Ethical Dilemmas in the UK Tourism and Hospitality Industry Assignment 47613

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to integration of environment and social concern while carrying out business operations. Ethics imply for the moral principles regarding the right & wrong and define the manner in which individual should behave in general and specific cases. Moral dilemma implies to situation in which an individual needs to make difficult choice between two distinct option and actions. UK’s tourism and hospitality industry play a crucial role in overall development of country as it contributes over 240 billion pound towards the country’s GDP. The industry is developing 3.39 million job opportunities and it is estimated to grow by 5.21 million at end of 2034 (Description of UK’s tourism industry, 2024). The current essay is based on depicting three moral dilemmas that faced by tourism industry while aligning with the ethical theory.

Main Body

Mass tourism is the most significant example of unethical activities within Tourism industry. All the tourism organizations within UK are involved in promoting the local places and cultural destination with the aim of increasing overall economic development. In this regard, various companies of ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents Limited) have contributed highly towards the infrastructural development (ABTA’s expansion plan, 2025). ABTA is involved towards building resorts, holiday’s camps, offers cheap package holidays and develops demand for visiting the diverse cultural, historical and religious places (Jamal and Higham, 2021). This initiative leads improvement in the economic position of country, develops infrastructure, provides job opportunities and enhances the standard of living. However, this action has also resulted into mass tourism which has negatively impacted the culture, values and routine life of the local people. Further, this activity has also lead negative impact on the quality of natural resources indicating an unethical action. In this, ABTA faces moral dilemmas in determining whether country’s tourism should be promoted or not.

While evaluating the current example from the Utilitarianism theory, it has been determined that action of ABTA was not ethical. This theory stated that all the actions should be incorporated that are able to develop good outcome for the larger number of people (Ivanov and Umbrello, 2021). This theory aims at initiating actions that aids in the overall development of the society and people. It is the most adequate ethical theory as it promotes clarity and simplicity which helps in easily evaluating particular action on the basis of ethics. This theory emphasises on evaluating both actions and its consequences from ethical point of view that aids in better understanding the situation.

However, ABTA’s actions help in offering economic benefit but the one who suffers from mass tourism does not gain any type of advantages. All the hotels owners, ship companies, restaurant and airlines owners are one which get maximum amount of benefit from mass tourism. On the other hand, mass tourism has resulted in developing nuisances for resident as this has resulted in increasing crime rate and deteriorating beauty of natural resources which indicates negative impact of the ABTA’s action (Da Mota and Pickering, 2020). Moreover, this theory stated that happiness of each individual matters so actions will be termed as ethical if they provide happiness to all the people within society. ABTA’s decision of infrastructural development has oppressed housing market that ultimately develops negative impact on the local people. For example: Airbnb aims at providing affordable accommodations and offers a source of income for house owners which contribute in the economic development (Piersanti et al, 2021). However, this idea has developed a housing crisis within UK as large numbers of houses are converted into vacation rentals leading to developing housing shortages and also increases overall prices for local people. Therefore, ABTA’s actions lead adverse impact on the large number of citizen which in turn indicates the firm’s unethical actions.

 On the other hand, according to impartiality and equal consideration of interest aspect of utilitarian theory, it could be stated that ABTA’s action of mass tourism is ethical. This principle stated that it is not possible to promote overall well being of society so the given quantity of well- being is also equally valuable (Terkenli, 2024). In this context the economic benefit provided through mass tourism could not be ignored due to other reason as it is highly contributing towards overall development of local people. Moreover, this action has also resulted in infrastructure development of the country and provides huge employment opportunities leading to their overall well being.

Along with this, there are various limitations of the utilitarian model that creates issue in effectively evaluating particular actions on the ethical basis. The theory is based on subjective approach which creates issue in identifying the extent to which a particular individual will be happy or unhappy from the decision (Kalvet et al, 2020). In the current case, ABTA’s action is providing huge developmental opportunity to the local people due to which they may ignore all the other difficulty and consider it as ethical actions. Further, this theory stated that if an action is sustaining positive impact on the large number of people then all the negatively impacted people should be ignored. This is not an effective theory as an action could term ethical if does not create negative impact on society, community and environment. Therefore, ignoring one’s happiness for other’s welfare is also not an adequate decision which denotes the ineffectiveness of utilitarian theory.

