Legal and Ethical Frameworks in the Travel and Tourism Industry

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LEGISLATION AND ETHICS IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................1
LO1 LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK IN THE TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR.............2
1.1........................................................................................................................................ 2
1.2........................................................................................................................................ 3
LO2 LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS RELATING HEALTH, SAFETY, AND SECURITY................5
2.1........................................................................................................................................ 5
2.2........................................................................................................................................ 6
LO3 CONSUMER PROTECTION LEGISLATION IN RELATION TO THE TRAVEL AND TOURISM
SECTOR..................................................................................................................................... 8
3.1........................................................................................................................................ 8
3.2........................................................................................................................................ 9
LO4 ROLE OF BUSINESS ETHICS IN THE TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR................................11
4.1...................................................................................................................................... 11
4.2...................................................................................................................................... 12
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 14
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 15
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INTRODUCTION
Tourism and travelling are rapidly growing in the current scenario due to the increasing
interest of the general population. The rapid growth in the travel and tourism industry has
created an increasing need for the regulations to ensure that the business runs effectively
(Smith, 2014). This report will discuss the legal and moral issue in the travel and tourism
sector. It will provide an introduction to the important laws and regulations that are
necessary for enduring effective operations within the number of business organisations in
the travel and tourism industry. A range of regulatory and legal framework will be explored.
The importance of business ethics within the tourism sector will be explored to analyse the
role of business ethics in the mitigating ethical dilemmas and producing a corporate social
responsibility policy.
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LO1 LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK IN THE TRAVEL AND
TOURISM SECTOR
This leaflet will provide the proper knowledge of legal and regulatory framework within the
tourism industry to the retail travel consultants to support them in making legal decisions.
1.1
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
The tourism industry in made-up of so
many factors like suppliers, contracts,
organisations, consumers, seller,
hospitality, etc. the legislation plays a
great role in ensuring effective interaction
between all these factors. A legal
framework or legislation can be termed as
a system of rules that governs the
decision-making while the regulations or
regulatory framework proposes a system
to enforce the set legislation. The legal
and regulatory framework in the UK
consists of civil and criminal law that are
protected by the courts like a high court,
country court, Supreme Court and crown
court (Swanson and Edgell Sr, 2013). The
key objectives of tourism legislation are to
create a standard procedure, establish the
right and obligations of the involved
parties and developing tourism in a
regulated manner.
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
The key regulations affecting the travel
and tourism industry are;
Association of British Travel Agents: it is
an association of tour operators and
travel agents that is aimed at providing
guidance, protection, advice, and support
in resolving travel issues and complaint
(Griffith and Howarth, 2014).
Health and safety commission: it is a
statutory body with the aim of protecting
the people against the general risks to
their health and safety by ensuring proper
arrangements to secure health, welfare,
and safety of people at work.
Strategic rail authority: A non-
departmental public body is aimed at
providing strategic guidance to the railway
industry. The act is replaced by the
railway's act 2005 in 2006 and its
functions are transferred to the
department for transport (Griffith and
Howarth, 2014).
Civil aviation authority: it is established
to regulate all the aspects of civil aviation
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and supervises the issuance of licence and
training or engineers for maintaining
airport and en-route telecommunications
(Graham, 2013).
International air transport association: it
is a trade association that represents 290
airlines across the world. Its aim is to
regulate and tracks the formation and
functioning of the airlines.
Maritime authorities: it is responsible for
providing rescue services around the
coastline of the UK through inspection
ships to successfully meet the UK and
international safety standards.
Role and regulatory powers: the
government agencies like SRA and CAA
have the coercive and enforcement
powers to make sure that the industry
and individuals comply with the legislation
(Medlik, 2012). Such government agencies
have certain powers like arbitration
service and codes of conduct. The code of
practices aims at a fair resolution of any
disputes without delay or undue
expenses.
1.2
According to the Athens convention, the
passenger means a person who is carried
by any mean of transportation. In the
travel and tourism industry, the carriage
of a passenger from one place to another
is a big responsibility of carrier in terms of
safety. The carriage of a passenger from
one to another involves different modes
of transportation such as air, road or sea
(Garrison and Levinson, 2014). In order to
regulate the different types of mode of
transport, the government enforces
several regulations to ensure safe and
successful carriage of passengers from
one place to another.
Surface Law:
The International carriage of Passenger
by Road Act, 1979, mainly governs the
surface law. It aims at protecting the
passengers travelling through road
transportation on the carrier’s permission.
It regulates the railway coach and bus
service authorities and operators in the
UK. Some of the major surface law is local
transport act 2008, travel act and carriage
of Passenger by Road Act, 1979 (Garrison
and Levinson, 2014). The Geneva, London
and Athens conventions in the ACT
defines the rights and liabilities of the
individuals in case of injury or death of
passenger or loss of luggage.
