--- description: TripAdvisor will stop selling tickets for endangered or wild animal attractions, but tickets to zoos and aquariums will remain available title: TripAdvisor Stops Selling Tickets to Some Animal Attractions image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tourism](/tag/tourism/) ## Tourism Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # TripAdvisor Will Stop Selling Tickets to Wild and Endangered Animal Attractions by [Dominique Rowe](/author/dominique-rowe/) ## Dominique Rowe Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 12, 2016 9:14 AM CUT by [Dominique Rowe](/author/dominique-rowe/) ## Dominique Rowe Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 12, 2016 9:14 AM CUT TripAdvisor has pledged to remove booking facilities for attractions featuring endangered or wild animals, such as petting tigers, riding elephants and swimming with dolphins. Tickets to zoos and aquariums, however, will remain available through its booking service. [According](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/travel/tripadvisor-to-stop-selling-tickets-to-many-animal-attractions.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&%5Fr=0 "undefined") to the New York _Times_, the landmark decision — the first of its kind for an online tourism operation — comes after half a year of consultancy with animal welfare groups including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC), and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. “There are some areas that I think every one of these groups we spoke with would agree on, and there are some that are not universally agreed upon,” TripAdvisor’s chief marketing officer Barbara Messing told the _Times_. “We just had to \[…\] come to our own conclusions internally about what makes sense for us.” All attractions can still be listed in the review section of the site, however. A [2015 study](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0138939 "undefined") conducted by Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, cited by the _Times_, found that between 2 million and 4 million people each year visit tourism destinations with questionable animal welfare — and that concern over welfare was rarely mentioned in online reviews. “I think the average person would think that there’s animals there, there’s gotta be laws and regulations behind what’s happening, but that’s not the case,” GWC chief scientist Wes Sechrest told the _Times_. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/travel/tripadvisor-to-stop-selling-tickets-to-many-animal-attractions.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&%5Fr=0 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4527665/tripadvisor-tickets-animal-attractions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4527665/tripadvisor-tickets-animal-attractions/"},"headline":"TripAdvisor Will Stop Selling Tickets to Wild and Endangered Animal Attractions","datePublished":"2016-10-12T09:14:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:08:35.143Z","description":"Tickets to zoos and aquariums will remain available, however","url":"https://time.com/4527665/tripadvisor-tickets-animal-attractions/","keywords":["Tourism"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dominique Rowe","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dominique-rowe/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/tourism/","name":"Tourism"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4527665/tripadvisor-tickets-animal-attractions/","name":"TripAdvisor Will Stop Selling Tickets to Wild and Endangered Animal Attractions"}}]}] ```