The ethics of involving animals in tourism

In our travels around the world, we are liable to encounter animals in a variety of ways. Sometimes, they’re the main attraction. Zoos and aquariums are built around featured animals for the public to see. In other instances, animals like horses, camels, or mules are used as transportation to and from our primary destination. Yet still, sometimes animals are the centerpiece of culinary tourism experiences with iconic dishes like foie gras, osso buco, and blue crab boils drawing tourists from across the globe. The thing about animals in tourism, however, is that nobody has asked them if they want to participate. In this episode, The Trip Doctor interviews Dr. Carol Kline, an associate professor at Appalachian State University. She recently edited a book called Animals, Food, and Tourism, and is a co-founder of the website Fanimal.co, a membership site for animal lovers to laugh, learn, and make a difference. In this interview, we’ll be discussing the ethical implications of involving animals in tourism and what you can do to be a better consumer of animal based tourism experiences, as in many cases the experience for the animals involved can be extremely negative.

Do anticipated social media likes influence where we travel?

Think about the images you’re bombarded with every day on social media. Chances are, you’ve got friends, family, and random celebrities constantly posting pictures of themselves in larger than life travel destinations across the globe, doing anything but the mundane tasks we all engage in during the vast majority of our days at home and work. It turns out, people may actually be traveling to those destinations we see on social media specifically because they think you’ll like their posts. In this episode, The Trip Doctor interviews Dr. Bynum Boley about his findings from a paper titled: “Social return and intent to travel” in the journal Tourism Management. In this study, Dr. Boley asked the question: does the number of likes or comments we think we’ll get on a picture of our travels influence the places that we go? It turns out, it does.

Looking for the truth in AirBnB reviews

So – you’re booking a trip, and have decided to use AirBnB to find your accommodations. You put in your destination, your dates, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you need; and you get back a couple of places that all fit what you’re looking for. You’re trying to decide which one to pick, but almost all of them have a slew of 5-star ratings. How do you know which place is going to be the best? It turns out, review comments may reveal more than the 5-star ratings that each of these properties has. In this episode, The Trip Doctor interviews Dr. Camilla Vasquez about her article titled: “If nearly all Airbnb reviews are positive, does that make them meaningless?” in the journal Current Issues in Tourism. In her analysis of the language people use in their AirBnB reviews, she made some interesting discoveries.