OUR PARTNERS

HOW WE WORK – OUR PARTNERS

At ANIMONDIAL, we recognise that advancing animal protection and environmental sustainability in tourism requires a collective effort. By partnering with leading organisations and global travel trade associations, we are able to amplify our impact and drive significant positive change. Our collaborations span multiple sectors, from tourism and conservation to technology and community engagement. 
Here are some of our key partners and how they contribute to our mission. For a personal introduction to key contacts at our partners, contact us here.

TRAVEL TRADE ASSOCIATIONS & POLICY BODIES

ABTA – Association of British Travel Agents

ABTA is a trade association for UK travel agents, tour operators and the wider travel industry. For over 70 years they have helped their members run successful travel businesses, and provided travellers with advice, guidance and support. ABTA works closely with members to help raise and maintain standards and build a more sustainable travel industry.

In 2013, ABTA published the Animal Welfare Guidelines (2nd Edition, 2019), which have become the globally-recognised, and applied standard for animal-based activity in tourism. These were co-authored by ANIMONDIAL’s Director, Daniel Turner, and reviewed through a multi-stakeholder process involving representatives from both the tourism sector and organisations furthering animal protection. Continuing to support the ABTA Membership on all animal and nature protection matters, from 2024, ANIMONDIAL is working with ABTA to provide Biodiversity Literacy for Travel & Tourism training to support the sector’s transition to a Nature Positive Tourism approach.

AITO – Association for Independent Tour Operators

AITO is a group of unique and specialist travel companies, and a trade association representing independent tour operators across the UK, who collectively provide an unrivalled range of holidays to every corner of the globe. Every company admitted to AITO is financially assessed and bound by AITO’s own code of business practice which demands clear and accurate descriptions of holidays and the use of customer questionnaires for monitoring standards. Our members are also encouraged to participate in raising awareness among staff, customers and suppliers of the importance of sustainable tourism.

For over 40 years, AITO has supported its members in delivering unique, high-quality travel experiences while promoting the values of integrity, excellence, and responsible tourism. AITO collaborates closely with its members to ensure high standards, foster innovation, and encourage sustainable practices within the travel industry. ANIMONDIAL has provided AITO Members with trainings over the years, as well as guidance on animal welfare and Nature Positive Tourism.

ATN – Adventure Travel Networking

Adventure Travel Networking (ATN) is an award-winning organisation that champions adventure and experiential travel with a focus on positive impact. It offers events where the adventure travel community and leading travel media can connect with global companies that share common values. These gatherings help forge meaningful business partnerships that enhance and strengthen the adventure travel industry for the best.

ANIMONDIAL regularly provides insight and sector guidance on animal welfare and nature protection to the audiences at the ATN Annual Conference.

ATTA – Adventure Travel Trade Association

The Adventure Travel Trade Association is a vital leadership voice and partner for the adventure travel industry around the world. “The ATTA community today is a thriving network of over 1,300 members representing 100 countries worldwide. From tour operators to tourism boards, specialty agents to accommodations. The community supports real efforts to address issues associated with tourism and travel. ATTA believes it should be the intent of every organization to move towards a more responsible and sustainable approach to tourism and works with selected partners to guide its members on how to deliver upon this promise.

Working with ANIMONDIAL, ATTA produced a comprehensive a “Protecting Animals and Nature” training programme to support independent and specialist tour operators. This consists of 7 modules that provides the theory behind the ABTA Animal Welfare Guidelines, guides tour operators through selecting the right animal-based product or tours for their business, the importance of nature and managing impact, and includes various tips on how to integrate actions through business operation to manage related business-risk.  ANIMONDIAL continues to support ATTA members, or those looking to join the association, with animal and nature protection issues. Get in touch to find out more about our discounted tailored services quoting ‘ATTA4ANIMALS’.

ATTA – African Travel Trade Association

ATTA serves and supports businesses in African and the Indian Ocean Islands representing buyers and suppliers of tourism product across 31 African countries. With over 800 members, ATTA acts as Pan-Africa’s largest network of tourism product covering not only accommodation, transport and travel specialists in Africa, but a wide selection of tour operators, representation and PR companies worldwide promoting tourism to Africa. ATTA represents African tourism interests at the highest levels, in a continuing dialogue with many tourism ministries, tourist authorities and associations across the African continent.

In collaboration with ANIMONDIAL, ATTA is supporting its membership’s transition to a Nature Positive Tourism approach.

Tourism Cares

Tourism Cares is a non-profit organization dedicated to the long-term survival of the Travel & Tourism industry. Its mission is to unite the travel industry and be a catalyst of positive social, environmental and economic impact for the people and places of travel.

Working with ANIMONDIAL, TOURISM CARES has produced a comprehensive “Nature Positive Tourism” training module” to help independent and specialist tour operators navigate this complex topic. The module provides insight on the importance of nature and ecosystem services, guidance on how to identify and manage operational impacts, and practical tips on how to integrate actions through business operation to manage nature-related risks. Several of ANIMONDIAL’s Animal Protection Network members also feature on the Tourism Cares Meaningful Travel Map, which directly connects travel professionals with sustainable, community-led enterprises, products, services, accommodations, and tours.

