Project summary

Tourism is a massive global industry, yielding an $11 Trillion in economic impact in 2025, equating to nearly 10% of the global GDP and providing 10.9% of the global workforce. As the industry’s growth rate continues to rise, so does the consumer’s demand for ethical and responsible travel, however the supply-side of the industry is slow to change, continuing their status quo offerings. The industry sells the “consumption” of animals through culinary experiences, entertainment, racing and sport, wild animal tours, working animal experiences, up-close encounters, and souvenirs. Up to 30% of a traveler’s budget is dedicated to food. It should be noted that this massive industry is not just leisure travel, but encompasses business travel, meetings and conventions, as well as VFR (visiting friends and relatives; the largest motivation for travel. 

Where Animals Matter (WAM) advises tourism operators, travel advisors, and destination marketing organizations (DMOs) on animal welfare, with but not limited to a food-sector focus, ultimately creating systems change by providing education on welfare improvement and moving away from animal-based foods and experiences altogether. By working with the intermediaries within the supply chain, WAM has the potential to influence where tourists are directed and what products and experiences are sold downstream. This grant funds a pilot tool that audits the restaurants and tourism operators in two destinations for plant-forward menus, animal-friendliness, and sustainability, then returns a rating along with practical recommendations. WAM uses the audit and a follow-on action plan for the destination's tourism body and associated operators (e.g. tour guides, attractions, restaurants and caterers) to improve plant-based options, sustainability and animal protection ratings.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Primary Goal: To develop a scoring system for tourism destinations, including plant-forward food and animal-related offerings at a cost and speed advisory work can't match today. We will achieve this by creating a large scale analysis tool that can score whole cities and regions.

Secondary Goal: To create an impetus for food systems and animal welfare change at a destination level, essentially demonstrating that such an audit can convince DMOs to commit to changes. The region-level scoring system would engage an entirely new set of stakeholders (i.e. destination marketers) who are motivated to meet tourist demand to gain tourist expenditures. Thus, the secondary goal by the end of the pilot, is that one DMO publicly commits to specific, measurable changes and dining/catering venues expand plant-forward options. While it is difficult to anticipate the level of commitment, WAM will work with them in practical ways to foreground plant-based, sustainable and animal-friendly options. We will be able to gain a conservative measure on what changes destinations will make with the advent of this tool that lays bare their current offerings. 

Why now: The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) has developed a dedicated Food and Beverage Standard for tourism, and its new requirement is that organizations seeking GSTC certification or renewal provide at least 30% of main dishes and meal options as plant-based or predominantly plant-based. “Predominantly plant-based” means at least 95% plant-based by weight.

Gap in the market: Other tourism advisors sell consultancy, training, or certification. None of them productize the audit itself or focus on animal needs at the destination level. Currently there are no organizations leveraging destination competitiveness as a market lever for change in the farmed, working, or wild animal space. Many tourism-facing animal NGOs focus on wild animals or one type of attraction, however tourist demand for ethical travel extends beyond only one cluster of species or one type of experience.

Method: Pull venues from Google Maps, add plant-forward data, score menus, and generate recommendations. Pilot in two regions to prove, then scale.

Timeline: Six months:

• Usable scoring tool for 2 pilot towns within 3 months. 

• Working with each DMO to determine policy, product, and marketing changes as a result of their audit over the course of 2-3 months.
  

How will this funding be used?

$5,000 Planning, pilot build and validation
$7,500 WAM Destination Benchmark (fully deployed tool to run pilot in two towns)
$6,000 Hosting and maintenance for 12 months
$2,000 Outreach and marketing
$5,000 Development of action plans

$25,500 Total Cost for Pilot & Audit Consultation

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?This grant is for Where Animals Matter (WAM), who is intending to engage Open Paws to build the WAM Destination Benchmark tool.

• WAM: Carol Kline, Ph.D., M.S., is an animal protection researcher, educator, and advocate working at the intersection of animal law, tourism, and farmed animal advocacy. She is a Professor of Tourism Management at Appalachian State University and holds an M.S. in Animal Law from Lewis & Clark Law School and a Ph.D. in Tourism Planning and Policy from North Carolina State University. She is particularly interested in translating research into practical strategies that can drive systemic change across the animal protection movement.

• Carol is the founder of Where Animals Matter (WAM), an organization dedicated to transforming tourism into a force for animal protection. WAM generates evidence, educates tourism operators, and works with destinations and businesses to reduce animal exploitation, promote higher-welfare and plant-based alternatives, and strengthen the protection of animals and ecosystems. She serves on the boards of Arthropoda and the Culture & Animals Foundation and advises Rissa Citizen Science and Vegan Hospitality. Her work brings together research, law, local-level implementation, and cross-sector collaboration to advance meaningful, lasting change for animals.

