RESPONSIBLE WILDLIFE TOURISM: LOOK BEYOND THE LABEL
“Sustainable.” “Responsible.” “Ethical.” “Conservation.” “Educational.”
These words increasingly appear in the language used to promote tourism experiences around the world. But when wildlife is involved, the words used to describe an experience may tell us far less than the practices behind it.
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In a 2023 editorial published in the Journal of Responsible Tourism Management, Professor Harold Goodwin examines the development of responsible tourism and an important distinction between sustainability as an aspiration and responsibility as something demonstrated through action.
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Goodwin argues that responsibility requires more than stating principles. It requires identifying what is being done, measuring impacts and being transparent about what has actually been achieved.
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For wildlife tourists, that distinction raises an important question:
When an attraction describes an animal experience as responsible, sustainable, educational or conservation-focused, what evidence supports the claim?
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WHEN THE LABEL ISN’T ENOUGH
Wildlife tourism can take many forms—from observing animals in their natural habitats to visiting zoos and sanctuaries, participating in wildlife encounters, taking photographs with animals or paying for close-contact experiences.
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Goodwin’s paper is not specifically a study of wildlife tourism or animal welfare. It is a broader examination of responsible tourism and its development. However, wildlife tourism appears directly within that history.
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The paper points to campaigns challenging practices including elephant riding, posing with lions and swimming with dolphins. Those examples illustrate something wildlife advocates have increasingly confronted: an experience can be popular, profitable and promoted to tourists while still generating questions about its impacts.
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The responsible-tourism framework asks us to move beyond the description of an activity and examine what actually happens.
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FROM CLAIMS TO EVIDENCE
Consider an attraction that says an animal encounter supports conservation.
What conservation work is actually being supported? Is the contribution measurable? Is information available showing where the money goes or what has been accomplished?
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If an experience is described as educational, what are visitors actually learning? Does the activity encourage an accurate understanding of the species and its natural behavior, habitat and conservation needs—or is education primarily being used to justify access to the animal?
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If an attraction describes itself as responsible, what practices demonstrate that responsibility? How are animal welfare, handling, breeding, housing, public contact and retirement addressed? Are meaningful standards and outcomes available for visitors to examine?
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None of these questions automatically determines whether an attraction is responsible or irresponsible. They do something more useful: they move the conversation from marketing language to evidence.
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RESPONSIBILITY DOESN’T BELONG ONLY TO THE TOURIST
Another important lesson from responsible-tourism scholarship is that responsibility is shared.
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Tourists make choices, but businesses determine what experiences they offer and how those experiences are marketed. Tour operators decide which attractions they promote. Governments establish laws and regulations. Industry organizations create standards. Accreditation and certification programs determine what their approval represents.
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That means ethical wildlife tourism cannot simply become another version of “the tourist should have known better.”
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Travelers need accurate information in order to make informed choices. Businesses have a responsibility to accurately represent their practices. Regulators have a responsibility to establish and enforce meaningful requirements. Organizations promoting standards or certifications have a responsibility to make clear what those standards actually guarantee—and what they do not.
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A BETTER QUESTION BEFORE BOOKING
Wildlife attractions often appeal to something positive in visitors: curiosity about animals, fascination with the natural world and a desire to help wildlife.
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That makes transparency particularly important.
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Before purchasing a wildlife experience, travelers can look beyond the language used to sell it and ask what can actually be verified.
Does the attraction allow direct contact with wild animals? Are animals required to perform or participate in interactions throughout the day? Can they retreat from public view or choose whether to participate? Where did the animals come from? Does the facility breed animals, and if so, why? What happens to animals when they can no longer participate in encounters? What measurable conservation work does the organization support?
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A polished website, a conservation message or the word sanctuary does not answer those questions.
Evidence does.
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RESPONSIBLE TOURISM REQUIRES ACCOUNTABILITY
Perhaps the most useful lesson from Goodwin’s discussion is that responsibility is something we do—not simply something we call ourselves.
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Applied to wildlife tourism, that principle offers travelers a practical way to approach animal experiences without requiring them to become wildlife experts before taking a vacation.
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Look beyond the label.
Ask questions.
Look for transparency.
Examine what the experience requires of the animals—not merely what it promises the visitor.
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Because when wildlife becomes part of the tourism experience, responsible travel should be measured not only by the experience we receive, but by the consequences of creating that experience in the first place.
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SOURCE
Goodwin, H. (2023).
Responsible Travel and Ethical Tourism: Trends and Issues.
Journal of Responsible Tourism Management, 3(1), 1–14. DOI: 10.47263/JRTM.03-01-01.
Related Reading:
Inappropriate Wildlife Tourism Looks Normal
Explore how repeated exposure to wildlife encounters can normalize practices that deserve closer examination, and why what feels normal is not necessarily responsible or ethical.
Evidence • Education • Accountability
