We often tell prospective destinations that hosting TBEX is like offering the world’s biggest press trip. It’s a chance for a destination to showcase its tourism product, the attractions that make up the backbone of the destination’s tourism economy.
Part of this amazing opportunity is the ability to host a variety of tours and excursions that will give attendees a small sampling of what the destination has to offer visitors, a sampling that they, in turn, can share with their readers. Each destination creates a wide range of itineraries to offer TBEX attendees. For example, these may include food and shopping experiences, historical tours, ecological tours, adventure tours, cultural experiences, museums, even wildlife and zoological experiences.
When we were in Cancun for our site visit, there were three dolphin related tour companies that came to meet us. They subsequently provided itineraries for Cancun to offer to TBEX attendees. This has the TBEX community talking. Talking about issues is good. Talking about issues where everyone has a chance to get full information and respond is even better.
So let’s talk.
First let me share the Mission of TBEX.
TBEX exists to provide educational content and networking opportunities that benefit both bloggers and the travel industry, and in doing so, raising the standards of professionalism on both sides. This creates more opportunities for content creators and delivers measureable value to the travel industry.
We are passionately committed to this mission, and to the belief that new media has empowered all of us in a way never before seen in human history. New media gives everyone the opportunity to share their opinion no matter what his or her views are.
Our goal is to give you everything we can to help you chart your own success, leaving it up to you to pick and choose what best fits your personal preferences and business plan. We know you may not like everything on the program, but we hope the diversity of information helps you connect with what will be most useful to YOU.
We are not a political event. We are a professional development event. We are an advocacy organization. We advocate for you, the travel content creator. It is not in keeping with our mission to advocate on one side or the other of a political debate.
The same is true for any tourist board. Their job is to bring visitors to the destination and to represent their private industry partners who make up their local travel industry. There is a saying in the travel industry: the job of the tourist board is to put “heads on beds”.
Even though TBEX isn’t political, and tourism boards as a whole are not political in nature, it still begs the question – is there a line, and if so where is it?
The honest answer is yes. There is a line. But there is a very high threshold to crossing that line.
We know that some of you are offended by these dolphin programs. Some even find the concept abhorrent and consider it animal cruelty. You have been very vocal about your beliefs and convictions. Some have asked, or even demanded, that we remove these experiences from the program. We respect you and your beliefs. We have heard you. And we understand you. But at the same time, numerous others members of our community have excitedly signed up for those same experiences and have emailed us to ask that we do not cancel them.
There are numerous advocates for these programs who believe they offer valuable research and that their practice is humane. There is obviously an active debate both outside and within the TBEX Community. It would not be ethical for us to choose a side in this debate. Doing so would be doing a disservice to some part of our community and violating our mission to advocate on behalf of ALL content creators.
We believe the TBEX community is made up of professionals who can accept people with differing views, never allowing a healthy debate to turn into personal attacks or insidious conversation aimed at any attendee. In fact, encouraging constructive discussion is exactly in line with TBEX’s mission.
I know some of you may be upset with this decision, but I sincerely hope you can respect the reasoning behind it.
You have only seen the tip of the iceberg in the trips and excursions that will be offered by Cancun and their partners. There will be diversity in the opportunities, including cultural and local experiences, and we believe that there will be something that will pique the interest of all our attendees.
This is a good debate to have. Change can come out of debate, so feel free to sound off in the comment section below, on your own blogs, and the social channels.
We value you. We hope you will find many other excursions that you are passionate about exploring and blogging about when you join us in Cancun this September for TBEX North America.
Thank you for understanding and respecting our mission here at TBEX.
Rick Calvert
***Update 7/12/14****
This has been a very active debate and I thought it was important to include some more information.
Some of accused us of including these programs on behalf of sponsors and to make money.
Fact, the company providing these tours is not a sponsor. TBEX has not been compensated monetarily or otherwise.
Diana from d travels’ round has been very active in this discussion. All of her comments have been thoughtful and respectful. I felt it was appropriate to include her latest comment here. My reply to her comment is below as well.
Diana’s comment:
That is the problem though: your audience is not that knowledgeable. Speaking from experience and working in both the PR and blogger sides, most bloggers don’t know the truth about animal tourism and without someone actually taking the time to educate them, they won’t. I’ve come across so many in my time working with responsible tourism who tell me they wish they would have known the truth about whatever animal attraction it is they supported and wrote about, because then they would not have written/advocated for it. People learn because thought leaders, brands, etc. speak out and make it a priority to educate.
