TUI HQ staff targeted by animal welfare campaigners
Animal welfare group PETA is targeting TUI employees in its campaign to force the operator to stop selling tickets to SeaWorld.
The group has placed a poster on a bus stop near to TUI’s Luton HQ that shows an orca trapped in a glass bowl alongside a plea not to support what it calls marine ‘abusement parks’.
"While the majority of the travel industry is moving away from parks that confine far-ranging orcas to cramped concrete tanks, TUI is still propping them up," said PETA director Elisa Allen.
"PETA is urging TUI to do right by orcas in 2020 and stop selling tickets to SeaWorld’s watery prisons."
TUI said it is ‘committed to working only with excursion venues that agree to uphold the Global Welfare Guidance for Animals in Tourism’, which was formulated by ABTA.
"The venues we feature are subject to an extensive and independent animal welfare audit programme to ensure that they are upholding global animal welfare standards," it said.
However, PETA is calling on TUI to follow its competitors Virgin Holidays and British Airways Holidays and stop selling tickets to SeaWorld, which it claims keeps orcas in cramped tanks and drugs them to reduce their stress levels.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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