The purpose of this paper was to investigate the content of a number of codes of ethics* from
the tourism industry. To accomplish this objective, the researchers analysed 414 statements
from 40 codes of ethics based upon a theoretical framework. This framework was developed
using ethical theory and locus of analysis (LOA) constructs. Six categories emerged from the
data and were juxtaposed with the ethics-LOA theoretical framework. The results of this
study demonstrate that codes of ethics are generally deontological in nature. Implications of
this ethical orientation are discussed and recommendations for future code development are
provided. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.