Legal and Ethical Frameworks in the UK Travel and Tourism Industry

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Legislation and Ethics in the Travel Tourism Sector
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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Task 1..........................................................................................................................................................4
1.1 – Explain the legal and regulatory framework of the travel and tourism sector with reference to
England and Wales..................................................................................................................................4
1.2 – Discuss surface, sea and air transport law in relation to the carriage of passengers within the legal
and regulatory framework of United Kingdom........................................................................................4
Task 2..........................................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Evaluate the impacts of the principles of health, safety and security legislation on the travel and
tourism sector with reference to a UK tour operator and travel agency...................................................7
2.2 Analyze legislation that relates to equality with reference to a UK tour operator and travel agency. 8
Task 3........................................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Explain contract legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers..........................................10
3.2 Explain consumer protection legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers......................11
Task 4........................................................................................................................................................14
4.1 Analyse ethical dilemmas faced by the travel and tourism sector....................................................14
4.2 Analyse the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy of a specified travel and tourism
business.................................................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................16
References.................................................................................................................................................17
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Introduction
The law of tourism generally illustrates the laws which were applied by the government on travel
agencies, travel organizations, and airports. These laws include health and safety, employee
rights, customer’s protection, and contract laws. It is applied for a smooth running of the travel
agencies and organizations. It encourages corporate social responsibilities. By the help of these
laws, the tourism activities can run smoothly and it increases the quality of people who are
working in the tourism industry. The ethical issues, which could be faced by tourism industries,
could be helpful for removing the small mistakes in involved in the travel agency’s plan and it
could make the services of a travel agency better.
The below report is all about the legislation and ethics of the travel industry and it determines
different factors of ethics and legislation which could be applied in the tourism industry. The
United Kingdom is the world’s sixth biggest tourist destination and it included more than 40
million visitors in 2018. They provide the domestic tour as well as the international tours to the
customers. Visit Britain was developed in April 2003, to promote the economy of England and
later it was merged with the British Tourist Authority and the English Tourism Counseling. In
the year of 2005, it won the award of the world’s leading tourist authority.
In the below report it will clarify how this tourism industry is managing the organization and
what types of programs and strategies they are preparing for promoting the UK tourist on the
global level.
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Task 1
1.1 – Explain the legal and regulatory framework of the travel and tourism sector with
reference to England and Wales
1.2 – Discuss surface, sea and air transport law in relation to the carriage of passengers
within the legal and regulatory framework of United Kingdom.
Legal and regulatory
framework of tourism
industry and law of sea
and air transport in
United Kingdome
Conclusion
The leaflet is an
explanation about the
rules and regulations
which the United
Kingdom is applying in
its tourism laws. It
illustrates a different
type of laws like air
laws, surface laws and
the sea law.
(Source:Stay in a Pub, 2019)
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Introduction
The tourism industries
and legal laws are
connected with each
other in many ways.
There could be many
parties which are
included in the tourism
industries like
customers, suppliers,
and contractors. When
the parties coordinate
with each other the
process of legislation
becomes considerable.
The legislation process
includes hospitality,
accommodation
quality, and the
behavior of the agency
managers towards a
customer. The tourism
industry is the fastest
growing industry and it
includes some
legislation also.
(Akinchi, 2013).
Legislations of
Tourism industry
Tourism act 1969:
This act targets on the
tourism organizations
and the coordination
applied by “British
tourism Authority This
act creates the
establishment of A
British Tourism
authority and the tourist
boards for Scotland,
Wales, and England.
This act provides
financial assistance
from the public funds
to developing the new
hotels and
accommodations in the
UK.
Transport act,1980
and 1985
This act makes a
control on the national
and private transport
bus companies with
their routes.
Tour regulation, 1992
(Source: Express, 2015).
Surface act:
This law was in under control of “The
international carriage of a passenger by road act,
1979. In this law, all the damages which are
related to the physical damages or mental issues
are covered in it. The loss of luggage of a
passenger is also controlled by “carriage by
Railway act, 1972. All these laws control the
transports, goods, and passengers.
