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With responsible travel becoming the preferred default, travel agencies must carefully consider their influence in the experience economy, a new report reveals. After all, travelers are getting pickier about the companies they book with.
Luna Brophy
Sustainable travel has created a sense of urgency in the wake of the pandemic. However, while carbon emissions, environmental degradation, and cultural sensitivities are ultimately separated, the exploitation of animals through the sale of captive wild animals for entertainment has received less opposition.
Tour operators, in particular, are said to be “failing wildlife by selling exploitative experiences and attractions or running their business without concern for animal exploitation”. That’s according to a new responsible tourism report commissioned by World Animal Protection and undertaken by the University of Surrey.
The study reviewed nine leading travel companies’ experiences with animals. Five influential tour and activities companies, Traveloka, Trip.com, Klook, GetYourGuide and TUI Musement, were named for “selling exploitative wildlife experiences that are harmful to various wildlife species”. The report rated four of the companies with less than 10 percent of their businesses considering animal welfare in their policies, objectives and supply chains. Read the full report here.
Essentially, the report states that brand trust is a significant contributor to animal exploitation. Reputable brands promoting and marketing wildlife entertainment venues lead tourists to think that these activities are acceptable and even beneficial to wildlife, when in reality these activities are inhumane and cause lifelong harm to wildlife,” it advises.
This real responsibility travelr Report said to build on World Animal Protection’s 2020 track tourism The report evaluated Airbnb, AttractionTickets.com, Booking.com, DER Touristik, Expedia, Flight Centre, GetYourGuide, Klook, The Travel Corporation, Viator, Trip.com and TUI Musement.
An independent analysis of the companies scored them based on factors related to providing exploitative wildlife entertainment. It also looks at whether the companies have the necessary animal welfare policies and vetting procedures in place, and how these harmful activities and suppliers are filtered and removed if found to be in violation of the company’s policies.
Skift reached out for comment on the ratings, but only two operators responded by the time of publication.
According to the report’s evaluation criteria, TUI Musement’s approach received a 51% rating as part of the lead operator. A spokesperson told Skift that the company is seeing “significant interest in animal attractions and wildlife viewing opportunities” from customers.
TUI says its ABTA’s animal welfare guidelines have been in place since 2016. It claims the framework was developed in consultation with industry experts, including a third-party external audit of activities involving animals. Suppliers who are not successfully audited are given a compliance roadmap, and if they do not address the issues, TUI will “cease activity”.
“We will analyze the report further to understand how we have arrived at this score given the comprehensive processes and actions we have put in place.”
A spokesman for GetYourGuide said the operator was working to “refine its guide and product” in response to questions about its 7% weighting. Surprisingly, the operator said it had introduced a new tour screening tool in 2022, overseen by a responsible tourism team.
The process includes manual quality checks of activities based on traveler feedback and staff requests. “Just last week, we removed a trip to Thailand from our list after we received reports of encounters with animals on a leash.”
A quick search shows that elephant interactions in Thailand are common in most tour and activities online sites. Elephant washing is a lot of experience, and while they may not seem as cruel as riding one, Responsible Tourism reports that it is immoral.
World Animal Protection further explained that “recreational elephants are either caught in the wild or born in captivity and taken from their mothers at infancy. They are then subjected to violent training, causing great physical and psychological damage.”
Taking selfies with tiger cubs and swimming with dolphins are some of the other problematic activities detailed in the report, “each year thousands of wild animals are forced to perform for tourist entertainment or to be the subject of tourist ‘experiences’ that Incredibly unnatural and stressful.”
World Animal Protection said companies assessed receive feedback and a time frame within which to report and implement any necessary changes to improve their products and overall responsible tourism weightings.
