TripAdvisor, the world’s travel website (check out their beach recommendations here), has made a bold move when it comes to animal rights.

The company just banned ticket sales to attractions where human interact with animals of the wild, captive or endangered type.

This includes common “bucket list” activities like swimming with dolphins, elephant rides, and petting tigers.

Sadly, the industry continues to flourish in many parts of the world (elephant rides in Thailand, swimming with dolphins in the Caribbean, etc.).

While TripAdvisor will no longer sell attractions that allow physical contact with animals, the company will continue to list them.

According to The Guardian, TripAdvisor believes that hundreds of businesses could be affected by the new policy but they declined to reveal the exact number or name the companies.

TripAdvisor isn’t the first travel firm to ban the sales of things like elephant rides – but it is the most influential among the masses.

“Out in the real world, TripAdvisor is often the only voice that really scares operators. I like that we’ll have visitors with the right expectations about what good practice is,” said Stephanie Shaw from PETA, according to The Guardian.

In addition to the ban, TripAdvisor is introducing a portal to help educate travellers on animal welfare practices and offer advice and opinions from conservation charities on all listings that involve wildlife interaction.

The idea is that users are encouraged to write more informed reviews after taking in this information.

Both the bookings policy and portal will be implemented in early 2017.

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