Obstacles to Ethical Travel: Attitudes and Behaviors of New Zealand Travel Agents with Respect to "Politically Repressed" Destinations

Abstract

This article examines the attitudes and behaviors of New Zealand travel agents in relation to providing travel advice for destinations that have known human rights abuses. A postal survey was undertaken of travel agencies throughout New Zealand. Generally, while supportive in principle of ethical travel, travel agents do not operationalize this concern in terms of their workplace behavior (e.g., continuing to sell products for destinations that have known human rights issues). A range of workplace and personal factors appear to be influential in the way in which travel agents behave. However, the primary obstacle acting against travel agents participating more actively in ethical travel is the ethical dissonance imposed on the ethical decision-making situation through the agent's obligation to give credence to their clients' rights of freedom of choice over where they travel.