• Open Paws: Builds AI systems and automations for animal advocacy organizations. For this grant, WAM intends to engage Open Paws to build and maintain the WAM Destination Benchmark, as WAM does not have engineering staff. Open Paws is well positioned to build this AI tool; their track record includes: 12 AI systems build and deployed for 9 organizations in 2026 (as of Sept 2026), with 6 more systems currently in development. Open Paws has worked on related projects such as two menu analyzers that cut analysis per menu from one week to 5 minutes in one case, and 60 minutes to 1 min in another. As such, Open Paws will be able to lean on previous project knowledge to keep both scope, timing, and costs low for the WAM Destination Benchmark tool.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

DMOs buy for marketing, not animals: A bureau may take the rating and ignore the recommendations. Mitigation: We approach DMOs from the sustainability angle and with existing demand data of tourist markets.

Coverage: The audit tool will rely on publicly available data, within this pilot we will measure what coverage gaps might exist and identify strategies how to mitigate them.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

WAM was founded in March 2026 and to date has raised $10,000 from the William and Charlotte Parks Foundation and $6,000 from the Kickstarting 4 Good Ignite Fund. A project begun in 2025 focused on revealing a “global animal tourism snapshot” successfully concluded in September 2026; that research contract was $25,000. We currently have four grant applications under consideration that collectively aim to generate evidence on demand for ethical travel, identify economic and reputational incentives for animal protection, influence traveler and industry behavior, and drive policy and practice changes that improve animal protection. Additionally, the founders have invested ~$20,000 to date, and Board members are investing an average of in-kind guidance and support of 20 hours each month. We are working with Animal Defense Partnership and The Mission Motor to guide our first year of activity. 

About the Pilot Sites

The two pilot sites, Durham North Carolina in the U.S. and Cork in Ireland, provide a strong comparative test of the assessment because they represent different continents, tourism markets, and stages of plant-based tourism development, however they are relatively similar in terms of population. Comparing these two destinations can help determine whether the assessment produces meaningful results across different geographic, cultural, and tourism contexts.

Durham, North Carolina, U.S.A. combines a strong tourism economy with a nationally recognized food culture and a diverse range of animal and nature-related visitor experiences. Durham County received 13.2 million visitors in 2024, generating USD $1.16 billion in visitor spending in 2024 and $1.17 billion in 2025. Durham is part of the larger Research Triangle region, a rapidly growing metropolitan area anchored by Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, giving the pilot access to a substantial business travel population. North Carolina ranks fifth nationally in domestic visitation in 2024 and 2025, attracting nearly 40 million domestic visitors and generating $36.7 billion in direct visitor spending. Within Durham County, food and beverage accounted for 27% of visitor spending in 2023.

Durham is also an especially useful setting for examining whether the emerging plant-based tourism economy is accessible to diverse communities. More than one-third of Durham's population is Black/African American, and the city has a significant history of Black culinary traditions and food entrepreneurship. Combined with Durham's universities, research institutions, culinary scene, outdoor recreation, wildlife attractions, and proximity to Raleigh (the capital city) and Chapel Hill (home to a major university)l, the city is large and diverse enough to produce meaningful findings and remain manageable for a first destination audit.

Cork, Ireland as the second largest city in Ireland, also combines a substantial tourism economy, a nationally recognized culinary identity, and a range of animal-related experiences within a mid-sized urban setting. Cork is comparable in scale to Durham; Cork City and its suburbs had approximately 222,335 residents in the 2022 Irish Census, compared with Durham's estimated 305,561 residents in 2025. 

Cork also has a significant tourism economy. According to Fáilte Ireland, approximately 981,000 overseas tourists and 1.8 million domestic tourists visited County Cork in 2024, generating approximately €775 million and €376 million in tourism revenue, respectively (equivalent to €1.15 or USD $1.29 billion when summed together). Cork's position as a gateway to some of Ireland's coastal regions also creates opportunities to examine tourism experiences beyond the urban core. 

Food is particularly important to Cork's tourism identity. Widely recognized as one of Ireland's leading culinary destinations, Cork is home to the historic English Market, established in 1788, as well as food tours, independent restaurants, specialty producers, and the annual Cork on a Fork Festival. Its culinary landscape includes both traditional animal-based Irish foods and established vegetarian and plant-forward dining experiences. The Cork region offers animal-related tourism experiences, as well as coastal and nature-based tourism experiences (i.e. visitor interactions with terrestrial and marine wild animals and ecosystems). Together, these activities provide a basis for assessing how tourism businesses communicate animal welfare practices, manage visitor interactions, and incorporate animal protection into their operations.

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