Analysis of Legal System and Its Impact on International Tourism in the United Kingdom

This report analyses the legal system of the United Kingdom and its impact on the international tourism industry. It covers the differences between UK legal system and others, and the three major aspects of UK law that influence the tourism sector. The report concludes by stating the importance of legal obligations towards customers and staff in the hospitality industry.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL TOURISM
INTERNATIONAL TOURISM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The report is based analysis of the international tourism based environment that prevails in a
country. The country which has been chosen for this analysis is the United Kingdom. The
legal system of country has been analysed in an effective manner and the impact of this
system on the operations of the tourism sector has also been discussed in detail. The report
has been concluded by stating the three major aspects of laws which have a major influence
on the successful operations of the tourism based sector of the United Kingdom.

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Ways by which the hospitality industry differs from the others....................................4
Analysis of the legal system of United Kingdom..........................................................5
Difference of the legal system of UK from the others...................................................7
Analysis of the three aspects of law of United Kingdom...............................................9
Implications of these aspects on hospitality and tourism industry...............................12
Conclusion....................................................................................................................15
References....................................................................................................................16

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Introduction
The hospitality industry has been able to grow in a huge manner in the past few years
with the help of growth in the number of tourist destinations and number of tourists as well.
The managers, employees and staff members thereby need to gain the knowledge based on
different operations and services that they wish to provide to the customers. The staff and
employees of the organizations in the hospitality industry thereby need to gain huge levels of
knowledge based on different operations. The reputation that the hospitality organizations in
the industry needs to be managed in an effective manner by the employees with respect to the
laws that have been implemented (Algieri, Aquino and Succurro 2018).
The hospitality based organizations thereby need to be aware of their legal obligations
towards the customers and the staff in order to operate in a profitable manner. The laws
related to hospitality industry are also not quite clear for all the organizations which operate
in the industry. The laws related to this industry are different in different countries. The
organizations thereby need to develop the strategies with respect to the agreements that are
made between the countries. The country based agreements and laws thereby play an
important role in the ways by which the organizations are able to operate in the industry
(Arrowsmith and Craven 2016).
The report is mainly based on the analysis of the laws and regulations that are
developed by the hospitality organizations in order to operate in the industry. The company
can thereby operate in a profitable manner with the help of effective management of the
employees and the customers so that they are satisfied with the services. The country which
has been taken into consideration for the analysis of hospitality based policies is the United
Kingdom. The ways by which different agreements based on trade are able to affect the
operations of the hospitality based organizations will be analysed in the report (Benson
2015).

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Ways by which the hospitality industry differs from the others
The quality of services that are provided to the customers plays an important part on
the hospitality industry. The analysis of the expectations and perceptions of the customers in
the hospitality industry is an important factor that can affect the ways by which the operations
are managed. The hospitality industry and its operations are however quite different from the
service delivery based activities. Hospitality has however gained huge popularity in the
recent times due to the increase in number of tourist destinations. Customer service plays a
major role in the hospitality industry (Bishop 2015).
The industry is thereby able to impact the quality of life of people and the employees
as well. The quality based issues have an impact on the services that are provided by the
organizations. The service quality is however closely linked with the satisfaction levels and
value that is provided to the customers. The service delivery based activities that are
conducted in the hospitality industry is different from that which is provided to the customers
in the other industries. The services that are provided to the customers of hospitality industry
are able to involve the community and provide them with economic and social benefits
(Boniface, Cooper and Cooper 2016).
The services in this industry are highly market driven in nature and the need to meet
the high standards which are set by the customers. The ways by which services are provided
to the customers have also proved to be different in case of the hospitality industry. The
organizations which operate in this industry need to provide the required importance to the
customers who receive the services. The hospitality sectors are linked with each other in such
a manner that the operations in one of the sectors is able to affect the operations which are
conducted in another sector (Brida, Cortes-Jimenez and Pulina 2016).

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Different components of the hospitality industry are thereby related to each other and
are able to support the operations of each other as well. The four different sectors which are
considered to be a part of the hospitality industry include, food and beverage industry, travel
and tourism industry, lodging and recreation. The services which are provided to the
customers in all these sectors are affected by each other. The hospitality industry has thereby
been divided into different sectors which have been able to affect the operations that are
conducted in each of them. The sector is thereby different from the others in the industry
which provide services to the customers (Buckley 2018). The hospitality sector thereby has to
go through many changes which are able to affect their operating styles in an adverse manner.
Analysis of the legal system of United Kingdom
The United Kingdom mainly consists of four different countries which include,
England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The laws that have been developed in the
legal system of the country are thereby applicable to whole of United Kingdom. The four
major sources of UK law are common law, European Union Law, European Convention on
Human Rights and common law (Buigut, Braendle and Sajeewani 2017). The four different
types of laws that are followed can be described as follows,
Legislation – Legislation is considered to be the law that is creates by the
legislature. The most significant areas of legislation are based on the Acts of
Parliament. The principal legislature in this case is UK Parliament. This body
has the power with which it can pass the laws which are applied to all the four
countries. The Parliament of UK thereby consists of House of Lords and the
House of Commons (Claveria, Monte and Torra 2015).
Common Law – The legal based system of Wales and England is based on
common set of laws.

