TripAdvisor halts ticket sales to shows that exploit animals

Travel and restaurant company TripAdvisor will no longer sell tickets through its site for shows or exhibits that use endangered or wild animals for entertainment.

The firm, along with its subsidiary Viator, announced it was taking a stand against such shows by no longer associating with them.

It stated: “TripAdvisor will not sell tickets to, or generate booking revenue from, specific experiences where captive wild or endangered animals are forced to perform demeaning tricks or other unnatural behaviours in front of the general public, or where they are featured as part of a live circus or stage entertainment act in a demeaning manner.”

According to Live Kindly, the company defines “demeaning” as situations whereby the animal involved is either drugged or forcibly trained to perform in a way that does not benefit the animal, such as in a circus.

“The changes we’ve announced today reflect our ongoing commitment to help drive positive change within the tourism industry. Tourist activities have a huge impact on wild animals around the world, and while that impact can often be positive, such as helping to fund important conservation efforts, it can be negative too,” said Sally Davey, head of industry relations.

“We hope that, by making it clearer which kinds of experiences we are willing to sell on TripAdvisor and which we are not, we can push suppliers to adopt better animal welfare practices in the experiences they offer.”

TripAdvisor also noted that certain animal encounters would still be permitted under its animal welfare policy.

For example, horseback riding, petting zoos with domestic animals, aquarium and invertebrate “touch” encounters for “educational purposes,” feeding interactions (as long as the animal is not forced to comply and can “disengage from contact at will”), voluntourism for endangered species, and some fishing excursions are still permitted.