Legislation and Ethics in Travel and Tourism Sector Analysis

This report delves into the critical aspects of legislation and ethics within the travel and tourism sector, focusing on the legal and regulatory frameworks that govern the industry. It examines the legal aspects of surface, sea, and air transport, including relevant acts and conventions. The report evaluates the impact of health, safety, and security legislation, as well as equality legislation, on the sector's operations. Furthermore, it analyzes ethical dilemmas faced by travel and tourism businesses and explores the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy of Thomas Cook. The report highlights key regulations such as the Development of Tourism Act, Transports Acts, and Package Travel Regulations, and their influence on passenger safety, service quality, and business practices. It underscores the importance of compliance with legal standards to ensure effective business operations and customer satisfaction.

Legislation and
Ethics in
Travel and Tourism
Sector

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Explain the legal and regulatory framework of the travel and tourism sector......................4
1.2 Discuss surface, sea and air transport law in relation to the carriage of passengers within
the legal and regulatory framework............................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Evaluate the impacts of the principles of health, safety and security legislation on the
travel and tourism sector.............................................................................................................7
2.2 Analyse legislation that relates to equality............................................................................8
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
Covered in leaflet......................................................................................................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
4.1 Analyse ethical dilemmas faced by the travel and tourism sector......................................12
4.2 Analyse the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy of a specified travel and
tourism business........................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
For every industry it is essential to follow legislation and ethics because through it they
able to operate and conduct their business operations in effective manner. Now a day one of the
leading and fastest growing industry is hospitality industry and it there are various business units
are conducting business (Bentley and et. al.,2012). This is so because it is one of continuous
growing industry which gives huge profits along with market shares opportunities. There are
various business or activities conducted in respective industry such as food and beverage,
lodging, event planning, transportation, theme park and many more. Organization selected for
this report is Thomas Cook which is a public type company operating in hospitality and tourism
industry. It is founded in year 1841 and its predecessor are My Travel Group Plc, Thomas Cook
& Son and Thomas Cook AG. Its headquarter is situated at London, England, United Kingdom
and they offer their products and services at worldwide level. Products of respective company
are holiday packages, hotel, resorts, charter and scheduled passenger’s transports and so on as
well as their services are flights, hotel and packages for holiday (Scheyvens, 2012). Topics
explain in this report are legislation, rules and regulation related to air, sea and surface area for
carriage passengers by travel and tourism company. It will also include several principles based
on safety, equality, security and health of passengers or service users. Along with this it will also
include some other legal rules related to customer’s protection as well as it will also include
issues face by respective industry and CSR activities conducted by them in order to overcome
dilemmas.

TASK 1
1.1 Explain the legal and regulatory framework of the travel and tourism sector
It is necessary for each and every company who are operating in travel and tourism
sector to adopt proper rules and regulation in order to maintain proper environment as well as
relationship with suppliers, customers, employees and many more. By implementing proper
legal framework, a firm also able to attain their goal and target effectively and in legal manner.
It will also govern company manager in decision making process as well as through it they also
able to minimise conflict situation at workplace (Botterill, Pennings and Mainil, 2013). It is also
necessary for firm to update their policies and rules according to legislation developed by
government of country. Some of the major rules and regulations for travel and tourism sector
are mentioned below: -
 Development of Tourism Act: The respective legislation is developed by British
Tourist Authority and Tourist Boars in year 1969 mainly for England, Wales and
Scotland. This is adopted for enhancing promotional activities in order to develop travel
and tourism at Great Britain. By this tourism organisation able to encourage and
convince peoples to visit various attractive location of Britain. It is generally done
through offering attractive holiday packages for all type of customers or visitors
(Buhalis, Darcy and Ambrose, 2012). The main aim of developing this legislation is to
increasing tourist amenities as well as facilities at Britain so that they can attract more
and more visitors which leads to enhance in country gross profits ratio. For this
organisation as well as government take various actions such as improving hotel
facilities, promote charismatic location, offer attractive packages for holiday and many
more.
 Transports Acts 1980 and 1985: This legislation is developed by United Kingdom
parliament in the year 1980, which describe about coach services at respective country
and it is generally related to bus services which was on test ground. In year 1985 this
legislation was also imposed on local bus services. Along with this it is also accountable
for liberation of private bus services on the global level as well as due to this rule and
regulation there is end of legislation related to licensing that impacted on coach and
travel routes till 30 miles (Tse and Tse, 2015). Due to this there is enhancement in

