Dolphin Tours Cancelled at Mexico Travel Conference Will Coldwell - The Guardian
go to original August 19, 2014

Tourists pose with dolphins at a Delphinus marine park in Mexico Tourists pose with dolphins at a Delphinus marine park in Mexico. (minube.com)

A travel media conference has decided to drop dolphin experiences from its program following pressure from travel bloggers and wildlife campaigners.

The TBEX 2014 conference, which is due to take place in Cancun, Mexico, in September and is attended by travel bloggers, writers and industry experts, had been criticized for offering attendees the opportunity to go on two tours at the Delphinus Dolphinarium.

While TBEX organizers had refused to drop the tours, telling The Guardian they would not be “bullied into cancelling a tour by a small pressure group”, the Cancun tourist board – who offered the tours to TBEX in the first place – made the decision to retract them after being contacted directly by responsible travel blog Green Global Travel.

In a statement posted on the Green Global Travel site, the Cancun tourist board said they were “disheartened” that so much attention had be placed on “just one” of the activities they are offering at the conference.

“We want to move on from this topic so we can focus on the agenda at hand,” said spokesperson Paula Gomez, “which is to put on a conference where bloggers and industry professionals can share ideas and best practices and, while they are at it, get a first-hand look at Cancun’s offerings.”

“To do so, we have stopped offering these dolphin experiences as part of any pre- or post-TBEX experience.”

Read the rest at The Guardian

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