Legislation and Ethics in the Travel and Tourism Sector

Task one - Understand the legal and regulatory framework in the travel and tourism sector. Task two - Understand the legislation and regulation relating to health, safety and security in the travel and tourism sector. Task three – Understand consumer protection legislation in relation to the travel and tourism sector Task four – Understand the role of business ethics in the travel and tourism sector. Total word count 3703 Arden - Student No. STU50598 Task 1 1.1 Holidaymakers that purchase holidays from tour operators using brochures or internet sites should receive exactly as advertised. If on arrival, the hotel accommodation is not the same as the brochure, the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations (PTR) 1992 it allows the right for the holidaymaker to claim compensation against the tour operator. The tour operator is liable for all services such as car hire, accommodation, flights and are liable for many other services, which are sold as part of the package. PTR define ‘package’ as the pre-arranged combination of at least two of the following components, transportation and accommodation. The PTR further states that travel organizers cannot supply consumers with incorrect information. False advertising relating to amenities or facilities is not allowed. Descriptions relating to distance of the local beaches or theatres has to be exact, this also includes the stated number of KM and the minutes of walking distance, which also have to be accurate. Brochures must be 'legible, comprehensible and accurate’. A regulation is defined by the law dictionary as “a rule of order having the force of law, prescribed by a superior or competent authority, relating to the actions of those under the authority's control”. England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own legal systems, with noticeable differences in law, organization and practice. A fair amount of modern legislation applies throughout Britain. The law is separated into criminal law and civil law. Civil Law regulates the conduct of people in ordinary relations with one another. The legal system of England and Wales comprises both an historic body of conventions, known as common law and equity and parliamentary and European Community legislation. EC legislation applies throughout Britain. Common law is based on custom and is interpreted in court cases by judges; it has never been accurately defined or codified. It forms the basis of the law except when replaced by legislation. Equity law consists of a body of historic rules and principles, which are applied by the courts. An Act of Parliament creates new laws or change existing laws. An Act is a Bill approved by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. An Act is law and applies to the UK as a whole or to specific areas of the country. The practical implementation of an Act is the responsibility of the appropriate government department and not Parliament. For example, laws relating to transport issues are dealt by the administration of the Department for Transport. Future changes to the law happens through the passing of another Act or delegated legislation. An Act can also be repealed so that its provisions no longer apply. Parliamentary committees examine UK laws and recommend the removal of out of date legislation The UK Parliament states that delegated or secondary legislation is usually concerned with detailed changes to the law made under powers from an existing Act of Parliament. Statutory instruments form the majority of delegated legislation but it can also include Rules or Codes of Practice. A delegated legislation permits the Government to amend the law without needing to push through a completely new Act of Parliament. International convention are treaties or agreements between states, which can multilateral or bilateral. They can be general or of specific nature. International conventions need to be incorporated into English law through domestic legislation. 1.2 Regulation 15 of the PRT 1992 is extremely important. A UK tour operator is liable for the correct performance of the contract, including liability for the actions of its agents abroad. The tour operator therefore has a responsibility to ensure that the individual suppliers deliver their individual services properly, or they can face a direct claim by a customer for any damage caused. The variations between the European laws occur in relation to the limitation period in which the procedure for pursuing a claim can be taken to the courts and the types of compensation that can be claimed. In Spain for example, it is one year, two years for Cyprus, Czech Republic, Italy, Ireland, and Malta, whereas in the UK is three years. A court case held in 2002 shown in the Lloyds Law Reports (Vol.1) shows this. Lee Vs Air tours holidays. A cruise holiday package was sold to the claimant. The case demonstrates the conflicts between the Athens Convention 1974 (as per IMO organization, the convention establishes a regime of liability for damage suffered by passengers carried on a seagoing vessel) and the PRT 1992. Whilst cruising the ship caught fire and sank, all guest survived but valuable possessions sank with the ship. There was a claim against the tour operator using regulation 15(3) for the loss of valuables amongst other things. The judge had stated that there was a conflict between conventions and UK domestic law, he ruled that the case had to pursue the European law: a fundamental point, as the UK law to which the judge referred to was the law that implemented an International convention. He added that there wasn’t an incorporation of the Athens convention in the contract and since the booking was made over the phone using a credit card as payment there were no terms and conditions being mentioned and the PRT 1992 had authority over the Athens convention of 1974 to the extent that they both conflicted. Regulation 15(3) of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 (“the Regulations”) permits a tour operator to limit the compensation awarded in respect of both personal and non-personal injury claims in accordance with any applicable international conventions, which should be made clear in the contract. The Regulation provides that: “In the case of damage arising from non-performance or improper performance of the services involved in the package, the contract may provide for compensation to be limited in accordance with the international conventions which govern such services.” The above clearly permits the amount of compensation to be limited. We consider that, where a convention provides for limitation of the type of injury for which