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The European Convention of Human Rights – UK is the signatory to European
Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Human Rights based act which
came into existence on the year 2000 has provided the power of the courts in
UK so that they are able to protect the rights which have been identified in
ECHR (Coccossis 2017).
European Union Law – UK also has the membership of European Union
which further leads to the country in way by which it needs to follow the EU
laws.
The classification of the UK laws is made in such a manner which will be helpful in
making a distinction between the state and the individual citizens as well. This is able to
govern the relationships which are developed among the private organizations and the
individuals. The most evident distinction has however been made between the criminal laws
and the civil laws as well. The civil laws are able to cover the areas which include,
negligence, contracts, employment, family matters and land law. The civil laws that have
been created by the government of UK are implemented in Wales and England (Cró and
Martins 2017). The legal system that has been created by the government is not unified in
nature. The three stats which are under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom are based on
different judicial systems. The judiciary system of UK is based on three different legal
systems which include, Wales and England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The judges who
belong to the Supreme Court of England however have their jurisdiction over the different
states which are a part of United Kingdom. The judges of Supreme Court of UK are also
called the Justices of Supreme Court. The tribunal system of UK is a major part of the
national system of the administrative justice with the tribunals which are classed as the non-
departmental public bodies (De Vita 2014).

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The legal system which has been developed in the United Kingdom helps in the
formation and application of relevant laws in the three states. The three systems have
different sets of systems and rules. However, some major fields of the law are applicable in
across all the areas of United Kingdom. A single legal system has not been created for the
United Kingdom as the system was developed by the political unions of countries which were
previously independent. The Supreme court of UK has been able to receive the topmost
position in case of all the civil and the criminal cases which take place in the states (Dekimpe,
Peers and van Heerde 2016).
The Supreme court was formed in the year 2009 by replacing different bodies like,
Appellate Committee of the House for Lords in Wales and England. The laws that have been
formed by the European Union are also followed by the different states which are a part of
the United Kingdom. The three legal systems which have been formed under the United
Kingdom are thereby important parts of the entire operations of legal bodies. The different
legal systems are thereby administered by the courts of those particular areas (Divisekera
2016).
The English legal system is however provided with the highest level of importance by
the other states which form the United Kingdom. The Supreme Court has always played an
important part in the formation of the laws that are particularly followed in the United
Kingdom. Supreme Court is the final court of appeal which plays a significant role in the
ways by which criminal and the civil cases can be maintained and the verdicts can be tested
as well. The Supreme Court of UK plays the role of the highest body of law and the leader in
the world of common law (Goldman and Neubauer-Shani 2017).

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Difference of the legal system of UK from the others
The British legal system is totally different from the ways by which the legal systems
of the other countries are able to operate. The legal system of different developed countries is
somewhat similar in nature. The influence and size of the British Empire is able to affect the
legal systems that have been formed by the other developed countries. The legal systems of
many other countries are thereby based on the British system. The different factors of the
British legal system which are able to differentiate it from the systems of other countries are
as follows,
The oddest part of British legal system is based on the ways by which an
unwritten constitution is followed. This factor is shared by some other
countries in the world which include, New Zealand, Canada and Saudi Arabia.
These countries however have a written constitution more than Britain itself.
Canada follows the Constitution of Canada and Quran has been declared as the
constitution of Saudi Arabia. The British colonies have thereby decided that
the model of UK is not an appropriate one which can be followed (Hall and
Coles 2014).
The legal system that has been developed by Britain is adversarial in nature.
The unwritten constitution of Britain has not been able to become famous
globally, however, on the other hand the adversarial type of legal system
gained huge popularity. The alternative to the adversarial system is the
inquisitorial system. The major difference in this case is the way of pursuing
the trial. The role that is played by the judge in this case is neutral in nature is
case of the adversarial legal system. On the other hand, the inquisitorial type
of legal system is where the judge plays an important and active role in the

