Legal and Ethical Frameworks in UK Tourism (Semester 2)

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MIRIAM + UNIT 8 LEGISLATION AND ETHICS IN THE
TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
LO1 Portray the regulatory and legal framework in tourism sector..........................................4
1.1 Provide legal and regulatory framework respective to UK..............................................4
1.2 Illustrate surface, sea and air transport law with respect to the passengers......................4
LO2 Regulations and legislations regarding security, health and safety in tourism business. . .2
2.1 Principles relative to health and safety in UK sector........................................................2
2.2 Analysing the legislation relative to equality...................................................................3
LO3 Portray consumer protection legislation............................................................................5
3.1 Illustration of contract legislation in relation to the customers........................................5
3.2 Explaining consumer protection legislation.....................................................................5
LO4 Illustrate the apprehension of business ethics with regard to UK tourism......................2
4.1 Ethical dilemma contextual with tourism industry scenario............................................2
4.2 Analysing the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy of a specified travel and
tourism business.....................................................................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

Introduction
Tourism can be defined as the act of travelling due to any purpose such as business, pleasure,
leisure or other services. Nowadays, tourism has become an important factor and acts as a
catalyst to the socio-economic development of any country, state or nation. In this context,
the UK tourism sector has been taken into consideration. Therefore, based on this travel and
tourism sector, the company ‘TUI Group’ will be referred and followed in this assignment.
The different ethical consideration regarding this company of tourism sector will be discussed
in this scenario. The legal framework and laws regarding to sea, surface and air transport
have been discussed. In addition, a brief discussion regarding health and security and the
ethical dilemmas faced by this organisation is included in this assignment. Consumer
protection legislation and their relation with the tourism sector are mentioned briefly. Leaflets
and management reports are provided to justify this assignment.

LO1 Portray the regulatory and legal framework
1.1 Provide framework respective to UK
1.2 Illustrate all the transport law with respect to the passengers

Leaflet
● Air Law- It includes more strictness than sea and
surface law and is maintained by Warsaw
Convention, which was held in 1929. It includes a
luggage checking system before the start of the
journey in order to maintain the safety measures
towards the other passengers (Font and McCabe,
2017:875). Further, this convention got replaced
with the Montreal Conference in the year 1999.
● The International Maritime Organisation looks
after sea Law- this law in order to maintain safety
and security in the ships. It helps in regulating the
various factors of the environment that are involved
in the functioning of the ships. Nonetheless, The
International Convention for the Safety of Life at
Sea (SOLAS) helps in regulating all the functions,
which are related to the protections that are taken
during fire.
Henceforth, it can be said that these laws ensure proper safety
and security towards the passengers with respect to the travel
and tourism business.
LO1 Portray the legal and regulatory framework in tourism
sector
According to Miller (2016:147), tourism law tend to follow a
certain form of framework that is governed by the travel
organisations, airport authorities and agencies. Along with that, it
involves safety and health management, environment proetction,
protection of customers and contract law and planning
respectively.
1.1 Provide legal and regulatory framework respective to UK
As commented by Mathew and Sreejash (2017:85), tourism
practices are comprised of consumers, sellers, contracts,
suppliers, business organisations and hospitality management.
For example- If a restaurant is involved in serving food to its
customers then, they gets involved in hospitality management
along with consumer behaviour and maintaining the quality of its
standards. All these are therefore, governed by the government.
Thus, an organisation is bound to prepare all the training
materials that consists of the legislations. They are as follows:
● Transport acts 1980 and 1985- In this act the
termination of the licensing law was affected and
involved the routes and tours of the tourism business.
Additionally, it involves in the de-regularising the route
systems by considering private buses that are found to
operate through all the routes.
● Development of Tourism Act, 1969- This act was
introduced by the British Tourist authority so that they
can focus on the part of coordination within an
organisation (Laitamaki et al. 2016:7).
● Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours
Regulations, 1992- This act aims in establishing proper
responsibilities towards the customers providing them
with enough remedies, which are required during the
tour. Hence, the primary and major objectives of this act
are as follows:
1. To need standard procedures
2. To establish right of the people and the organisation
3. To focus on the tourism development in a well regulated
way
On the similar contrary, these regulations that tend to affect
tourism business of an organisation in the UK are as follows:
● Civil Aviation Authority- This authority is effective
of updating all law and regulations with respect to use
of aerospace and aviation safety (Joshi et al.
2017:830).
● International Air Transport Association- This
association is associated with the establishment of
various policies and standards for travel and tourism
business in the UK. It is situated in the city of
Montreal.
● Health and Safety Commission- This commission
require updated laws that reciprocate health safety.
According to the above discussion, it can be said that
legislation framework works in a legal way in operating
tourism business in the UK (Jones et al. 2016:40). This
framework creates certain rules and laws that are followed by
every travel and tourism sector operating in the UK.
1.2 Illustrate surface, sea and air transport law with respect
to the passengers
According to Hindley and Font (2017:1685), the word
‘passenger’ is given to a person who is travelling by any means
of transport whereas; ‘carrier’ is the word that defines a person
who gets involve with a contract of carriage. On the contrary,
‘luggage’ refers to articles or materials, which are carried with
the help of any kind of transports such as air, water or land.
Hence, these three transport routes have specific laws to be
followed. They are as follows:
● Surface Law- This law is made in order to protect and
formulate passengers who are travelling on board to
some other places. The International Carriage of
Passenger by Road Act, 1979, governs this law. It
suggests that if there is any damage faced by the
passenger or they tend to fall under mental or physical
disorders then remedies are provided by the surface
authorities (Hassan, 2016). Nevertheless, any loss or
damage of luggage falls under the benefit of this law.
Additionally, the railway privatization includes
safeguard towards the disabled persons who are
present.

