10 Helpful Tips For Responsible Wildlife Tourism

Last Updated on August 25, 2023

Wildlife tourism and animal tourism is all the rage – But behind the scenes there’s sometimes maltreatment and exploitation of animals happening. This guide covers everything you need to know to enjoy wildlife tourism responsibly. 

Riding elephants, swimming with sharks, and posing with tigers is super popular amongst tourists, especially when you look on Instagram. Travelers, friends, family, celebrities, influencers all post selfies with wild animals because, well – photos with animals get a lot of likes. But of course what we see on Instagram isn’t the whole story. 

Travelers, and the viewers that follow their adventures, are usually unaware of the reality of life for the animals they meet. And it’s no one’s fault, really. What’s happening behind the scenes of wildlife tourism isn’t meant to be seen.

This guide covers what wildlife tourism is, the benefits of wildlife tourism, how it sometimes goes wrong, how to spot problematic animal tourism experiences, and tips for responsible wildlife tourism! 

What is Wildlife Tourism?

Wildlife tourism refers to observing and interacting with local animals and plant life, usually in their natural habitats. Examples of wildlife tourism include visiting elephant sanctuaries, going on safaris, and swimming with dolphins. 

Wildlife Experiences Around the World

There’s different types of wildlife experiences that tourists can have as they travel, ranging from watching animals from afar to seeing them, and interacting with them up close. Here are the three main types of animal tourism:

• Wildlife observation: This type of wildlife tourism is low impact. Examples include bird watching in the forest, or whale watching from a boat. 
• Wildlife interaction: These are wildlife encounters that include some form of interaction with an animal. Examples include riding or washing an elephant, or posing for a photo with a tiger. 
• Wildlife entertainment: This form of animal tourism is when animals perform in a show or demonstration. This can include elephants throwing darts in a circus ring, beluga whales performing tricks in a traveling show, or polar bears performing on ice. 

The Benefits of Wildlife Tourism

Wildlife tourism can support conservation, create jobs, and protect biodiversity around the world.  And, it’s also a wonderful tool for engaging tourists in wildlife conservation.

When you have a wildlife tourism experience, you get to learn about species who often are facing extinction. This education combined with seeing that animal in its habitat helps you feel more connected to issues around conservation. This helps to improve awareness around conservation issues.

Wildlife tourism also helps to support local communities that live close to or alongside that wildlife. This is really crucial in regions of the world that are less developed. There, wildlife tourism can contribute to economic growth.

When Wildlife Tourism Goes Wrong

Wildlife tourism can lead to the exploitation of animals because it’s an industry driven by profit, and there is so much “unseen” within the industry. A few minutes spent posing for a photo with an elephant in a sanctuary don’t tell the full story of that elephant’s life. 

Elephants who are in captivity in Thailand have been trained for human interaction, often using pain and fear based methods. This means that regardless of the kind of interaction you have with an elephant, whether it’s riding, feeding, or posing for a photo, the reality is that the elephant had to be trained to participate in the interaction. As a tourist, it’s nearly impossible to know what the day to day experiences of an animal in captivity truly is. 

Most people love animals, and want to be close to them. This is why animal exploitation is so easily perpetuated in wildlife tourism. The other problem is that the average person isn’t trained to know the signs of stress or pain in animals. It’s easy to think an animal looks happy, when in fact, it isn’t. 

Social Media and Wildlife Tourism 

Social media is a form of advertising. And it’s dangerous, because this advertising is very subtle. You can idly scroll through your phone on any given day, and come across a photo of a friend, family member, celebrity or influencer in a dreamy landscape, standing next to a majestic elephant. 

These scenes are so attractive, that nowadays, people plan trips around specifically having those experiences. The issue isn’t necessarily the posting of the image itself, it’s more so how that image is perceived. 

Someone might have visited a vetted, ethical sanctuary. But once they post a photo of their experience, viewers can see it, want the same experience, do a quick Google search, and then find themselves at an unethical facility. 

Social media has very much driven growth in the wildlife tourism industry. Between 2015 and 2017, selfies with wild animals on Instagram increased by 300%. Unfortunately, these social media trends have real consequences for wildlife. 

For example, when images of travelers swimming with pigs in the Bahamas became viral on Instagram, the activity exploded in popularity. Now, there’s local concern for the wellbeing of the pigs as overfed and misfed pigs have been found dead on beaches. 

What is Responsible Wildlife Tourism

Responsible wildlife tourism means taking a mindful approach when seeking out travel experiences that involve animals. It’s about making choices that minimize the negative impacts of your animal tourism experience in favor of ones that are neutral, or contribute positively towards conservation and protection of wildlife. 

Taking this approach to wildlife tourism is part of the larger, growing movement toward responsible tourism and sustainable tourism that many travelers are now taking up! 

10 Tips for Responsible Wildlife Tourism

Here are responsible wildlife tourism tips that will help you to avoid wildlife tourism experiences that are potentially harmful, and instead choose ones that are low impact and support conservation.

1. Research ethical animal tourism. 

Participating in wildlife tourism responsibly is all about informing yourself. World Animal Protection, a Canadian organization devoted to ending needless animal suffering, has tons of helpful resources that you can use to guide your wildlife tourism choices, right here.

