Get Your Guide faces backlash over animal exploitation claims
Get Your Guide has come under fire from animal rights activists for continuing to sell controversial wildlife encounters. Olivia Palamountain reports
Berlin-based Get Your Guide, which connects travellers with local tour operators worldwide, is facing accusations of profiting from the exploitation of elephants, dolphins and other wild animals.
In Thailand, the popular online booking platform lists several tours featuring elephant "sanctuaries" offering showers, bathing and other up-close experiences with the animals.
Animal welfare organisations have long criticised such activities, arguing that elephants used in tourism often endure cruel training methods and poor living conditions.
In the UK, members of parliament passed legislation in 2023 to ban advertising of unethical animal tourism – but it has not yet come into force. According to The Guardian, "growing numbers of travel companies are promoting holidays involving animal attractions through adverts that should be illegal in the UK under new legislation".
On the plus side, in March 2025, Easyjet Holidays announced a new animal welfare policy which means the operator will not offer or promote any harmful animal-based attractions.
Critics point out that the training process for elephants in tourism, sometimes referred to as "the crush", often involves separating young elephants from their mothers and using physical methods to make them submissive to humans. These practices are widely considered harmful to the animals' physical and psychological wellbeing.
Meanwhile, in places such as Dubai and Egypt, Get Your Guide offers tickets to dolphin shows and swim-with-dolphin experiences. These attractions have been condemned by marine biologists and conservationists who argue that keeping dolphins in captivity is inherently cruel and detrimental to their wellbeing.
As reported by the Animal Welfare Institute, whales and dolphins are complex social animals and are not well suited for a life in captivity. When confined, they are prevented from carrying out natural behaviours, which include roaming up to 100 miles per day, hunting live prey, and interacting with their pod mates – who also suffer when pod members are removed.
When forced to interact with humans in a captive situation they have been known to behave aggressively. By manipulating animals in such a way, we are not only affecting their lives but are also distorting our belief system and that of our children – promoting the view that these wild animals should be taken from their homes and “tamed” not merely for utilitarian purposes, but for our entertainment.
Anti-Get Your Guide protests at Skift Global Forum in New York
In September, Globetrender found Jenny Southan was attending the Skift Global Forum in New York when she noticed a small group of peaceful protestors outside the venue…
“There was a small group of peaceful protestors from the Wildlife Protection Alliance. I spoke to them and they informed me that they had been trying to speak with the CEO of Get Your Guide for the past year but to no avail. During the conference, Tao Tao, cofounder and chief operating officer for Get Your Guide, was interviewed on stage as part of a panel discussing the future of experiential travel.
"I submitted two versions of the same questions via the Skift app asking if Get Your Guide will stop promoting and selling experiences with captive animals such as elephants and dolphins but they were deleted by the moderator so were not put forward.
"I spoke with another senior member of the Get Your Guide team who said it was ‘unfortunate’ the protest was happening outside. He took my card and assured me his PR team would be in touch with a comment but I have heard nothing. Skift later published a news story on the Get Your Guide protests but I had hoped they would directly confront the company during the conference."
Animal rights activists including PETA and World Animal Protection are calling for Get Your Guide to remove these controversial experiences from their platform.
In 2023, World Animal Protection launched the Real Responsible Traveller report which reviewed global leaders in the tourism industry on their animal policies and wildlife offers.
In the report, it chose to focus on four species categories – dolphins, elephants, primates, and big cats. These animals were chosen due to their complex ecological, social and behavioural needs, their high levels of sentience and their common use in tourism entertainment.
The company says that Get Your Guide was one of the worst brands profiting from selling and promoting harmful and exploitative circus-style performances and interactions.
In its 2024 survey, World Animal Protection found that Get Your Guide is still selling tickets to some of the worst wildlife venues in the world.
A statement on the World Animal Protection website says: "Get Your Guide, a Berlin-based online travel agency and marketplace for tour guides and excursions, claims to offer 'a revolutionary approach to tourism.' However, there is nothing revolutionary about selling exploitative wildlife attractions.
"We have reached out to Get Your Guide, urging them to develop an animal welfare policy. Unlike other organisations such as Airbnb, they have ignored our requests."
How can you help? World Animal Protection recommends the following:
- Refuse to use Get Your Guide's services until they commit to a comprehensive animal welfare policy.
- Demand that Get Your Guide revise their policies and stop selling tickets for these cruel attractions.
- Use our TikTok sound to amplify awareness and inspire others to join the boycott.
