Tourism And The Law In South Africa

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This Tourism Week. Number 8 Sunday, 8 October 2002. Knysna.

 Tourism And The Law In South Africa

As promised, here’s a review of Tourism And The Law In South Africa, the new book by Professor Patrick Vrancken of the University of Port Elizabeth’s Tourism Law Unit (published by Butterworths).

            This is ground-breaking stuff. Nobody has ever tried to bring all the laws that govern tourism into one single work, and this is why I think this book is so important.

Vrancken and his ten co-authors make an impressive team – and, with no less than five professors (one in accounting and four in law), five advocates and two attorneys amongst them, you’d expect this book to be heavy reading. Happily, though, it’s anything but, and whilst it’s quite clear that it’s a student’s text book, it’s also been written with the tourism practitioner in mind.

Tourism And The Law In South Africa is written in two parts – an Introduction To The Law and an Introduction To Tourism Law.

My preconception was that the book would deal only with pieces of legislation that contain the words ‘tourism’ or ‘travel’ in their titles, but tourism is as much a business as any other, and it follows that our industry should have to pay tax, deal with labour and take steps to protect the consumer. And herein lies the value of the first part this book: in eleven concise chapters, we are introduced to the law and provided with an overview of

·               public law;

·               the law of contract and delict (like you, I’d never heard the word, either, but it seems we read about it in our newspapers all the time – it means “the unreasonable behaviour of a person who acts either intentionally or negligently and thus causes someone to suffer damage or loss.”);

·               legislation that ensures consumer protection;

·               business entities;

·               labour law;

·               electronic commerce and instruments of electronic payment;

·               insurance law;

·               taxation;

·               criminal law and procedure; and

·               public and private international law,

 

The second part of the book is perhaps disappointingly brief, but this is understandable in a country where tourism is only now beginning to come of age -and in the light of our argument that tourism is as much a business as any other.

For our purposes, the five chapters on tourism law bear longer descriptions:

Chapter 12 explains the scope of tourism law and attempts to define tourism (rather clumsily expressed in South Africa’s 1996 White Paper on Tourism as “all travel for whatever purpose, that results in one or more nights being spent away from home.” The World Tourism Organisation puts it slightly differently: “the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”).

Chapter 13 – Tourism Organisations and Regulation – describes the aims, membership structures and activities of international organisations such as the World Tourism Organisation (which is closely tied to, but independent of, the United Nations) as well as of regional bodies (the African Travel Association, SADC, etc.). It goes on to examine the scope of legislation at national level and the roles of government agencies (such as South African Tourism) and the private sector (and here we find a brief mention of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa). The discussion also includes an overview of the legislation concerning tourism as it has been promulgated in the nine provinces and, interestingly, points out that only KwaZulu-Natal – with its regional tourism forums – and the Western Cape – with its regional tourism organisations – have provided for sub-provincial structures. These are briefly described.

Chapter 14 – Travel Law – is one of the longer chapters in part two and describes both the framework for international and national travel (by air, road, rail and sea) and the legal norms within which travel agencies are operated. As one who has been involved in the creation and management of tourism attractions, this chapter worked for me in that it provided me with just enough material to understand how these things are governed. You see, I don’t necessarily want to know the intricacies of car hire or of how an airline deals with travel agents – but, because they are important to what I do, I do need to know their broad implications.

Chapter 15 – Hospitality Law – discusses accommodation and catering and, for me, contained some surprises. Did you know, for instance, that accommodation in South Africa is subject to international and intergovernmental laws and protocols that include those of the International Hotels Association, the 1979 International Hotel Convention Relative to Contracts Between Hoteliers and Travel Agents and the 1991 Working Conditions (Hotels and Restaurants) Convention – amongst a number of others?

Blithely going out and setting up a B&B in your back room could be a lot more dangerous than you might have thought!

Chapter 16 – Attractions Law – provides a basic overview of the legislation governing natural and cultural attractions, tourist guides, entertainment, sport, hunting and gambling and should, in my opinion, be required reading for everyone in tourism – especially as I believe so strongly in the need to develop more attractions if we are to grow this industry (regular readers will know how much I enjoy Prof. Vrancken’s brilliantly clear description of the reason for traveling – “the attraction defines the journey”).

Throughout, each chapter contains brief introductions to the legislation and discusses the impact of the law on the tourism industry and on business as a whole. This is done without resorting to too many case studies which could, one supposes, provide clarity on difficult pieces of legislation, but which could equally confuse the layperson whose mind isn’t trained in legal gymnastics.

The book is indexed and provided with tables of statutes and international instruments  that are cross-referenced to the relevant chapters. It’s available in soft cover only, but you’ll be pleased to know that it’s pages have been stitched – rather than glued – together, so it won’t break apart at the spine after only one or two readings.

Tourism and The Law in South Africa isn’t a do-it-yourself guide, but what it does do is provide you with sufficient ammunition to know that you are operating your business within the framework of the law. At nearly R320.00, you might think that it’s expensive ammunition, but I’d say it’s cheap insurance: – better legal than criminal, what?

In all my years as a tourism writer I have, as you can imagine, been asked to read many varied and wonderful tomes, and I’ve learned something from all of them. But I don’t think I’ve ever before gone so far as to say “you need this book.”

I’ll say it now: You need a copy of Tourism and the Law in South Africa.

For more information, or to order (the cost is R319.20, VAT inclusive), please call Vanessa Griffiths of Butterworths: Cell 082 773 2224; telephone 041 373 6475; or e-mail vanessa.griffiths@butterworths.co.za   Important News For the Garden Route and Klein Karoo 

Diarise December 3 – it’s the date for the Tourism Law and Management Seminar which will be presented jointly by LexIcon Attorneys and the Brenton On Sea Hotel.

 

Topics include

·               Tourism Law – Prof. Partick Vrancken of the Tourism Law Unit at UPE

·               E-Law – Michael White, CEO, LexIcon Attorneys

·               Labour Law Update (including HIV/Aids) – Deon Erasmus -LexIcon Attorneys

·               Tourism and The Media – Martin Hatchuel – freelance writer

·               Tourism and Insurance – Gavin Courtenay – Safari & Tourism Insurance Brokers

 

 

 … Have a Great Tourism Week! MARTIN HATCHUEL

Telephone +27(0)44 384 1810 | Cell +27(0)84 951 0574 | martin@thistourismweek.co.za