A philosophical approach to animal rights and welfare in the tourism sector

Abstract

Although studies on animal rights and welfare in the field of tourism have begun to emerge in recent years, the subject is still new. In this context, a philosophical approach to animal rights and welfare in the tourism sector is put forward in this study. Concepts commonly used in animal rights and welfare debates, such as moral status, animal love, animal hatred, speciesism, anthropocentrism, ecocentrism are explained and are then discussed in the context of the tourism sector on the philosophical basis of what tourism means for commodified animals. Various proposals are developed for how changes can be made to grant animals in the tourism sector a moral status, both in theory and in practice.