My reply:
Fair point and very well said Diana. They should be. Isn’t it their job as providers of information to educate themselves and share that information with their audience? Isn’t that your job?
Imagine if every blogger who signed up for one of these trips came home and wrote a story that agreed with your point of view. How many more people would be educated?
This is the point I have been trying to make from the beginning. Our audience is not made up of consumers. It is made up of new media content creators and travel industry professionals. TBEX is not for the general public. This is an important distinction. Part of our job is to teach new media content creators how to improve their investigative skills, how to write and communicate effectively and deliver real value to their audience. In order to do that, they need to gather information.
It is their job to educate the public.
Our critics are taking the position that some sources of information are acceptable and others should be censored. That they have found the truth and no further debate or fact finding is needed. That our audience is too naive to learn and decide for themselves. That is completely contrary to what we believe and what we advocate for on behalf of new media content creators.
We are not trying to defend these programs or promote them. We included them because local businesses offered them. We think our audience is / should be sophisticated enough to make the decision of taking one of these tours and then writing objectively about their experience for themselves.
We hope more of our community uses this debate to educate themselves about this subject.
Animal Welfare is an Important Component of Responsible Travel
Dr. Martha Honey, CREST Co-Director, has been invited to provide the keynote address at TBEX North America, which will be held September 11 – 13, 2014, in Cancun, Mexico. TBEX is the “world’s largest gathering of travel bloggers, writers, new media content creators, and social media savvy travel industry professionals.”
Dr. Martha Honey, CREST
Dr. Honey was invited by TBEX following backlash from a number of bloggers and industry professionals over TBEX’s inclusion of captive dolphin tours among the pre-onference tours scheduled by the Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau. A number of potential conference participants were understandably irate about the captive dolphin tours, especially those that involved direct interaction with these extremely intelligent and emotional animals. Eco-blogger Bret Love, who is also a speaker at the conference, worked very hard with the Cancun CVB to request that these tours be removed from the schedule, and most were unaware of his effort behind the scenes. See Bret’s excellent blog post on Green Global Travel explaining the situation and, ultimately, the CVB’s agreement to cancel three dolphin tours.
TBEX invited Dr. Honey to speak in order to discuss this issue and, more broadly, what is responsible travel and what should be the role of travel media in responsible travel. Not only will her address provide a platform for this important conversation, but it should be used as an opportunity to drive change for the future. CREST welcomes the opportunity to participate to encourage meaningful dialogue that supports the CREST mission, to promote responsible tourism policies and practices globally so that local communities may thrive and steward their cultural resources and biodiversity.
CREST has been asked by a number of bloggers to issue a statement on our stance on the captive dolphin tours, which we are happy to do. In recent years, CREST collaborated on several projects with the World Animal Project (formerly WSPA) and through this work we are convinced that respecting animal welfare is an important component of responsible travel. Put succinctly, our position is:
CREST believes wildlife belongs in the wild, and animal welfare is an essential component of responsible travel. As a minimum requirement, we believe in the “Five Freedoms” needed by all animals:
Check out Born Free UK’s Guide to the 5 Freedoms, which discusses the Five Freedoms in detail and also in context of captive animals.
Dolphins are extremely complex creatures, and we agree with World Animal Protection in that these animals “deserve to live a life free from captivity, where they can properly fulfill their social and behavioral needs.” A tank simply cannot provide them with the space, environment, and social freedom they need to thrive as they would in the wild. As stated by the tour operator Intrepid Travel, a highly respected leader in responsible travel, it is best to view wildlife where it belongs, but if a zoo or aquarium is ever visited, a visitor should make sure the facility adheres to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Code of Ethics before entering. What more, interactions with wild animals should never involve physical contact with people, feeding, or other actions that disturb or alter their natural behavior. These actions often cause extreme distress for the animal and is a health risk for both parties.
Finally, CREST works often in close collaboration and partnership with The Ocean Foundation. On the topic of captive marine animals, President Mark Spalding says, “We have admirable facilities that rescue and when possible rehabilitate and release marine mammals, sea birds and sea turtles. Some of these allow the public to visit and volunteer. And, many have advanced our knowledge of marine wildlife through research during their recovery. But like hospitals for humans, this is not where we want wild animals to spend their entire lives. We prefer to see them in the wild where they thrive.” For more information on the topics of marine mammal research, rehabilitation, and the human relationship with marine mammals, see Mr. Spalding’s blog post following the Southern California Marine Mammal Workshop.
CREST looks forward to discussing this and other issues with both bloggers and media professionals, who have at their fingertips a powerful tool for public education, which can ultimately transform the way the world travels.