Air Transport Law:
Air transport law is highly governed. The
Warsaw convention has laid down the
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regulation regarding the carriage of airline
passengers. The passengers have the right
to claim compensation in case of injury or
death. It states that the luggage check
must be performed at the beginning of
the journey. The air transport convention
protocol, Montreal convention, Hague
Protocol regulates the carriage of
passengers through airlines. It has set up a
legal basis for commercial aviation for
cargo and passengers (Garrison and
Levinson, 2014). The denied boarding
compensation scheme is formulated to
improve the protection standards for the
passengers. Under this, the passengers
have a right to claim compensation in case
of cancellation and delay of flights. s
Sea Law:
The International Maritime Organisation
ensures the security and safety of
passengers travelling through the sea
transportation. It also regulated the
environmental factors involved in the
functioning of the ships. The UK
parliament members have also voted for
providing rights to the sea travellers alike
to the air passengers (Garrison and
Levinson, 2014). The extent of liability for
the damage caused to the sea passengers
has been laid down in the Athens
Convention. The obligatory act of 2002
has also enhanced the limits of liability for
the ferry passengers.
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LO2 LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS RELATING HEALTH, SAFETY,
AND SECURITY
Premier Holidays is one of the leading tour operators in the UK. The company is well known
for its affordable holiday packages. This report will include essential training material for
providing knowledge of health, safety and security and equality to the staff members.
2.1
The key intention of the legislation is to introduce unified criteria for regulating the
development of tourism by determining the rights and obligations of the individuals
involved in the industry. The health, safety and security regulations set outs the
responsibility of the organisations to check and minimize the risk of injury and harm and
accident (Rhee, 2012). The primary aim of health safety and security regulations is to ensure
a safe and healthy environment for customers and employees. some of the key health,
safety and security legislation are:
Health and safety at work Act 1974: This act laid a wide range of duty on the employers and
the employer must ensure the safety and welfare of employees and other people visiting
their premises (Hughes and Ferrett, 2011). This act is enforced by the health and safety
executive (HSE) and also covers occupational health and safety at the workplace.
Data Protection Act 1998: this lay down a framework for protecting the personal data and
information of the individuals. The data protection act states 8 principles that should be
followed by everyone who has any kind of personal information of anyone. It facilitates
lawful and fair utilisation of the personal data.
Occupiers Liability Act 1984: this act states the liability of the occupiers of land or any kind
of tourist location for the trespassers. The occupiers of the land or property should ensure
the proper arrangements for protecting visitors from any kind of health and safety hazards.
The trespassers are also liable to have an expressed or implied permission of the occupier
(Bennett, 2011).
Duty of care: it is a duty of every individual to refrain from causing any kind of intentional or
forcible harm to anybody. The duty of care works in the absence of any kind of contractual
relationship.
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Vicarious Liability: the vicarious liability states the liability of superiors for the actions of
their subordinates. Under this, a third party is responsible for actions and violations of a
person under their duty of control (Taylor, 2011). The employers are liable for the tort
commitment and despite the fact that their employees have performed their duties.
2.2
Equality is where everyone is treated equally irrespective of their age, race, gender or
disability. Equality means to have equal rights and opportunities for everyone. Thus,
employees should make sure that they treat everybody equally. There are many regulations
and laws are present in the UK business sector to make sure that everyone is equally treated
without any discrimination.
The equality Act 2010 has been set up for eliminating discrimination and inequality. It
combines regulations and principles of previous acts like disability discrimination act, race
relations act, sex discrimination act, and equal pay act to formulate a single law for
promoting equality in the country (Colgan, 2011). This law enforces people and businesses
to treat everyone equally irrespective of their gender, race, societal status, religion, and
nationality.
Employment protection (consolidation) act 1978 regulates the business organisations for
ensuring the health, safety, and security of the people at the workplace. This act creates a
central part of the UK labour law. This act is a consolidation of the contract of employment
act and the redundancy payments act 1965.
Human rights act 1998 declares the fundamental rights for the people in the UK. Around 16
human rights have been defined under the act that should be considered by the individuals
and businesses organisations.
Employment act 2002 states the rules and provisions for resolution of the issues and
disputes among the employees at the workplace, family-friendly working as well as for the
equal treatment of the employees with a fixed term (Kruppe, et al., 2013). It states the rules
for maternity, paternity and adoption leaves and pays.
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The regulations related to security, safety, and health affecting the tourism and travelling
industry has been clearly determined and described above to support the staff members of
premier Inn in making the right decision in compliance with health, security and safety
regulations of the UK.
