Legislation and Ethics in Travel and Tourism: A Detailed Analysis

This report, prepared for the HND Travel and Tourism Management Level 5 course, delves into the crucial aspects of legislation and ethics within the travel and tourism industry. It begins by examining contract legislation, emphasizing its impact on both companies and consumers, and outlines key elements such as offer, acceptance, consideration, and capacity. The report then explores consumer protection legislation, including the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and the Trade Description Act 1968, highlighting the rights of consumers and the responsibilities of service providers. Furthermore, it addresses ethical dilemmas faced by the sector, such as building customer relationships, cross-cultural issues, and the impact of political instability, while also considering dilemmas related to corruption, discrimination, and environmental concerns. Finally, the report discusses Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies in travel and tourism, categorizing them into philanthropy and environmental protection, and emphasizing their importance in enhancing brand image and promoting sustainable practices. References to relevant books, journals, and online regulations are also included to support the analysis.

LEGISLATION AND
ETHICS TASK 3- HND
TRAVEL AND TOURISM
MANAGEMENT LEVEL 5

Table of Contents
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................1
3.1Contract legislation in relation to tourism and travel customers............................................1
3.2 Consumer protection legislation with relation to customers of travel and tourism..............1
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................2
4.1 Ethical dilemmas faced by travel and tourism sector............................................................2
4.2 Corporate Social Responsibility policies of travel and tourism business.............................2
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

TASK 3
3.1Contract legislation in relation to tourism and travel customers
Contract legislation refers to a body of law which relates to enforcing and marking of the
agreements. The contract refers to an agreement in which a party is allowed to turn to a court to
enforce (Koburtay, Syed and Haloub, 2018.). The contract legislation is an area of law which
governs the making of contracts, their carrying and fashioning of a fair remedy whenever there's
breach faced by the organization.
In travel and tourism industry the Contract legislation have an effect on both company
and consumers while conducting businesses uses contract law. Contract legislation have a
significant impact on travel and tourism customers. Various contracts like contracts on package
holidays which is formed by the customer in which the customer is stating their demand and the
tour operator have to ensure the demands have to be fulfilled. Each travel and tourism company
have to enter in contract with customer in setting out the details of service provided and methods
of payments and has certain terms and conditions which are attached to it (Noor and Wibisono,
2016). On the failure of any conditions pre-set a consumer may withdraw the contract at any
time. It includes following elements
Offer: Offer is the statement where the promise is exchanged for the performance by the other
party (Regulations, 2019). Offer is made by offeror to offeree which involves the presence of
two parties and certain condition to accept the offer for example customer is willing to stay hotel.
Acceptance: if Offeree is ready to accept the offer.
Consideration: A consideration is required in order to complete the consideration and without
consideration a contract will be called Void by the law.
Capacity: It means the capability of both the parties to enter into legal contract.
Certainty: It means the terms and conditions should be clear to both the parties.
3.2 Consumer protection legislation with relation to customers of travel and tourism
The aim of consumer protection legislation is to protect and safeguard the interests and
rights of the consumers from its violations from the hands of travel and tourism companies and
from their agents. The consumer protection act 1987 has laid down different rights of the
consumers and duty of travel and tourism service providers. For example travel and tourism
companies have legal responsibility to provide the relevant information with respect to the
services and products which will be provided by travel and tourism companies which is
1

mentioned by health and safety laws. The provisions include the issues like unfair practices,
fraud, etc. Another act of Trade Description Act of 1968 which profits the misleading and false
indicator of products, services, accommodations and other related services (Font and McCabe,
2017). Another regulation like Package Travel Regulations of 1992 assures that any sort of
miscommunication should be corrected from the end of the service provider by making
necessary arrangements. It also includes the air travel organiser requires the Aviation Travel
Organiser's License where the consumers are protected financially either by trade account,
insurance etc.
TASK 4
4.1 Ethical dilemmas faced by travel and tourism sector
There is a complexity in the travel and tourism sector, the sectors like management,
logistics, hospitality, etc are totally dependent upon various factors which are independent of
each other but are inseparable (Becker, 2016). On of the major dilemma faced by the travel and
tourism sector is building a relationship with the customers and to cater the needs of current and
potential customers at the best price. There also existed a cross cultural dilemma which is
increasing due to globalisation as people keep on travelling across the world which bring the
people of different race, cultures, religions closer and this has resulted a cross cultural dilemmas
in a travel and tourism sector. The political instability in different countries have also developed
a dilemma as people want to travel to political unstable countries like Syria, Russia as these
places are always under political warfare and under riots which have developed dilemma with in
the travel and tourism sector. Th main areas of dilemmas which have effected the travel and
tourism sector directly are corruption, bribery, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, selling
of unhealthy food, gender discrimination and harmful natural resources. These are the factors
which have developed dilemmas in the travel and tourism sector but several countries are
promoting their legislations which govern various factors like corruption, women's right to work,
racial and gender discrimination etc which have decreased such dilemmas in the travel and
tourism sector.
4.2 Corporate Social Responsibility policies of travel and tourism business.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are the social strategies which are adopted by
various business organisations in order to payback the share to the community. CSR includes the
various activities such as practising the sustainability development, equal opportunity,
2

environmental protection etc. In travel and tourism sector CSR are tied up with various local
communities in order to identify their needs and the responsibilities towards these communities
(Sheehan, Grant and Garavan, 2018). In tarvel and tourism sector CSR aims to make the use of
cultural, social and environmental sources in order to avoid the wastage and have the
responsibilities to conserve the cultural heritage of the country and conserve the bio-diversity.
For travel and tourism businesses they have to maintain their CSR as social and cultural values
are considered as the inherent part of tourism. Corporate Social Responsibility can be categorised
as:
Philanthropy: Providing the charity is considered as one of the preferences of the business in
order to fulfil their CSR needs and it has also got the benefits for the businesses as CSR will
enhance their brand image which will help them in encouraging the tourism across the world.
Environment: Another responsibility of the travel and tourism sector is to preserve and protect
the environment in order to promote the natural views and sceneries. This will help them to
flourish their business across the world and various CSR activities can help in making the
business more and more profitable.
3

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Becker, E., 2016. Overbooked: The exploding business of travel and tourism. Simon and
Schuster.
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.
Koburtay, T., Syed, J. and Haloub, R., 2018. Implications of Religion, Culture, and Legislation
for Gender Equality at Work: Qualitative Insights from Jordan. Journal of Business
Ethics, pp.1-16.
Noor, A. and Wibisono, N., 2016, May. Sustainable Holiday Learning: Ethical Standard for
Travel Agent. In Asia Tourism Forum 2016-the 12th Biennial Conference of Hospitality
and Tourism Industry in Asia. Atlantis Press.
Sheehan, M., Grant, K. and Garavan, T., 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.
Online
Regulations. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation>.
4