compensation is to be paid, that limitation is enforceable under Regulation 15(3) as well as any limitation on monetary amounts. Task 2 2.1 The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is extremely important and is one of many legislations in act. It places general duties on employers, people in charge of premises, manufacturers and employees. It also establishes the Health & Safety Commission (HSC) and Executive (HSE); it lays out the means for enforcing the act, and states the penalties for breaking the law and is the source of Crown immunity. The HSC and the HSE are the two departments for Work and Pensions (DWP) agencies responsible for health and safety in Great Britain. Section 7 for instance, relates to duties placed on other people, roles on employees to take proper care of their own health & safety, and that of anyone who could be adversely be affected by their 'acts or omissions at work' and to co-operate with their employer in steps to meet legal requirements. In order to reduce injuries or other dangerous scenarios, risk assessment should be used especially if, companies like tour operators are dealing with members of the public who are benefiting from packages sold to them. The purpose of filling in risk assessments is that it helps in finding and Identify dangers and hazards, so that the company can investigate or assess the risk associated with that hazard and then determine appropriate methods to eliminate or control dangers. The definition of hazard is “a potential source of harm or adverse health effect on a person or persons”. The Occupiers Liability Act 1984 deals with individuals other than visitors and refers to trespassers. A duty of care has to be established. It occurs when certain factors are met. The occupier is aware of the danger. The occupier knows that the other person will be near the danger or that they have reasonable grounds to believe that it is the case. The occupier ought to think about providing some protection to the other person and finally no duty will exist when a person willingly accepts a risk when they trespass on a certain type of land. A guide representing a tour company is responsible for the passenger’s safety as is the bus driver who is responsible for the vehicle and all on board, whilst the bus company itself should have all the necessary insurance in place in order to operate. They both have duty of care. Part of a guide or escorts’ role on a tour bus is to account for all passengers, collect tickets sold and ensure that they have the same number of people on board as tickets sold, a cross check should be carried out. The guide should also inform their company if there are extra passengers on board that do not relate to the official tour. To reduce accidents on board, passengers must be made aware of the health and safety guide as when they are travelling on a plane for example. This information should be provided before the bus is in motion. The guide should also provide information on do’s and don’ts, this could include obvious information, like, passengers should not stand whilst the bus is in motion, and only once the bus has stopped passengers are able to stand and retrieve belongings in the overhead storage section. The Guide should also be attentive to equipment on board; microphones that are not cordless but have long wires should be avoided down aisles. Therefore, the guide should not walk up and down the bus holding the microphone, but remain at the front of the bus near driver’s area and away from passengers in order to keep the wire in one place neatly tucked away. If any passenger on board which includes “trespassers” stood up and fell over the microphone wire and injured themselves, the liability of who is at fault is to been seen with a court process and to see if compensation is applicable. Claims should be filed against the bus company at this point and not against the tour operator. The bus company, however, may try to claim against the tour operator as the passenger that suffered the injury was not part of the official group, in this case, the driver is also at fault, as he also should know who is on board and many people are part of the official tour. This information is communicated to the bus company when the tour operator requests buses. 2.2 The age discrimination legislation came into act in 2006. Since then there has been a large rise in the number of cases presented to the courts relating to discrimination. The Equality Act 2010 joins a number of existing laws into one so that it is easier to use. It lays out the personal characteristics that are protected by the law and the behavior that is unlawful. The protected characteristics listed in the act are: Age – this protects employees of all ages but remains the only protected characteristic that allows employers to justify direct discrimination. Others includes, Disability, Gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, same-sex couples, Pregnancy and maternity, Race Religion, Sex and Sexual orientation The Act also extends some of these protections to different types of discrimination that before were not included in the equality legislation. Employers and Company owners need to be aware of the different types of discrimination under the new legislation. These are direct discrimination, where, someone is treated less favorably than another person because of a protected characteristic, associative discrimination, discrimination by perception, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimization. If a young fully qualified employee has applied for promotion, but has been denied the promotion only because of their age or because the clients of the company expect a mature figure, this is discrimination of age, and there are grounds to claim because this comes under direct discrimination. The EA 2010 s 66 states an equality clause in all contracts of employment. It is illegal to pay men or women differently because of their sex, with the exception where the employer can show true legal grounds for the difference in pay. In addition, equality in pay applies to all employers, regardless of size, part time or full time are to be treated the same. Pay is the emphasis and it includes not only wages the individual worker receives but also the terms and conditions involving remuneration, benefits, sick pay, pensions, and contributions and so on. 3.0 A contract is an agreement between two or more people or companies. Contract law has been defined as a promise or set of promises, which the law will enforce. A contract begins with an offer. The offer is an expression of a willingness to contract on certain terms. PRT Regulations relate to tour operators and travel agents, and