Executive Summary
In this report, the regulations followed and legislation maintained regarding health and safety
as well as security has been included. The different ways of maintaining these regulations
with respect to the tourism sector is also discussed. Evaluating the principles related to health
and safety are looked through the Health and Safety Commission for this report. Equality law
has been taken into notice while the report was made. The working of the Health and Safety
Commission has been penned down in this report. This management report consists of every
small detail followed by the UK based tour operator in order to prepare their training sessions
have been clarified.

LO2 Regulations and legislations regarding security, health and safety in
tourism business
The main motive of the legal advisors is found to regulate development towards travel by
implementing certain practice ideas. Hence, it is done by determining all the obligations and
rights, which are involved with the people.
2.1 Principles relative to health and safety in UK sector
The Health and Safety Commission deals with the rules and regulations, which make them
reliable for the employees to go along with their duties accordingly. According to Daley
(2016), this Commission works on three major options, which are as follows:
● Approved Codes of Practice- They help in laying down the practice to match with the
law practically. Hence, a reliable legal standing is included as a part of the
legislations. Additionally, it helps in creating and setting out these codes for further
working practices and hazardous materials under the liability of the employer. Thus,
the duties of the employers can be classified as the following:
1. Lighting and heating
2. Provisions for First-Aid
3. Accident-prone working environment
Similarly, the duties of the employee are as follows:
1. Preventing accidents
2. Attending training sessions
3. Reporting actual or potential hazards
According to Dabic et al. (2016:255), the training can be classified into the following:
● Ongoing- The existing employees are provided with training in order to learn the use
and skills of the new equipments
● Handbook- It is published to the staff of a specific organisation
● Induction- New employees are notified about the working structure of an
organisation
● Notices- Issuance of caution signs and drill procedures are maintained in this section
● Demonstrations- It consists of evaluation drills and fire drills
● Representative- The development of health role and safety representative is followed
in this measure

