ITB China News 2018 - Preview Edition

8 SPECIAL FEATURE
ADVENTURE TOURISM
Bruce
Poon Tip
G Adventures
Discovery, Thrills and
Sustainability
The spirit of adventure continues to grow
exponentially
G ADVENTURES –
A CASE EXAMPLE
According to Bruce Poon Tip of G
Adventures, “Adventure travel is more than
a vacation. It’s a chance to get to know
your world better by putting yourself on a
first-name basis with the people, places,
and things that make it worth exploring.”
The proof that adventure tourism is
lucrative comes in the track record of
Poon Tip’s company. In 1990, he founded
G Adventures with nothing more than
two credit cards and a burning desire to
create “an authentic, sustainable travel
experience like nothing the world had ever
seen”. 28 years later, they’ve grown from a
one-man show to a company of over 2,000
worldwide in 23 offices, and from a handful
of trips in Latin America to more than 650
adventures spanning the globe
STAND No. 622
BEYOND
CONFIDENCE
More and more adventure lovers want
to challenge themselves to exceed your
limits. To conquer their greatest fears or to
simply step out of their comfort zone. The
world’s highest ropes course challenge in
Penang sees thrill-seekers stepping out
the window on the 65 th floor of the Komtar
building. The Gravityz encourages people
to build their confidence and to take a
leap out of their comfort zone, hence their
tagline: Beyond Confidence
In an era where
experiences trump
ownership, adventure
travel is poised to benefit
from demographic,
technological and
environmental trends
to lead the wider travel
industry on sustainable
development.
Adventure Tourism has grown
exponentially worldwide over
the past years with more
and more tourists visiting
destinations previously
undiscovered.
This allows for new
destinations to market
themselves as truly
unique, appealing to those
travellers looking for rare,
incomparable experiences.
In its report on adventure
tourism, the UNWTO stated,
“In a sector that is not only
innovative, it is resilient in
reaping the benefits that
adventure tourism can bring
to an economy, it is necessary
to put in place conditions
that make the country easy
to visit as well as attractive
to develop. Furthermore,
this Report takes a closer
look at the links between
the proper management
of adventure travel and a
sustainable, ethical tourism
which contributes effectively
to community development.”
reports that soft adventure
activities (narrowly defined
as hiking, viewing nature/
ecotourism, kayaking, rafting,
backpacking) constitute
a global market valued
at $470bn involving an
estimated 238 million tourists
per year.
ADVENTURE
TRAVEL:
PIONEERING IN
SUSTAINABILITY
While tourism has been often
recognised as a force for
good as a result of the jobs
and money it can deliver, the
real story for 2018 is, says
So, in a nutshell, how one can
be socially and ecologically
responsible while taking
economic sustainability into
account on one’s travels?
“The original notion of a
‘sustainable traveller’ was the
backpacker”, says Bruce Poon
Tip of G Adventures. “Tourist
boards often maligned them
as they didn’t fall into any
categories, but they were the
first travellers to distribute
wealth as they travelled by
paying for everything locally.
This also proved to be more
cost effective, and today
continues to offer the benefit
of cultural experiences that
can be difficult to attain, while
benefitting local communities
STAND No. 754
Adventure companies
continue to say they anticipate
growth in the coming year:
a recent survey published by
the Adventure Travel Trade
Association highlighted that
more than 70% of businesses
say they are growing; 40%
of those say the reason for
growth is new customers.
International research firm
Euromonitor in collaboration
with the International
Finance Corporation (IFC)
Christina Beckmann, Director,
Education and Research
at the Adventure Travel
Trade Association, adding,
“The adventure industry’s
awakening to the reality of its
deeper and perhaps greatest,
potential: adventure travel
experiences offer the rare
opportunity to communicate
on an emotional level with
hundreds of millions of
travellers about the urgency of
conservation for our planet.”
globally at the same time. My
advice would be to remain
conscious of the benefits you
are creating by travelling and
to be more aware of paying
fair trade prices locally for
services, while travelling”
ITB CHINA NEWS • Wednesday 9 th May 2018
www.itb-china-news.com