The world's first responsible travel tour operator, Intrepid Travel is leading the way in animal protection in the tourism industry and is encouraging Australians to take action to become animal friendly travellers.                      

The Melbourne-based adventure travel company ended elephant rides and visits to entertainment venues on all of its trips earlier this year, following an extensive three year research process to assess the welfare of captive elephants at entertainment venues in Asia.

The research was conducted by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) with the support of Intrepid Travel, who have worked with the animal charity since 2000.

Asian elephants are highly endangered and tourism demand has led to venues where elephants are forced to do unnatural performances. The research concludes that this causes pain and suffering to the elephants, and that the tourism industry has added to the number of elephants being poached from the wild.

“We applaud recent moves in the tourism industry to end elephant rides,” said Geoff Manchester, Intrepid Travel Co-founder. “Responsible travel has been central to how we've run Intrepid for 25 years and as an industry we can do more to help protect wild animals from cruelty.

“The issues are complex around animals in captivity, which is why Intrepid has been partnered with WSPA for many years, and have been able to tap into their expertise on animal protection.

“Our focus is on educating people, and teaching local communities about animal welfare and environmental conservation. While we once included elephant rides or entertainment venue visits, we're now working with rehabilitation and sanctuary facilities. We hope that the increased patronage to commendable venues like this will help encourage others to lift their standards.”

According to Intrepid Travel, the change has been popular with their travellers. “Intrepid Travellers want to know that their travel choices are not causing harm and appreciate learning how elephants are cared for without seeing them do unnatural performances,” said Manchester.

WSPA's Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach added: “Wild animals belong in the wild – not in entertainment. We welcome all progress within the tourism industry towards recognising this fact and taking action to prevent cruelty.

“Helping people to understand the choices they can make whilst travelling can create positive experiences for them and for the animals that they encounter along the way.

“WSPA urges all tour operators to support animal friendly tourism and to help every customer make animal friendly choices when travelling.”

Intrepid Travel is encouraging travellers to seek animal-friendly travel options in order to drive industry change. Travellers can download Intrepid Travel's elephant welfare guidelines here:
http://cdn0.intrepidtravel.com/sites/default/files/51033_Elephant_Welfare.pdf

Over the past 11 years, The Intrepid Foundation, Intrepid Travel's not-for-profit fund, has donated over AUD$430,000 to animal and wildlife conservancy projects including Friends of the Asian Elephant in Thailand and Animal Care in Egypt.

Please note, Geoff Manchester and Dr JanSchmidt-Burbach are available for interviews. For more information or interviews please contact Amanda Linardon, Australia & New Zealand PR Manager on amanda.linardon@intrepidtravel.com or +61 (0)481 009 149.

About Intrepid Travel

Intrepid Travel is a global adventure travel company that has been taking travellers off the beaten track to discover the world's most amazing places for 25 years. It offers more than 1,000 trips in more than 100 countries and on every continent.Every trip is designed to truly experience local culture - to meet local people, try local food, take local transport and stay in local accommodation. Award-winning tour leaders, small group sizes and included activities mean they offer travellers great value for money. www.intrepidtravel.com

About The Intrepid Foundation

Established in 2002, The Intrepid Foundation is a not-for-profit fund that helps Intrepid Travel and its travellers support and contribute to communities around the world. Support is brought to projects in health care, education, human rights, child welfare, sustainable development and in environmental and wildlife protection. Intrepid Travel matches all travellers' donations dollar for dollar and covers all administration costs, guaranteeing that 100% of donations reach the nominated projects. In 11 years, The Intrepid Foundation has raised and distributed more than AU$3.4 million to more than 75 non-government organisations. www.theintrepidfoundation.org          

About WSPA

At the World Society for the Protection of Animals, we have worked to expose animal cruelty and prevent animal suffering for more than 30 years. Working with individuals, organisations and governments across the globe, our campaigns range from ending the mass suffering of industrially farmed animals to protecting animals in disasters. Consultative status with the United Nations means we have a unique international platform to prove that the lives of animals are inextricably linked to our own, and now more than ever is the time to stop their suffering.