Animal Welfare

DER Touristik adopts an Animal Welfare Guideline and consistently implements it in the Tour Operator Business

In many cases, it is the fascinating wildlife that attracts travellers to faraway lands. Safari in Africa, dolphins and whales in the oceans or flamingo colonies on the Portuguese Atlantic coast: experiencing wild animals in their natural habitat is a unique experience for travellers. Furthermore, experiencing local wildlife in this way is the least invasive for their habitat and behaviour; we are truly convinced of that.

As part of the travel industry, DER Touristik feels responsible for protecting the welfare of animals from the impact of tourism in the habitats visited by travellers. We want to ensure that they are preserved for future generations, too. That is why we have decided: animal welfare is of utmost priority – in their natural habitat, but also where animals are more closely linked to humans!

Therefore, DER Touristik Group and its tour operator brands are driving forward travel products allowing travellers to discover wildlife in a safe and responsible way.

Already in 2017, we developed a binding Animal Welfare Guideline and are jointly implementing this with our partners in an ongoing process. To this end, we are in constant contact with our partners, animal welfare experts and industry bodies across the globe.

Here, the focus is on animal species that are particularly affected by tourist activities, such as elephants or whales and dolphins. The goal is to verify whether our products comply with the requirements set in our guideline and to evaluate animal husbandry standards by independent organisations. Partners are obligated to fulfil the requirements of the Animal Welfare Guideline.

Therefore, DER Touristik Group and its tour operator brands are driving forward travel products allowing travellers to discover wildlife in a safe and responsible way.

Specific requirements allow measuring animal welfare

In terms of animal welfare requirements, DER Touristik is guided by the criteria of the British travel association ABTA, among others. Based on this, we have developed and expanded the DER Touristik Animal Welfare Guideline. Here we commit to the internationally recognised so-called Five Freedoms for supporting animal welfare in terms of adequate nutrition, species-appropriate living conditions, health maintenance, sufficient living space and species-appropriate behaviour.

The Five Freedoms for assessing Animal Welfare according to John Webster

Freedom from hunger, thirst and malnutrition

Freedom from discomfort

Freedom from pain, injury and disease

Freedom from fear and suffering

Freedom to live out normal behaviour

Our animal welfare requirements include, among others

fixed criteria under which animal observations take place or animals are kept
avoiding direct contact between humans and certain animal species, e.g., elephants or dolphins
no exhibiting of animals that display unnatural behaviours
no animal fighting or hunting in our programmes

The set of requirements of our Animal Welfare Guideline includes a variety of animal species and scenarios, each of which are assessed in detail. We have set ourselves the goal of auditing suppliers’ compliance with our standards by 2025.

Here we focus on attraction providers with increased risks in connection with animal welfare, such as facilities that keep animals in captivity, as well as species often exposed to risks in tourism, such as elephants. In this way, we ensure that our products either already observe the minimum animal welfare requirements or are consistently improved as part of the project cooperation. In doing so, we actively support providers by conducting joint training and offering advice.

Better safe than sorry: Verification through external audits

Both, certain types of attractions as well as animal species associated with increased animal welfare risks are audited by animal welfare experts. To this end, we cooperate with independent partners which audit providers based on the detailed set of criteria of the DER Touristik Animal Welfare Guideline. Depending on their risk rating, either a document audit or an on-site audit is conducted, whereby the implementation of all measures can be reviewed on site.

At the same time, we are promoting the species-appropriate handling of animals in tourism and within the industry. We do not only want to make existing products more animal-friendly, but rather contribute towards a sustainable change in industry. In dialogue with our partners, we are driving the continuous improvement of standards. In dialogue with the industry and animal welfare organisations, we draw up innovative solutions for animal-friendly experiences and alternatives to improve existing products. One way of doing this is in close collaboration with projects that we support through the non-profit DER Touristik Foundation.

One example: Enhanced living conditions for elephants in Thailand

Traditionally, elephants in Thailand were used as working animals in forestry. With the ban on deforestation, many mahouts – the elephant keepers and trainers – became unemployed.

In order to continue feeding their families and animals, many of them have increasingly focussed on tourism. Elephant camps have therefore emerged in many places and new challenges in terms of animal welfare have arisen:

often the husbandry conditions of the elephants are inadequate
elephants are displayed engaging in unnatural behaviours such as painting and performing other tricks
riding elephants and direct contact with the wild animals poses risks for both humans and animals

One example: Enhanced living conditions for elephants in Thailand

Traditionally, elephants in Thailand were used as working animals in forestry. With the ban on deforestation, many mahouts – the elephant keepers and trainers – became unemployed.

often the husbandry conditions of the elephants are inadequate
elephants are displayed engaging in unnatural behaviours such as painting and performing other tricks
riding elephants and direct contact with the wild animals poses risks for both humans and animals

What DER Touristik does

High Animal Welfare standards in the travel programmes

In close cooperation with our group-owned destination management company Go Vacation, we are working on solutions for products with elephants. Products that do not comply with the minimum requirements of our Animal Welfare Guideline have been completely removed from the programmes of our tour operator brands, such as elephant riding or entertainment shows. Instead, we have integrated products into the travel programme that ensure high standards.

Changing our travel products is sometimes a lengthy and fragmented process, but it is worth it for people and animals! Joint work on improvements to existing products with our partners is one dimension. While we would also like to create and foster alternatives to change awareness and offer customers travel programmes they can book with a clear conscience. That is why we are promoting innovative, animal-friendly, exemplary projects and products by incorporating them in our product portfolio, advertising them or supporting them in other ways.

Raising awareness and involving partners – including best practices in the product portfolio

When improving standards, we focus on a few local providers whose awareness we raise on the issue and with whom we enhance husbandry standards and other aspects of animal welfare.

In joint forces with the animal protection organisation “World Animal Protection” and other industry members, we have launched the pilot project “Building an Elephant Friendly Future”. Local providers should experience that their commitment is worth it for them and is rewarded and accepted by tourists and customers

One example is the ChangChill Elephant Camp in Thailand. There, species-appropriate husbandry was successfully combined with the interest of visitors in elephants.

Direct contact such as elephant riding, feeding or bathing was banned for the welfare of animals.

Instead, visitors can now observe elephants at their leisure from a platform or fill snack bars where the pachyderms can serve themselves. This is how animal welfare in tourism can succeed and sustainability pays off for all sides in the end.

The Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary Project on Lipsi Island in Greece is dedicated to the protection of marine mammals.

Dolphins, seals and turtles previously kept in captivity become acquainted with species-appropriate habitats for the first time in this new and unique marine sanctuary. Injured or stranded animals from the wild receive medical assistance.

Given that a return to the wild is often no longer possible, the animals can spend their “retirement” in the natural surroundings of a demarcated sanctuary on the island coast. The target of the project, funded by the DER Touristik Foundation since 2019, is not only to protect and conserve marine mammals, but also to raise awareness of animal welfare, for example through educational programmes for the local population and tourists.