competition between national as well as private buses. In addition to respective rule and
regulation private bus companies able to provide cheap travel and options for visiting
more places to their customers or visitors.
 Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992: This
legislation is developed by government of United Kingdom at 1992 in order to provide
guidelines and develop standards for those companies who sell holiday packages. The
respective legislation also help in ensuring tour operators and holiday firms will provide
proper facilities to their customers or visitors (Chuang and et. al., 2014). It generally
includes guidelines and standard for hotels, airlines and cruise agency. Along with this,
respective law also helps visitors or tourist in getting fair deal for their travel as well as
it will also impact on various bodies or authority such as commission related to health
and safety, association of international air transport, strategic railway authority and
many more.
These are some of the major rules and regulation which are followed by travel and
tourism company for conducting their work in legal and successful manner. By adopting these
legislation organisations also able to develop as well as maintain effective relationship with
their employees, employer, customers, investors and many more.
1.2 Discuss surface, sea and air transport law in relation to the carriage of passengers within the
legal and regulatory framework
Travel and tourism company need to follow various rules and regulations which help
them in conducting their work in effective an appropriate way. They need to consider
legislation for various factors such as operating their business, carriage of passengers, supply of
products and services and so on. Some of the major legislation which are followed by Thomas
Cook and related to surface, sea and sir that related to carriage of passengers are given below: -
 Surface Law - The respective legislation is developed in year 1979 by International
Carriage for Passengers of Road Act. It will include several essential factors or features
such as law related to loss of customers or visitor luggage, security and safety of
passengers, remedy facility which are provided to passengers when any misshapenness
occur and so on (Coccossis, 2017). The main aim of this legislation is to protect
passengers from any injuries or damage during their travelling through road ways.
Along with this, if any misshapenness will occur then it is responsibilities of travel

company to remedy passengers from particular situation. In this Railway Carriage Act
i.e. developed in year 1972 aid in providing help when passengers loss their baggage or
luggages. In addition to respective legislation, disable visitor get addition facility as well
as safety in order to make their travel or journey safety and successful.
 Sea Law – This legislation is developed by government of United Kingdom in order to
secure travel and journey of passengers who are travelling through water bodies like
ship. For this government have developed various rules and regulations such as Athens
Convention 1974, International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Protocol 2002,
International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and many more (Whitfield
and Dioko, 2012). Along with this, it is essential for all organisation who are operating
in travel and tourism industry to adopt all these legislations so that they provide safe
facility and journey to their passengers (Cohen, 2012). Moreover, it there are also
several other laws which are based on passengers belonging and its loss or damage. In
this another legislation is SOLAS which is related to protection measures that are
generally adopted by ships when they are carrying 11 or more then 11 passengers with
them.
 Air Law – This legislation is developed by government of United Kingdom in order to
ensure safety and security of passengers who are travelling through air ways. For this
there are several rules and regulations such as Five Freedoms Agreement 1944, Warsaw
Convention 1929, Denied Boarding Compensation Scheme 1997, Montreal Conference
1999 and many more. It is essential for Warsaw Convention to adopt as well as follow
all legislation which help them in conducting proper documentation of carriage
(Connell, 2016). Through this it is necessary for them to check luggages before journey
start. Along with this it will also provide guideline for passengers that they can claim for
compensation if they go through any kind of misshapenness or injury. By following
proper rules and regulation related to air travelling airlines companies able to operate
their business as well as effectively carry their passengers for one place to another at
national and international level.
These are some of the major legislation which are related to air, surface and sea in order
to conduct carriage of passengers from one place to another. By this holiday firm able to
operate their business functions in legal manner as well as it will also help in satisfying

