Tripadvisor, an American travel website that provides user reviews on tourist attractions all around the world, and Viator, Tripadvisor’s ticket sales company, have made the brave decision to no longer promote or sell tickets to tourist attractions that are known to cause animal mistreatment and cruelty. This new change in business policy means ceasing sales to hundreds of animal attractions Tripadvisor used to support and promote. 

Why do we need Tripadvisor to change their policies?
Scientific data and studies have shown that attractions involving the mistreatment of wild animals can cause severe psychological and physical trauma for the animals. This trauma can often lead to shortened life spans. As well, the demand for these cruel attractions results in more and more wild animals being taken from their natural habitats and forced to live in captivity.

A study conducted by World Animal Protection (WAP), a London-based animal welfare group, and Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) revealed that tourists are not very good at determining whether or not an attraction is humane or cruel for animals. For example, tiger encounters, which most experts deem as one of the most inhumane animal attractions, receive many positive reviews from users on Tripadvisor. 

What changed their mind? 
Earlier this year, National Geographic asked Tripadvisor why it continued to support and sell tickets for inhumane tourist attractions. A spokesperson for Tripadvisor responded by saying that it wasn’t Tripadvisor’s place to steer their users in any particular direction. Luckily, Tripadvisor has changed their tune. 

Over the past year there has been increased reporting by National Geographic’s Wildlife Watch on Tripadvisor’s continued promotion of inhumane attractions, even when fellow travel websites were distancing themselves from these attractions.  The site Thomas Cook partnered with WAP and vowed to stop promoting elephant attractions.  

World Animal Protection also had an 18 month long protest campaign to try and convince Tripadvisor to see reason and take responsibility for the power of their platform. They encouraged the public to sign a petition to stop Tripadvisor from profiting off of animal abuse. After many months and over 550,000 signatures on their petition, Tripadvisor finally listened. 

How are animals being mistreated? 
The most popular tourist attractions that involve animal cruelty are elephant rides, opportunities to swim with dolphins, and encounters with tigers and other wild cats.  

To train elephants to be docile enough for humans to ride them, the elephants are often beaten with nail-tipped sticks and left unable to move in small cages.  For tiger and lion encounters, the wild cats are drugged and sedated so that they can be kept calmer for visitors. And dolphins who are kept in captivity are unable to hunt, roam or play. This type of environment leads to high stress and behavioural problems with the dolphins. 

However, for travellers who still want to interact with wildlife, there are a number of alternatives to inhumane animal attractions. For example, instead of riding elephants in Thailand, you can visit a local elephant sanctuary and volunteer your time or tour the facility. Just ensure that you do your research so you can support organizations dedicated to rehabilitation, conservation and animal safety instead of those who neglect animal rights in favor of earning a profit from tourists. 

How is Tripadvisor fighting against animal cruelty? 
Tripadvisor and Viator have made the decision to support animal welfare and take a stand against attractions that cause animal cruelty and mistreatment. They are doing this first and foremost by ending ticket sales to such attractions. They are also developing a portal meant to educate tourists and Tripadvisor users on animal welfare practices and the implications of wildlife tourism.  This portal will be developed in collaboration with WAP, WildCRU, PETA and other animal welfare organizations.

Stephen Kaufer, the president and CEO of Tripadvisor, believes Tripadvisor’s new policy and education portal will help improve health and safety standards for animals worldwide. He notes that this is especially important in markets where no such standards exist and that lack adequate protection for animals. Kaufer believes these new policies will be good for business as well as they enable travellers to make more thoughtful choices and leave more meaningful reviews. 

The CEO of WAP, Steve McIvor, applauds Tripadvisor for their new policy and decision to publicly support protecting animal rights and welfare. McIvor believes it is important for sites like Tripadvisor to educate their users because animal abuse is often a hidden byproduct of the tourism industry. Millions of travellers around the world look to Tripadvisor to give them authentic and informative knowledge about an attraction - Tripadvisor has a duty to educate given the public and authoritative platform they hold. 

As McIvor points out, this move by Tripadvisor is a significant step to shutting down attractions that jeopardize animal welfare for good.  It tells the industry that wildlife entertainment and animal tourism is not justification for animal cruelty.