How To be a More Sustainable Traveller (Part 2)

June 21, 2022 Frances Gertsch

During Canadian Environment Week 2022, I launched a series about how to be a more sustainable traveller by choosing to travel with companies that understand and live by responsible travel values. Today, we’re going to highlight another: G Adventures. 

A Canadian social enterprise that has been around for more than 30 years, G Adventures creates positive change wherever it goes. It has one of the most ambitious missions in the industry, aiming to “help travel become the greatest form of wealth redistribution the world has ever seen.” 

So what does that mean for you as a traveller? It means you’re going to have the time of your life and that, while doing so, you’ll give back more than you could ever take away from the places you visit. And while “responsible travel” may sound boring to some, it’s far from it. Travelling responsibly creates a more enriching experience for everyone: it’s about changing people’s lives through travel, whether your own or those of the people you meet along the way. 

Respecting Local Communities

Your G Adventures experience will be led by local staff who receive great benefits, are treated respectfully, and are paid a Living Wage. You’ll be served by small local businesses who will transport you, host you, and run the activities on your tour. You’ll have the opportunity to have meals at local restaurants so that you can taste fresh, local ingredients. 

You may also have the opportunity to interact with Indigenous people. Your CEO – Chief Experience Officer (G Adventures’ title for their tour managers) – will guide you in how to respect local cultural and religious beliefs and will help ensure that the outcome is a positive exchange. 

Imagine visiting a place like the women’s weaving co-op in Peru, to see, first-hand, the impact of G Adventures’ investments in Planeterra projects (Planeterra is a Canadian non-profit that exists to help turn travel into (positive) impact in communities and is funded in large part by a $500,000+ annual donation from G Adventures).

Child Welfare

If you’re a traveller, I’d encourage you to read the seven tips for how to be a Childsafe traveller, which starts with your mindset: “children are not tourist attractions – let’s not treat them like they are” and encourages you to treat children you meet in your travels the way you would at home. 

Here in Canada would you: disrupt a lesson in a school to see what the classroom looks like? give a random child you meet a dollar or a candy? take a picture of someone else’s child – who you do not know – and post it on social media? I assume the answer is no. If we wouldn’t do it here, let’s not do it anywhere.

Environmental Initiatives

You’re encouraged to bring a refillable water bottle with you not only on your G Adventures tour but also every day. Not only will it serve its purpose (you won’t be thirsty!), it will also save you money and reduce your environmental impact. Through their Plastics Partnership Project, G Adventures is working with its partners around the world to find ways to provide safe drinking water without the need for plastic waste.

Animal Welfare

There’s a certain thrill to seeing animals in the wild, and as a responsible traveller, we all want to ensure wild animals stay wild. G Adventures’ Animal Welfare Policy was created in partnership with the World Cetacean Alliance, World Animal Protection, and the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada. I can promise you that there won’t be any elephants riding, sharks feeding, or crocodile wrestling on tour!

Ripple Score

To put it all together, G Adventures created the Ripple Score (measured out of 100) to measure the positive impact tours have on local communities. Their top-selling “The Inca Trail” tour? Ripple Score of 99. The National Geographic Journeys “Morocco Journey”? Ripple Score of 90. “Local Living – Amalfi Coast”? Ripple Score of 100. 

As the world’s largest independently-owned, small group adventure travel company, G Adventures operates more than 750 tours on all seven continents. You can be sure that all of them are based on the responsible travel values that are at the heart of what they do. 

With an average traveller age of 50+, a variety of travel styles – from classic to local living to family-friendly tours – and flexibility that doesn’t penalize single travellers, there is a trip with your name on it. My question is: where are you travelling to next?  

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Interested in learning more? 

Visit G Adventures’ website to learn more about their take on Responsible Travel. 

Read Bruce Poon Tip’s first book, Looptail – How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business. 

Watch the film The Last Tourist: Travel has Lost its Way. Bruce Poon Tip, the founder of G Adventures, is one of the Executive Producers of this award-winning documentary.

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