● Advice- Providing sessions related to advices by the officers of health regularly
2.2 Analysing the legislation relative to equality
According to Chen and Law (2016:350), equality is defined as the fact of treating everyone
equally. In tourism sector, everyone must get treatment, which is equal and irrespective of his
or her race, gender, age or any kind of disability. In addition, they must enjoy all goods and
services equally under any circumstances. In this scenario, The Equality Act, 2010 helps in
following the regulation of treating every individual with equal respect and without any
inconsistencies. Hence, this act is said to be the combination of many other acts, which are as
follows:
● The Race Relations Act, 1976
● Employment Equality (Sexual orientation) Regulations, 2003
● Disability Discrimination Act, 1975
● Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, 2006
● Sex Discrimination Act, 1975
● Equal Pay Act, 1970
● Equality Act, 2006
● Equality Act Regulations, 2007
● Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations, 2003
These laws help in taking and following safety measures regarding race discrimination,
inequality among employees and disability discrimination. Thus, these discriminations can be
categorised as the following:
1. Direct- According to the law, this discrimination is found when one person treats
another without any equality.
2. Indirect- A group of persons if is mistreated or not provided with the basic facilities
falls under the indirect source of discrimination.
3. Perceptive- This kind of discrimination is found if a person is judged based on their
distinct character.
4. Harassment- Whenever a person is victimised due to unwanted behaviour or any
kind of denial then, it can be classified as harassment discrimination.
5. Disability- If a person possesses a dysfunctional body part, which is unable to be
fixed or cannot be cured with any treatment, then disability discrimination occurs on
this basis.

Thus, the primary objective of the Health and Safety Commission is to serve people based on
employment and discrimination. For instance- If a person had to face any kind of
discriminations during any tour course, then that person is eligible in obtaining the above-
mentioned remedies.

LO3 Portray consumer protection legislation
3.1 Illustration of legislation of contract related to the consumers
3.2 Explaining legislation regarding protection of consumers

