Animals in tourism
Get Brooke tips for travellers and tour operators on how to show care for working animals in the tourism industry.
How can you help animals in tourism?
Animals are often used to support tourism. But there are many ways you can make a difference for working animals, including:
- Researching activities and destinations involving animals before your holiday
- Thinking about working animals’ health and happiness before riding
- Reporting poor practice and animal welfare concerns
- Following Brooke’s happy horses code.
How does tourism affect animals?
Horses, donkeys and mules working within the tourism industry can travel long distances, often in challenging climates and terrain. As they pull or carry people and luggage, their welfare is can be overlooked.
Enjoying your holiday does not have to be at a cost to animal welfare. There's a growing movement to protect the welfare of animals used in tourism.
Brooke contributed to the ABTA travel association's codes of conduct to improve animal welfare standards in the tourism industry. Brooke has also given training to help tour operators prioritise the welfare of horses, donkeys and mules used in expeditions.
What to think about when planning a holiday
Travellers and tour guides can help support working animal welfare in tourism in many ways…
Questions to think about before you ride:
- How have tour operators ensured the animals are happy and healthy?
- How do attractions prepare for unintended consequences, such as accidents?
- What alternatives are there to animal use?
- Can the animal carry/pull my weight?
- Am I paying a fair price?
How Brooke helps: Bismark’s story
Bismark takes tourists on horseback through the coffee and banana plantations of Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. The horse-riding tour guide admits he didn’t always get things right in the past, but his care and skills have improved thanks to Brooke.
“I am grateful for Brooke's support. Brooke organised horse welfare workshops that have given me and other tour guides a lot of knowledge that we honestly didn't know.”
Email us about your concerns
Worried about an animal?
Brooke wants to help as many suffering working animals as possible. Please share your concerns about working horses, donkeys and mules by sending a short report to [email protected].
Please include:
- Your country and location
- Your observations about the condition of the working animals
- Whether you were part of an organised tour
- Any photograph and/or videos illustrating your concerns.
Report poor practice. Please don't wait to report mistreatment. Make a formal complaint to the tour operator, tourist police or local authorities.
