As of May 2025, we are in the process of rolling this out across existing and new inventory.
GetYourGuide’s Animal Welfare Policy
At GetYourGuide, we believe that exploring the world responsibly means respecting all its inhabitants, including animals.
As a global marketplace for experiences, we do not have animals in our direct care. However, we believe in doing our part to ensure the experiences we offer our customers promote the well-being of animals and the responsible stewardship of their natural habitats. Therefore, we maintain and rigorously enforce a clear set of guidelines for partners that define what we do and don’t allow in our marketplace.
The Five Freedoms—freedom from hunger, discomfort, pain, fear, and the freedom to express natural behaviors—form the basis of the animal welfare guidelines we use to govern our product inventory, which are below.
Products We Allow
- All human-animal interactions must allow animals choice, control, and natural behavior.
- Facilities with captive animals must ensure environments replicate natural habitats as closely as possible, and provide necessary enrichment activities.
- Partners listing products with captive animals must ensure regular veterinary check-ups, vaccinations, and prompt treatment of illnesses
- Products offering encounters with elephants must adhere to “protected contact”: only a trained keeper may engage elephants with a protective barrier in place at all times.
- Partners listing products involving animals must maintain an active, well-defined, publicly available responsibility standard.
- Products involving wildlife harvesting and trade (e.g., hunting, fishing) must be part of a regulated sustainability program and comply with local and international laws.
- Products that aim to improve or protect animals’ natural habitats and/or biodiversity (e.g. re-wilding) must be endorsed by a regulated organization and comply with local and international laws.
- Facilities with captive marine mammals must be accredited by organizations with strict welfare and conservation criteria that perform inspections, and may only list products that allow animals choice, control, and natural behaviors under high welfare standards.
- Sanctuaries must be verified and accredited by organizations with strict welfare and conservation criteria that require regular inspections. For elephant sanctuaries, we require GFAS accreditation.
- Zoos and aquariums must be accredited by member organizations of WAZA (e.g. AZA, EAZA, ZAA).
- Facilities offering demonstrations must be educational in nature, and promote awareness and conservation instead of entertainment.
- Operators compliant with basic health and safety standards, subject to regular inspections.
Restricted & Disallowed Products
- Wild animal shows or performances of any kind are expressly prohibited. A performance involving wild or endangered animals refers to any form of entertainment where animals are forced to engage in unnatural or demeaning behaviors for public amusement. This includes situations where animals:
- Are trained or coerced into performing tricks, imitating human actions (e.g., wearing costumes).
- Are used in live circus acts, stage shows, or other entertainment venues where their participation does not provide necessary stimulation, exercise, or veterinary care.
- Are placed in settings where human interaction is encouraged in ways that compromise their well-being, such as close-contact experiences, staged photo opportunities, or interactive feeding.
- Are featured in environments like restaurants, cafés, or sporting events where their presence is used as a spectacle rather than for conservation or ethical educational purposes.
- Products that force or facilitate direct animal interactions that could cause harm or stress to ensure compliance, such as drugging, physical coercion, or deprivation, are prohibited.
- Partners that engage in breeding for purposes other than conservation with scientific or agricultural justification may not list products on GetYourGuide.
- Products offering close encounters with marine mammals (i.e. “swim with” experiences, feeding and training sessions, diving/snorkeling tours) must take place in controlled environments, and will be reviewed case-by-case.
- Products with the potential to harm natural habitats, ecosystems, or biodiversity (i.e.vehicle excursions, overcrowding, waste-heavy operations) will be reviewed case-by-case.
- Riding elephants or other wild animals in captivity is expressly prohibited. Products offering rides on or behind domesticated animals (e.g. horses, camels, dog-sleds) will be reviewed case-by-case.
- Zoos, aquariums, marine mammal facilities, and sanctuaries without accepted accreditation, or whose accreditation has lapsed, may not list products on GetYourGuide.
All experiences on GetYourGuide must fully comply with this Animal Welfare policy. We assess compliance before any supplier is approved to be part of our inventory and we regularly assess our active supplier portfolio, leveraging both proprietary AI and human expertise. Any products that do not adhere to the policy will be removed from GetYourGuide.
Every traveler has an important role in promoting sustainable and ethical practices. As a valued customer, your choices shape the experiences we offer. We encourage you to speak up and report any concerns if you believe an operator is not adhering to our animal welfare or sustainability guidelines. Please contact guidelines@getyourguide.com.
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