Aside from learning general knowledge about the issues around wildlife tourism, be sure to research the experiences you’re interested in having ahead of time. This way, you’re able to figure out in advance whether or not a wildlife experience is ethical, and which tour operator to go with.

2. Check reviews before booking a wildlife experience.

Reviews can be a gold mine of information! Ahead of booking any wildlife or animal experience, check the reviews for the tour operator, sanctuary, or organization that you’d like to book with. Look specifically at the 1 and 2 star reviews. It’s in these “bad” reviews that previous visitors will likely bring up any red flags that they might have seen. 

3. Follow the selfie code.

In 2017, an organization called World Animal Protection started an initiative called the Wildlife Selfie Code. The goal was to have social media users sign up for the code, pledging not to take selfies with animals. The Wildlife Selfie Code explains that a forced selfie with an animal, where you need to hold, hug, restrain, or bait an animal with food to get the photo, should be avoided. 

After 250,000 animal-lovers signed up to our Wildlife Selfie Code, Instagram launched a new ‘wildlife warning’ page. Now, when Instagram users search hashtags like #koalaselfie or #elephantride, a message pops up to inform them about the potential animal suffering behind the photos.

You can sign up for the Selfie Code yourself, or, simply follow the tips that World Animation Protection recommends. 

4. Stick to observation only experiences.

Hands-on encounters as well as animal entertainment are where issues of maltreatment and exploitation tend to happen, and so this is what you’ll want to avoid. The best way to do so? Stick to observation only experiences. 

There are many ethical safaris where you can observe animals from afar without disrupting them. The animals don’t need to be trained, and instead of an artificial encounter, you get to see them in the wild, engaging in their natural behavior. 

5. Be careful of the term “sanctuary.”

Sanctuaries around the world do provide support for animals that have escaped abuse, but it is important to do some vetting since in some regions of the world, any facility can claim the name “sanctuary.” The first thing to look at is the experiences that are on offer. A good sign is if a sanctuary does not allow you to get close to an animal, and instead is observation focused. 

6. Resist the urge to feed wildlife.

It’s always so tempting to feed wildlife, especially because it seems like a fun and harmless way to connect with animals. But unfortunately, feeding animals, whether they are in a sanctuary or out in the wild can lead to serious problems. 

Wild animals who get used to food hand-outs will often start taking the easy route, versus hunting or foraging for food that’s available in their environment. If this becomes a habit, it can lead to harm. 

7. Support the communities that protect wildlife.

In most cases when you have a wildlife tourism experience, there’s an adjacent community of people who made that experience possible! These are communities who care for and protect wildlife, and so supporting them means you’re supporting animals, too. 

To support those communities, you can buy their services (like hotel stays and tours), eat in their restaurants, and shop in their markets. Often, it’s also possible to make donations. 

8. Make wildlife experiences educational.

The beauty of wildlife tourism is that it can be so educational. It’s an opportunity to learn about creatures and habitats that you’ve likely had little exposure to. Not only can you learn about how they live, but you can learn about the threats that many species on our planet are facing, and how to help reduce those threats. 

An easy way to make sure your wildlife experiences are educational, is to hire tour operators and guides who have expertise. That way, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to learn and ask questions throughout your wildlife experience.

9. Shop for souvenirs responsibly.

In some regions of the world you might see souvenirs made of endangered animals or habitats, like coral, seashells, elephant tusks, and sea turtle shells. This is a great opportunity to vote with your wallet. By not purchasing these souvenirs, you help to shift the market demand for those items. This is an indirect, but important way to contribute toward responsible wildlife tourism.

10. Vote for responsible animal tourism with your wallet.

Wildlife tourism is a consumer-driven industry that responds to the demands of tourists. The elephant industry, for example, is now evolving from riding, show-focused experiences to more naturalistic experiences. This is in large part because it’s becoming common knowledge that you shouldn’t ride elephants.

This shift in elephant tourism shows that the wildlife industry is willing to change, and that we as consumers have the power to encourage them to change. The way we can do that is by voting with our wallets! Give your business to tour operators, sanctuaries, and conservationists who are approaching wildlife tourism responsibly. 

Enjoy Wildlife Tourism Ethically!

It’s absolutely possible to enjoy wildlife tourism in an ethical way. The way to play it the most safe? Opt for wildlife tourism experiences that are observation only. Do research in advance to inform your tourism choices, put money toward reputable organizations and tour operators, and post to social media in a thoughtful way. 

I covered responsible wildlife tourism on my podcast, Curious Tourism, by chatting with Natasha Daly. She’s a journalist for National Geographic who spent two years traveling the world covering animal welfare in the tourism industry.

We talked about what she discovered about wildlife tourism, and tips for how travelers can engage with wildlife in a responsible way. This blog is based on what I learned from Natasha in our discussion. You can listen to her full interview here: Animal Tourism and Social Media’s Influence .

Read more about responsible travel:

• How to Avoid Contributing to Overtourism
• Responsible Tourism: Let’s Talk Travel Privilege
• What is Second City Tourism?
• 12 Essential Sustainable Travel Tips

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