RIGHT-tourism.org offers country-specific advice for every nation in the world regarding the best places to interact with wildlife – and how not to harm it.

Run by respected wildlife charity Care for the Wild International, the website also encourages tourists to contribute pictures, videos and comments from their own travels – enabling the charity to react quickly to improve the lives of animals around the world.

Philip Mansbridge, CEO of Care for the Wild, said:

“We set up RIGHT-tourism because literally millions of animals are involved in the tourist trade, one way or another, but many have little or no protection. It could be a donkey carrying tourists up a Spanish hill, a dolphin being harassed by motor boats, or a monkey being used for cute photos in Morocco.

“Some animal abuse is obvious – we’d hope that people now know that bullfighting is horribly cruel – but it’s not always that easy: it might not occur to someone that swimming with a dolphin could be doing it harm, or that stroking a lion cub may be condemning it to death. RIGHT-tourism aims to give people factual information so they can make their own decisions as to what they want to do.”

RIGHT-tourism also features articles on a range of issues, such as shopping, eating, zoos, aquariums, cultural events and ‘con’-servation. Tour operators who pledge to follow guidelines can also be listed on the website, so tourists can be comfortable knowing their holiday will be animal-friendly.

“Wildlife is an essential part of tourism, but people now are more likely to ask the question: ‘Is this okay? Am I actually harming the animals I came to see?’,” said Mr Mansbridge.

“By giving people advice, by encouraging them to tell us what they see, and by teaming up with like-minded tour operators, we can improve conditions for animals around the world, and ensure that tourism benefits, rather than harms, it. That way, we all win.”

For factual information on animal-related tourist attractions in every country of the world, click here www.RIGHT-tourism.org. RIGHT-tourism stands for Responsible, Informed, Guilt-Free and Humane Tourism.  Care for the Wild is a charity based in Sussex dedicated to the protection of wildlife in the UK and abroad. For more information click here www.careforthewild.com.