Abstract
Simple SummaryAnimals of countless species, wild as well as tame, can now entertain tourists on their holidays. The popularity, however, of animal-based tourism comes with significant risks for the welfare of these animals. Many animals are kept in small confinements, are broken down to interact obediently with tourists, or are made to perform, entertain, transport or even give their lives for human leisure. In this paper, the challenges of animal-based tourism are presented from the perspectives of interdisciplinary researchers. The challenges are discussed based on a two-day symposium with workshop sessions. We bring attention to the problem of cultural relativism and the difficulty of imposing universal standards of animal welfare. We conclude that reforms and individual travel decisions as a result of biosecurity concerns will impact animal welfare. In addition to this, we observe that technology has a dual role to play in enhancing edutainment but also potentially inviting new challenges. In the end, we declare some possibilities for compassionate animal based tourism.By animal-based tourism, a host of activities offering passive viewing or active interaction with wild, semi-wild or captive animals is included. The multibillion dollar industry is on the rise globally today, offering modes of engagement with animals that trade on increasingly embodied close encounters with non-human animals. As new modes of animal-based tourism proliferate, such as sloth selfies, visiting cat cafes, swimming with sharks and agri-tourism petting zoos, animal welfare standards risk deteriorating. In the following paper, we collate concerns over animal welfare into a discussion on the challenges facing animal-based tourism. Our synthesis is the first to consider the full spectrum of such animal-based tourism: across agri-, hunting, zoo and safari tourism, to name a few, and crossing consumptive and non-consumptive boundaries. A literature review is first provided. Findings are then presented thematically following workshops at an international interdisciplinary symposium of leading tourism, animal welfare, ethics and leisure sciences scholars together with practitioners of the industry. It discusses macrolevel drivers to animal-based tourism as an industry, the problem of cultural relativism and the role of technology in enhancing or promoting the experience. We indicate ways forward toward implementing a compassionate animal-based tourism.
Highlights
Taking selfies with animals and uploading them to Instagram may be considered tacky to some but is part of a growing suite of activities in late modernity that sell embodied encounters with animals [1,2].Animals 2020, 10, 1830; doi:10.3390/ani10101830 www.mdpi.com/journal/animalsToday, animal-based tourism takes place in wild, semi-wild, captive or contrived settings with varying degrees of human–animal interaction [3,4]
In light of such profound challenges to animal lives and welfare, what is the future of animal-based tourism? Can we expect to see a diversification in the sorts of animals commoditised, the destinations offered and array of interactions with animals available? Parallel to this and as a result of a few notable scandals, can we expect increased scrutiny of the industry in terms of its treatment of animal workers? A doctrine of cultural relativism prevents legislation from managing all animal-based recreational practices too uniformly, but consumers themselves may, as indicated, become more selective across practices that receive negative reviews or public naming and shaming
We further extend the concept of compassionate conservation to compassionate animal-based tourism, i.e., the welfare of the individual animal within all kinds of tourism; eco, hunting and agritourism
Summary
Taking selfies with animals and uploading them to Instagram may be considered tacky to some but is part of a growing suite of activities in late modernity that sell embodied encounters with animals [1,2]. Animal tourism activities are usually framed as authentic, tactile, multisensory encounters with natures and selves from which we have been alienated in modernity [7,8] This explains some of the demographic characteristics of animal tourists; urban clients in particular are willing to pay a premium to “get away” from the city and rediscover the wild [1,9]. Kline [30] argues that people leave their ethics at home while traveling because they are removed in time and place from routine and normalised contexts of everyday life This can result in cognitive dissonance, which is managed through tropes that neutralise morally deviant behavior [31]. It appears that some tourists are increasingly discerning consumers, whose choices and preferences on holiday signal identity This means that changes in visitor tastes may be used to improve animal welfare standards in the future [34]. There is cause to be wary of eco-labeling and green-washing in the industry, and even words like animal “sanctuaries” [31] as these, too, function as neutralising cognitive dissonance
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