Animal welfare concerns over travel attractions

Many tourists feel queasy when confronted with trained monkeys, dancing bears and other dubious travel attractions. 

Online holiday company Thomas Cook has addressed those issues by cancelling all sales for attractions with captive dolphins and whales.

It is it part a new animal welfare policy, Travel Mole reports.

In 2018, the former Thomas Cook business removed attractions with captive orcas from its sales platform.

The re-established online business has now gone further by removing all attractions where dolphins and whales are held in captivity.

Thomas Cook said customer feedback had shown that consumers had concerns over dolphins in captivity.

The company said It will instead focus on wild watching experiences for whales and dolphins in their own habitats.

"We only want to offer experiences when we’re confident they abide by the highest welfare standards and are not built on animal suffering,” said CEO Alan French. 

“We have been seeing a strong return to bookings but also a decline in activities that harm the environment or animals.”