A Report on Legislation and Ethics in Travel and Tourism Sector

This report delves into the critical aspects of legislation and ethics within the travel and tourism sector. It begins by outlining the legal and regulatory frameworks, including key acts like the Tourism Act 1969, and transport laws governing surface, sea, and air travel. The report then evaluates the impact of health, safety, and security legislation, such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and analyzes equality legislation relevant to the industry. Furthermore, it examines contract and consumer protection legislation, referencing acts like the Unfair Terms Act 1977 and the Sale of Goods Act 1979. The report concludes with an analysis of ethical dilemmas faced by the sector and explores corporate social responsibility policies of travel and tourism businesses, providing a comprehensive overview of the legal and ethical landscape.

Legislation and Ethics in
Travel and Tourism Sector

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Legal and regulatory framework of the travel and tourism sector...................................1
1.2 Surface, sea and air transport law in relation to the carriage of passengers within the legal
and regulatory framework......................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Evaluation of impacts of the principles of health, safety and security legislation on the
travel and tourism sector........................................................................................................3
2.2 Analysis of legislation that related to equality.................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
3.1 Contract legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers......................................4
3.2 Consumer protection legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers..................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................6
4.1 Analysis of ethical dilemmas faced by travel and tourism sector....................................6
4.2 Analysis of corporate social responsibility policy of specified travel and tourism business
................................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism sector is part of hospitality sector which is concerned with delivering
different types of services to the clients. Main objective of all the companies which are operating
business in this industry is to satisfy customers with the help of good quality services so that they
ca be retained by company and overall profits can be enhanced (Becker, 2016). It is very
important for all the enterprises which are related to this sector to follow all the legislation of
government and fulfil ethical requirements so that business can be operated appropriately and
properly. Main aim of this report is to figure out the importance of legislation and ethics in travel
and tourism sector.
Various topics are discussed under this report such as legislation and regulation related to
health, safety and security in travel and tourism sector, consumer protection legislation in
relation to this industry. Apart from this legal and regulatory framework and role of ethics in
travel and tourism sector are also discussed under this report.
TASK 1
1.1 Legal and regulatory framework of the travel and tourism sector
The trainee in the local Law Centre have been asked by supervisor to write number of brief
reports which are going to be used to advice unhappy holiday clients contemplating the
possibility of bringing court actions. There are various types of regulations that are used to
regulate travel and tourism sector. In order to execute all the business activities in proper manner
it is very important for organizations which are executing operations under this sector to follow
all the regulations that are imposed by government (Cohen, 2014). Following are some of the
laws and sources of laws that are used to regulate travel and tourism sector:
Tourism Act, 1969: This is mainly implemented in England, Scotland and Wales in
order to enhance travel and tourism in the country. It focuses on the tourism business entities and
their coordination as specified by the British Tourist Authority. It also depicts that financial
assistance out of public fund is provided to the hotels and such organizations that are part of
travel and tourism sector (Tourism act, 1969, 2019).
Transport Act, 1980 and 1985: Under this act all the national and private transport
vehicles are controlled and regulated by government along with their routes. It allows legal
authorities to deregulate bus services in a trial basis (Fennell, 2014). Afterwards they are also
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allowed to liberalize the local buses of the country. It was imposed by Parliament in the United
Kingdom.
Package Travel and Tour Regulations, 1992: For all the organizations which are
selling travel packages it is vital to comply with this act so that all their operations can be
executed in appropriate manner (Font and McCabe, 2017).
There are various types of sources of laws that regulates business activities of travel and
tourism sector. All of them are described below:
Constitution: Whole country is governed by constitution and it is vital for companies in
travel sector to take permission to execute business operations. All power is created and
allocated by constitution among executive, legislative and judicial branches of federal
government.
Legislature: All the states in UK has their own legislature and it gets power from
constitution. In each legislature there is a house of representative which has 435 members and
these are appointed by federal government in order to control state (Forno and Garibaldi, 2015).
Judiciaries: These are the courts which handle all the criminal offences of local public.
All the cases where clients are not satisfied with services of travel and tourism companies can
file complaint here and ask for justice.
