G Adventures wraps GX Cambodia with Brazil reveal, temple party & product updates

This article was updated on Sunday, September 27 at 8:03 pm. EST

If there’s one thing G Adventures doesn’t do, it’s low-key – and the grand finale of GX 2026, held on World Tourism Day, was no exception.

The Canadian tour operator brought the curtain down on its 2026 GX World Community Tourism Summit Sunday night (Sept. 27) with a splash of signature purple at Angkor Thom, a sprawling walled capital of the Khmer Empire just north of Siem Reap.

Some 600 travel and tourism professionals, including nearly 20 Canadian travel advisors, descended on the historic site for the week’s finale, where centuries-old history met one serious celebration.

At the heart of Angkor Thom sits Bayon Temple, famous for the enormous smiling stone faces carved into its towers.

Against that dramatic backdrop, traditional Cambodian dancers performed as guests circulated between food stations, celebrating the end of a week dedicated to community tourism and the people behind it.

But amid the dancing, food and sea of purple, one topic was generating plenty of buzz: Brazil.

Just hours earlier, G revealed that GX 2027 will head to Brazil, with the announcement made during the GX World Community Tourism Summit at the Sokha Siem Reap Resort & Convention Centre.

Speaking to PAX at the event, Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures, said there was no shortage of interest in hosting next year’s GX, with several destinations submitting “aggressive” bids. In the end, however, South America’s largest country won out.

“GX is growing every year, but Brazil came to the table with the support that we need,” said Poon Tip, sporting a sparkly purple blazer for the occasion.

While several other destinations made compelling pitches, Poon Tip said Brazil was ultimately where G Adventures wanted to take GX next.

“We wanted to be in Brazil,” he said. “We can show what we do best there. It’s a great community tourism destination and a great backdrop for GX.”

David Green, G Adventures’ vice-president of customer and sales operations and managing director for Canada, pointed to the enthusiastic reaction from GX attendees as evidence of the excitement surrounding the destination. 

“I don't think anyone saw Brazil coming,” Green, wearing a purple tuxedo shirt, told PAX. “It makes me very happy that we can still pull some surprises out the bag.”

The excitement kept coming as attendees, later on, made their way to The Labyrinth, a multi-sensory dining venue in Siem Reap, for the official GX afterparty.

There, San Francisco-based DJ Earworm took over the decks for a two-hour set celebrating G Adventures’ 36-year history, weaving together mashups that jumped from Madonna’s Holiday and Radiohead’s Creep to C+C Music Factory’s Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).

Glow sticks lit up the room and confetti cannons punctuated the celebration, keeping the energy high well into the night.

Between the music and dance moves, Poon Tip took to the stage to bring the evening back to the bigger purpose behind GX.

“Tonight is a joyous explosion of tourism,” he told the crowd, urging attendees to reflect on everything they had experienced over the past five days. “Think about everything that [relates] to Cambodia and what it means to you.”  

All eyes on Cambodia

The party capped a week of community tourism experiences in Phenom Penh, Siem Reap and beyond.

GX Cambodia, held from Sept. 23-28, brought together journalists, influencers, travel advisors, travel executives, G Adventures and Planeterra staff, VIPs and travellers themselves across nine different tracks led by G Adventures’ Chief Experience Officers, or “CEOs.”

The GX program showcased G Adventures’ long-standing approach to community tourism, which places local people and locally-owned businesses at the heart of its small-group trips, helping ensure more tourism dollars remain in the communities travellers visit.

Some of the activities included a “Festival Fair” at historic Wat Phnom, as well as a private river cruise to Silk Village, where traditional weaving generates income for local artisans.

Attendees had lunch at a local homestay supporting conservation efforts near the ancient temple complex of Sambor Prei Kuk.

At iconic Angkor Wat, the largest religious complex in the world, guests explored by tuk tuk with Lady Tuk Tuk, an all-female team of drivers that creates earning opportunities for women.

Attendees also ventured to Kampong Phluk, a cluster of fishing villages, and dined at Spoons, a social enterprise that empowers Cambodian youth through hospitality training and career opportunities.

