Big News! Expedia Stops Selling Tickets to SeaWorld

Victory! After five years of meetings with and pressure from PETA US and after hearing from hundreds of thousands of kind people, Expedia has stopped selling tickets to SeaWorld and to dubious “swim with dolphins” encounters!

The travel brand has updated its wildlife policy to “prohibit activities that feature interactions with or performances by dolphins, whales, and other cetaceans”. The change comes just after PETA US encouraged its supporters to flood Expedia Brands’ president, Jon Gieselman, with calls and messages.

In making this compassionate decision, Expedia joins dozens of other companies – including Tripadvisor, Virgin Holidays, British Airways Holidays, Club Med, Airbnb, and Booking.com – that have stopped selling tickets to SeaWorld and other places that keep whales and dolphins in tanks.

Never Swim With Dolphins

Tourists unwittingly contribute to a cruel industry by taking part in “swim with dolphins” encounters. In these programmes, intelligent and sensitive animals are confined to barren tanks or makeshift lagoons with no choice but to swim in endless circles. Some suffer from ulcers and other health ailments, and many die prematurely because of the stressful conditions of extreme captivity.

PETA

And then there’s SeaWorld, which is renowned for abducting and breeding marine mammals, imprisoning them, and subjecting them to a lifetime of deprivation. More than 40 orcas have died at SeaWorld, and not one has come close to the maximum life expectancy of the species in nature. Other kinds of dolphin are still being forcibly bred, sometimes after being drugged, and forced to perform meaningless tricks.

Orcas, other dolphins, and all animals at SeaWorld deserve a life free from exploitation for tourism and entertainment.

Dolphins Need Your Help

When we speak out, they listen. Urge ABTA, the UK’s largest travel trade association, to include dolphin and whale captivity on its list of unacceptable practices: