New journeys for G Adventures

“I’ve been waiting 25 years for this!” Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures, told the crowd of more than 700 industry professionals and supporters celebrating the independent travel brand’s Ignite the Night event.

The event, in part a celebration for the company's 25th anniversary, was the subject of much lead-up, with invitations promising an announcement that would change the way people think about travel in addition to being a fundraising party for the non-profit organization Planeterra, and in true G Adventures style, it didn’t disappoint.

Transforming a downtown Toronto space into a multicultural marketplace, consumers and travel trade alike were served Indian and Asian cuisine, speciality cocktails and encouraged to take part in a variety of contests.

The main event, Poon Tip’s eagerly-anticipated announcements, took off almost right from the start, with the founder starting off by unveiling the brand’s 50 by 5 promise, a five-year plan to integrate 50 new social enterprise projects into its product offerings by 2020, in order to enhance the economic benefits tourism can have on local communities in popular tourist destinations.

Here’s what else is new with G:

Meet the Lando

Also called the OAV (overland adventure vehicle), the Lando promises to change the G Adventures safari experience altogether, and according to Poon Tip, includes “everything you need to change this industry.”

Equipped with WiFi, charging stations for laptops, cameras and smartphones, as well as fridge and onboard water tank for bottle refills, the Lando has a host of features designed to make the travel experience more comfortable.

The new OAV is expected to be on the roads by spring 2016.

There will be river cruising

Also in 2016, G Adventures will be releasing a series of small vessel, small group riverboat programs designed to create a new breed of river cruising with the added benefit of the brand’s free adventure business model.

With boats that range in size from 16 to 48 feet, G Adventures will offer the following itineraries:

Ganges – 9 days, Farakka to Kolkata

Burgandy – 8 days, Dijon to Dijon

Amazon – 9 days, Lima to Lima

Mekong – 11 days, Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap

All the vessels will include cabins with windows and a private bath. Guests can expect immersive experiences such as biking tours and excursions connecting them to projects headed up by Planeterra.

A new partnership

After briefly joking with guests that G Adventures would be embarking on food tours with McDonalds, Poon Tip recovered the crowd by announcing an even bigger – and very real – partnership with National Geographic. 

“When we started 25 years ago, you could never dream this big,” Poon Tip later told PAX of the new development. “But somewhere along the way, at the 10-15 year mark, I knew we were destined for greatness. National Geographic is a perfect fit for us for what we want to accomplish in the future.”

Poon Tip was joined on stage by Gary E. Knell, president and CEO of the National Geographic Society, to introduce the details of the partnership, which included a new series of adventure-focused products.

Dubbed National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures, the series will begin with a collection of 70 worldwide trips, each made up of no more than 16-person groups, promising to connect travellers with authentic experiences, such as dinners with locals, meetings with National Geographic researchers, and trips to community initiatives sponsored by Planeterra.

A portion of the proceeds from the trips will support National Geographic’s non-profit conservation, education and cultural preservation efforts, and will join its suite of travel programs, which includes National Geographic Expeditions, National Geographic Adventures, National Geographic Student Expeditions, National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World, and more.

“We’re really thrilled to join in collaboration with G Adventures because we share values about travel,” Knell told PAX after the announcement. “We don’t view the world in touristic terms. We believe travel is a noun, an adjective and a verb – and we think that it’s about educating a person, educating your soul, and giving people the inspiration to tell stories about the planet.”

Previously, National Geographic trips were of the high-end scale, designed for people with more resources. According to G Adventures, National Geographic Journeys will offer a price point that’s more affordable, and will allow for more independent travel, even in groups.

“It will be a very special experience that goes beyond independent travel,” Knell continued.

Next year’s lineup of National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures will be published on Dec. 15, 2015, with departures beginning Jan. 5, 2016.