Leaflet
LO3 Portray consumer protection legislation
The Travel, Tourism and Consumer Act, 1987 created rules
on pricing. This pricing is considered mandatory for all
providers of goods and services to the customers. This law is
important because if any kind of breaching is found then a
particular tourism sector can lead to penalties or sentenced to
prison.
3.1 Illustration of contract legislation in relation to the
customers
Legislation and tourism industry are closely related with each
other in every context. Different parties are found to be
engaged with the travel and tourism sector. Hence, for every
tourism country a particular binding contract needs to be
followed regarding the customer services. These conditions are
attached to certain specifications such as arrival time,
departure time, destination details, charges for staying and
many more. Therefore, if a company fails to fulfil their
commitments towards their consumers, they are legally
terminated from the contract. Thus, every contract consists of
certain elements, which are as follows:
● Acceptance- This is done by the consumers who are
accepting the offer of the tourism company.
● Offer- This is made by the tourism company to the
customers who are seeking for their services.
● Capacity- A proper valid age and sound mind is
necessary as per the legislation. For example- A
consumer must possess a minimum age of 18 years
before getting into the contract law.
● Consideration- Validity of the contract gets completed
after a certain amount of consideration. For example-
Considering a holiday package, the extra amount paid
to the travel agent can be considered.
● Certainty- In this case, both the parties need to be
clear about every term and conditions provided under
the legislation law of the UK travel business.
Hence, from above classification considering the contracts
regarding tourism business, several other are considered as a
holiday contract, which is provided by the tourism organisation
in the UK. They are as follows:
● Package details- The customer is kept aware of the
package details of the tourism company.
● Agreement between both the parties- A proper legal
agreement must be present between both the parties in
order to avoid any kind of disputes or
misunderstandings.
● Regulation of customers- Customer regulation is a
must for the tourism company because that helps in
retaining the customers.
● Duration of the stay- Knowing the exact dates of
staying and leaving remains included in the contract.
● Customer’s preference- It is necessary because the
business of a tourism company is totally dependent on
the customer’s preference. For instance- If a customer
gets satisfied with the services provided by a tourism
company, then they will prefer them approaching
before every tour.
● Details of the stay- This is the primary factor regarding
any kind of tours. Both the parties need to bear all the
details related to the tour.
● Terms and conditions- Every contract has the major
aspect of knowing the terms and conditions, which is
essential for both the parties.
● Destination- The contract is completely based on the
destination preferred by the customer for enjoying the
services provided by the tourism organisation.
3.2 Explaining consumer protection legislation
The consumer protection legislation is supposed to protect the
interests and rights of a consumer related to any kind of agents
and owner of business. According to the Trade Description Act,
1968 it is prohibited that any kind of misleading or false
indications of the prices of goods or services along with lodging
(Camilleri, 2018:20). Hence, the Officers of Trading Standards
are responsible to inspect the following:
● Any kind of untrue description that has been provided
related to trade
● Offering of services, which are based on these false
and incorrect trade
● Providing incorrect statements regarding services,
accommodation and services by the tourism company
Hence, all these above-mentioned factors are investigated by the
Officers of Trading Standards in order to avoid any kind of
fraud by the organisation towards the customers.
Simultaneously, The Consumer Protection Act, 1987 has the
legal responsibility of a manufacturer to provide the exact and
required information regarding any product which can be
stipulated by UK’s health and safety laws (Bunghex, 2016:8).
Apart from that, it helps in restricting any sort of unfair
business practices related to the following:
● Restriction of supplying goods that have poor
quality
● Defining liability of a product
● Regulating the legal authorities
● Restriction of illegal indications of price
In addition, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading
Regulations, 2008 is considered as another legislation that
helps in protecting the consumer through their consumer
rights with the help of the following controls. They are as
follows:
● Application of right surcharge
● Proper authentic charges
● Service provided along with rented room
● Room prices are available
● Price disclosure at the bars
● Charges of minibars
● Extra amount charged for gyms, swimming pools
and other curricular rooms
The Package Travel Regulations, 1992 assures the
correction of the miscommunication that is found after
finishing of service provider after making certain necessary
changes and arrangements. The explicit of this act is the
least requirement for being a holiday contract. Thus, to
make it valid it needs to have more than two facilities such
as transport, lodging or other tourist services.
In addition, all the travelling by air organisers must possess
the Aviation Travel Organiser’s License that will protect
the consumer financially. Hence, on the ground of tourist
industry, this formalisation is found among the existing law
of the UK. Moreover, every act that is introduced has
effective changes, which are based on the regular activities
of the compensation law (Budeanu et al. 2016). Thus, a
major part of this law was enforced to apply in October,
2015. It was found that this act helped in making various
changes in the contractual relationship. Henceforth, this
affected the way of offering to the customers who are
seeking services from the travel organisation. Hence, a
great opportunity is found to review and reconsider their
business.
Eventually, The Consumer Protection Act, 1987 had an
involvement of applications done through contracts and
notices between the two basic parties namely the traders
and the consumers. Apart from that, their purpose is to
serve completely outside the craft and trade as well as
business of an individual and profession. The reason of
keeping a contract regarding the travelling details of a
consumer is because it includes members of all the parties
within the contract and are involved for a personal purpose.
This contract is found to be beneficial for both the parties,
the tourism company and their customers.

Executive Summary
In this report, the dilemmas faced by the travel and tourism company, TUI Group has been
taken into consideration. Being one of the largest tourism companies it do faces different kind
of dilemmas in their business. Hence, they have taken up safety measures to overcome these
dilemmas. In this report, the dilemmas faced by them have been discussed along with their
remedies. The work of Corporate Social Responsibility with reference to TUI Group has been
described in this management report. For better clarification, the illustration of ethic role in
travel and tourism has been mentioned in this report. In addition, a detailed study of the
ethical dilemmas and CSR is added to every detail in this report.