Report on Legislation, Ethics, and Regulations in Travel and Tourism

This report analyzes the legal and ethical considerations within the travel and tourism sector, focusing on the UK market and using Thomas Cook as a case study. It examines various aspects of legislation, including health and safety regulations (Health and Safety Act 1974, Occupiers Liability Act 1984, and Data Protection Act 1988), equality legislation (Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Human Rights Act 1998, Employment Act, and Race Discrimination Act 1976), and contractual legislation (Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, Sale of Goods Act 1979). The report highlights the importance of compliance with these regulations to ensure customer safety, employee well-being, and fair business practices. It also explores ethical dilemmas such as political unrest, the burden of cost, and cultural diversity, providing insights into how businesses can navigate these challenges. The report emphasizes the need for travel and tourism companies to maintain ethical standards and legal compliance to foster customer satisfaction and maintain a strong market position. It offers a comprehensive overview of the legal and ethical landscape, making it valuable for students studying business development and related fields.

LEGISLATION AND ETHICS IN TRAVEL AND
TOURISM
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 ................................................................................................................................................3
1.2 ................................................................................................................................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 ................................................................................................................................................3
2.2 ................................................................................................................................................3
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................3
3.1 ................................................................................................................................................3
3.2 ................................................................................................................................................4
Task 4...............................................................................................................................................4
4.1 ................................................................................................................................................4
4.2 ................................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
2

INTRODUCTION
In modern world this kind of industry is known for providing lavishness in affordable
rates without compromising with the quality which creates its potion as a largest services
industries in UK. This sector contributes large amount of revenue to the GDP of UK to
strengthen its economy. This industry provides a wide range of services to its customers which
increases the role of various legal regulatory frameworks. Travel services can be given with the
help of different modes such as waterways, airways and roadways. These different modes
involve complying with different regulations related to different modes in order to ensure health
and safety of customers. For describing the benefits and certain complexities involved in this
particular sectors will be easy if Thomas Cook has been selected for explaining the true realities
of this industry. It also explains the role of contract legislation in relation to travel and tourism
industry which provides safety to customers who are ditched by travel and tour operators. Main
motive of hospitality industry is to deliver quality oriented services to its customers. Compliance
of all the standard guidelines related this kind of sector helps an enterprise to gain higher
customer satisfaction. The creation of ethical dilemmas are also explained in this report in
different circumstances and also states solutions which needs to be taken by an employer to
maintain the dignity of all the ethics and creates a perfect balance between the ethics and the
morals.
3

TASK 1
1.1
4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

TASK 2
IMPACT OF THE PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH, SAFETY AND SECURITY
LEGISLATION ON TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR
Thomas cook is one of the world largest travel and tourism
company in UK. The company have many retail travel centres
across the globe. It is very important for Thomas cook to follow
all rules and regulations strictly. These rules and regulations may
be related to the health and safety of customers. It is also
responsibility of Thomas cook to ensure the safety of all its
employees in order to boost their confidence to give best outputs. Following are the regulations
which needs to be follow by Thomas cook:
Health and safety act 1974- Thomas cook needs to comply all the guidelines of the act. By
conduct training sessions for its employees to provide
technical assistance before using any devices. This act
provide several benefits to the employees in terms of health
ans safety of personnel of organization. The employer is liable for any injury takes place at
14

workplace to employees. It is important for Thomas cook to take care about the needs of
staff in order to avoid legal complications.
Occupiers liability act 1984- As per this law Thomas cook require to create abundant amount of
security arrangements in order to ensure the safety of its
clients life. The guidelines of the act provide support to the
aggrieved party in case of injury to the person sue to
negligence of employer. Then the employer is liable to
compensate the innocent party for loss or damages. Contrary
to this, if any individual which is client of Thomas cook get
injured due to its negligence then Thomas cook will not be
liable to make any sort of compensation to its clients. This is
because incident comes in existence due to negligence of
client not firm.
Data protection act 1988- This law makes it
necessary for the firm to create and maintain
database of its clients in systematic order. Under
this law it is responsibility of an employees of an
organisation to make sure that information of the
clients is not shared with any unauthorized person.
The internal staffs are responsible to maintain the
confidentiality. In order to implement this provision of law effectively Thomas cook can
prepare a rule under which before sharing of information employee of an organisation will
take prior permission from top executive for information sharing with unknown person.
15

