Tourist elephant riding and shows remain popular across Southeast Asia despite extensive evidence that the breaking and training methods used cause profound welfare harm.
Elephant tourism in Southeast Asia has historically been built on methods that inflict severe welfare harm at the start of elephant working lives. The phajaan process, in which young elephants are confined, restrained, and subjected to pain to break their wild resistance, causes trauma that researchers have linked to stereotypic behaviors and fearful responses visible for the rest of the animal life. Riding compounds this with chronic spinal stress. Consumer demand is the primary driver of these practices, and demand that specifically excludes riding and performance shows has demonstrably shifted market incentives in Thailand and beyond.