customers.
TASK 2
2.1 Evaluate the impacts of the principles of health, safety and security legislation on the travel
and tourism sector
Organization operating in travel and tourism industry need to adopt various health,
security and safety rules and regulation because through it they able to provide quality and safety
services to their passengers (Forno and Garibaldi, 2015). By adopting these kind of principle
companies able to attract customers, satisfy them as well as also convince them to stay with them
for long time duration. In respect of Thomas Cook, they need to adopt various principles related
to safety, security and health for example data protection, health and safety and many more, from
which some major of them are explain below with impact of these principles: -
 Health and Safety at Work Act: The respective legislation is developed by legal bodies
of United Kingdom in 1974 for all organisation in order to ensure safety and healthy
environment at workplace. It is essential for every firm to adopt all factors that leads to
maintaining healthy and safety surrounding at office premises. In respect of Thomas
Cook, they adopt as well as maintain all facilities which leads to ensuring safety and
health environment for employees and customers or passengers. They also maintain
proper standard of health and safety which leads to satisfying employees and retaining
them for long time.
 Occupiers Liability Act: This rule and regulation is developed by parliament of United
State in year 1989 and it will provide guideline that company must develop proper
communication to their customers, staffs and suppliers (Greenwood and Dwyer, 2015).
So that they can share all essential information in effective manner, this will also help in
conducting work properly. In respect of Thomas Cook develop proper working
environment which leads to effective communication. For this management of respective
firm develop various policies and rules according to which staffs get training so that they
effectively communicate with each other and their potential customers. Through this
legislation respective organisation also able to understand and resolve issue of customers
as well as employees impressively and effectively.

 Data Protection Act: This act is developed in year 1998 by parliament of United
Kingdom, it is design to protect data and information of company's staffs, customers,
suppliers, investors and so on. This is generally based on provision related to process,
protecting and moving of informations. In respect of Thomas Cook, it is essential for
their management to adopt this legal legislation because through it they able to ensure
that data and information of their staffs, investors, customers, suppliers and so on are safe
(Hall, Gossling and Scott, 2015). They can also develop rules and policy that if any
connected member of company misuses their information or data then they may face
strict legal action.
Impact of principles of health, safety and security legislation: -
An organisation get impacted when they adopt rules and regulation related to health,
safety and security at their workplace, from which some major of them that are face by Thomas
Cook are mentioned below: -
 By adopting legislation related to these factors management able to develop and maintain
effective healthy, safety and security environment for all peoples connected with
respective company.
 This will help Thomas Cook in reducing or avoiding illegal activities at their workplace
which will also attract and retain customers, investors, suppliers and employees for a long
time duration.
 By adopting as well as maintaining effective health, security and safety rules and
regulation respective company able to operate in international and national market in
successful manner.
These are some of the major impact face by Thomas Cook when they adopt or implement
rules and regulation at their workplace.
2.2 Analyse legislation that relates to equality
Equality is defining as method or technique that is adopted by a firm which help them in
treating their all connected members equally and effectively. This will help them in avoiding
discrimination at workplace that will leads to creating positive impact at market. Some of the
major legislation related to equality which are adopted by Thomas Cook are mentioned below: -
 Sex discrimination Act: This legislation is developing in year 1975 by parliament of
United Kingdom for protecting men, women and kinds from getting discriminated on the