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LO3 CONSUMER PROTECTION LEGISLATION IN RELATION TO THE
TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR
This leaflet contains the information about the contract and consumer protection legislation
in relation to the travel and tourism industry to train the travel assistants to ensure
consumers rights as well as companies liabilities in case of non-compliance. This would
enable the travel assistants to provide knowledge of different consumer protection
legislation.
3.1
A contract refers to the legal relationship
between the two or more people for the
exchange of products with certain
considerations. Every business
organisation within the travel industry is
in a binding contract with the consumers
for setting out detailed information about
the payments and services. Certain terms
and conditions such as destination,
duration, and cost are always attached to
every travel contract. A contract law
comes into existence for regulating and
protecting the rights of individuals
involved in a contract. Contracts are an
intrinsic part of business and operations
within the travel industry (Chen-Wishart,
2012). A Valid contract may be a written
or expressed agreement between the two
parties to exchange goods and services.
The key elements of a legal contract are
an offer, acceptance, consideration,
certainty, and capacity. An offer is a
statement that shall have the presence of
a condition and two parties to accept the
offer. Acceptance is where the offeree
accepts the offer. To be valid, an offer
must have certain consideration like the
price to complete the acceptance.
Capacity is an ability to enter into a
contract like the majority of age and
sound mental conditions. Some of the key
contract legislations within the Travel
industry are;
The contract for supply of goods comes
under the regulations of the supply of
goods and service act 1988 that states the
general terms and conditions of any
contract that does not covered under the
specific agreements and terms &
conditions. For limiting or excluding the
liabilities of the involved parties, it drafts
underlying statutory clauses and
framework (McKendrick, 2014).
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Contract for provision of service
documents the terms of service between
the two parties. There should be a written
agreement between the two parties
where one is ready to exchange services
with other, generally in consideration of
money.
Contracts for packaged holidays are the
contract that combines at least two types
of travel services in a single package. The
services within the travel package could
be offered by the organisers or may be
chosen by the customers (Mićović, 2017).
After the confirmation of the holiday
package, both the customers and the
organisers are engaged in the binding
contract of exchanging accurate
conditions and information.
Consumer contact regulations 2013
protects consumer rights. It states that
the consumers have the rights to
terminate an online service order within
the period of 14 days of entering into a
contract and consumers also have right to
refund (Schwenzer, et al., 2012). This act
only applies to the contracts formed after
June 13th, 2014.
Unfair contracts state the terms that limit
and protects the rights of the parties
involved in a contract. It enforces limits on
the liabilities for the involved parties in
case of breach of contract.
3.2
The consumer protection legislation is
formulated to protect the interests and
rights of consumers from unfair business
practices and violations of business
organisations. The trade description act
1968 proscribes the misleading and false
indicator of prices of goods, services, and
accommodations. It focuses on banning
aggressive and misleading practices of the
organisations in the travel industry (Smith,
2014). Under the consumer protection
legislation, the consumers have the right
to claim in case of misleading business
practices. The multiple acts of parliament,
government agencies, and statutory
institutions are responsible for protecting
the rights of consumers.
The consumer protection act 1987
enables consumers to claim compensation
against the service provider or producer in
an incident of injury, personal loss,
damage or death. In the case of defective
products, a strict liability test for the
producer is covered under this act that
restrains organisations from offering poor
quality and dangerous products in the
market (Howells and Weatherill, 2017).
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The consumer credit Act 1974 is
formulated for regulating credit card
purchase to protect the rights of
consumers in case of hire agreement and
loan. This act enforces the organisations
to provide appropriate information before
entering into the credit agreement.
Under this, the creditor should have to
identify the creditworthiness of the
customers before crediting money or
increasing the credit amount of the
creditor.
Packaged travel and linked travel
arrangement act 2018 has enforced the
packaged holiday organisers to fulfil the
terms and conditions of the packaged
holiday agreement and for providing
packaged holiday services to the
customers for which they have already
paid (Howells and Weatherill, 2017).
Otherwise, the consumers have the right
to claim compensation against the
organiser.
Consumer rights act 2015 has replaced
the prime consumer legislations i.e.
supply of goods and service act, the sale
of goods act and unfair terms in consumer
contracts regulations. This act enforces
business organisations to provide good
quality, as specified and fit for purpose
products. In case the customers are
dissatisfaction among the customers in
relation to any of the above criteria, the
customers have the right to claim.
Denied boarding EU regulations are
enforced for protecting the rights of
consumers in case of delayed and
terminated flight. This enforced travel
organisations to compensate and assist
the consumers in case of delay or
termination according to the place of
flying (Balfour, 2010). This regulation
applies to the passengers departing to and
from EU airports.
Consumer rights act travel amendments
enable customers to claim reimbursement
for poor services in all kinds of transport
services such as ferry, coach, bus, and rail.
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