TripAdvisor's new policy on dolphin attractions is irking aquariums

Aquariums say PETA convinced TripAdvisor to stop booking certain attractions. (Reuters)

File this one under "no intended good deed goes unpunished."

TripAdvisor, which last fall stopped selling tickets for swimming-with-dolphin attractions after being pressured by PETA, is under the gun again — this time from aquarium operators.

The aquarium businesses’ beef? That TripAdvisor, one of the country’s largest travel sites, is hurting their bottom line because it bent under pressure from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

“We’ve stopped booking hundreds of attractions based on this new policy,” said Brian Hoyt, a spokesman for TripAdvisor, which worked with PETA on the ban.

After several months of no tickets from TripAdvisor, the attractions thought something was fishy and hired a tough-as-nails consultant to put some teeth into their complaints against TripAdvisor.

“We want to make sure this [policy] doesn’t get traction with Expedia or any other travel company that books events,” said Will Coggin, research director of Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit organization that is largely funded by industry groups.

This article originally appeared in The New York Post.