basis of sex or marital status. Along with this it will also concerned to transexual peoples
(Hamarneh, 2013). According to this Act it is essential to provide training and education
to all peoples so that they can avoid respective situation in effectively. In respect of
Thomas Cook, it is essential for their management to develop proper polices and rules so
that they can avoid sex discrimination situation at workplace. By this action company
management able to satisfy their employees and encourage them to stay connected with
them for long time duration.
 Employment protection Act: This legislation is developed by legal bodies of United
Kingdom in year 1978 in order to protect rights of employees as well employer. This
legislation is generally considering as centre part of labour law of respective company as
well as it is contracted with two rules i.e. Employment Act 1963 and Redundancy
Payment Act 1995. It is necessary for Thomas Cook management to adopt employment
protect act because through it they able to protect their employees as well as employers
right. That will lead to reduction in conflict situation and improvement in working
environment where all employees understand each other as well as conduct work
properly.
 Disability Discrimination Act: This is developing by United Kingdom government in
year 1995 in order to protect rights of disability peoples at workplace who are blind or
partially sighted. In year 2010 disability discrimination is replaced through equality act at
Wales, England and Scotland. In respect of Thomas Cook, they must adopt and
implement respective rule at their workplace through which they able to equally treat
their all customers, employees, investors and other connected persons even if they are
disable. Through this they also able to enhance their goodwill and market shares at
marketplace in effective manner.
 Human Right Act: This legislation is designed by United Kingdom government in the
year 1998 in order to protect rights of human at their workplace. The respective act
includes or cover various other act like right to life, freedom from slavery and forced
labour, right to security and so on. In respect of Thomas Cook, it is necessary for them to
adopt this rule and regulation because through it they able to treat equality to every
connected person. Along with this it will also help in protecting each and every person
rights in effective manner.

 Employment Act: It is developed in year 2002 through United State parliament in order
to provide equal right to all employees in respect of payment, holiday, growth and many
more. Along with this. According to this legislation an organisation must maintain proper
family friendly culture so that employees feel motivated and conduct their work properly.
In respect of respective company, it is necessary for management to adopt employment
act and develop policies accordingly (Higham and et. al., 2016). This is so because
through it they able to conduct them create and maintain proper working environment
where all employees are motivated and less chance of conflict.
By adopting these equality acts Thomas Cook able conduct their work in effective
manner as well as they also able to maintaining proper equality at workplace.

TASK 3
Covered in leaflet

TASK 4
4.1 Analyse ethical dilemmas faced by the travel and tourism sector
In context of travel and tourism sector, there are various types of dilemma which are
faced by them which creates problems in achievement of goals and objectives. These helps in
identifying growth of basic elements for business. As these all factors are not suitable at same
time. There is different reason due to which ethical dilemma has arisen in respective
organisation for carrying out work at travel and tourism sector (Jenkins and Mkono, 2015). The
reasons for ethical dilemma faced by travel and tourism industry are mentioned here:
 Resources Utilisation - For every company it is essential to utilise their resource in
effective manner. But it is considering as ethical dilemma for company because
sometime employees not use resources in proper manner due to which company face
various issues like scarcity of resource, wastage and many more. In respect of Thomas
Cook, it is necessary for their leader as well as staffs to understand effectiveness of
resource and money (Lunt and et. al., 2015). For this management may conduct proper
training and development which help in conducting work effectively as well as it will
also reduce wastage of resources. Along with this it will also leads to fuller utilisation of
resources and attainment of goal in effective manner.
 Conflict Among Society and Law - An organisation need to adopt several rules and
regulations in order to conduct their operations and functions in effective way. But due
to these law sometime a company face several issues because it is not possible for them
to follow each and every legislation. In respect of Thomas Cook, they conduct several
activities and it is not always possible for them to develop their plan of action according
to society requirement and legislation. But it is necessary for them to develop strategies
by considering these two factors because customers lead to enhancement in business and
law help in conducting business legally.
 Investment and Finance policies of Businesses in Tourism Industry – It is also
considering as ethical dilemma for companies which are operating in travel and tourism
sector (Joppe, 2018). This is so because coastal area liked by peoples or tourism very
much so it is opportunities for organisation to setup their business at respective place.
But on the other hand they also need to consider issues which are faced by local peoples