Duty of care and vicarious liability- Thomas cook needs to comply
with all rules and regulations related to duty of care. This law
states the responsibility of the Thomas cook to make sure that
life of its employees and business clients is safe. It must make
sure that clients does not face any problem during their travel
to any destination. Firm also needs to comply with rules and
regulations that are related to the vicarious liability. The owner
is liable for any accident occurred with the employees at the
workplace.
Thomas cook strictly need to follow all the rules ans regulations in order to run its business in
smooth manner. It helps them to continue their business operations and cater the needs of its
clients.
ANALYZING LEGISLATION RELATED TO EQUALITY
Legislation related to equity state that employer must not do discrimination
among the employees on the basis of cast, creed, religion and color etc. Thomas cook must treat
all its employees equally in order to promote equality among its employees in the organization. It
can be said that by treating employees equally Thomas cook will follow relevant legislation in
order to utilize its employees in efficient and effective manner. Some of the laws related to
discrimination are given below.
16

 Sex discrimination act 1975- Thomas cook is complying with this law in order to
provide equal employment opportunities to all gender
whether they are male or female. As per law firms
operating in any industry can not discriminate among
people in terms of employment on the basis of sex, color
and marital status. In such a situation Thomas cook is
needs to follow this law in order to create good image of
the firm among its stakeholders.
Disability discrimination act 1995- This act state that discrimination can not be done with
people in terms of employment merely on the basis of their disability. It has been observed that
many firms does not give
employment to those that are
crippled. Due to this reason even
one in mentally sound and capable to
do job does not get work in an
organization. Thomas cook give
employment opportunities to the individuals (Disable people) on jobs where they can easily
work. This reflects that firm is strictly following all rules and regulations in proper manner.
17

 Human rights act 1998- Human rights act provide authorities
to the employees of an
organization. It means that
employees works in an organization
and they must have some rights so
that employer can not exploit them.
These rights are covered in human
rights act 1998. As per this law employees have a right to
provide feedback to the management in relation to the department in which they are
working.
 Employment act- As per this law business firms needs to give pension and leave benefits
to their employees. This law also explains the right
of the employees and under this they can ask their
employer to adopt sufficient number of health and
safety measures . Thomas cook needs to strictly
comply with this law by adopting several health
and safety measures.
 Race
discrimination act 1976-
Under this act it is stated that no organization can
involve in discrimination related acts.
Firms can not
discriminate employees
on the basis of race and
religion Firms must try to prevent discrimination on the basis of color such as black and
white and must treat all employees equally.
18

So, these are some of the laws that must be strictly followed by an Thomas cook in order
to make sure good working environment is provided to the employees in an organization. By
complying with these laws firm can ensure safety of its client.
TASK 3
3.1
To,
The assistant
Subject: Contractual legislation and framework in travel and tourism
This is to inform that there are various regulations and legislations involved in mak9ing
agreement which are related to one of the sectors of hospitality industry which is travel and
tourism (Ababneh 2016). There are various legislations which need to be comply by travel
operators in order to maintain long lasting customer relationship. Some of them are:
Unfair contract terms Act 1977- It is an act which is related to the unfair terms and
trade practices in order to affect the interest of consumers. It is one of the important provisions of
consumer protection act which gives different relief to the customers. As per this law, all travel
tourism operations are required to comply with in an effective manner. The major objective of
this kind of sector is to meet all the obligations of its buyer in terms of quality as they are
recognised for delivery of the best quality services which ensure that their interest will not be
exploited.
Sale of goods Act 1979- This provides relief to the customers in relation to different
goods and services sold (Holden 2016.). It prescribes number of sections which provide
additional benefits to the customers as they are the king of market. It imposes various restrictions
on the seller to deliver quality goods to customers. These terms and conditions are mutually
decided by both the parties in order to avoid any further complications. The needs and
expectations of the clients are accomplished by the employer as its primary obligation of travel
and tourism sector.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Travel Consultant, UK
19

