Riding on the backs of elephants is a popular tourist activity in Thailand and other Asian countries.

TripAdvisor has announced it will stop promoting attractions that fail to meet animal welfare guidelines.

The travel website will no longer sell tickets for activities like elephant rides, tiger petting, or swimming with dolphins - any type of attraction which involves "physical contact with captive wild animals or endangered species".

The policy will affect both TripAdvisor and sister company Viator, and is expected to hit hundreds of operators.

World Animal Protection TripAdvisor will no longer sell tickets to attractions that involve physical contact with captive wild animals or endangered species.

TripAdvisor also plans to launch an education portal where travellers can learn about related issues from a number of animal welfare organisations.

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World Animal Protection World Animal Protection welcomed the move, but said TripAdvisor still had further to go.

CEO Stephen Kaufer said the new booking policy was a "means to do our part in helping improve the health and safety standards of animals".

The shift came after research and consultation with animal welfare groups like PETA, Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit and World Animal Protection.

"By refusing to sell tickets to businesses that treat animals as entertainment or playthings, TripAdvisor is making a precedent-setting statement about the use and abuse of animals for entertainment," PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman said.

More than 558,000 supporters signed a World Animal Protection petition this year calling upon TripAdvisor to stop profiting from cruel wildlife tourist attractions.

World Animal Protection New Zealand campaigns manager Nicola Beynon said while the announcement was significant, certain venues involving cruel entertainment would still be bookable.

The new policy did not apply to attractions using domestic animals, such as horseback riding, nor did it affect aquarium touch pools, or zoo feeding programmes.

"We hope it will only be a matter of time before TripAdvisor will also come to realise that it has to end sales to all cruel wildlife attractions such as SeaWorld where the animals endure a lifetime of abuse and highly stressful training to perform," Beynon said.

"Until then we will provide the best education we can on TripAdvisor's website to steer people away from cruel venues like these."

While TripAdvisor will stop selling some attractions immediately, the changes will not be fully implemented until 2017.