Close to 50 tour operators and travel companies have moved away from offering camel rides in front of the Giza pyramids in Egypt after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said in October that the animals there were being "exploited in blistering heat without adequate access to food, rest, shade or veterinary care."
Among those that stopped including camel rides on their tours are The Travel Corporation brands (Trafalgar and Contiki are two that offer Egypt tours), Abercrombie & Kent, AdventureWomen and Flash Pack, according to PETA, while Airbnb Experiences and ToursByLocals stopped offering the camel experiences on their websites.
PETA started investigating the treatment of Giza camels in 2019 after being "bombarded with complaints," said corporate responsibility officer Emily Guice. The group said its probe uncovered a stain on the alluring ancient Egyptian site: camels that were being mistreated while used as "photo props."
Guice said PETA had attempted to work with the Egyptian government on the issue and suspended its campaign in 2020 after officials promised to ban the rides. But years later, "that promise remains empty," PETA said.
Egypt's tourism ministry did not respond to requests for comment, but the country's tourism ministry launched an "animal welfare at archaeological sites" program in October, which officials said include vaccines and regular veterinarian care. PETA is demanding that the government impose a ban on the use of camels and horses near the pyramids and said that, so far, more than 46,000 people have emailed Egyptian officials in support of that ban.
Substituting other experiences for camel rides
Several tour operators had already nixed camel rides before PETA's newest campaign, replacing them with other experiences.
Abercrombie & Kent stopped offering the rides in 2023. Spokesperson Jean Fawcett said A&K believes "animals used as a tourist attraction should be treated humanely, with respect and in accordance with transparent and robust animal-welfare standards."
Finding that for some travelers the photo op was more important than any desire to ride a camel, A&K swapped rides for special access to a restricted area of the Great Sphinx on some itineraries, like Pharaohs and Pyramids and the special VIP departure of Egypt and the Nile.
"Standing at the paws of the Great Sphinx, with the pyramids in the background, is a much more memorable experience -- and an even more iconic photo op," Fawcett said.
Group tour operator Intrepid Travel removed camel rides from its Egypt Adventure itinerary in 2024 after a negative review of an in-person experience by the brand's product category manager along with animal-welfare concerns. The company traded the rides for a meal at a family-owned restaurant and an alternative panoramic viewpoint for photographing the pyramids.
"At Intrepid, we don't just follow industry standards on animal welfare; we set them," said Leigh Barnes, Intrepid's president of the Americas. "If an experience doesn't align with our values or meet the ethical treatment we expect, we don't hesitate to change it. Removing camel riding in Egypt was the right decision, because responsible travel isn't about doing what's always been done, it's about doing what's right. We're here to lead that change, not wait for it."
A trend toward animal welfare in travel
The move to abandon camel rides in front of the pyramids is the latest example of animal welfare being put under a microscope as tour operators work to develop responsible and sustainable policies.
Over the past decade, many operators have moved away from experiences seen to harm animals, like riding elephants in Thailand or swimming with dolphins. Destinations sometimes lead the charge themselves, such as Honduras' April 1 ban on sloth interactions on Roatan. Some tour operators have in-house animal-welfare policies to ensure their animal-focused excursions are run by operators that treat the creatures well.
Intrepid developed a tool kit in 2020 with guidelines for animal interactions and viewing animals in the wild. Under its policy, camels are considered domesticated animals and only part of an itinerary where "the well-being of animals has been previously established," like on its Morocco trips, where the camels are used for transportation rather than photo props.
ToursByLocals launched a similar policy in 2019 with help from PETA. At first, the company reached out to guides on its site to remove tours that did not provide the camels with adequate care, a spokesperson said. But after PETA's call to action last fall, ToursByLocals decided to have the tours removed altogether, due to compelling evidence of animal cruelty.
ToursByLocals CEO Lisa Chen said the decision was part of the brand's goal of stewarding responsible tourism while balancing the desires of travelers and encouraging the entrepreneurship of guides. It boils down to education, she said.
"We promote the tours that are going to map best to our mission," she said. Chen added that guides "help complete the education or help advance the education of travelers."
Chen said it is the brand's responsibility to help guides understand that tours with camel rides are not the kind of product the company wants to promote, even when travelers ask to do that activity.
Education is also part of the new animal-welfare program in Egypt, which minister of tourism and antiquities Sherif Fathy called "a testament to our commitment to safeguarding animal welfare across our archaeological sites" when the program was launched in October. The program includes the creation of a free training center to educate camel owners on proper animal care and treatment.
Despite the initiative, PETA says more must be done, including a complete ban on camels near the pyramids and other tourist sites.
This big move away from camel rides indicates that animal welfare is becoming a priority, said Cameron Harsh, programs director for World Animal Protection, a global organization that works with travel companies to set animal-welfare policies and stop them from selling and promoting "cruel and captive" animal encounters.
"It really is this growing movement of animal-friendly travel and solutions-based travel and sustainable travel," Harsh said.