G Adventures Celebrates World Tourism Day
with Caroline Booth

Poon Tip introducing the Jane Goodall Collection

Lynsey Kirk & Emma Short from G's London office guided guests through a virtual reality experience along the Ganges

Guests experiencing the 180 degree video room

Packed house at District 28

Let's celebrate World Tourism Day!

September 27th was World Tourism Day and to mark the occasion G Adventures hosted a grand celebration at trendy event venue District 28 in downtown Toronto. 0ver 800 guests from the travel community as well as G enthusiasts came together to eat, drink and be merry. Also on hand were several G Adventure guides, team leaders and staffers from offices around Canada and worldwide who were available to share their own adventure stories and experiences.

"Our purpose is to change the way people look at travel,” said G founder Bruce Poon Tip when he took to the stage later in the evening. Over the past year and beyond, G Adventures has been working hard to develop programs to bring sustainable travel mainstream.

Poon Tip outlined their new developments:

G Local program – 18 months in the making:
After years of merely stating that participating in a G Adventures trip has a positive local impact (creating local jobs, using locally owned hotels and food, etc.) the G Local program is an official way to show it. In partnership with Sustainable Travel International the program measures the good practices for development including animal welfare, work and the environment. The goal of the program is to have a local impact score available for every trip so consumers can see how much of their money goes toward helping the areas that they visit.

Travel Better program – 1 year in the making:
This certificate program is for consumers and sellers of travel to get people to think about how to travel better. Its a 30 min. online module and includes tips for planning trips, how to support local business and how to be respectful to local customs and preservations. There are also tips for what travellers can do to continue the effort when they return home. 

Poon Tip sees this program as industry changing. “We need to educate the consumer. When they want something sustainable, companies will develop it.” Poon Tip believes that agents are key to educating consumers on how to travel better. The program is currently available for free for G Travellers and will be available to the public in 2017.  

Limited Edition
Ready to launch in 2017, Limited Edition includes a choice of 25 trips taking in special cultural events and festivals. To name a few: Pizzafest in Naples Sziget Music Festival in Budapest; Cambodia Water Festival & Longboat Race and Jamaica Reggae Sumfest. Get them while you can!

Jane Goodall Collection
G Adventures has partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute to develop 20 new tours around the world which help promote G’s commitment to animal welfare. Travellers will have access to some of the areas where Goodall conducted her studies on primates in Africa, and money from these trips will benefit the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada. 

Although Goodall was not able to attend this event in person, she did send a special video message: "Travel opens ones eyes to the glorious diversity and cultures and wildlife in different parts of the world, and hopefully travellers will return with the understanding of the urgent needs to protect our beautiful planet before it is too late.” Goodall also congratulated G Adventures on their animal wildlife policy which is aligned with the values of the Institute.

It was obvious in the the delivery of his words and tone of his voice that Poon Tip is very passionate about the developments that his company has been working on. His final message was motivating and inspiring. "Today is about celebrating tourism. The world is so much smaller to the next generation. Travel can be a vehicle for peace."


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