3.2
TASK 4
4.1
Ethical dilemma faced by tourism sector
The Tourism
By Sustainability development manager
Written on- 23rd July 2016
20
Figure 1: Ethical issues faced by travel and tourism
(Source: Margalit 2016)

In today’s competitive and highly complex business environment, existing status of travel
and tourism sector of hospitality industry is not good. The industry is striving hard in order to
achieve its basic livelihood and ensure its survival in this competitive market. It involves mental
conflict between morals and ethics of organization (Morris and Kazi 2016). These ethical
dilemmas are also known as ethical paradox which creates dis-balance between travel sector and
external legal and regulatory bodies. There are numerous ethical dilemmas which may arise in
normal cause of action and affects the smooth functioning of business:
Political unrest- It is one of the important factors which have capability in order to affect
the business of travel and tourism sector that is operating in hospitality industry. There are some
of the nations which are highly affected by the political distortions. The interference of legal
bodies
will
greatly affect the tourist places such as UK which is 8th largest tourist destinations in the world.
Thomas Cook needs to take care about the political instability of a particular tourist destination
in order to avoid future consequences.
For Example: Countries like Russia and Syria which is always covered with riots and
political wars that play a dominant role in reducing the number of tourists of Thomas Cook.
Burden of cost-Increasing inflation and interest rate is the negative impact of the
recession that takes places in an enterprise in many nations all across the world. Higher inflation
rate will induce the prices of the goods and services which will result in declining the number of
customers in an organisation. The designing of the tour packages should be strategically
designed as the cost can be increases due to the external market changes which needs to be kept
lower than possible to include specific percentage of profit in it and form market price that
21
Figure 2: Political unrest
(Source: Brazal and Davila
2016)
Figure 3: Ethics used by business
(Source:Chakravarthi 2016 )

suitable for both the employer and its customers. Higher cost kept by the firm will able to reduce
its potential customers and doesn't give higher impact on their minds of the tourists to attract
them towards the beauty of the place.
Cultural diversity-Essential factors that create a great impact among the customers which
helps in inducing level of tourism at the top level. These factors can be tangible in form of
facilitating customers by providing different goods in kind and intangible in terms of interacting
with the new visitors in order to retain them for longer time at that place. Cultural factors of a
place are different as they different from one place to another as it is different in terms of history
of the place, traditions and rituals. Different languages, foods cuisine, entertainment factors are
the social and cultural factors of a particular place that affect the behaviour of a person.
Other factors- Primary areas which created ethical
dilemmas in an organization which affect an
enterprise's business proceedings of Thomas Cook
such as bribery, monetary corruption, discriminating
with the individuals on the basis of their gender and
different races such as black or white, sexual
harassment at the workplace with the female employee especially, affecting natural gift given by
god. Promoting all these bad activities is criminal offense under the legal environment as these
activities will harm an individual as well as the employer itself. These activities are extended to
several activities such as extortion with the personal properties of the natural environment,
misappropriation of cash and other fragile things involved in an enterprise, affecting goods and
services and conducting financial misconduct due to which the productivity oif the business get
affected in terms of theft and loss.
22
Figure 4: corruption
(Source: Holden 2016)

