New Airbnb excursions to focus on animals

“Instead of swimming with dolphins in captivity, you can go with a researcher and study wild dolphins,” Freemon said.

World Animal Protection will not benefit financially from the Animal Experiences bookings but expressed appreciation for a partner as large and visible as Airbnb, where the experiences it offers across its categories have grown from 500 in 2016, when the division was introduced, to about 40,000 now.

“To have a travel leader such as Airbnb commit to making animal welfare a top priority will not only help educate travelers on the importance of cruelty-free animal tourism but also illustrate to them the opportunities to experience wildlife in their natural habitats while traveling,” wrote Alesia Soltanpanah, executive director of World Animal Protection, in an email.

Airbnb isn’t the only company to find its animal activities surging in popularity. Five years ago, Intrepid Travel banned elephant rides on its trips globally, including Southeast Asia where they were popular, based on research by World Animal Protection about the abuse of elephants used in tourism. The company reported a record 12% growth in its wildlife tours among American travelers in the past year. Their popularity has inspired the company to add 10 new wildlife-focused tours in 2020, including trips to an orangutan rehabilitation center in Borneo and a non-riding elephant sanctuary in Laos.

Offering opportunities to work with rescued monkeys and parrots in Guatemala or rehabilitate kangaroos in Australia, Animal Experience International, based in Ontario, said its trips have caught on with gap-year travelers and families. The company visits the animal organizations it works with in order to vet them for ethical practices. In November, it will launch a new 10-day Expedition Nepal group trip to volunteer with dog rescue groups during Kuku Tihar, the day Nepali Hindus bless dogs (2,495 Canadian dollars, or about $1,880).

“Knowing that we have actually gone to these places really helps our clients feel confident that they will be helping animals,” said Nora Livingstone, chief executive of Animal Experience International.

Ethics in animal tourism isn’t, of course, restricted to paid tours. In Scotland last summer, the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, a marine conservation charity, launched the Hebridean Whale Trail, which identifies locations on land where travelers may spot marine mammals from the shore as an alternative to potentially interfering with them on the water.

The expanded Airbnb Animal Experiences range from 90 minutes with Otto, the skateboarding dog, to multiday safaris with conservationists. There are expeditions in Brooklyn, New York, to see wild parrots, walks in Britain with mini ponies and tea parties with “naughty” sheep in Scotland known to steal crumpets and nibble on sweaters.

Animal Experiences start at $10 and run $500 or more for more extensive safaris. The average price is around $50.

Many of its new animal experiences involve animal experts such as veterinarians, farmers, naturalists and researchers. In Chernobyl, travelers can participate in a program to meet the feral descendants of the dogs left behind in the 1980s when Ukrainian residents fled following the nuclear reactor explosion. Travelers can help socialize and clean the dogs, said to be safe from contamination, with a group that is working to promote their adoption.

“We want travelers to meet the animals through the eyes of the people who live and work with them,” Freemon said. “They are translators for these animals so you can get to see and know them through their eyes.”