As a leader in sustainable adventure travel, G Adventures is dedicated to offering low-impact tours that benefit traveller and host alike. We work with local communities, businesses and individuals to develop sustainable tourism opportunities that help local economies while minimizing negative environmental and cultural impacts. While our sustainable tourism policies and operator standards are constantly evolving, our commitment to socially and environmentally conscious travel has been with us since the company's inception.
Tour Operation
We work closely with all our partners to ensure they operate in accordance with our Ecotourism Operator Standards:
- Employ local guides, suppliers and operators in the destinations we travel.
- Maintain small-group sizes to limit negative social and environmental impacts.
- Homestays are incorporated where possible.
- Training and employment opportunities are provided to local cooks and porters in Peru and we ensure fair payment and working conditions of all G Adventures porters and sherpas.
- When local transportation is not viable local operators are contracted to provide private transportation on our comfort and overland tours.
- UNESCO World Heritage Sites and community-based ecotourism initiatives are incorporated into our tours.
- Instead of staying in large foreign-owned all-inclusive resorts or hotel chains, we aim to support the local economy by staying in small-scale hotels where possible, otherwise, the best feasible option is employed.
Tour Leaders, Porters and Local Guides
We take pride in hiring staff that represent G Adventures in a responsible manner, as they are the ones who have the biggest direct impact on how your tour is run. To ensure quality leadership amongst our employees:
- We employ local guides, suppliers and operators in the destinations we travel as they are able to provide our travellers with an insight into local customs, culture, history, flora and fauna.
- Tour leaders receive training in low-impact travel practices.
- Tour Leaders must possess First Aid and CPR certification upon being hired.
- Tour Leaders are encouraged to assist in researching socially and environmentally responsible operators and community-based tourism initiatives that can be incorporated into our tours.
Supporting the Protection of Children from Exploitation in Cambodia
G Adventures has partnered with Childsafe Cambodia in effort to combat child sex tourism and exploitation. Our tour leaders attend training workshops with Childsafe, that cover the main problems street children face in Cambodia and provide recommendations of ways they can help protect children during their trip.
Giving Back to the Community
While much of the focus is on ensuring travellers are provided an enriching experience, the same goes for the communities we visit and the cities we work in. Sustainability is at the core of our type of travel both near and far. One of our long-standing community-based initiatives 'at home'.
Annual Christmas in the Community
Each year, G Adventures hosts a Christmas in the Community party at the Scadding Court Community Centre in Toronto. Over 300 youth from low-income families, ages 6 to 12, are provided with a turkey dinner, a gift and participate in arts and crafts activities run by G Adventures staff, friends and family.
Earth Month, Not Just a Day
Every April, G Adventures organizes community initiatives in celebration of Earth Month at our headquarters in Toronto, our local offices around the globe, and on many of our tours. From cleaning up our local neighborhoods, to planting trees and flower gardens at local community centers and green spaces, we are lending a hand to promote the importance of caring for your local environments both at home and abroad.
Head Office Initiatives
G Adventures has taken numerous steps to help our offices, and staff, minimize their impact on the environment and be a responsible member of our local communities.
Supporting Green Energy
Our Head Office, and Concept Stores are all 100% powered by green energy providers including Bullfrogpower. These companies provide green electricity and purchase power exclusively from wind and low-impact hydro generators.
FSC Certified
All G Adventures brochures are 100% FSC certified. FSC is a forest certification and labeling system for paper and wood products that come from responsibly managed forests, and verified recycled sources. Under FSC certification, forests are certified against a set of strict environmental and social standards, and fibre from certified forests is tracked all the way to the consumer through the chain of custody certification system.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
In an effort to reduce paper use within the office, all fax transmissions and pay stubs are sent electronically. We also donate used computers and equipment to reBoot Canada, who refurbish these items for use by people with limited access to technology.
Public Transportation Subsidy
In an effort to encourage Head Office staff to do their part to reduce air pollution, individuals who purchase passes for use on Toronto's public transportation system are provided with a monthly subsidy. For Earth Month, G Adventures has doubled the value of our monthly subsidy.
Clean Air Commute
Pollution Probe hosts the Clean Air Commute, a weeklong event to promote awareness of Toronto's air quality. G Adventures has won awards since 2001, as a result of 100% staff participation in using cleaner methods of commuting to work.
Porter Training and Education Program in Peru:
G Adventures offers training courses to people from four local communities just outside of Cuzco, Peru, to provide them with work opportunities and prepare them for the chance to be porters and cooks on the Inca Trail.
Our porter training courses were developed as a way to provide job-skills training and educate community members about relevant social and environmental issues. Participants are divided into small groups of 10-15 to take part in various workshops.
Lessons are provided that demonstrate practical techniques to use to avoid back injuries, from carrying relatively heavy loads for multiple days. Other topics included First Aid and English language lessons, training on proper disposal of organic and inorganic waste, the importance of responsible tourism, and trust building exercises. Participants are also given a copy of the Porter Law, which is reviewed and discussed so that each person is aware of their rights as Porters.
A training course for cooks is also offered to teach participants how to prepare food for our travellers on the Inca Trail. This course covers food preparation and presentation of the G Adventures menu. Our cooks are then provided with an opportunity to cook and serve food for the porters, guides, teachers and G Adventures Cuzco office staff during the two-day training course.
In order to receive further training and work experience, 165 participants from these courses have been hired to work for G Adventures on the Inca Trail. We ensure that our porters and cooks are paid fair wages in accordance with the Porter Law and are provided with adequate food and camping equipment. We also pay for accident and life insurance, and all travel expenses to and from the point of departure. Our porters are also provided with special belts to protect their backs from injury and carry a load limit of 20kg or less.
Through Planeterra, the non-profit founded by G Adventures in 2003, we have established the Women's Weaving Co-operative in the Ccaccoccollo community of Peru's Sacred Valley. Many members of the Co-op are wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of our porters and cooks. This project encourages women of the community to be proud of their cultural heritage by developing and showcasing their intricate weaving skills. It also enables them to provide for their families and to benefit from tourism in a way that avoids negative social and cultural impacts. G Adventures groups travelling through this area have an opportunity to visit the project and purchase weavings directly from the women who have made them.