1.2 Surface, sea and air transport law in relation to the carriage of passengers within the legal and
regulatory framework
Legal and regulatory framework includes different rules and regulations that are required to
be followed by business entities in order to achieve business goals. There are certain rules related
air, surface and sea transport that are part of it. All of them are discussed below in detail:
Surface law: The international carriage passenger by road act, 1979 is a law which is
comes under surface law. It protects act of all the passengers that are on board. If they face any
physical damage then according to this act they are allowed to ask for compensation. Another act
which is also a part of this law is Carriage by railway act, 1972 under which travelers are
allowed to ask for compensation regarding their loss of luggage (Gibson, 2016).
Sea law: The Athens convention, 1974 is a part of sea law in which shipping safety and
security related regulations are defined. According to this act travel and tourism companies are
required to make sure that all the passenger who are travelling from a ship are totally safe and
secure.
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Air law: The Warsaw convention act, 1929 is a part of this type of law in which safety
and security of passenger who are travelling from an air plane or a jet. It is vital for travel and
tourism companies to make sure that the medium which they are booking for clients is highly
secured and safe (Greenwood and Dwyer, 2015).
TASK 2
2.1 Evaluation of impacts of the principles of health, safety and security legislation on the travel
and tourism sector
Health and Safety officer of Elegant Hotel has been asked to prepare report which is going
to be presented in front of Mr. Fred who the director of hotel. This report will cover impact of
health, safety and security legislation which is required to be evaluated. The legislation is
focused with analysis of hazards in travel and tourism sector. These are also implemented to
make sure that risks of accidents can be minimized. Some of the regulations are as follows:
Health and safety at work act, 1974: According to this act it is very important for all
the business entities to focus on health and safety of their employees so that they can work
effectively. In order to enhance productivity of the staff members it is very important for
companies to provide them that place to work where they can work freely (Hall, Gossling and
Scott, 2015). All the organizations are complying with this act in order to enhance their work
quality so overall profits of the company can be enhanced. Impact of this type of regulation is as
follows:
 With the help of such type of regulations organizations can provide best health and
safety related services to them.
 When this act was imposed by government the business entities started to focus on
health of their workers and providing them healthy environment.
 According to this act, all the employees have right to work in such organization where
employers are concerned with their health and safety.
 After introduction of this law business entities started to provide medial benefits to the
workforce who get sick due to business operations.
2.2 Analysis of legislation that related to equality
The health and safety officer have also asked to prepare another report for Mr. Fred which covers
analysis of equality legislation in the English system which is required to be analyzed by the
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director while recruiting and managing employees of hotel. According to equality act it is very
important for employer to treat all the workers equally and ignore biased behavior with staff
members (Kroløkke, 2015). In some of the organizations directors and other top executives
discriminate between workforce on the basis of gender, nationality, race, marital status, region,
age disability, criminal and medical record. While recruiting and managing staff members it is
very important for Mr. Fred to focus on this act because without proper information of this act it
is not possible for director to be the choice of employer for them. For Mr. Fred it is vital to treat
all the members of hotel to equally so that they can accomplish all the tasks that are allotted to
them by the top management of hotel.
In order to enhance productivity of each and every employee it is very important for hotel
managers to be unbiased with staff so that they get motivated and put full efforts to fulfil
requirements of their job role. While recruiting new employees for the company it is very
important for Mr. Fred to take interviews without discriminating between the applicants and
select best suitable candidate for vacant job. According to English legal system it is essential for
enterprises to be equal with all the employees and treat them equally so that their engagement
level in organization can be enhanced (McCabe and Diekmann, 2015). In most of the cities in
UK, companies discriminate between male and female employees and there is a huge difference
between their pay scale. In order to deal with this issue government imposed a rule which is
Equality act, 2010. According to this act all the companies should treat all the workers equally
and provide them appropriate compensation according to their work. Right after the enforcement
of this act business entities started to focus on the work culture of the business and provide equal
rights to all the workers so that organizational as well as personal goals. With the help of it
performance and profitability of enterprises can also be enhanced for a long period in future.
TASK 3
3.1 Contract legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers
The law center has asked to prepare a report on explanation of general features of
legislation under contract law. Following are the acts that are related to contract:
The unfair terms act, 1977: This act of contract law restricts the operations and legality
of some terms of contract. It is imposed by parliament of United Kingdom in order to limit the
applicability of disclaimers of liability. Its territorial extent covers England, Wales, Scotland and
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Northern Ireland. It is mainly used in the conjunction with the unfair terms in consumer
contracts. This act helps to keep all the terms clear that are related to the contract which is made
by two different parties.
