Earlier this year, a captive dolphin died during a live show at Barceló Hotel Resort in Mexico; while jumping out of the water, she landed on solid concrete.
TUI sells and promotes venues such as these where dolphins in captivity are either bred for profit or snatched from the ocean during cruel hunts. This is despite TUI’s own policy stating that they prohibit “breeding for commercial purposes”; “the capture of cetaceans in the wild”; “the use of drugs for behavioural modifications”, and “the use of food deprivation techniques”.
An example of a venue that TUI promotes is Loro Parque in Tenerife. Four orcas have died at Loro Parque since 2021 and the zoo’s only female orca is forced to perform despite becoming pregnant on 16 January 2025.
World Animal Protection questioned TUI on its policy at their Annual General Meeting on the 13th of February 2025. TUI said they make exceptions to their policy on prohibiting “breeding for commercial purposes” if the breeding is beneficial to “the natural composition of the social group”. TUI argues that some breeding in captivity allows natural behaviours.
TUI’s argument is questionable since there is no room for natural behaviours in captive venues. Dolphins are forced to perform tricks for tourists in exchange for dead, frozen fish with no chance to hunt as they would in the wild. Some ex-dolphin trainers have reported to The Dolphin Project, an animal welfare organisation, that food is withheld as a punishment during training if the tricks are not carried out correctly. Dolphins are trapped in tanks that cannot meet their physical or emotional needs. In the wild, bottlenose dolphins can swim 100km in a day, with some species covering much more. Confined to tanks, dolphins can only swim a few meters at a time. They are subject to constant noise, stress, and human interaction.
The Dolphin Project has investigated 19 captive dolphin facilities in Mexico. They were told by workers at the facilities that dolphins have extreme lung and eye issues due to the harsh sun and chemicals they are exposed to in their tanks. Many dolphins also have problems with their internal organs due to the medications they are given daily.
Dolphins in captivity have a high mortality rate. From analysis of 67 facilities that have held bottlenose dolphins in captivity, the average lifespan was found to be 12 years and nine months, significantly lower than the natural lifespan of between 30 and 50 years. During the investigations in Mexico, it was found that the cause of the death of dolphins in captivity include choking, chronic stress, drowning, toxicity to medicine and blunt force trauma.
Public support
Travel companies have the potential to make this the last generation of dolphins in captivity.
Veterinarian Dr Mark Jones, Head of Policy at the Born Free Foundation, stated that “there is growing recognition among governments and tour operators that keeping dolphins and other marine mammals in captivity, and forcing them to perform unnatural tricks and interactions with tourists, seriously compromises their welfare, and serves no useful conservation or education purpose. By continuing to promote visits to captive dolphin venues to their customers, TUI is complicit in the suffering of highly intelligent and social animals for the sake of entertainment and profit. We call on TUI to do the right thing and to join the increasing number of travel companies that are removing these venues from their travel offering.”
Travel companies that have removed these venues include easyJet holidays, Jet2holidays, Virgin Holidays, Thomas Cook, Expedia Group, British Airways Holidays, Booking.com and Airbnb, following calls from animal rights organisations to protect the welfare of marine animals.
Thousands of people are putting pressure on TUI to follow suit. In a “join the boycott [of TUI]" poll by World Animal Protection, 25,473 people have said they will stop using TUI until they stop selling and promoting dolphin entertainment and 130,101 people have asked TUI to stop profiting from dolphin cruelty.
In August 2024, fifteen global animal welfare charities came together outside TUI’s HQ in Berlin, calling on TUI to end the sale and promotion of captive dolphin entertainment venues. Outside the Globe Travel Awards, on 16 January 2025, which TUI attended, PETA supporters dressed up as dead orcas and named TUI the ‘Cruellest Travel Company of 2025’ on a large fake trophy they created.
Despite all this public outcry and a loss of customers, TUI refuses to act on concerns.
