British Tour Operators continue to promote Dolphinella

With the exception of Kuoni Ltd., the Marine Connection received a poor response from British Tour Operators in reply to our investigative report into Dolphinella, Sharm El Sheikh. The report highlighted many problems at the facility, potentially jeopardising both the dolphins themselves as well as the human participants. In view of this, the Marine Connection met with the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) to discuss their members' inaction.

We were told that the FTO do not exist to "police" their members, rather they are there to facilitate and co-ordinate with and between their members and "ensure the long-term success of air-inclusive holidays". We were told that the FTO had sent in their own expert to investigate and report on our findings, most of which they agreed required urgent action. In light of this information, shade has now been put over a portion of the dolphins' pool to protect them from the direct sunlight and a few other suggestions were made by their expert relating to the welfare of the animals.

However their expert did not agree with our findings that one of the animals appears to be stressed or ill and we have now been advised by the FTO their expert has advised that: "In my view, Thomson and other FTO members can be reasonably comfortable in selling this product to their clients"

The FTO invited the Marine Connection to join with them in drawing up guidelines for the welfare of dolphins in captivity, as they wish to ensure marine mammals are held in the best possible conditions. However we have declined this offer as, in our opinion, dolphins, whales and other marine mammals do not belong in captivity at all, and whilst we are of course concerned with the conditions the animals in Dolphinella and other captive facilities housing cetaceans, we refuse to be party to advising on how "best" to keep them in a captive environment. To agree to this would, in the charity's opinion, be letting down the animals the Marine Connection was founded to protect and for who we act as a voice. The FTO and its' members say they are quite simply supplying a demand, giving their customers what they want, however it appeared obvious by their expert's comments that dolphins and other marine mammals are simply a commodity - part of a "product" to be profited from.

If you agree that dolphins and whales should be left in the wild and not confined to interact or perform for paying customers, and feel that members of the FTO should NOT promote captive facilities please forward your comments to the companies/authorities on the Contact List at the bottom of the page.

Meanwhile the Marine Connection continue its attempts to get CITES to act on our concerns over this and other facilities that may be planned for Sharm, and will keep updating the site as and when further information is available. However, please be assured that the charity continue to work on this vital issue on a daily basis.

Bear in mind that although companies such as Kuoni and First Choice are no longer selling Dolphinella, they continue to sell excursions to many other captive facilities around the world and there is no guarantee that they never again sell Dolphinella excusions. Please contact us immediately if you see any Tour Operator promoting Dolphinella.

Take Action!
In the meantime if you are on holiday and are in a position to take photographs of dolphin or whale facilities or report any concerns to the charity please contact us so that we can take further action. Input from concerned travellers is crucial, so please forward any photos, video footage or messages of concern to the charity via mail to: PO Box 2404, London, W2 3WG for the attention of the Captivity Officer, Andrina Murrell or via email.

Contact List

Please contact the following companies and politely explain your feelings towards their continual promotion of the captive facility Dolphinella. There IS another way - it is simple to see wild dolphins in the Red Sea. Encourage these tour operators to promote ethical dolphin and whale watching, this is a viable yet responsible alternative.

Travel Companies / Tour Operators

TUI (Thomson Holidays)

Olympic Holidays (Odyssey Holidays)

Thomas Cook (Sunset Holidays, JMC)

Authorities / Governing Bodies

Head of CITES, Egypt

UK Egyptian Ambassador

Minister of Tourism, Egypt