Report on Legislation, Ethics, and Consumer Protection in Tourism

This report provides an overview of legislation and ethics within the travel and tourism sector, with a specific focus on the company Thomas Cook. It begins by evaluating the impacts of health, safety, and security principles, emphasizing the roles and responsibilities of employers and employees in mitigating risks. The report then analyzes legislation related to equality, including the Equality Act 2010 and various discrimination acts, ensuring equal treatment for all individuals. Furthermore, the report explains contract legislation relevant to travel and tourism customers, detailing essential elements like offer, acceptance, and consideration. It also explores consumer protection legislation, such as the Trade Description Act 1968 and the Consumer Protection Act 1987, highlighting the rights of consumers and the responsibilities of service providers. Finally, the report touches upon ethical dilemmas faced by the travel and tourism sector, emphasizing the importance of ethical compliance and the need for companies like Thomas Cook to adhere to rules and regulations. The report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the legal and ethical landscape of the tourism industry.

Legislation and Ethics
in Travel and Tourism

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Attached in PPT..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1Evaluate the impacts of the principles of health, safety and security on the travel and
tourism sector..............................................................................................................................3
2.1Analyse legislation that relates to equality.............................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
3.1Explaination on contract legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers..................6
3.2 Explain consumer protection legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers..........7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
As world is getting connected through various social media channels and people are
getting more insights on the travel and tourism and due to increase trend of tourism sector it has
been noticed that people are more of making the move from there places in order to get the
amazing view of the nature. As globalization have taken place and due to various technological
innovations it is possible to develop the countries for travel and tourism thus it makes the nations
to deliver more and grab the more as well(Amahazion, 2016). As tourism industry is increasing
there are some restrictions which comes in between the operations of travel and tourism and they
needs to be complied as per the given rules and regulations.
The present report has been undertaken in order to make understanding of the
development of tourism industry in the recent times and further in addition to it various factors
related to tourism industry is taken into account to understand the following elements which help
in understanding of the different aspects that has been covered and affected by the tourism
sector. Further for the purpose of this study a firm is undertaken which is "Thomas Cook". This
will facilitate the reader in having a deep understanding of the topic.
TASK 1
Attached in PPT
TASK 2
2.1Evaluate the impacts of the principles of health, safety and security on the travel and tourism
sector
The prime intention of the act is that to regulate for the purpose of developing the tourism
sector through introducing the practices that area regard to the tourism. It assist in determining
the obligation and rights for those people who are mainly involve in the travel and tourism
sector. Apart from this, there are various rules and regulation that are governed through the
health, security and safety legislation. Under this, it set the role and responsibility to the worker
and employer is that they are liable for checking and directly reporting to the head department. It
is only for the purpose of reducing the risk of incidents and accidents that are arise at the time of
travelling (Scott and Laws,2010). Thus, the employer and worker play a significant role for the
purpose of managing the risk of incidents and accidents. The first motive of health and safety
legislation that are governs the to assure that the working conditions are free from accidents or
harm. In regard to this, it is a responsibility of the employer is that to protect the employees from

the hazards and personal injury. In context to the tourism industry in that the that there is an
objective of a country deliver the safety accommodation and other various services through set
out the liabilities and duties of the destination authorities.
There is an act are the health and safety at work 1974 in which there is need to set up the
legislation and regulation for the purpose of making the employer so, they can able to performing
its duties regard to the workers as well as members of society (Gustafson, 2012). In regard to
this, the health and safety commission keeps the legislation under the research when they needed.
Therefore, there are various options that can implemented in that particular conditions when the
function of low is not run properly. These are as follows-
 Guidance: The health and social care are able to seeks under the guidance in which the
individuals are aware about the legislation that can helps in complying also. Therefore,
there is also needs to support the technical guidance as per the legislation.
 Approved code of practice: The codes of practices are to lay down under the structure
to comply practically with the legislation. Thus, approved codes of practices setting out
the codes for the working practices and materials which may broken down down which
leads to liability of employer on the grounds of heath law. There are various regulation
which are mainly imposed through the health and social care approval with the
parliament that comply with the European commission directives.
There are some of the employer's responsibility and duty under the approved codes of
practice( ACOP)
 Provision of fist-aid
 Lighting and heating
 Incident and Accident prone work environment
There are a employee's duties that are under the ACOP Remove accidents Reported actual hazards Conduct and attend the training programmes or sessions Regulations: It is responsibility of the employer is that to safeguard the interest of the
employees that are concern with the staff workers. Therefore, there is a health and safety
legislation the company employ the 5 staff members issues a written code for health and
safety (Smith, 2014). It has been also determined that most of the firms are conducting