Mantis is the leading tourism organization of UK which is involved towards offering wide range of services that include luxury, hotels and accommodation facilities. Moreover, Mantis has also focused on offering information regarding the country’ culture due to which various hotels are established on indigenous land (Thery et al, 2021). However, this situation has created huge amount of moral dilemmas as these activities help in developing cultural knowledge but has also forced local people to leave their ancestral land as they are not able to afford the same. Due to development of hotels on indigenous land, there is an increase in the number of tourists which ultimately results into high cost of living. Further, this development also restricts local people to live in safe, clean and quiet environment which is considered as unethical activity of the business entity.

On the basis of deontology theory of ethics, it could be sated that Mantis’s action of offering accommodation at indigenous land is not optimum. This theory stated that the entire human has right to get equal respect and dignity but creating issue in managing cost of living of local people is morally incorrect (Théry et al, 2024). The major benefit associated with the deontology theory is that it ignores evaluating the ultimate consequences rather concentrate over analysing actions. This theory is based on assumption that good actions will only offer positive outcome so focus should be paid over analysing the actions. Moreover, this theory stated that each action should be evaluated on the two bases that include duty based ethics and right based ethics which aids in determining morality of the actions. If, Mantis have undertaken actions with ethical code then the consequence of action will be positive (Börger et al, 2020). Developing hotels and resorts on indigenous land was not an ethical activity which eventually impacts the people’s overall cost of living. However, “Deontological principle” stated that an action will also consider good if it has undertaken with positive intention. In this regards, Mantis’s actions could be considered ethical as it was undertaken with the aim of promoting country’s cultural. 

On the other hand, there are various limitations of the deontological norms that ultimately results in disastrous consequences. In the current case, Mantis has focused on initiating all the activities while aligning with deontological norms of having good intention but this has ultimately resulted in developing unethical outcomes (Lutaud et al, 2023). The firm was well aware that building hotels on such land resulted into high cost of living in that area that could negatively hamper the local people. Thus, the intention of Mantis could not be referred as ethical as organization’s major aim was to earn higher profit and ignores its impact on society and overall well-being of the people.

Lastly, Wildlife sanctuary within UK is another significant activity that impacts the overall tourism and hospitality industry. There are a large number of wildlife sanctuaries in UK that includes Cairngorms National park, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland and Exmoor which contributes towards attracting the large number of tourist (Couturaud et al, 2025). This wildlife sanctuary facilitates towards economic development for the local businesses and increase need for accommodation and transportations. Further, this has created job opportunities for the indigenous communities as they have huge information regarding flora and fauna which could be shared with tourist. However, on the basis of World Animal Protection, 75% of wildlife sanctuaries are creating negative impact on the animals (Impact on animal of wildlife sanctuaries, 2024). It has been identified that animal are snatched away from their natural habitats to shift within sanctuaries which develop a long term harm. Along with this, it has been identified that many animals faces trauma due to separation from their mother at early age, facing training method and going through cosmetic alternation. On the other hand, many believes that wildlife sanctuaries support in providing regular and effective care to animal leading to their overall welfare. This creates a moral dilemma for the tourism industry to determine whether wildlife sanctuaries should be promoted or not.

The act of developing and promoting wildlife sanctuaries is considered to be unethical from the view point of virtue ethics theory. This theory stated that an action will be treated as ethical if similar action has been initiated by virtue individual in similar circumstance. This is the most impactful theory which aims at critically analysing particular decision on the basis of different view point (Vignaud et al, 2021). On this basis, it has been identified that a virtue individual will never involved in separating animals from their natural habitats and mothers denoting the idea to be unethical. Further, it has been identified that harming other’s well-being for personal monetary welfare could not be treated as ethical decision. Wildlife sanctuaries are restricting animals to live their life according to their needs which ultimately result in animal exploitation.

On the critical point of view, a virtue individual will work toward offering high quality care and safety to animals that are also undertaken through wildlife sanctuary. This has also results in controlling poaching that aids in protecting endangered species which is significant for promoting ecosystem stability. On this basis, wildlife sanctuaries in tourism could be considered as ethical activity as it assists in overall welfare of the animals and local people (Levy et al, 2023). Beside this, there is various limitation of the Virtue ethics theory which develops issue in effectively evaluating particular action on ethical manner. This theory is based on the actions that are undertaken by other’s individual does not provide a moral ground on which actions could be evaluated. In the current case, a virtue person may promote wildlife sanctuary with aim of safeguarding animals which indicates the action to be ethical while ignoring all the negative impact.

