Beyond the selfie: Industry leaders pioneering wildlife-friendly travel

Last week I was lucky enough to present to a room of travel specialists and leaders in the Australia-New Zealand travel industry on responsible travel as part of an inspiring series of events organised by Adventure World.  

Speaking alongside some incredible leaders, Jill Robinson MBE from Animals Asia and Lesa Bain of Lindblad Expeditions, it was a fantastic opportunity to talk about a topic that is very near and dear to my heart: why animal welfare and wild animal protection needs to be at the heart of responsible travel. 

The heartening takeaway from all the events over the last week? The travel industry is moving to a wildlife-friendly future and there are a bunch of very passionate people who are working hard to bring that about. 

I really believe that having the privilege to travel allows us to expand our minds and hearts in immeasurable ways. I’ve always been passionate about being an ethical traveller, and like many travellers who love animals, I’ve sought out opportunities to see animals up close – unfortunately sometimes in ways I now recognise as harmful.  

Recently, as part of the research of our Holidays that Harm report, I travelled to Bali to do a welfare assessment of the captive wildlife tourist venues in the region. Sadly, we found that there was no ethical way to see wild animals in Bali or Lombok, with many venues keeping animals in vastly inadequate conditions, or running low-welfare activities like elephant riding or orangutan selfies.  

During that trip, I saw the full impact of tourist entertainment on wild animals, and it really lit a fire under me to continue advocating for a truly wildlife-friendly future for tourism. Across the world, an estimated 560,000 wild animals are currently in wildlife tourist attractions, with uncountable more touched by – or, all too often – exploited by the global tourism industry. 

Importantly, travel companies can play a huge role in preventing this suffering. Travellers often look to travel companies for guidance when booking activities on their holidays. When travel companies sell or promote a venue, it sends a message that that venue is acceptable to visit.  

But more and more, we’re seeing travellers asking for ethical holidays that don’t harm animals – a global poll we ran in 2022 showed a whopping 82% of people believed that tour operators should not sell activities that cause suffering to wild animals (over 23,000 people across 15 countries). 

That’s why World Animal Protection has worked with hundreds of inspiring companies around the world, like Adventure World Travel, helping them develop robust animal welfare policies in place that support wildlife-friendly venues and experiences. And we’re seeing more and more travel companies keen to build responsible animal welfare into their operations. 

We’re always keen to work with anyone who would like to transition to a wildlife-friendly business model.  Please do reach out and drop me a line – I’m always keen to chat about this topic! 

Together, we have the power and responsibility to end the exploitation of thousands of wild animals currently suffering for tourist entertainment around the world. And we can all revel in the incredible joy of seeing animals happy and thriving in wild, where they belong.