training session and training programmes as that are needed by the its particular business.
There are various type of training that are listed as follows- Induction: The information is given to the new employees Advice: Provide a regular advices programmes through the health and safety officers Representatives: Establishing the role of representatives of health and safety
2.1Analyse legislation that relates to equality
Equality can be define as a in which all the persons are to be treated in equal manner.
Under the legislation regard to travel and tourism industry in that it gives instructions to the
service provider regard to tourism in that they treat all the individuals in equal way. Therefore, it
gives facility to all the individuals that they can able access to its products or services as per the
gender, age , physical disability and race.
There is an act of the Equality Act 2010 in that they regulating with the citizen in equal
manner and it is that type of law which are eliminating the inconsistency. It is mixture of various
act that are sex discrimination act 1975, Equal pay Act 1970, Race relation Act , Employment
Equality regulation, 20013 and Equality Act, 2006 (Buhalis and Darcy, 2011).
Under the discrimination act, 1975 in which it protect the interest of women and men
from the discrimination at the workplace. Thus, they have to be treated in that manner regard to
training, education, employment and harassment. Therefore, there is an another act that is the
Race discrimination Act, 1976 that are mainly developed for the purpose of preventing
discrimination on the grounds regard to ethnicity, national origin, race or colour and nationality
etc. Apart from this, there is an another act that is Disability Discrimination act, 2005 it is
unlawful for those who are treated unequal and discriminate the people that are on the basis of
physical disability.
There are various type of discrimination which are recognized under the regulation and
legislation which are as describe as follows-
 Direct: It can be said that if the person are to be treated unequally as per the standard of
the law.
 Physical Disability: It is unlawful for those who are treated unequal and discriminate the
people that are on the basis of physical disability.

TASK 3
3.1Explaination on contract legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers
It is that type of contract under which it can be define as a relationships that are legally
among the two or more affairs for the purpose exchanging products or services for the conditions
which is mainly enforce by law (Mayor and Tol,2010). Thus, the travel and tourism has abide a
contract with the clients for the purpose of setting up the various detail information regard to
services and payments. Thus , each and every traveller made a contract in that they have certain
terms as well as conditions that are attached into it. It can detail of departure, arrival, place of
destination, time duration and staying cost. Thus, there are various elements that are regarded as
a contract that are as describe below-
 Offer- It is that type of statement under which it is to informed that the offeree are ready
to accept the offer. Thus, this statement are made by the offeror for the oferee. It can be
made among the two parties in which there is a terms and conditions that are present in
the offer that are accepted by the offerer.
 Acceptance- It is offer acceptance under which one party is ready to accept the another
party agreement. Thus, it is a two parties one is offer and offeree. The contract is made
among the two parties that are of holiday contract. Under this contract the amount is
needed to pay for purchasing the product after the detail discussion by the traveller
agent.
 Consideration- The contract is valid when there is a certain amount of consideration
that are needed to finish the acceptance (Kayar and Kozak,2010). It is necessary that the
contract is needed to be consideration if not then there is not binding by law. Therefore,
under the holiday contract there is a charges regard to holiday through the traveller agent
that are needed to be consideration.
 Capacity- The element under this contract needs to be capability to enter into the legal
contract. Under this, there is needed to fulfil the legal contract with the parties they must
be sound mind, majority age and free from intended. Therefore, under the holiday
contract it is the most important element which the partier who are receiver of contract
must be 18 years

 Certainty- There are various rules and regulation that are needed in the terms as well as
condition of the contract that shall be necessary to clear among the parties under the
contract if not then it will not be considered as a valid contract.
3.2 Explain consumer protection legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers
The consumer protection legislation have an objectives in which they have to make
protection against the consumers and they also have to protect their interest from violation at the
hand of travel agents. Under this, there is an act of trade description act 1968 in which it
influencing that there is a misleading or false indicator of pricing of goods, accommodation and
goods and other related services. It setting out the responsibility for the trading standard officer
in which they have check that are as follows-
 Making any kind of false statement any provision, accommodation and services.
 Application of mislead statement regards to trade description.
In the consumer protection act, 1987 in which they lay down the consumer right and it is
the duty of those party who deliver goods or services ( Clift and Page,2015). It is a responsibility
of the manufacturer is that they have to provide those information in the product that are under
the health and safety law of the countries. Thus, the various rules and regulation are needed
which helps in:
 Developing the product liability
 Prohibits unlawful prices
 Developing legal authority
The above legislation clubbed the Consumer protection legislation from the Unfair trading
Regulation 2008. In the Context of travel and tourism industry there is a protection of consumer
which are as follows-
 Applicable of surcharge to the payment are to be made through cards.
 The rooms price are made available.
 Price needs to disclosure at the bars
Task 4
4.1 Ethical Dilemmas Faced By The Travel And Tourism Sector
Ethical dilemma is a strong word and has a strong meaning which completely relates to
ethics. Here in this context if we talk of ethics it is important for the tourism companies like
Thomas cook to comply with the rules and regulations in order to make a difference. Ethical