Click here for a deeper dive into these experiences! 

At the heart of GX are community tourism initiatives supported by Planeterra, a non-profit founded by Poon Tip in 2003 to harness tourism as a force for good.

Its work focuses on helping local communities benefit more directly from tourism by creating opportunities for travellers to spend with local businesses and social enterprises – keeping more tourism dollars in the destinations they visit rather than seeing that money leave communities.

“I wasn’t missing out"

For the Canadian travel advisors in Cambodia, GX was more than an industry gathering.

It was a chance to experience firsthand the people, communities and experiences they’re ultimately asking their clients to discover.

Getting there, however, took some work.

Many advisors attended through Change Makers, G Adventures’ incentive program that recognizes agents who champion community tourism.

Rather than qualifying based on dollar value, advisors earn their way to GX based on the number of travellers they book on G Adventures trips, with flights included for those who secure a spot.

For travel advisor Tracy Langdon of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Cambodia marked her fourth GX — and one of the most competitive yet.

“Once Cambodia was announced as the destination, a lot of agents stepped it up and gave us a run for our money,” Langdon told PAX at the closing party. “I wasn’t missing out because the last four years had been spectacular.”

Edmonton, Alberta-based Laura Leys agreed. “It was a hard competition,” she said.

For Leys, who specializes in adventure travel and works largely with solo female travellers, selling G comes naturally. Her message to clients echoes the company’s approach: “Travel solo, but not alone.”

Langdon said the breadth of G’s product also makes matching travellers with the right experience relatively straightforward, whether they want something active, casual or more elevated.

“Once you qualify your client, G has something for everybody,” she said. “You couple that with the opportunity to allow people to travel differently and be immersed in the culture. It’s a whole package.”

Experiencing Cambodia also reinforced a bigger lesson about community tourism for Langdon: meaningful impact must start with what communities actually need.

“Not all help is good help,” she said, emphasizing the importance of community-led initiatives that can be measured and sustained over time. “What we’re doing right now, in this moment, is long-lasting impact.”

For Leys, GX provided an equally simple takeaway that she can bring home to clients.

“It’s more of an experience than just a location,” she said. “You’re not just selling Cambodia. You’re selling the people, the culture, the history and everything in between.”

New Community Positive Framework 

The GX World Community Tourism Summit, held earlier that day, brought that message into sharper focus while also spotlighting new product developments and initiatives.

Among the other announcements, Planeterra unveiled a new Community Positive Framework aimed at measuring tourism's impact on local communities, while G Adventures previewed Bazaar, a new digital platform designed around what it calls the emerging trend of "micro-community travel."

The company also announced that Project 300, its initiative with Planeterra to integrate 300 community tourism enterprises into G Adventures itineraries by 2030, has passed the halfway mark, with 160 enterprises now incorporated into trips.

Meanwhile, G Adventures' Trees for Days initiative has surpassed 6.7 million trees grown on behalf of travellers.

“G Adventures has always been about doing something differently, and doing it in our own way,” said Poon Tip in a statement that was released after the event. “There really is something very special about what happens when our global community comes together to change perceptions, raise awareness and ultimately drive demand for destinations and communities that need it most. GX is a perfect example of communityship in action.”

World Tourism Day in Siem Reap

Sunday's summit brought the wider GX contingent together for keynotes, panel discussions, live performances and company updates.

Cambodia's Minister of Tourism, Huot Hak, and Siem Reap Governor Prak Sophoan welcomed delegates, while Phare Circus – The Cambodian Circus and MeDha Cambodia, a collective of female performers known for its drum-led performances, took the stage.

The program opened with GX's first live on-stage podcast recording, hosted by Travel Trends founder Dan Christian, who joined Poon Tip for a conversation about emerging travel trends and whether tourism can change the world.

For G Adventures, choosing Cambodia was also intended to bring international attention to a destination that Poon Tip said has faced significant tourism challenges in recent years.

“Cambodia is a destination that has been significantly impacted by the challenges facing tourism in recent years,” he said. “We knew that bringing our community here could do more than simply bring people together. It could shine a light on this incredible country, create connections, support local communities and hopefully inspire more people to come and experience Cambodia for themselves.”

