An open letter to Tui Group has been set up in partnership with wildlife charity World Animal Protection, and has already been signed by almost 200 travel agents.
It follows a recent webinar on animal welfare organised by sustainability writer and consultant Rebecca Woolford of Kiwano Travel, in conjunction with World Animal Protection, in which the four agents appeared as guest speakers to share their own voices on the issue.
Marie Rowe of Marie Rowe Travel (Travel Counsellors), Julie Breckon of Earthwise Travel (Hays Travel), Annika Nickson of Nickson Travel and Rachel Tredwell of Tredwell Travel (both Not Just Travel) are also 4 of the 20 agents to graduate from the inaugural TTG Sustainable Travel Ambassadors initiative this year.
Noting the speed with which the letter attracted 200 signatures, Marie Rowe told TTG: “This is testament to how important it is for agents to know that our cherished suppliers are doing the right thing and working with us to develop relationships based on the values we want to instil in our businesses and the product we want to offer our clients.
"There are so many agents who we’ve spoken to who currently won’t book Tui because of their policy on captive dolphin attractions. A change in policy would come at the perfect time as Tui makes its investments to work more closely with independent agents. If they did stop selling [these attractions] it would change our perspective of Tui overnight and help to really build good will between them and agents.”
Abta’s current Animal Welfare Guidelines do not prohibit the sale of attractions which have cetaceans (including dolphins and orcas) in captivity, and though many travel brands have taken such attractions off sale, many continue to sell them.
Brands including Gold Medal, Ocean Florida, Tui Group and Attraction World continue to sell SeaWorld in Florida for example, while Tui Group and Jet2holidays sell Loro Parque in Tenerife. TTG’s ‘Big Question’ in August explored the issues in more detail.
Katheryn Wise, wildlife campaign manager at World Animal Protection UK said: "Tui Group continues to profit from cruel dolphin captivity around the world, selling tickets to dolphin shows and swim-with experiences where these intelligent marine predators are kept in small, barren tanks, performing circus tricks for tourist entertainment. We are thrilled that so many independent travel agents are using their powerful role in the industry and encouraging Tui as a major UK travel brand to do the right thing and stop selling and promoting dolphin captivity.”
Kiwano’s Rebecca Woolford added: “Demand for more sustainable and responsible holidays is rising, but animal welfare remains a missing piece. Equally, the travel agent community won’t and cannot afford to wait for more customers to demand the changes this industry needs to see.”
In response to the open letter, Tui Group told TTG in a statement: “At Tui we base the development of our animal welfare strategy on the ABTA Animal Welfare Guidelines, an internationally recognised standard. The ABTA Animal Welfare Guidelines were developed in collaboration with industry experts, zoological organisations, scientists, and NGOs.
“We are currently reviewing the Tui animal welfare policy for venues with cetaceans in captivity as the ABTA Animal Welfare Guidelines no longer contain specific guidance on these. We are doing an in-depth analysis of scientific research and having an open dialogue with different stakeholders, including NGOs, scientists and experts on the subject, to take the most responsible decision. We are deeply committed to ensuring that animals in captivity are in good condition.
“We are convinced that through our animal welfare strategy and audit processes in collaboration with our suppliers we can change the industry from the inside out.”
The webinar, ‘Rethinking Wildlife Tourism’ can be watched below
Read more from TTG’s Sustainable Travel Ambassadors workshop on animal welfare, featuring Intrepid’s global environmental impact manager Dr Suzanne Etti, in our write-up of the session.