the regulations clearly indicated as to what has to be included into the contract for customers. An example of these are: • The destinations of the trip and the length of time at any of the destinations • The transport to be used • Where accommodation is included the location, degree of comfort and main features • The required payment schedule • The cancellation provisions The regulation also states that tour operators that offer packages need to be a member of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA). As a customer ABTA can be seen as backup insurance should the tour operator liquidate it will be ABTA that will provide means to fly stranded people home. Another clear point of the regulation is that a company, which sells, flights or book and print airline tickets must be part of the Air Travel Organizers License (ATOL) or International Air Transport Association (IATA). Tour operators can restrict their liability towards their customers by inserting extra terms into the contract. Tour operators cannot limit liability for personal injury and or death as the Unfair Contract Terms Act forbids this. On the other hand, they can limit liability for loss or damage providing it is fair. This can due to an unforeseen event, meaning reasons that are beyond the control of the agent (force majeure). 3.1 The PRT 1992 regulations 12 and 13 are referenced to pre departure cancellation or amendments made by the tour operator. It is the duty of the tour operator to inform the customer immediately of any of the above-mentioned changes, in order that the custom can decide on how to proceed or even cancel the holiday without penalty fees. It is the customer’s duty to advise the tour operator as quickly as possible on the decision made. Under the PRT 1992 Should the above occur the customer is entitled to take receive a substitute package of equivalent or superior quality, or take another package of lower quality and to recover from the tour operator the difference in price between the package purchased and that of the substitute package, or have a complete refund. Thomson contract states “Unless the change is for reasons beyond our control (see the ‘Important Note – Events beyond Our Control’) we will always refund the difference in price if the replacement holiday is of a lower standard and price, at the date of the change”. It continues, “This standard payment will not affect your statutory or other legal rights. We will only make one payment for each full-fare-paying adult in the holiday booking. Any children not paying the full adult fare will receive 50% of these amounts. Children using a free child place will not receive any standard compensation” Whether this is acceptable or not, it is evident that the customer should read the terms and conditions carefully as they are clearly written. The contract states that the customer can also seek legal advice if they are not satisfied. The customer is entitled to compensation by the tour operator for the non-performance of the original package. The UCTA (unfair contract terms act 1977) points 1 and 2 relate to breach of contract and negligence of liability and the contract makes it actually difficult to claim compensation under breach of contract. The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 applies only to businesses and does not apply to consumer contracts or consumer notices. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 repeals and replaces the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations and replace the Unfair Contract Terms Act in relation to consumer contracts and notices. It does not therefore provide comprehensive protection against unfair terms. In addition, it provides for specific instances of unfair terms. In particular, penalty clauses are outside its remit. The Unfair Contract Terms Act provides different levels of protection. Some provisions provide absolute protection whereas some will be subject to a consideration of whether the term was a reasonable one to include. S.65 (1) Consumer Rights Act 2015 as an examples states “A trader cannot by a term of a consumer contract or by a consumer notice exclude or restrict liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence” 3.2 The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was responsible for protecting consumer interests throughout the UK. Its responsibilities have been taken over by a number of different organizations. The aims of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2014 is to protect consumers from unfair or misleading trading practices, ban misleading omissions and aggressive sales tactics. If a tour operator invents or gives inaccurate information for the purpose to try to sell more products, like insurance policies and provides misleading advertisements, this falls under “misleading actions” and as per regulation, it is an offence to use false tactics to obtain money from customers. Misleading actions include advertising goods that do not exist. Companies selling products or packages are also banned from making misleading comparisons, so a trader cannot claim 'resort A has twice as many amenities than resort B' if in fact resort A has only a couple more. If a trader has signed up to a code of practice and it fails to follow this code, this is a breach of the regulations. For example, if the tour operator has signed up to the Independent travel agent code of conduct and it fails to follow it; it could constitute a breach of the regulations. It is also unlawful for companies to mislead consumers about their legal rights or for a tour operator to give false or deceptive information about their business, status or qualifications. 4.0 4.2 You do not answer this task completely, you explain what amounts to eco-tourism but do not go on and compare with traditional tourism and explain which is more ethical. The task is designed to help you meet the LO. Without answering the task it is difficult to analyse the ethical dilemmas and meet the LO. Moving forward explain what amounts to ethical and evaluate the ethical dimensions of the different models. Have a look at task 4.2 and in particular the wording of the task. You have described some elements of eco tourism which is good to see and have explained that people have differemt perspectives; however you have not completely answered the question. To answer the question complete the following: - define ethical - explain what eco tourism is - explain what traditional tourism is - explain how eco tourism is ethical - explain how traditional tourism is ethical - see if you can compare and contrast with eco tourism - come to a conclusion about which is more ethical eco tourism or traditional tourism