Whistle blowers- It is essential factors which every business needs to take into
consideration (Spencer 2016). These persons can reveal the secrecy and confidentiality of
company. Actions of whistle blowers can be positive as well as negative that depends on the
nature of business.
4.2
Corporate social responsibility as an obligation on business
The Travel
By Sustainable Development Manager
Written on- 23rd July 2016
CSR is an acronym which is referred as the Corporate social responsibility which is
asocial burden on an enterprise. It is a social
obligation on a business to fulfil its primary
duties towards the organisation as Iron law
of responsibility. Social welfare is the
primary aim of these activities in which
society are befitted by designing goods and
services in ozone friendly way to benefit
them and not to harm them. These activities bring different positive activities such as future
business opportunity to all persons equally, generating wide number of jobs to deserving
23
Figure 5: Whistleblower
(Source:Grosbois 2016)
Figure 6: CSR activities
(Source: Edgell Sr 2016.)

candidate, protecting the environment. The needs and expectations are fulfilled by hospiatlity
industry in order to achieve higher customer satisfaction. The primary objective behind this
overall CSR programme can be conducted from different aspects which involves social, culture
and environment factors. There are several elements of the CSR activities in which a company
can contribute its hard efforts to the society in different ways which are given as below:
Sustainability- It refers to make use of natural resources
within a limit with a motive to protect the interest of future
generation (Ten Have 2016). It can be defined as a social-
ecological process that is characterized by the pursuit of a
common ideal. It is a social challenge that entails international
and national law, urban planning and transport, local and
individual lifestyles and ethical consumerism. It plays a
significant role in travel and tourism sector which involves ethical
consumption, purchasing, shopping and green consumerism.
Corporate governance- It refers to a corporation which directs
and manages companies to support its society (Thomas and Alalwan
2016). It means carrying out business as per the tastes and preferences
of different stakeholders. Thomas Cook needs to observe each and every
change that takes place in its external environment.
Education and employability- The basic focus of this enterprise
is on providing all the CSR activities as they lay more emphasise accuracy of all the activities
which in turn promotes education that is parallel with the employment to an individual. This
organisation also offers degree courses and diploma courses just to promotes the constitutional
right that is the right to education for every individual. This approach of Thomas Cook enhances
the confidence of all kits employees to stay updated with the latest technology and encourages
their performance.
Health and sanitation- Different countries in the whole world promotes the basic need of
an individual that is personal sanitation that is attached with the health of a person. This needs of
24
Figure 7: Sustainability
Figure 8: Corporate governance
(Source: Härkönen 2016.)

an individual are provided by different tourist destinations in order to attract the high amount of
tourism in that country which promotes their economy. It is essential element of CSR activities
which promotes the business enterprises and their overall economy.
Contribution to relief fund- Different countries such as India where separate funds are
collected to meet the specific demand of that objective to deal with the uncertain business
situations. It is essential for this enterprise to keep a reserve amount for meeting uncertain that
comes in business as contribution funds. Collecting and gathering heavy amount of fund from
other business for a specific cause is one of the important activities of CSR activities done by
Thomas Cook.
It has been observed from the above description which shows that Thomas Cook has
involved in CSR activities in order support its society all across the world and gain higher
business exposure. Thomas Cook organises different social activities in order to maintain social
peace and promotes equality among different nations and fulfil the requirement of the economy.
The CSR activities conducted by this organisation will be proves beneficial for this enterprise but
also opens up business paths from other strong enterprises and the government will support this
organisation.
CONCLUSION
It can be summarised from the above project report is that Thomas Cook has developed a
goof brand image among its customers as it taken into consideration all the rules and regulations
of the travel and tourism sector. This report has given certain evidence that the company is in
need to adopt various health and safety principles at its workplace while designing different tour
packages. The tourists are more concern with their health which arises the needed in the
business to adopt different laws and regulations. Thomas Cook will able to attract wide numvber
of audiences towards their business by amending its packages as per the legal environment's
needs. Apart from this it can be observed that the business enterprise will comply with all thye
legislations to maintain its transparent image in front of all the clients to retain them fir long time
period with their business.
These are the methods which helps an organisation in order to catch the interest of all the
customers by encouraging their existing personnel by nurturing all its existing skills and
25

enhancing its knowledges. Additionally, travel enterprise should have taken into consideration
all the protection laws before devising any tour packages.
The company are required to update itself with all the consumer protect act provisions
which can affect its business in near future. Apart from complying with all the rules and
regulations the business are also required to understand the role of business ethics in the travel
and tourism sector and its several implications on the business.
26