Unfair terms in consumer contract regulations, 1999: This act is mainly formulated to
protect customers against unfair standard terms in standard term contracts. There are various
different bodies such as OFT and other bodies that may take strict actions regarding such type of
terms that are not legal. These legal authorities are not allowed to intervene in a private dispute
on an individual’s behalf (Ram, 2018). It was mainly imposed by government for the purpose of
regulating illegal activities that are performed by business entities by selling wrong travel
packages to the clients.
Sale of goods act, 1979: It was imposed by Parliament of United Kingdom in order to
regulate English Contract Law and Commercial Law of UK which is related to selling and
buying of goods. It was made by consolidating two different regulations that are sale of goods
act, 1893 and subsequent legislation. Both of them has resulted in codified and consolidated law.
Under this act travel and tourism organizations have to make sure that the packages that are sold
by them to clients are according to the law and appropriate.
Supply of goods and services act, 1982: According to this act business entities are
required to supply good quality products and services to the clients. As travel and tourism sector
is concerned with activities in which services are rendered to the customers. In order to sustain in
the market all, the business entities that are executing operation under this sector are required to
deliver best quality services to the clients and enhance their satisfaction level.
The consumer rights act, 2015: According to this right all the consumers of products
and services have right to file a complaint if they are having any type of issue from the
organization or the service provider. This was imposed by government of UK to save consumer
rights. It came in to force on 1 October 2015 and helping unsatisfied customers to file complaint
against the business entities who have not delivered them promised services (Smith and Puczkó,
2014).
All the above described acts are required to be analyzed by organizations that are
operating business under travel and tourism sector as they are also signing a contract with clients
by promising them to provide them best travel package. If customers are not satisfy with the
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service or having any other type of issue then they have right to file a complaint against the
company and ask for refund of a legal action against it.
3.2 Consumer protection legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers
For all the travel and tourism sector organizations it is very important to focus on consumer
protection legislation while selling them travel or holiday packages. It is very important for tour
operators to provide competitive pricing to them so that they get attracted towards the company.
In order to retain them for along period it is very important for travel agencies to render best
services to clients so that their satisfaction level can be enhanced (Spencer, 2016). For example,
if an organization which is operating business under travel and tourism sector is not able to
provide all promised services that are mentioned in travel package then clients can file complaint
against it. Customers can file complaint under consumer protection act which saves consumer
rights and help them to get justice. It is very important for the service providers to provide
detailed information of the travel packages to clients that are going to be bought by them. It is
also essential for them to also aware them regarding charges that could be asked by hotels or
resorts that are part of travel package. It can help them customers to be prepare to deal with such
types of challenges and issues.
TASK 4
4.1 Analysis of ethical dilemmas faced by travel and tourism sector
A large corporation in travel and tourism sector is responsible for building holidays homes
in the Caribbean islands and has requested to write a report which can deal with ethical
dilemmas. The report is all about ethical dilemmas that corporation could face and the way in
which all of the can be dealt. All the issues are as follows:
Green issues ethics: Such types of issues are related to environment in which travel
companies have to faced issues due to their operations that affect nature. In order to overcome
this type of ethical dilemma travel companies are required to make sure that their operational
activity is not harming the environment. Investing in to CSR activities is also a way to find
response for this type of problems. It helps to establish a positive image in the market and minds
of customers.
False advertisement ethics: It is one of the major issues that are faced by travel and
tourism companies because sometimes they show false advertisements that results in
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unsatisfaction of clients. In order to satisfy all the customers, it is very important for travel
companies to provide them accurate information of the travel package and show appropriate
advertisements rather than showing a false image of company. To deal with such type of ethical
dilemmas it is very important for top executives of tour guides to make sure that appropriate
information is provided to the clients so that organization does not face this issue (Tse and Tse,
2015).
Ethics of employment: It is very important for top executives of travel companies to be
nice with all the employees so that they can work productively. In order to deliver best quality
services to the customers it is vital to make sure that staff members are satisfied with their jobs
and help them to select best travel package for themselves. When companies are not behaving
good with the workforce then it is not possible for the organization to execute all the operational
activities. In order to respond all the issues in appropriate manner top executives are required to
formulate strategic decisions so that solutions for them can be figured out.
All the above described ethical dilemmas are faced by travel and tourism sector
organizations. It is very important for top executives of such type of companies to formulate
strategic decisions and find appropriate solutions for all of them so that negative impact of them
can be reduced.
