On Location: “Community tourism in action”: G Adventures' GX summit takes off in Delhi, India

When taking a holiday, travellers have an opportunity to transform not only themselves, but also the lives of the people around them.

That’s been “the dream” at G Adventures ever since the made-in-Canada tour operator began developing community tourism projects in the mid-1990s.

Back in those days, “community tourism” – the idea that touring, when created by meaningful relationships with local communities, can directly benefit the people and places that travellers visit – was a relatively unknown concept.  

Buzzwords, like “ecotourism,” “responsible tourism” and “sustainable tourism,” were only just starting to form at the time. Terms that G identified with.

“We were a piece of all of those things, but we didn’t belong to just one,” says G Adventures’ Founder Bruce Poon Tip. “When we saw the tours we were offering, and the benefits we were offering to communities, we started to develop ‘community tourism’ as a concept.” 

A lot has happened since the 1990s. In 2003, Poon Tip founded Planeterra, a non-profit that, over the years, has invested millions in tourism enterprises that empower locals and alleviate poverty, all the while protecting cultural heritage and natural resources. It's tourism, as a force for good.

People who take holidays with G have opportunities to visit Planeterra-supported projects. Local initiatives are weaved into trips, ensuring that the dollars spent on travel stay within a destination.

G Adventures uses a “Ripple Score” to show its guests the percentage of money it spends locally on hotels, restaurants and transportation.

Its core belief? That tourism isn’t just a one-way conversation. That travel, when done thoughtfully, can be one of the greatest forms of wealth distribution that the world has ever seen.

“Transformation isn’t just for the traveller,” says Poon Tip. “Once we place marginalized communities into the tourism economy, and alleviate poverty, we can create success for everyone.”  

Planeterra’s latest endeavor is “Project 300,” a goal that aims to uplift 300 communities through travel by the year 2030.

GX, activated

The full picture and impact of community tourism is on display this week in India, where more than 400 travellers, travel advisors, suppliers, media and G staff are attending G Adventures’ second-annual World Community Tourism Summit from Sept. 23-29.

Dubbed “GX,” the multi-day event, which debuted in Peru last year, is a two-part experience: first, attendees, in eight separate groups, will take in the sights and sounds of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.

Then, everyone meets up for an all-day World Community Tourism celebration (in Jaipur) on World Tourism Day (Sept. 27), where a line-up of thought leaders in the community tourism space will speak.  

READ MORE: “I can’t wait”: G Adventures, agents gear up for GX Summit in India

(A pink-themed afterparty at historic Jaigarh Fort, a palace complex built in 1726, featuring ’90s dance act C+C Music Factory, is also on the agenda).

Like last year, GX incorporates its Change Makers incentive event, which brings together travel advisors from all around the world. This year will see 75 agents attend GX – 15 of which are from Canada.

It’s an inspiring trip that covers a lot of ground. Along the way, all GX participates, in addition to seeing India’s most iconic sites, will visit local Planeterra projects.

This, said David Green, managing director for G Adventures in Canada, gives attendees a chance “to see community tourism in action.”

“Everyone that attends GX comes away with a revigorated sense of community and a desire to do more good in the world,” Green told PAX.

PAX unpacks India  

PAX is once again embedded in this year’s GX summit, getting an on-the-ground look at the social enterprises Planeterra has supported in India ever since G Adventures began selling tours there some 15 years ago.

READ MORE: "An electrifying location": G Adventures' 2024 GX Summit to be held in India

Delhi – India’s capital territory – is a bustling mega city in the country’s north that’s home to some 33 million people. Remember, Canada’s population is around 39 million (if that illustrates just how busy it is!)

The densely-populated city, where boxed-in apartment buildings, temples, juice carts, chai shops, markets and slums sit wedged in between retail strips and wealthy neighbourhoods, is a labyrinth of winding lanes and congested roads. And so many trees – nearly 25 per cent of the city is covered in greenery. 

The streets are pure madness. A slow-moving gridlock of honking cars, tuk-tuks, scooters and buses, swerving around everything from random cows and horses to throngs of pedestrians. It's the definition of both organized (and unorganized) chaos. In India, there's never a dull moment! 

Magical & intimidating

A narrow side street, underneath a web of tangled hydro wires, in hot and sticky New Delhi, India’s capital, is where GX kicked off on Monday (Sept. 23).

It’s also here where Poon Tip met us “traditional journalists” – GX attendees who aren’t influencers (although, they’re here too) – to say hello and discuss all things G.

“India is a magical place, but it’s also extremely intimidating to travellers,” Poon Tip said. “It’s an assault on all the senses for Westerners when they come here.”

But that, Poon Tip suggested, is what some travellers have come to expect from India, and at G, “we want to offer something that gets people close to communities.”

Salaam Baalak City Walk

To illustrate the point, Poon Tip met us at the headquarters of one of Planeterra’s long-standing projects in Delhi: the Salaam Baalak City Walk, a guided tour, around the New Delhi Railway Station and Paharganj areas, that’s led by former street children.

During this walk, friendly young guides share their personal stories of surviving life on the streets in Delhi, where poverty, prostitution, abuse and drugs can fuel harrowing living conditions.

They show tourists the various contact points and shelter homes the Salaam Baalak Trust (which started as a daycare centre for street children in 1988) provides.

G and Planeterra partnered with the City Walk in 2010, incorporating the eye-opening excursion into its tours.

READ MORE: New community tourism projects in India announced ahead of GX

Thanks to this collaboration, Salaam Baalak has had a reliable stream of income, generated by G travellers, to help advance its work, which supports at-risk young people from ages six to 18.