“ANIMONDIAL is a passionate pioneer for animal and nature protection in tourism. Since I first worked with them in 2019, when I commissioned a review of Collette’s tour portfolio, ANIMONDIAL demonstrated an unique ability to cut through the complexity of the topics and guide the business on how to manage the associated-risk. Here at Tourism Cares, we continue value ANIMONDIAL’s impartial advice and guidance, welcoming their ideas and support, as we guide our members towards a nature positive future.”
– John Sutherland, Director of Community Impact, Tourism Cares.
World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance

The World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance drives collaborative action to enable the hospitality industry to address key challenges affecting the planet, people and places around the world. It brings together engaged hospitality companies and the wider value chain along with strategic partners and uses the collective power of the industry to deliver impact locally and on a global scale. Its mission is to accelerate the path to Net Positive Hospitality through strategic industry leadership, collaborative action, harmonisation of metrics and regenerative solutions.

Working in partnership with the World Travel & Tourism Council and UN Tourism, and in collaboration with ANIMONDIAL, WSHA co-authored “Nature Positive Travel & Tourism in Action” that established an approach for sector transition to a nature-positive future. WHSA and ANIMONDIAL continues to work together to develop outputs that continue to support and guide the hospitality sector.

UN Tourism

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is the global authority on the economic and social contribution of Travel & Tourism. Council Members are the Chairs, Presidents and Chief Executives of the world’s leading private sector Travel & Tourism businesses. It promotes sustainable growth for the Travel & Tourism sector, working with governments and international institutions to create jobs, drive exports and generate prosperity. Its mission is to maximise the inclusive and sustainable growth potential of the Travel & Tourism sector by partnering with governments, destinations, communities, and other stakeholders to drive economic development, create jobs, reduce poverty and foster peace, security, and understanding in our world.

Working in partnership with ANIMONDIAL, WTTC created the “Nature Positive Tourism” Vision, the approach which guides Travel & Tourism towards a nature-positive future. Together with ANIMONDIAL, WTTC published “Nature Positive Travel & Tourism” (2022) which defines the approach, and in partnership with WSHA and UN Tourism, and ANIMONDIAL, co-authored “Nature Positive Travel & Tourism in Action” (2024). ANIMONDIAL continues to support WTTC to help realise Nature Positive Travel & Tourism. Sign up to the Nature Positive Tourism Vision.

World Travel & Tourism Council

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. An intergovernmental organization, it has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members. As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Working in partnership with the World Travel & Tourism Council and WSHA, and in collaboration with ANIMONDIAL, UN Tourism co-authored “Nature Positive Travel & Tourism in Action” that established an approach for sector transition to a nature-positive future. 

CERTIFICATION AND STANDARDISATION

Global Sustainable Tourism Council

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council® (GSTC) establishes and manages global standards for sustainable travel and tourism, known as the GSTC Criteria. There are three sets: Destination Criteria for public policy-makers and destination managers, Industry Criteria for hotels and tour operators, and MICE Criteria for Venues, Event Organizers, and Events & Exhibitions. The GSTC Criteria form the foundation Accreditation for Certification Bodies that certify hotels/accommodations, tour operators/transport providers, and destinations as having sustainable policies and practices in place.

ANIMONDIAL have provided guidance to GSTC over the years – including their Industry Criteria (animal welfare & wildlife protection) and guidance on captive elephant husbandry.

Preverisk Group

“Innovation is of paramount importance to Preverisk. We are continuously developing and integrating new services for the travel sector. We are delighted to have joined forces with ANIMONDIAL to incorporate new consultancy services aimed at animal welfare protection in the industry. We will integrate this with our well-established services in the reduction of health and safety risks for holidaymakers. ANIMONDIAL possesses a deep knowledge and expertise in a vast array of issues relating to animal welfare, and we are very much looking forward to building a successful partnership together.”
– Dr Esteban Delgado, Chairman and Technical Director, Preverisk
Travelife For Tour Operators – certification initiative

Travelife for Tour Operators provides online training and practical tools for sustainability management and certification. Services are suitable for travel companies of any size and cover all management aspects of the business including office operations, the supply chain, destinations and consumers. In compliance with the Travelife standard the company can obtain the “Travelife Partner” of “Travelife Certified” status. Travelife Is GSTC Accredited and in full compliance to provide accreditation for these sustainable tourism certification schemes.

“Travelife for Tour Operators recommends its members work with ANIMONDIAL for developing their animal welfare policies, recognising their in-depth knowledge of the travel industry, their strong network and 15 years of experience in animal welfare standard setting and compliance.”
– Naut Kusters, Travelife for Tour Operators

EXPERT AGENCIES

Animal Welfare Expertise

Dr Isabella Clegg is an animal welfare scientist, specialising in marine mammal welfare in captivity. Dr Clegg has degrees in Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Marine Mammal Science, and a PhD on developing welfare parameters for bottlenose dolphins.