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ababneh, A., 2016. Tourist Guides and Job Related Problems, Analysis and Evidence from
Jordan. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, pp.1-18.
Alkier Radnic, R., Milojica 2016. A Holistic Framework for the Development of a Sustainable
Touristic Model. International Journal of Markets and Business Systems.
Brazal, A. and Davila 2016. Living With (Out) Borders: Catholic Theological Ethics on the
Migrations of Peoples (Vol. 4). Orbis Books.
Canestrino, R., Magliocca 2016. Understanding medical tourism within the field of neo-
institutionalism: an ethical insight. International Journal of Environment and Health. 8(1).
pp.76-99.
Chakravarthi, I., 2016. Regulation of Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Gains and Losses.
Indian Journal of Gender Studies.23(1). pp.133-156.
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.
Edgell Sr, D. L. 2016. Managing sustainable tourism: a legacy for the future. Routledge.
Härkönen, E., 2016. Corporate liability and international child sex tourism–with special
reference to the regulation in the Nordic countries. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality
and Tourism. 16(3). pp.315-332.
Hernandez, A. A. and Ona 2016. Green IT Adoption: Lessons from the Philippines Business
Process Outsourcing Industry. International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable
Development (IJSESD). 7(1). pp.1-34.
Holden, A., 2016. Environment and tourism. Routledge.
Krishnaveni, R. and Arthi 2016. Identifying Factors Supporting Effective Performance of
Expatriates in Host Country: A Perceptional Analysis. Purushartha: A Journal of
Management Ethics and Spirituality. 8(1).
Lean, G. and Staiff, R., 2016. Travel and transformation. Routledge.
Margalit, Y., 2016. From Baby M to Baby M (anji): Regulating International Surrogacy
Agreements. Journal of Law and Policy. 24(1). p.2.
27

McNamara, T., Descubes 2016. Trophy Hunting in Namibia: A Case of an Unethical Image that
is Unjustified?.
Mehra, A. and Shay, K. 2016. Corporate Responsibility and Accountability for Modern Forms of
Slavery. Journal of International Criminal Justice. 14(2). pp.453-468.
Morris, S. and Kazi, S., 2016. Planning an accessible expo 2020 within Dubai’s 5 star hotel
industry from legal and ethical perspectives. Journal of Tourism Futures. 2(1). pp.88-94.
Nadimpally, S. and Venkatachalam, D., 2016. Marketing Reproduction: Assisted Reproductive
Technologies and Commercial Surrogacy in India.Indian Journal of Gender Studies. 23(1).
pp.87-104.
Shanti, J., 2016. A study on environmental sustainability practices of star hotels in Bangalore.
Asian Journal of Business Ethics, pp.1-10.
Spencer, R., 2016. Development tourism: lessons from Cuba. Routledge.
Taylor, Y. ed., 2016. Classed intersections: Spaces, selves, knowledges. Routledge.
Ten Have, H., 2016. Global Bioethics: An Introduction. Routledge.
Thomas, M. A. and Alalwan 2016. Designing a Semantic Tool to Evaluate Web Content of
Government Websites. International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age
(IJPADA). 3(2). pp.19-36.
Van Hoof, W., Pennings 2016. Cross-border reproductive care for law evasion: should
physicians be allowed to help infertility patients evade the law of their own country?.
European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology. 202, pp.101-
105.
Willmott, C., 2016. Where Science and Ethics Meet: Dilemmas at the Frontiers of Medicine and
Biology. ABC-CLIO.
Online
IHG Green Engage™ system. 2016. Online. Available through: <
http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=742>. [Accessed on 8th July 2016].
UK travel laws and regulations. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.protectedtravelservices.com/company/uk-travel-laws-and-regulations>.
[Accessed on 25th June 2016].
28