That philosophy was put into practice throughout GX, as attendees visited community tourism enterprises and cultural sites between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, meeting local people and seeing how tourism dollars can support livelihoods, cultural preservation and economic opportunities.

Expanded ambassador program

G Adventures also used the summit to expand its Global Ambassador Programme, welcoming sustainable tourism leader Judy Kepher Gona.

She joins inaugural ambassadors Tony Wheeler, Delfin Pauchi Uhigua and the late Dr. Jane Goodall.

Meanwhile, Ben Perlo, CEO of G Adventures, shared an update on National Geographic Signature with G Adventures, the company's first move into the high-end travel market.

The collection comprises 66 new trips and more than 500 departures across 48 destinations. Perlo described Signature as G Adventures' most successful travel-style launch to date.

National Geographic Expedition Expert Khadija Amahal also took the stage to share her experience as a young Amazigh woman and discuss how travel and community tourism can create opportunities and help strengthen pride within local communities.

New guide puts responsible travel into action

G Adventures also launched How to Travel Your Heart Out, a pocket-sized guide aimed at helping travellers make everyday choices that create a more positive impact while travelling.

The interactive guide builds on responsible travel guidelines introduced by G Adventures a decade ago, covering topics including wildlife, Indigenous communities, photography, social media and supporting local economies.

Rather than focusing solely on what travellers shouldn't do, the guide is designed around practical actions travellers can take.

The rise of "micro-community travel"

Another trend highlighted in Siem Reap was what G Adventures is calling "micro-community travel" — travel involving smaller, highly engaged groups connected by common passions, identities or interests.

To tap into the trend, G Adventures previewed Bazaar, a new digital platform scheduled to launch in spring 2027.

The platform will allow users to browse hosted departures not only according to destination, but based on who they want to travel with and the interests they share.

Defining "Community Positive" tourism

Planeterra, meanwhile, unveiled its Community Positive Framework, an initiative intended to establish a community-informed way of defining, measuring and improving tourism's local impact.

The framework will bring together community tourism enterprises, tourism companies and experts to examine what positive tourism impact looks like from the perspective of communities themselves.

“There is currently no agreed global standard for defining or verifying what positive community impact from tourism actually means,” said Jamie Sweeting, president of Planeterra.

“If we want tourism to genuinely benefit communities, we need to understand what communities themselves define as positive, and have practical ways to measure whether we are delivering it.”

G Adventures, G Touring and TruTravels have signed on as founding industry partners and supporters.

G Values Fund gets a boost

Poon Tip also shared an update on the G Values Fund, which provides low-interest microloans to G Adventures Chief Experience Officers (CEOs) who are transitioning from leading tours and looking to launch businesses of their own.

The fund is getting a new source of support tied to Poon Tip's upcoming book, Communityship: Lessons from the Universe and the Business of Everyone, scheduled for release in Canada and the United States on Nov. 24.

As some may recall, Poon Tip’s book was originally supposed to come out last year.

However, he felt the original manuscript – which concludes with GX’s 2024 event in India – had become outdated following several developments that emerged during and after last year’s GX in Jordan.

The revised edition incorporates major milestones, such as G Adventures' 35th anniversary, and key GX moments from Jordan, such as Poon Tip meeting The Jacksons, which headlined last year’s afterparty.

Primatologist and anthropologist Dr. Jane Goodall, a longtime G Adventures friend and partner, also passed away last year.

Goodall wrote the foreword to Poon Tip’s new book, and the revised edition expands on their relationship while reflecting more deeply on the impact she had on his life and work.

“It's a way better book,” Poon Tip told the audience on Sunday. “The universe was looking at me, saying ‘Hang on a second…You've got much more better things to say.”

Poon Tip said all proceeds from the book will go toward new G Values Fund projects, helping members of the G Adventures community develop businesses and create economic opportunities.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned for more of PAX’s on location coverage of GX in Cambodia.

Don't miss a single travel story: subscribe to PAX today!  Click here to follow PAX on Facebook.