Conclusion

By summing up the essay, it has identified that mass tourism, accommodation on indigenous land and wildlife sanctuaries are three moral dilemma faced by UK’s tourism and hospitality industry. In case of indigenous land I would not develop hotel on such land as it is hugely impacting on them. Rather, I could have arranged events by which country’s culture could be demonstrated without hampering them. In second case, I would have promoted local markets and shops along with other areas which help me in providing them higher advantage and support in carrying out tourism in ethical manner. According to my view point, wildlife sanctuaries are crucial in promoting tourism and I would have involved towards providing required environment to animals so that they could easily adjust in same.

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References

Books and Journals

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Couturaud, F., Schmidt, J., Sanchez, O., Ballerie, A., Sevestre, M.A., Meneveau, N., Bertoletti, L., Connault, J., Benhamou, Y., Constans, J. and Quemeneur, T., 2025. Extended treatment of venous thromboembolism with reduced-dose versus full-dose direct oral anticoagulants in patients at high risk of recurrence: a non-inferiority, multicentre, randomised, open-label, blinded endpoint trial. The Lancet, 405(10480), pp.725-735.

Da Mota, V.T. and Pickering, C., 2020. Using social media to assess nature-based tourism: Current research and future trends. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 30, p.100295.

Ivanov, S. and Umbrello, S., 2021. The ethics of artificial intelligence and robotization in tourism and hospitality-A conceptual framework and research agenda. Journal of Smart Tourism, 1(4), pp.9-18.

Jamal, T. and Higham, J., 2021. Justice and ethics: Towards a new platform for tourism and sustainability. In Justice and Tourism (pp. 1-15). Routledge.

Kalvet, T., Olesk, M., Tiits, M. and Raun, J., 2020. Innovative tools for tourism and cultural tourism impact assessment. Sustainability, 12(18), p.7470.

Levy, D., Desnos, C., Lebreton, G., Théry, G., Pineton de Chambrun, M., Leprince, P., Hammoudi, N., Schmidt, M., Combes, A. and Hékimian, G., 2023. Early reversal of right ventricular dysfunction after venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 207(6), pp.784-787.

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Piersanti, V., Consalvo, F., Signore, F., Del Rio, A. and Zaami, S., 2021. Surrogacy and “procreative tourism”. What does the future hold from the ethical and legal perspectives?. Medicina, 57(1), p.47.

Terkenli, T.S., 2024. Tourism and landscape. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Tourism, pp.166-180.

Théry, G., Scemama, A., Roblin, E., Caplan, M., Mourvillier, B. and Goury, A., 2024. Impact of prone position on dead-space fraction in COVID-19 related acute respiratory distress syndrome. BMC Pulmonary Medicine, 24(1), p.17.

Thery, L., Vaflard, P., Vuagnat, P., Soulie, O., Dolbeault, S., Burnod, A., Laouisset, C., Marchal, T., Massiani, M.A., Bozec, L. and Bidard, F.C., 2021. Advanced cancer and COVID-19 comorbidity: medical oncology-palliative medicine ethics meetings in a comprehensive cancer centre. BMJ supportive & palliative care, 14(e1), pp.e594-e599.

Vignaud, T., Copos, C., Leterrier, C., Toro-Nahuelpan, M., Tseng, Q., Mahamid, J., Blanchoin, L., Mogilner, A., Théry, M. and Kurzawa, L., 2021. Stress fibres are embedded in a contractile cortical network. Nature materials, 20(3), pp.410-420.

Online

ABTA’s expansion plan. 2025. Online. Available through: < https://www.abta.com/sites/default/files/media/document/uploads/Travel%20Trends%20for%202025%20251124.pdf>

Description of UK’s tourism industry. 2024. Online. Available through: < https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/tourismindustry#:~:text=Visits%20to%20the%20UK%20decreased,4.0%20million%20in%20December%202022. >

Impact on animal of wildlife sanctuaries. 2024. Online. Available through: < https://www.thomsonec.com/news/the-state-of-uk-garden-wildlife-2024/>