When vacationing abroad, tread carefully

A rhinoceros in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Raising awareness

TRAFFIC has been cooperating with traditional and online travel agencies to raise awareness among inbound and outbound Chinese tourists not to purchase illegal wildlife products such as ivory and Rhino horn or eat protected species.

"Such consumption leads to poaching and fuels the illegal wildlife trade, and these endanger species and can even lead to species going extinct," she says, adding that compared with before, though, public awareness about the situation has greatly improved.

Zhang, cited elephant attractions in Thailand as an example. The common itinerary used to be for tourists who traveled to Chiang Mai to visit elephant camps where they could ride an elephant and watch shows in which the elephants perform tricks.

But last year, the website's bookings for such elephant camps dropped by about 90 percent because the company has been promoting visits to elephant conservation centers as an alternative.

In 2015, Qyer founded an office named Q-home in Chiang Mai and cooperate with several elephant conservation centers such as Elephant Nature Park, where tourists can enjoy encounters with elephants in their natural environment and help to feed them and give them baths.