IMTRAV RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL POLICY
"* ANIMAL CRUELTY – In many of the countries we visit you might see examples of animal cruelty (e.g. dancing bears, performing monkeys and snake charmers). Please do not take photographs of this or offer money as it encourages the activity."
I've travelled through India twice with Imtrav, both times with the Amazing Sameer who stressed the importance of travelling responsibly. However on browsing through the images gallery attached to Imtrav's Indian Itineraries I was a bit shocked to see a photo of a child snake charmer. Surely that goes against everything the Responsible Travel Policy promotes. This is not only promoting the use of children to raise money in photo opportunities (begging) but also condoning animal cruelty.
In my opinion by publishing this type of photo you are not following your own Responsible Travel guidelines.
Imaginative Traveller responsible travel policy
Thank you for posting your comment about this. I certainly agree that this photograph is contradictory to our responsible travel policy, which we endeavor to follow from the UK and in our destinations through the fantastic work of tour leaders like Sameer. It was posted with the intention that it reflected an aspect of Indian life that our clients should expect to see but I agree that by publishing a picture like this on our website we seem in a sense to be supporting a practise that we believe to have a negative impact on society in India. We have now removed this picture from our website. Sam - Product Manager for Africa and Responsible Travel