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| A traveler splashes water on an elephant in Chiang Mai, Thailand, during Hana Tour's animal-friendly program. Courtesy of Hana Tour |
By Lee Hae-rin
Hana Tour, the nation's largest travel agency, has gotten rid of travel programs accused of animal exploitation in response to the public's growing awareness of the welfare of captive animals.
The company said on Monday that it has scrapped all domestic and international tour packages that received negative consumer feedback (involving animal cruelty), which include riding captive elephants and animal circuses.
"I felt bad during the whole journey for making an animal suffer," one of its customers said, while many urged the company to develop new tours that protect both the environment and the animals.
Modu Tour, the country's other key travel agency, also stopped selling elephant trekking and cow cart rides on package trips to Thailand earlier in March and replaced them with elephant sanctuary visits.
Several international travel platforms have set regulations for the protection of wild animals and for abolishing the forced labor of captive and domesticated animals for human entertainment.
TripAdvisor ended ticket sales to attractions involving elephant rides, circuses and wild animal selfies in 2019. Airbnb Experiences set up animal welfare guidelines in consultation with the international animal advocacy group, World Animal Protection, that year and removes those that violate the regulations from its platform.
Although some smaller domestic agencies devoted to ethical tourism have already taken similar steps, these companies are the local travel industry's first large-scale firms to take such initiative.
Animal rights activists and the public have shown enthusiasm for their decision. In a recent interview with The Korea Times, a Hana Tour official said the company was surprised to see such strong enthusiasm for its announcement.
"We have some great feedback … The news has gone viral on social media, which is rare for a travel agency and there have been many positive comments, too," he said, explaining that it has been agreed among the company members to pursue animal welfare in future programs.
Cho Hee-kyung, the head of Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA), also said she welcomes the companies' commitment towards animal ethics and encouraged other travel agencies to join the initiative.
Such positive feedback stems from the younger generation's inclinations to present their values in their consumption choices, according to Lee Eun-hee, a professor of consumer science at Inha University.
"Young consumers nowadays tend to make more value-based choices," Lee said, explaining that the growing number of people who oppose the dog meat trade and fight animal abuse also care about a cruelty-free traveling environment and have forced travel agencies to abolish these programs.
However, the line between cruelty and cruelty-free seems to remain unclear.
"There has been an internal debate on what is, and what is not animal abuse," the Hana Tour official said. "There is vast diversity in animal-based experiences in tourism and it's not fair to say that all animal-based travels are problematic," he said.
He said the company's priority is to focus on consumer feedback on animal exploitation while replacing those experiences with others that allow natural interaction without harming animals or the environment.
Also, the agency will continue to develop its animal welfare guidelines and standards over time, based on customer feedback and consultation with experts and looking at international standards, he said.
As the travel and tourism sector has seen an unprecedented crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said it is time for the industry to make a major paradigm shift.
"Ultimately, we believe that these animal-friendly initiatives will improve people's traveling experiences and the image of the travel agencies as well," he said.