4.2 Analysis of corporate social responsibility policy of specified travel and tourism business
Corporate social responsibility: It is a type of contribution which is made by corporate
business entities in which they spend a fixed percentage of their income for betterment of
society. It helps to establish a positive image in the mind of customers and other stakeholders
such as government, employees, investors etc. According to government regulations it is vital for
all the organizations to spend 2% of their net income for societal welfare. It helps to reduce
employee turnover because when organization is having a positive image then no worker will try
to leave the company (Van Beers, 2014). With the help of engagement in CSR activities
organizations can also enhance profitability because it set a positive image in the mind of
customers which helps to enhance sales and profits. It is very important for effective execution of
business in an ethical manner which is beneficial for whole company to attain predetermined
goals such as profit maximization and customer satisfaction. Travel companies can also take
advantage of CSR by investing a little amount for betterment of society and environment. All
such types of organizations commit to operate all the activities of business in a proper and ethical
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way. For large as well as small business entities it is essential to fulfil all the requirements of
corporate social responsibility in order to set favorable image of company in market. Enterprises
promise to reduce waste and direct impact of its operations on environment and society. Large
travel companies play a vital role in society by building culture which promotes employee
volunteering, skills matching and fundraising (Xu and Shieh, 2014). It also supports local
businesses and the communities in which business is operated by them. The CSR strategy of
business entities to bring together and recognize the range of activities under CSR that are
already done by them and to outline future operations related to it. High contribution in such type
of activities helps to reflect core value of company.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it ash been concluded that there are various types of
legislations and laws that are required to be followed by travel and tourism companies in UK. In
order to execute operational activities in appropriate manner it is vital for such organisation to
comply with all of them. Sea, surface, air, equality, consumer protection etc. are some laws that
should be followed by travel and tourism companies so that their all the requirements of legal
parties can be fulfilled. Different types of ethical dilemmas are also faced by such enterprises and
in order to deal with them appropriately organisations are required to fulfil corporate social
responsibility legislation. According to law all the business entities have to contribute a fixed
percentage of their profits for social wares under CSR laws.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Becker, E., 2016. Overbooked: The exploding business of travel and tourism. Simon and
Schuster.
Cohen, I. G., 2014. Patients with passports: medical tourism, law, and ethics. Oxford University
Press.
Fennell, D. A., 2014. Exploring the boundaries of a new moral order for tourism's global code of
ethics: an opinion piece on the position of animals in the tourism industry. Journal of
Sustainable Tourism. 22(7). pp.983-996.
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.
Forno, F. and Garibaldi, R., 2015. Sharing economy in travel and tourism: the case of home-
swapping in Italy. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism. 16(2).
pp.202-220.
Gibson, S., 2016. Mobilizing hospitality: The ethics of social relations in a mobile world.
Routledge.
Greenwood, V. A. and Dwyer, L., 2015. Consumer protection legislation: A neglected
determinant of destination competitiveness?. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Management. 24. pp.1-8.
Hall, C. M., Gossling, S. and Scott, D. eds., 2015. The Routledge handbook of tourism and
sustainability. Routledge.
Kroløkke, C., 2015. Have eggs, will travel: the experiences and ethics of global egg
donation. Somatechnics. 5(1). pp.12-31.
McCabe, S. and Diekmann, A., 2015. The rights to tourism: reflections on social tourism and
human rights. Tourism Recreation Research. 40(2). pp.194-204.
Ram, Y., 2018. Hostility or hospitality? A review on violence, bullying and sexual harassment in
the tourism and hospitality industry. Current Issues in Tourism. 21(7). pp.760-774.
Smith, M. and Puczkó, L., 2014. Health, tourism and hospitality: Spas, wellness and medical
travel. Routledge.
Spencer, R., 2016. Development tourism: lessons from Cuba. Routledge.
Tse, T. S. and Tse, Q. K., 2015. The legal aspects of “zero-fare” tour in shopping tourism: A case
of Chinese visitors in Hong Kong. Journal of China Tourism Research. 11(3). pp.297-
314.
Van Beers, B. C., 2014. Is Europe ‘giving in to baby markets?’Reproductive tourism in Europe
and the gradual erosion of existing legal limits to reproductive markets. Medical Law
Review. 23(1). pp.103-134.
Xu, A. and Shieh, C. J., 2014. Effects of marketing ethics on customer satisfaction in tourism
industry. Acta Oeconomica, 64(Supplement 2). pp.243-255.
Online
Tourism act, 1969. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
< https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1969/51>
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