 1929regulates the responsibility of air carriers and protects the passenger while commuting through air. Also, deals with the compensation in case of death, injury or damage. Montreal convention, 1999replaced various terms and rules of the Warsaw convention and unified the rule of carriage by air, passenger protection and carriage of baggage. Denied boarding compensation scheme, 1977 and EU Regulation 2004protects the passengers and states that the rules provided for compensation to the passengers for either delayed or cancelled flights. TASK 2 P2.1 Impacts of health, safety and security legislation The health, safety and security of a person travelling should be ensured and managed which if not maintained could impact the profitability of the travel and tourism sector. If a person does not feel protected or safe while travelling to a particular place then it would effect the economic growth generated through tourism industry also this would tarnish the image of the place. Therefore, the government ensures that the health, safety and security is well maintained of the people travelling through various international and national legislations. TheHealth and Safety Framework Directiveis the major law governing the health and safety regulations in European Union. TheEuropean Agency for Safety ad Health at Work ensures that the health and safety rules are adhered by the businesses in Europe. It identifies the threats and provided guidelines for the safety and security. The legislations governing the health, safety and security are as follows: 3
Health and Safety Act, 1974is the primary legislation dealing with the health and safety of the employees at workplace. The duties of employer and employee in maintaining safety are carved out in this act. For instance, it is the duty of an employer to take safety measure at workplace, provide first aid, proper lighting and training to the employees.(Duffy andet. al., 2004) Duty of care and vicarious liability Vicarious liability arises when a person is held responsible for the activities and actions of another person, for instance, the employer is liable for the acts done by his employee during the course of business. While the duty of care is owed by a manufacturer towards his consumers. TheOccupier Liability Act, 1984was legislated to make an occupier of land responsible to the unauthorised visitors or the trespassers, meaning thereby he owes a duty towards the persons entering his land. Data Protectionis enduring that the personal data of an individual is safeguarded from being compromised or corrupted or getting lost. TheData Protection Act, 2018is the legislation incorporating the European Union's GDPR which imposes a responsibility on everyone for using personal data that the information must be used fairly and lawfully. P2.2 Legislations pertaining to Equality Equalitymeans that all the persons are subjected to equal treatment of law without any discrimination. Discriminationmeans when people are discriminated on the basis of caste, sex, colour, religion, region, gender, sex, etc. To eradicate inequality the government has taken various steps by formulating various laws and policies. Some of which are listed below: ï‚·Sexual Discrimination Act, 1975is the act to ensure gender parity. It specifies the provisions for protecting men and women from any discrimination on the grounds of sex or marital status. (Dodds and et. al., 2005)There are also provisions for ensuring that equal opportunity to work is given to both men and women. ï‚·Race Discrimination Act, 1975eliminates racial discrimination amongst people on the basis of race, colour, nationality, origin or ethnicity. This act ensures that the individuals are not discriminated on the bases of race in every sphere of life be it employment, education, etc. 4
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ï‚·Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act, 1978describes the protection of employees at workplace ensuring that the rights of the employees are protected duringthecourseofemployment.Thisactwasmadesubsequenttothe Employment Right Act, 1996. ï‚·DisabilityDiscriminationAct,1995protectsthedisabledpersonsfrom discrimination. The legislation ensures that the public spheres should be made disable people friendly. ï‚·Human Rights Act, 1998this act was formulated to give acknowledgement to the human rights given in the European Convention. People could go to the court of law for enforcement of their human rights. TASK 3 P3.1 Contract legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers A contract is a legal agreement enforceable by law between two parties which binds them to perform the terms of the contract. The parties are required to perform the contract as the result of non-performance is legal action. If the parties break the contract then they have to pay damages. Though, a contract could be terminated by the parties in various circumstances, such as by rejection from the parties, by acceptance of parties, by death of either party etc. Contracts for holiday packages The contracts for holiday packages are the terms agreed by a customer and travel operator pertaining to the booking of a holiday package.ThePackage Holiday Regulation, 1992states that for a holiday package there must be a combination of at least two services. If a customer is booking a holiday package with a travel operator and he or his agent has agreed to comply with the contract then the operator or his agent has to provide the services mentioned. This means that the customer has paid for the holiday package which comprises of the booking of flights and accommodation. If the travel operator or his agent breaches the terms of contract then he has to face the legal consequences for the breach of contract and also has to pay damages liquidated or UN-liquidated according to the terms of the contract. P3.2 Consumer protection legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers Consumer protection legislation are a form of government regulations that are generally formed to protect customers from businesses that are involve in fraud or unfair trade practice as 5