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court. The proofs that are required for the civil and the criminal laws are
similar (Knežević Cvelbar et al. 2016).
The common law based system is used by the British government. The other
major difference that has been created between the British legal system and
the legal system of the other countries is based on the difference between civil
law based system and common law system. The major part of the world is
covered by the countries which follow civil laws and some countries are also
known to follow to the common law based process. The common law based
system is thereby provided high importance on the ways by which the people
are served. The Supreme Court plays the central role in the formation and
implementation of laws in the country (Li et al. 2018).
Analysis of the three aspects of law of United Kingdom
The legal system of the United Kingdom is mainly based three major legal systems
which help in the application to a major geographical area. The English law is thereby
applicable to three different states which are a part of this country. The three states mainly
include, England and Wales, Scots law and Northern Ireland law. The three systems of law
are totally different from each other and are able to provide different legal boundaries for the
different states. The country does not have a single legal based system as the country was
created with the help of political union of the countries which were independent previously
(Mowforth and Munt 2015).
The Supreme Court of the country is considered to be the highest system of the legal
areas of the United Kingdom. The civil and criminal cases of the country are placed in the
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Supreme Court of United Kingdom was
established in the year 2009. The system of courts in United Kingdom is mainly headed by

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Senior Courts of England and Wales which consists of Court of Appeal, the High Court of
Justice and Crown Court. Similar type of pattern is also followed by the Courts of Northern
Ireland. The chief courts are the Court of Session in Scotland and High Court of Judiciary is
responsible for the criminal cases. The laws that have been formed by the European Union
are transposed actively into legal systems of the United Kingdom (Page and Hall 2014). The
three different jurisdictions that are a part of the legal system of United Kingdom are as
follows,
 English Law – This refers to legal system which is mainly administered by
courts in Wales and England, which mainly run on criminal and civil matters
as well. The English law is mainly known as being the mother of common
laws. English law is described with the help of its own doctrines and is distinct
from the civil law based legal systems. The codification of law is done in this
case and laws are developed with the help of the judges in the courts. The
judgements that are passed based on relevant laws are related to the
application of statute and precedent (Peng, Song and Crouch 2014). The
judgements which are passed in certain cases act as references for the future
cases which are similar in nature. The courts which are present in England and
Wales are further headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales.
Supreme Court has acquired the highest position in the entire legal system of
the country. The courts of other states are thereby bound by the jurisdictions of
the other courts of the United Kingdom (Peng et al. 2015). The decisions that
have been made by the lower courts can be overruled by the Supreme Court
and an entirely new judgement can thereby be passed. The judicial review may
also be quashed by the High Courts of the country. The different acts that have
been passed with respect to the English law have been able to create an

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efficient legal system. The English law is thereby influenced by the legal
system that is followed in Scotland. The Scottish influence on English law
may has been able to create a strong system of laws in the country (Powell and
Iankova 2016).
 The law of Northern Ireland is also based on a common law system. This is
administered with the help of courts of Northern Ireland. The ultimate appeal
based in any judgement is thereby made to the Supreme Court of the UK. The
laws that are followed in Northern Ireland are similar to the English law, rules
of the common law are thereby imported into Ireland under the English law.
There are however many differences which are related to the English laws and
the laws which are followed in Northern Ireland. The sources of law of
Northern Ireland are mainly Irish common and the statute law (Prebensen,
Chen and Uysal 2018). The statutes of Parliaments of Ireland, Northern
Ireland and of United Kingdom are thereby totally in force. The courts which
are present in Northern Ireland are headed by Court of Judicature of Northern
Ireland.
 The Scots law is also a unique system of laws which is based on an ancient
type of Roman law. This system also features different parts of the common
laws that are based on medieval sources. Scotland therefore has a mixed
system of laws in comparison to that of South Africa which is based less
pluralistic in nature. The chief courts which function in this area mainly
consist of Court of Session for the civil cases and High Court of Justiciary for
the criminal cases (Pulido-Fernández, Andrades-Caldito and Sánchez-Rivero
2015). Supreme Court of United Kingdom serves the highest court of appeals
for different civil cases under the Scots law. The Sheriff Courts are mainly

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responsible for dealing with the criminal and civil cases which include the
process of conducting criminal trials with the help of a jury. These courts
mainly provide a service which is based on the lower courts with the 49 sheriff
courts. The legal system of Scotland is thereby unique as it has three possible
verdicts that can be provided for a particular case (Robinson and Picard 2016).
The three different verdicts that can be passed by the courts in this area are
mainly, “guilty”, “not guilty” and “not proven”. The Cabinet Secretary for
Justice is mainly a member of Scottish Government which is accountable to
the Police Scotland, criminal justice, courts and Scottish Prison Service which
is responsible for the management of different prisons in Scotland.
The three different legal systems of the United Kingdom can be considered to be
important aspects that are related to the legal system of the country. The legal systems are
thereby able to affect the ways by which different sectors which operate in the United
Kingdom (Sainaghi and Baggio 2017).
Implications of these aspects on hospitality and tourism industry
The laws, codes and regulations are needed to considered for the proper operations of
the hospitality industry. The legal systems which are followed by different states of the
United Kingdom are thereby related to the ways by which organizations which operate in this
industry. The cost based on the remedies of the laws which are related to criminal and civil
actions are related to serious breaches. The process of naming the new hotels in the industry
are also impacted by the different regulatory implications. The Business Names Act 1985
owners of the hotels need to display a notice which shows the name of the owners (Scott and
Gössling 2015).