Sea Law:
The safety and security of shipping are
uncovered by this law of contract. The sea crafts
which contains almost 12 nos of passengers are
required the fire safety types of equipment, and
these pieces of equipment are under control of
Tourism in Wales
The government of
Wales encouraging and
guiding the tourist
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industry. They are
providing capital
funding for increasing
the tourist business in
Wales. The
development of
tourism act 1969 and
1992 encouraged
people to visit Wales.
These acts are
providing better
facilities and services
to the tourists and
encouraging them to
spend their holidays in
Wales. As per the
Wales government the
minister of Wales has
the power to assume
about the publicity,
undertake the
researches and prepare
a committee to advice
the tourist
organizations
regarding their
performance.
The act controls the
delivered services by a
tourism organization to
the customers. The
main focus of this act to
promote the standard of
tourism and make them
more attractive for a
tourist. The tourism
laws are affected by
“Healthy and safety
commission”, Strategic
rail authority,
International air
transport commission,
and Civil aviation
authority.
(Bhuiyan, et. al., 2013)
“The international convention for the safety of
life at Sea”. Ship-related all liabilities and
damages are controlled by “The Athens
Convention, 1974.
Air Law:
The international airline's related rules and
regulations are controlled by “The Warsaw
convention of 1929. A passenger’s death
compensation and the right about claiming the
personal injury are included in it. The five
freedom agreement of 1944 controls all the rules
and regulations which could be related to the
landing territories, passenger landing, non-traffic
and it’s specifies the related territories (Brunner,
et. at., 2015).
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Task 2
2.1 Evaluate the impacts of the principles of health, safety and security legislation on the
travel and tourism sector with reference to a UK tour operator and travel agency
The principle of health, safety and security are very important in the tourism industry and these
rules and regulations are necessary for a tourist. A tourist evaluates about these factors before
visiting anywhere. It provides the quality to the tourism industry and the success or failure of a
tour package depends on the safety and security as well as the accommodation which was
provided by the tourism authority. Visit Britain is the tourism agency of the UK and they also
apply some rules and regulations in their tour packages. These regulations are necessary for them
and a tourist also. By involving these rules in their tour packages they can increase their
customers on the global level.
Impact of the principle of health on tourism: The principle of health can be the most important
factor for the tourism industry. The health-related principles are necessary for the tourist industry
because it reduces the health-related liabilities of a tourist. The principle of health, safety, and
security control any type of factors which includes fire assessments, insurance of a tourist, etc. It
is a responsibility for the authority of tourism to identify the risk included in a package plan and
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try to remove them at the same time. The duty of a tourism organization starts with the
development of a tour package and they need to involve all the safety-related types of equipment
in their tour packages.
The safety and security and health legislation not only required for the tourists but also becoming
necessary for the working environment of a tourist organization like Visit Britain. It becomes the
primary responsibility for a tourist authority to provide safe and secure accommodation to a
tourist and making sure about the types of equipment which could be helpful for them and for
their health. It is the duty of an employer to provide them the security regarding a personal
injury. In the tourism sector, a country tries to provide better accommodation facilities to their
customers and the other facilities which could be related to a tour by setting down the rules and
regulations applied by the related authorities.
The health and safety at work create the regulation in a working place of tourism authorities. It
develops some rules and regulations for employers to provide better services to their customer. It
explains about a executives behavior and offers which they can provide to a customer while
selling their package plans of the tour. The health and safety commission maintains the all
information under their hands which are related to the health and security in tourism. The
organization Visits Britain includes all the health and safety related tools in their package plans
because they want to provide safety first to a customer. (Ayob and Masroni, 2014).
Guidance: The organization Visits Britain can make some supports to the tourists which arrive
at another country by purchasing their tour packages. It is the primary duty of them. Secondly,
they need to provide the technical guidance also so, they can understand them easily. They need
to tell them about the respective legislations which created by the government.
2.2 Analyze legislation that relates to equality with reference to a UK tour operator and
travel agency.