they exploit consumers for achieving maximum profit. These legislations provide a detail information about the rights that a consumer and prevent them from getting violated from varioustravelagencies.(DeGrosbois,2016.)Followingarecertainlawthatcomeunder consumer protection legislation which must be followed by Thomas Cook in its managerial operations: ï‚·Trade description Act, 1968:- This law focuses on prohibiting the travellers from mislead the consumers in term of pricing related to services and other items. Trading Standard officers are responsible for checking that whether the supply of services is as per the standard decided by government. If the services are not up-to the mark then the companies get penalise or punished by government. Thomas cook must comply with Trade description Act by provide fair services to its customer that do not harm them. ï‚·ConsumerprotectionAct,1987:-Thislawfocusesonprovidingbetter protection to customers by making a provision for the establishment of consumer council. This court focuses on hearing and settling the dispute that a consumer had regarding the services offered by a company. Being an international brand it is very essential for Thomas cook to comply with consumer protection Act by providing the services in exact way they promise to offer. It must provide accurate information to its customer and offer services as per the demand of their clients. ï‚·Package Holiday Regulation 1992:- This law state that a package holiday should be a combination of at least two services in order to be consider as a package holiday. This law suggest that a travel and tourism company must provide fair and accurate information to its customers. Thomas cook provide various holiday packages which is a combination of some services and accommodation. So they mustfollowthisregulation whileformulatingtheir brochure thatprovide information about the packages it offers and required rate of offerings. TASK 4 P4.1 Ethical dilemmas faced by travel and tourism sector Business ethics refers to the moral principle that guides the way in which a business behave. Functioning in an ethical way involves differentiating between right or wrong and then 6
taking a decision which provide benefit to all the parties that are related with that action. Thomas Cook is a British travel company which operates at global level and in order to maintain its market position it is very essential for this company to perform its business in an ethical manner. Following are the areas that covered under business ethics(Camilleri, 2018.): ï‚·Employment ethics:-It refers to the moral obligation of Thomas cook that they must treat equally to its employees, provide fair remuneration and must not exploit them at workplace. Apart from this employees are also responsible for being loyal to its company and must not shareor misuse the confidential information of company for their own benefit. ï‚·Ethics of advertisement:-Thomas Cook must not provide false information to its customer through advertisement in order to attract them and earn profit. Company must ethically depict its image or offered services which they provide to its customer and must not promise anything which they are not intended to provide. While performing business operations there are certain ethical dilemmas that are faced by each company in travel and tourism sector. Ethical dilemmas is a kind of situation where one out of two options is to be selected. Following are the ethical dilemmas that may be faced by Thomas cook while performing its operations in travel and tourism: ï‚·Using resources economically:-Most common dilemma that may be faced by Thomas cook while performing its operation is using resources economically where they get confused between two situation. It includes that if company uses natural resources for promoting or improving its practices then it will provide them benefit but on the other hand these practices will limit the resources. But as per the ethics it is the moral responsibility of Thomas cook to contribute toward conserving these resources for future use. ï‚·Marketing tourism responsibly:-Another dilemma that can be faced by Thomas Cook while performing its marketing activities. As decision regarding marketing are taken by the key persons of company for generating higher profit but on the other hand they want to provide services that do not affect society. It is a moral duty of Thomas Cook to consider other stakeholder in their decision making process.(Buhalis and et. al., 2010.) 7
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P4.2 CSR policy of a travel and tourism business Corporate social responsibilities refers to the way in which company manage it business processes to have an positive impact over society. There are various ethical issues that are faced by companies dealing in travel & tourism and CSR is the only way to remain ethical in the world of business. CSR activities plays a significant role in providing an information regarding the impact that company's practices have over society and support in adopting more responsible practices toward the development of community. Thomas Cook is a well known company that provide services related to travel & tourism. It also involve in certain CSR practices that support in achieving social as well as organisational benefit at one time. Following are certain CSR practices that Thomas Cook follows: ï‚·Community involvement:- Thomas cook always consider its stakeholders while taking any business related decisions in order to perform its operations toward the development and benefit of society. Company try to contribute toward the improvement as well as development of society. As they focuses on rural or tribal areas to bring better services related to sanitation and other development factors by providing appropriate fund to those areas.(Becker, 2016) ï‚·Businessconduct:-Thomascookperformitspracticesinethicalmannerwithout exploiting the natural resources as well as employees or customers that are linked with business operations. They always try to provide fair information to its customers so that the emotion as well as expectation should not get hurt by giving a fake promise to them. CONCLUSION It can be inferred from the above study that the travel and tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industry. Since the economy a nation depends upon the tourism industry the governments have legislated various laws for its protection and betterment. There are also different regulatory bodies ensuring protection of health, safety and security of the passengers. The report also explains ethics in relation to the travel and tourism sector as how the travel industries should be ethical while dealing with the customers along with the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by a case study of a travel giant Thomas Cook. 8
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Sheehan, M., 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. Online Legislationandregulation.2013.[Online].Availablethrough: <https://www.clickview.com.au/curriculum-libraries/video-details/? id=3715848&cat=3708548&library=secondary> 10