Travel agents’ responsibility extends far beyond booking logistics. When it comes to selling wildlife experiences, they are at the forefront of promoting ethical animal encounters.
During a panel on ‘The High Cost of Instant Gratification on African Wildlife Tourism’ at WTM Africa in Cape Town last week, experts discussed how travel agents set the bar when it comes to traveller expectations and can significantly influence the way their clients navigate wildlife experiences, for the better.
“Travel agents are the architects of expectation and the first line of defence in wildlife protection,” said Anton Lategan, MD of EcoTraining South Africa.
However, panellists noted that there is a lack of training for travel agents, tour operators and guides, which can lead to complacency around intrusive and unethical behaviour from clients during animal encounters.
“When advisors promote close-up animal selfies in brochures, promise guaranteed sightings or emphasise proximity over respect, they create demands that ethical operators struggle to refuse,” said Kgomotso Ramothea, CEO of African Travel and Tourism Association.
“This upstream responsibility is critical: no amount of on-the-ground guidance can fully counteract expectations set by misleading marketing or uninformed advice at the booking stage.”
Training respect
While legislation, policies, rules and recommended practices are in place, the panellists emphasised that the ultimate goal is to cultivate values of respect for nature and animals throughout the industry supply chain.
“I don't know if banning and reframing marketing are the solutions to this problem, but I would say education and training are,” said Ramothea. “To actually see this situation improve, we have to achieve cultural buy-in to respect for nature and animals, so that clients don’t make as many questionable demands and guides have the conviction to enforce respect. For this reason, training is essential.”
Lategan summarised the change in mindset as “paying for the privilege of being in symbiosis with nature, rather than paying to impose in an exotic ecosystem.”
“EcoTraining is currently developing an online course to educate agents about how to engage with clients when selling a safari, so that they can help their clients make informed decisions about areas, conduct, levels of ethics and behaviour. But, I really do believe that there must be good education from promotion through to management and the conducting of a safari,” said Lategan.
That being said, Wilfred Chivell, CEO of Marine Dynamics, acknowledged that there is a lot of pressure on guides and on the wider industry to meet client demands to “go just a bit closer” because they are trying to make a living from selling these experiences, with limited wages and commissions.
“I sometimes feel really sorry for the pressure that we put on people, because we have created an environment where they can earn more by putting more pressure on the animals and natural environments, but this is something we need to work through. It always comes back to us (the travel industry) and educating us to be better,” said Chivell.
However, the experts also put forward practical recommendations on how to sell these experiences in ways that support ethical, high-quality immersive encounters.
Creating positive demand
An attendee pointed out that despite these aspirations for respectful wildlife experiences, suppliers offer stronger experiences during certain seasons, cornering sellers into complying with current systems that place pressure on natural environments and animals.
“Certainly, economics, supply and demand, peak periods and natural events, such as migrations, play a part in exacerbating congestion, environmental damage and overwhelming animals. But people are also willing to pay more for exclusive access and agents can use that,” said Lategan.
He explained that this offers sellers the opportunity to promote alternative wildlife experiences, such as walking safaris, overland trails, horseback safaris and even hot air balloon safaris, where, he noted, the absence of a vehicle naturally reduces the temptation of participants to unethically impose themselves.
“In the long term, I hope that will be the driver to create more conservation areas. Through the trade, we could steer people to book more wildlife experiences away from congested areas during lower seasons to support expanding conservation projects,” said Lategan. “I don't think it will be perfect but we can push that positive demand towards expanding the conservation landscape by steering people to off-season rates for a more exclusive experience.”
