special report
CASE STUDIES STA TRAVEL
In 2014, STA Travel began a major review of its products to ensure they all complied with good animal welfare practices. Since this review began, STA has removed more than 3,000 tours from its supply list and changed the itineraries of about 10% of its tours. Many tours were disqualified even before they went on sale because the company knew they’d contravene the new animal welfare policy. STA no longer sells elephant riding and it supports attractions
that have moved away from direct contact with animals in favour of volunteering at elephant camps, preparing food and contributing to the upkeep of the project site. At the same time, STA recognises that local livelihoods are very important and the company is keen to work with communities to increase the popularity of such tours. The company also decided to stop featuring running with the
bulls at the San Fermín festival in Pamplona, which had been a popular activity for young people on its tours. In developing its policy, STA worked closely with ABTA and its
animal welfare guidance team — as well as consulting with the Born Free Foundation, and other world-class animal welfare experts. The company has invested in staff training and invited external
BUFFALO TOURS
Buffalo Tours specialises Buffalo Tours is a leading destination management company, specialising in tailor-made private guided tours, groups and schools and charity challenge groups to the Far East, and has put elephant welfare at the heart of its policies. The company says it’s developed a way to work with suppliers to improve standards throughout the region. Importantly, Buffalo Tours has developed and implemented
what it describes as a uniquely comprehensive audit process for elephant camps in Asia. This process sets best practices to protect and preserve captive elephants. The audit was put in place with the help of the ASEAN Captive Elephant Working Group, which seeks to provide scientific research on elephant issues in Asia. It also draws on ABTA’s Global Welfare Guidance for Animals in Tourism. The audit process acknowledges that the tens of thousands of
captive elephants in Asia can’t be returned to the wild, and also that captive elephants require expensive and professional care. Taking these factors into account, the audit aims to ensure that covering costs for elephant welfare is carried out responsibly. Since 2015, Buffalo Tours has audited a total of 40 elephant
camps across five different countries. Of these camps, 21 managed to meet standards and the rest have been dropped from Buffalo’s list of suppliers until they meet the demands of the
audit.For the qualifying camps, there’s been a revenue increase of more than 200%. This has created the necessary incentive to expand the scope of the audit and put pressure on camps to comply. Using the resultant improvements in elephant welfare as an example, Buffalo Tours hopes to convince others to put similar pressure on the camps, ‘dramatically increasing the scalability of the initiative.’
speakers to host workshops at its offices to improve overall understanding of animal welfare issues. It’s also developed specific guidance manuals for staff. For example, one such guide helps the marketing department determine what imagery is suitable on websites, social media and in printed publications.
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IMAGES: D. TURNER; TRIBAL VOICE COMMUNICATIONS
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