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When browsing for an image of Marrakesh I came across a picture which search engines and AI could not specifically identify. Google Lens turned up many Morocco tour operators who are using the picture, but without a specific location. I posted the picture on SE Travel and commenters seem to think it isn't a real scene but AI generated: a fake.

When ready meals first became available in supermarkets, the packaging showed idealised pictures of the product, and they soon added the text 'serving suggestion' to make it clear that it did not accurately depict the product.

So my question is:

Is it legal for a tour operator to post pictures of scenes, whether real or not, that will not be encountered during the tour?

Edit:
I first saw the picture on a page from Headwater Holidays advertising a tour in Morocco.

It is a specific tour, with a detailed itinerary, and I supposed the picture shown to be an actual sight on the tour. But it turns out to be an "artists's impression" of something imagined to be in Morocco, that is, a fake, not even a resemblance to a specific location. The place doesn't exist.

My question is how this differs from a ready meal which shows a picture of the contents.

Weather Vane
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1 Answers1

9

Is it legal for a tour operator to post pictures of scenes, whether real or not, that will not be encountered during the tour?

Generally, yes, this is legal. The fact that a photo is displayed in advertising does not, in and of itself, amount to a representation that the photo is of something real that will be seen in a tour.

If there is a statement associated with the photo saying that this is an image of something that is on a particular tour, that would be false advertising. But, otherwise, images in advertising are just decoration, and a reasonable person knows that not all images in advertising are real.

Scottish unicorn

No one would suggest that an image of a Scottish castle with a unicorn (the Scottish national animal) munching grass in the front lawn is fraudulent advertising. This is, in part, because reasonable people know that unicorns don't exist, but in part, because no one is promising that you will see a unicorn on the front lawn of a castle on your tour.

Also, generally, even if there is a photo of something that is usually on a particular tour and it is real, a tour almost always has a "subject to change without notice" provision in its tours because sometimes a particular stop on a tour may be skipped, for any manner of reasons short of force majeure such as street construction, closure of a location for a private party, bad weather, destruction of the once popular attractions, etc. that is beyond the control of the tour operator.

ohwilleke
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