“This is a great example of what we do,” Poon Tip said. “It’s a special program for us because it’s evergreen. There’s constantly new and young people in the program.”

The team at Salaam Baalak say there are roughly 50 to 60,000 children living on the streets of Delhi. Of this amount, the organization helps roughly 11,000 children annually. It has the ability to provide scholarships and job placements.

READ MORE: GX confirms speakers Tony Wheeler & Elizabeth Becker; C+C Music Factory to perform

This, over time, has resulted in some amazing success stories. Some graduates of the program have gone on to attend universities in the United States, Poon Tip said.

“You can imagine that progression of someone who was picked up at a train station, at six years old, joining the program and then repurposing their life in university,” he said.

We meet tour guides like Salman, a 25-year-old actor who spent a period of his childhood begging on the streets of Delhi after his family situation deteriorated following the death of his father when he was two.

Salman turned to Salaam Baalak in 2010, and thanks to the support he received, he was able to redirect his life and pursue his passion for singing and acting.

He eventually found success in India’s Bollywood film industry, and to date, he has acted in eight films. His next project will be directing his first live action play, which will confront Delhi’s sex work industry.

Returning to Salaam Baalak as a City Walk tour guide has given the accomplished thespian an opportunity to give back while finding a renewed sense of confidence and purpose. 

“I am very blessed,” he told us.

Women With Wheels

Women With Wheels’ airport transfer service is another Planeterra-supported enterprise that G customers may encounter.

The business, first launched in 2008, recruits and prepares marginalized women to become professional taxi drivers. It provides an opportunity to learn English and gain a sense of independence. (And, not to mention, challenge cultural norms).

In India, Planeterra provides the cars, while drivers with Women With Wheels provide airport transfers for G’s India-bound travellers.

In Poon Tip’s view, it’s a collaboration that takes one of the most basic services that every tour company offers (airport transfers) and turns it into a social enterprise.

“That’s the model we’re going for,” he said, noting that Women With Wheels moves roughly 10 to 15,000 G customers annually. “Something so common, such as an arrival transfer, can actually transform lives.”

READ MORE: On Location: “A transformative experience”: G Adventures’ GX summit in Peru showcases power of community

The female-run taxi service is what greeted PAX at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport – and we’re glad they did.

Not only did the easy-to-find uniformed ladies welcome us with ear-to-ear smiles, but they also calmly helped us navigate our way through the full-sensory environment that greets you in India (after flying for 15-plus hours, this goes a long way).

Women With Wheels, notably, is featured in the 2021 documentary The Last Tourist, a film, produced by Poon Tip, that reassess how post-COVID travel can return, and reinvent itself, in a more responsible way. (For anyone who travels, wants to travel, or sells travel, it’s a must-watch).

The service has become so successful, that similar programs are being considered for Nairobi and Johannesburg, Poon Tip said.

It's just one of many community-focused projects G and Planeterra are spearheading in India. Ahead of GX, four new social enterprises were announced, and GX guests will be engaging with them as well. 

What's in a holiday? 

So, how many travellers actually care about community tourism?

Poon Tip says about 60 to 70 per cent of G’s customers are aware of the positive impact their holiday can have on a destination.

(The rest are travelling either because a tour fit their schedule, had a decent price, or because a friend told them about it, he said).

The goal for each tour, however, remains the same for both groups. “If we can achieve an equal tourism experience, delivered by social enterprises, then we’ve succeeded,” he said.

Like the Olympics

That’s just one aspect of community tourism that GX will try to showcase. The conference is also about showing capacity and bringing forth new infrastructure to a destination, Poon Tip said,

“It’s like the Olympics,” he explained. “When the Olympics come to a country, they build new facilities. We want to show the capacity we have within our organization, within Planeterra, and work with governments to shift the idea of what tourism can be for a country.”

GX is also an opportunity to promote travel to India, which Poon Tip says has not fully bounced back since the pandemic, for a variety of reasons, from limited air lift to political complexities.

If the success of last year’s Peru event, “which we feel moved the needle for tourism” as the country struggled to rebound from COVID, is any indication of what GX can achieve, then India can expect a big return on its investment.

Finding a country to host a multi-layered summit like GX – which, this year, is sponsored by Incredible India – isn’t easy. It takes more than a year of negotiations with governments, tourism boards and sponsors to strike a deal, Poon Tip said.

Several spectacular destinations were keen on hosting GX this year, but in the end, India won the bid. 

G Adventures already has some 200 CEOs (“Chief Experience Officers,” its term for tour leaders), and nearly 20 community-building initiatives in the South Asian country. For a conference entering its sophomore year, India “made sense for us,” Poon Tip said.

(The tour operator had also planned to take its Change Makers event to India back in June 2020, until the pandemic put a stop to that. So GX, in a way, makes up for that).

Above all, it’s essential that GX lands in a country that really wants to invest in community tourism, on a consistent basis.

“Some countries don't want [tourists] to see that side,” Poon Tip shared. “But certain countries, like India, really support [community tourism] in the long term.” 

Sometimes, destinations turn to community development when they max out on mainstream tourism, Poon Tip said. “They have no more cruise ships, so they look at other ways [like community tourism] to build the industry,” he said.  

Either way, the “hero” of GX, this year, is India, Poon Tip affirmed. 

“If India is ‘the Batman,’ then ‘the Robin’ is the concept of community tourism,” he said.

Stay tuned as PAX brings you more in-depth coverage from GX in India!

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