Following her PhD, Dr Clegg wanted to address the knowledge and application gap between academia and animal use industries, and set up Animal Welfare Expertise (AWE): an animal welfare consultancy that pioneers an animal-based, scientific approach to conduct welfare assessments of captive animals, and objectively advises animal facilities, the travel industry, NGOs, governments and conservation projects on safeguarding and enhancing animal welfare.

“I am excited to work towards enhancing animal welfare on a large scale by partnering with ANIMONDIAL, combining their expertise on animal welfare in tourism with AWE’s scientific and practical experience of assessing welfare.”
– Dr Isabella Clegg, Founder and Director, Animal Welfare Expertise
ecollective

ecollective is a bunch of carbon experts. They measure your company’s carbon footprint, suggest a Net Zero target date and identify an actionable strategy to reduce emissions. They are partnered with ANIMONDIAL to help travel & tourism businesses achieve reductions in carbon emissions whilst simultaneously boosting biodiversity. With extensive experience in the travel sector, and taking a science-based approach, ecollective is the team of choice for travel companies looking to take action on their carbon footprint.

“Ecollective has partnered with ANIMONDIAL to help travel & tourism businesses achieve reductions in carbon emissions whilst simultaneously boosting biodiversity”.
– Charlie Cotton, Founder of ecollective.
Endangered Wildlife OÜ

Endangered Wildlife OÜ is an award-winning ESG SaaS company that is contributing towards solving the climate crisis by developing the Biodiversity Valuator, a disruptive solution that allows its users to calculate and understand the financial value of their impact through biodiversity.

Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool

IBAT is an alliance of conservation organizations that provides access to global biodiversity datasets and reports for commercial and non-commercial users. IBAT provides data, tools and guidance that help organisations act on biodiversity related risks and opportunities, and generates sustainable funding to support biodiversity datasets.

ANIMONDIAL supports the use of the IBAT Tool to collect robust biodiversity data for clients to use in policy and strategy development and activity planning, monitoring and reporting.

 

Natucate

Acknowledging the value of natural habitats and the preservation of our resources is a core principle of Natucate’s work. For several years, Natucate has been working together with different conservation projects worldwide who attach value to responsible traveling and preserving our planet’s biodiversity.

Natucate specialises in volunteer projects, educational programmes, internships and sabbaticals with a focus on nature and species conservation as well as animal welfare. Ecotourism as well as nature and adventure travel are further areas of expertise. Natucate works together with conservation and environmental non-profits to help them implement meaningful conservation projects through strategic planning, organisational assessment and mentoring.

“Working together, ANIMONDIAL and Natucate will advocate the importance of animal welfare protection in the voluntourism sector. Whilst identifying and supporting more conservation and animal-focused projects to create and deliver meaningful experiences as welcomed additions to tour operator product portfolios.”
– Daniel Kaul, Director, Natucate
NatureMetrics

NatureMetrics is a world leader in delivering nature data and intelligence, using cutting-edge technology to generate biodiversity data at scale. They are partnered with ANIMONDIAL to bring measurable nature intelligence to the travel & tourism industry. By better understanding the wildlife and biodiversity in your destinations, you can assess and reduce your impacts on biodiversity, helping your business progress towards its Nature Positive Tourism strategy.

“NatureMetrics has partnered with ANIMONDIAL to bring measurable nature intelligence to the Travel & Tourism industry. By better understanding the wildlife and biodiversity in your destinations, you can assess and monitor your impacts on biodiversity, helping your business progress its Nature Positive Tourism goals.”
Planeterra

Planeterra is the world’s leading non-governmental organization turning travel into impact in communities. Planeterra helps local organizations and communities use tourism as a catalyst to improve people’s lives, protect their natural environments, and celebrate their culture. By supporting an ever-growing network of community tourism enterprises around the world, Planeterra ensures tourism dollars are increasingly remaining in the hands of local people. As a result, economic opportunities are created, places are protected, and cultures are celebrated through travel.

Supporting local and Indigenous communities is an essential component of the Nature Positive Tourism approach. ANIMONDIAL has a partnership with Planeterra to promote and foster good practice across the travel & tourism industry for nature- and community-positive tourism in destinations.

Travel Without Plastic

Travel Without Plastic gives tourism businesses the confidence to make operational changes that reduce single-use without impacting upon the guest experience.  They work closely with hospitality businesses, tour operators and the airline sector to find strategies and solutions that reduce waste at source and increase circularity. Their practical approach to implementing change and to engaging staff and guests is the point of differentiation most appreciated by their clients.

“Travel Without Plastic has partnered with ANIMONDIAL to support travel and tourism businesses in the delivery of their Nature Positive Tourism strategy and sustainable business actions through the reduction of Single-Use Plastic Products (SUPPs), which contribute to environmental pollution and biodiversity loss.”
– Jo Hendrickx, Founder Travel Without Plastic

Interested in joining us as a Partner?

We partner with organisations that share our commitment to animal welfare and nature protection. By combining expertise and resources, we create solutions that address complex challenges and produce tangible results.

Together with our partners, ANIMONDIAL is making a significant impact. We are dedicated to driving positive change through collaborative efforts and expanding our network to further our mission, so get in touch if you would like to join us!

Meet our Animal Protection Network Members and Partners

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