Animal Welfare – Our Pledge

As an animal-friendly company, we are committed to protecting animals at every stage of our operations. Read our pledge below.

Sharing responsible, animal-friendly customer experiences

We will promote responsible tourism amongst our customers, encouraging them to be wildlife advocates and animal-friendly travellers.

We will provide our customers with responsible wildlife experiences which involve interactions with animals in the wild, at genuine sanctuaries or in wildlife-friendly settings. All animals impacted by our activities should have the freedom and ability to exhibit a wide range of natural behaviours, with visitors able to observe them from a safe and respectful distance. Working and domestic animals will be well looked after, both in terms of their physical and mental health.

We will not use images that promote activities that may be harmful to animals on our website, newsletters or printed materials.

Following a focussed and effective Animal Welfare Policy

We have designed, and will follow, a dedicated Animal Welfare Policy for our business, which we will share with customers, overseas partners and staff.

This incorporates:

Ongoing reviews to identify and act upon animal welfare concerns within our portfolio.
A time-bound plan to help protect animals by influencing changes, where needed, with local partners to improve the welfare of animals on all our holidays.

Encouraging local leadership

We encourage local leadership in tackling animal welfare concerns by engaging in dialogue with suppliers about our policy, which also forms part of our Memorandum of Understanding.  Our partners on the ground are expected to spread awareness locally and take action where relevant, to ensure these principles are followed. An understanding of animal welfare best-practice also forms part of our selection process for new suppliers.

Ensuring open and honest dialogue

We aim to be open and transparent in our approach to animal welfare, to raise awareness of any issues and to encourage best practice.  We encourage our staff, clients and partners overseas to monitor animal welfare standards throughout our operations, and report concerns back to us so we can take appropriate action.

Taking responsibility, with a dedicated point of contact

Our Customer Services team has responsibility as the first point of contact for highlighting and following up on areas of concern (email: cs@journeylatinamerica.co.uk).  Where there are concerns, we will first engage in dialogue with our partners to try to raise standards, which we believe to be the most effective way of ensuring long-term improvements.  If we do not feel sufficient changes have been made over a reasonable period of time, we will remove the product from sale.

Keeping animal welfare central to what we do

At Journey Latin America we are all passionate about being a responsible business – it is our love of the region’s people and natural environments which motivates us to share this fantastic continent with others.  All our staff believe in our Animal Welfare Policy and understand the role they can play in ensuring best practice, and new staff are trained in the policy too.

Our approach to animal welfare is regularly reviewed and updated on an annual basis.

Read Our Animal Welfare Policy.