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The stationaries that are produced for usage in new hotels are based on the relevant
contact based information. This applies to the services and goods, receipts, letters, accounting
information and purchase orders. The production of advertising literature, updating the
websites, marketing related pamphlets need to ensure that the hotel is able to follow the
regulations that are set by the UK government. The guests of the hotel are to be provided with
relevant information and the pricing based activities of the organization need to be done in an
appropriate manner. The prices of different services cannot be changed after the information
is provided to the guests. The descriptions which are provided to different guests need to be
accurate in nature (Sokhanvar, Aghaei and Aker 2018).
The implementation of a proper booking process for taking the bookings from guests
must to comply with the Credit Card Order 1990 which was passed in the United Kingdom.
During the processing of the bills by the hoteliers, personal data of the customers need to be
protected. The personal data of guests which are stored in the computers of these hotels need
to be made available to the public. A serious threat that is provided to the customers is based
on the unexpected fire and other disasters. The fire related accidents can mainly occur due to
the electrical appliances and kitchen fire as well (Vellas 2016).
The safety based precautions thereby need to be implemented in different operations
and departments of the hotel in an effective manner. Choice which is made with respect to the
electrical appliances and other fittings that are used in the hotel need to be fire redundant in
nature. The usage of fire redundant appliances is based on the compliance of laws related to
the Furniture and Furnishings Act Regulations 1988. The modern type of furniture which is
used by hotels in the hospitality industry have unique labels which are attached to them. The
hotels thereby need to analyse different furniture that are used for the different purposes
(Wang 2014).

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The insurance based policies of the hotel industry are related to the adherence of the
statutory fire regulations. The hotels and hospitality industry based organizations thereby
need to safeguard the health and safety and welfare of the guests. The gas related equipments
and gas appliances need to meet the Gas Safety related regulations. The health and safety
based regulations that are formulated in the United Kingdom are able to affect the hospitality
industry and operations of different organizations. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
states that hoteliers need to take notice of the substances that can cause illness and injury to
the staff (Williams and Baláž 2015).
The employees need to be provided with the protective clothing which is needed for
handling harmful substances. Different health and safety based regulations that have been
formulated by the UK government need to be complied by the organizations which operate in
the hospitality industry. The Safety and Signals Regulations Act 1996 is followed by the
organizations in the industry in order to operate in a profitable manner. The threat that is
related to legal actions that can be taken against the hotels can be mitigated by the hotels by
following or complying with the Employer’s Liability Act 1969. The food that is served by
the hoteliers to the guests need to be provided in such a manner so that it is prepared in a
hygienic manner (Sokhanvar, Aghaei and Aker 2018).
Poor levels of hygiene can further cause issues in the health of the guests. The
environmental acts that have been passed in the legal system of the United Kingdom play an
significant role in the successful operations of hospitality organizations. The hospitality
industry has been able to form an significant part of the economy of the United Kingdom.
Hence, the compliance of regulations that are formulated by the government and the legal
systems of different states of United Kingdom is important for hospitality industry (Scott and
Gössling 2015).

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The companies which plan to start their operations in the hospitality industry need to
keep knowledge of the regulations and laws that have been formulated by the legal systems.
The organizations in different states which are a part of the United Kingdom need to follow
different regulations that are formulated by the legal systems of Ireland, Scotland and
England. This will help in the effective operations of these organizations and increase their
sustainability as well (Sainaghi and Baggio 2017).
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that organizations in the hospitality industry
can operate in a profitable and sustainable manner with the help of regulations that have been
suggested by the legal systems of the United Kingdom. The legal system which has been
developed in United Kingdom is different from that of other countries in many ways. Legal
systems are however different in three parts of the United Kingdom which include, Ireland,
England and Scotland. The governments of these countries thereby play an significant role in
the ways by which the legal systems of these areas are developed. The legal system consists
of three aspects of law which is able to affect the operations of the hospitality industry. The
analysis has been able depict that the hospitality industry is highly affected by the legal
system of the United Kingdom.

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