Travel agencies like Visit Britain support the equality policies in their tour packages. The
equality act, 2010 extended the rule of handling all the tourist and customer equally at the same
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time. The act concentrates on not to make any difference division of services with different
customers. It is fundamentally collective of the “Equal pay act, 1970; Sex unfairness, 1975, Race
relation act, 1976, Disability discrimination act, 1995. Travel and tourism legislation ensure
about the behavior and treatments of the travel employers towards a tourist or a customer. It
ensures that the travel managers and employees treat equally every customer at the same time
without obtaining any differentiation (Nkemngu, 2015)
The sex differentiation Act 1975, determines the sex-related similarities for a customer or an
employee. There must be not any differences between the training and education related
legislation which related to a trainee or an employee.
The other type of legislation includes:
Direct inequity: It develops when a person does not treat a person according to the set laws and
standard of tourism.
Indirect Inequity: It develops when a particular person or group manage some functions of
tourism.
Perceptive Inequity: It is totally based on a person’s experience of treatment which was
received by a travel agency or organization.
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Task 3
3.1 Explain contract legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers
A contract can be a proof between two parties regarding a product or services. It is an acceptance
by the tourism organization which includes the laws of the government. There are many types of
tourism organizations in the UK and they maintain their different contracts for the agencies who
deal in tourism. Every travel agent has a different type of terms and conditions in their contracts
and the different type of conditions like place related or payment related information could be
written on that contract. The other information like departure, arrival, duration, and cost of stay
are also the factors which a tourism contract includes. These could be the relevant factors for a
tourism contract.
Offer: It is a document of information that explains the special offers giving by the tourism
organization. It should be in the presence of two parties and the situations for accepting the
contracts. Staying it a hotel could be an example of this.
Acceptance: The offer should be ready to accept by the customers and the offer must be
effective for the consumers so they can easily accept it. A consumer purchases a deal after a long
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discussion with the tourism agent and an agent need to explain to them all the detailed
information about a destination tour.
Consideration: A tourism contract is only a paper without consideration. A tourism manager
charges some amount from a customer as the consideration amount. The consideration is the
form of acceptance that contract by the visitor.
Capacity: The capacity describes the certain legislations which related to the tour package it
could be age, days of visiting, etc. In a holiday contract, this is an important factor as it is proof
about the visitor that he is at least crossing the 18 years barrier for traveling. Capacity also
includes the number of people who can arrive at one time with a holiday package.
Certainty: The rules and regulation of the contract must be beneficial for both parties like a
customer and the organization. It must be common and clear instructed for both the parties.
There should not be any miscommunications regarding staying or visiting policies (Laitamaki, et.
al., 2016).
Thus, the tourism contract includes these described factors in it and it is a proof of association
with a tourism organization. The legal contract of a tourism organization is also:
• A legal agreement between the customer and the agent.
• All details which are related to a destination holiday would be described in the form of a
brochure in that contract.
• It is the personal preferences of a customer.
• It regulates the activities of consumers and the organization.
• The terms for both parties create equality.
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3.2 Explain consumer protection legislation in relation to travel and tourism customers.
The right of consumer and interests are controlled by the consumer protection legislation and
these are not promoted by the agents of the tourism organization.
The trade description act of 1968 manages control on the misleading indicators like prices of
goods, accommodation, and other related services from the tourist industry. The standard needed
for the offers given by a travel organization and the officers of the trading standard needs to
include these following steps in their inspections:
The incorrect details about a tourism plan provided by the supplier.
As per the consumer right, the rules of a provider are described in “The consumer protection act
of 1987. It illustrates the legal duties of a tourism manager towards their consumers. It explains
that all the needed information must be given by a tour manager to their customers. It is
necessary and it should be given in a written format also. The health and safety details must be
understood by a consumer. It also controls the unfair business of tourism by using these
following steps:
• It controls the poor quality traveling plans made by the tourism organization.
• It explains the liability of a product or plan.
• It regulates the legal authority.
The act “ Consumer protection from unfair trading regulations 2018” is other legislation which
controls the customer’s right by using these following steps:
• Payable charges
• Availability of the right sources
• Availability of the right room price
• They include services while renting a room
• Maintains many price blocks.
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