Who could have predicted that a disappointing vacation would result in the creation of Canada's largest adventure travel company offering some 1,000 safaris and expeditions to 100 countries spanning all seven continents? But it did.
In 1991, Bruce Poon Tip arrived home from an unimpressive package tour to Thailand with the idea for G Adventures (Great Adventure People) Adventures percolating in his mind. Within 12 months, he put together his first tour, financing the company with his personal credit cards. In a five-year-period, G Adventures grew about 3,500% largely by creating a new industry exporting tourism.
Since then, tours have sold out - even while the global tourism industry has suffered through some of its worst years ever. In 2003 and 2004, G Adventures posted record numbers. This year, it announced more than 140 new trips for 2006, including Brazil Tall Ship Sailing, hiking in Ethiopia and adventures in Madagascar.
G Adventures simply cannot grow fast enough. To keep up with demand for its hugely popular Antarctic expeditions, G Adventures purchased the legendary passenger ship Explorer. Its affordable prices opened up Antarctica to the general public for the first time.
How did G Adventures grow so big, so fast? First, employees are travellers themselves, who, like their clients, crave the road less travelled. Tours are intimate, with the smallest groups (12 to 16 passengers, excluding passenger ship tours) in the industry, and highlight Mr. Poon Tip's commitment to environmentally, socially and culturally responsible travel. G Adventures travellers stay in farmhouses and small family-run hotels, use local transportation, support locally owned businesses and each tour incorporates community-based eco-tourism projects. G Adventures has developed the Planeterra Foundation as a way to give back to the people and places it visits. Planeterra supports local community projects, non-profit organizations and international charities that focus on the areas of health, education, community development, environmental conservation and employment skills training.