dilemma is basically anything which an individual dose not feel good about is ethical dilemma
and that thing should be also as per the governments and society point of view should be wrong,
that makes up the ethical dilemma(Martin and Kane, 2014). Like poverty is ethical dilemma and
many other things like child labor is ethical dilemma. Thus there are many things which portrays
ethical dilemma in travel and tourism sector they are:
 Child Beggars: Different people go for the purpose of traveling and they view at
different places among the beggars the child beggars which makes them feel nostalgic
and drives them to think what a pitty it is that a child has to beg for the one time meal.
The main question behind this is would you give money to those beggars? further it will
help them but is that money is going in their pocket or the mafia organizations. So doing
something for them is the key in making this dilemma remove(Moyle and Weiler, 2014).
 Paying for Photos: Another type of dilemma that has been faced is paying for their own
photos. Sometimes the places are so amazing that everyone who comes there has to click
a picture there and there he founds so many photographers who are there to take the
photos but at a cost which is not promising for travel industries.
 Foreign-owned Places: At the time of traveling a traveler finds many places which is
amazing to watch and live. But they are not visible on the map and they didn't have any
of the websites through which a traveler can reach to those places. But meanwhile in
between traveling they find these places.
 Controversial Countries: There are different countries that have amazing places to
watch for but whenever they are in news they have been meeting with some accidents
and thus this makes the person demotivated to go there(Fernandez and Jensen, 2014).
 Slum Tours: By having the tours of slum it has been noticed by various traveler that
there has been very poor condition in the countries where one side of the country delivers
unlimited food, entertainment and where the life is lived to fullest and on the other side of
it is vice-versa which is slum.
 Animal Treatment: Animal treatment is the horrible scenario one can see while
traveling because there are many places which has been involved in using animals as

entertainers and sometimes the elephants are used as for the rides which eventually is a
biggest ethical dilemma which can be faced by tourism sector.
4.2 Corporate Social Responsibility Policy Of Thomas Cook
Corporate Social responsibility can be understand with the help of making things clear
for the purpose of further us e of the resources. Maintaining the sustainability is the key A CSR
is that techniques in which companies work in such a manner that how much they earn some part
of that they spend on society in such a way that it benefits the society or environment and also
build s the brand image of he company or used for the purpose of marketing(Farmaki and Hilke,
2015). Thus Thomas cook if talked about is concerned with such types of practices from its
inception and thus they are:
 They have been engaging our colleagues, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders in
our endeavors.
 Thomas cook have been engaged in many community engagement and volunteering
practices, which has cultivated the interaction between communities and many diverse
people have been witnessed in that programs.
 Further in addition the company was engaged in child protection programs which has
cultivated people to recognize the importance of ensuring that all children should be
protected from the possibility of sexual or other forms of exploitation abuse or neglect
like child labor and beggar kind of(Chindris-Vasioiu and Tocan, 2014).
 Thomas cook has been improving their efficiency by 5.6%, compared to 2008 and
continue to operate one of the most efficient airline fleets in Europe. They produce
71.5g CO2 per passenger kilometer.
 They launched a program which is named as "Heartbeat", which includes new group
wide intranet to engage our employees in collaboration and bring the business even
closer together.
 They have made 296 hotels with sustainable certifications for their customers.
 Launched "My pad" for effective performance management.
 Compared to 2010 they have been able to reduce the electricity usage across their
offices about 55%.
 53% of paper consumption was reduced by the usage of digital tools.

CONCLUSION
Summarising the whole report it has been concluded that the consumer protection
legislation have an objectives in which they have to make protection against the consumers and
they also have to protect their interest from violation at the hand of travel agents. Under this,
there is an act of trade description act 1968 in which it influencing that there is a misleading or
false indicator of pricing of goods, accommodation and goods and other related services. Further,
it has been also analysed that Under the discrimination act, 1975 in which it protect the interest
of women and men from the discrimination at the workplace. Thus, they have to be treated in
that manner regard to training, education, employment and harassment. Therefore, there is an
another act that is the Race discrimination Act, 1976 that are mainly developed for the purpose
of preventing discrimination on the grounds regard to ethnicity, national origin, race or colour
and nationality etc.

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