American World Traveler Winter 2020-21 Issue

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ever, as new research shows that spending
more time outdoors will have a positive
impact on our mental health. Beyond
Antarctica, Intrepid continues to see steady
bookings to the Galapagos Islands and on
their Africa safaris for the second half of
2021.
3. Go on your terms – As travellers around
the world face varying levels of comfort and
travel restrictions, customization and flexibility
will be two key pillars for the future of
travel. Intrepid Travel has spent the past six
months revamping their Tailor-Made offering.
In 2021, all 800+ Intrepid Trips will be
fully customizable and available for travellers
to book with their own private group,
whether it is their family, their ‘bubble’ or
beyond. Intrepid has already seen a 120%
increase in global search traffic for their custom
offerings over the past six months.
Across the industry, interest in solo travel has
also accelerated as a result of the pandemic.
As people are debating their personal level
of comfort before travelling, many are
choosing to simply go on their own. So far in
2021, 31% of Intrepid Travel’s booked customers
are solo travelers.
4. Go on a human-powered adventure –
Intrepid has released four new cycling trips
and four new walking trips in addition to
over 90 active itineraries available in 2021.
Cycling globally has been among the most
widely adapted hobbies during the pandemic.
Cities like London have seen up to a
300% increase in cyclists. In North America,
some cities have started developing green
recovery plans around reducing cars and
optimizing their cities for cyclists. As Intrepid
looks to provide more options for new active
enthusiasts, they have launched the new 3-
day England: Peak District Walking Retreat
and 4-day Cycle New Zealand: Otago Rail
Trail, among others.
5. Go to regenerate, not just sustain - As the
world’s largest travel B Corp and a carbonneutral
travel company, Intrepid has focused
their efforts on advocating for a responsible
rebuild of the travel industry following the
pandemic. They recently open-sourced a
guide to decarbonize your travel business
and their animal welfare policy as tools for
other travel companies and consumers to
travel more responsibly in the future. Beyond
sustainability, COVID-19 has also been a
catalyst for the regenerative travel movement.
The goal is to minimize our impact
while proactively working to benefit the destinations
and communities we visit. Prior to the
pandemic the global tourism industry
accounted for 1 in 10 jobs, but it also contributed
to 8% of global GHG emissions. In
the future, regardless of where we go,
adopting sustainable and regenerative travel
practices has never been more important.
“In 2021, travellers around the world will
continue to be faced with varying levels of
restrictions and limited destinations they can
visit,” says James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid
Travel. “This year we knew our focus would
need to be less about the where and more
about the how, looking at the ways in which
we will travel better in the future. Whether
it’s closer to home or further abroad, travel
has changed forever, and together we must
create a new normal, focused on rebuilding
travel better than it was before.”
To explore the full How To Go In 2021 list,
visit: https://www.intrepidtravel.com/how-togo-2021.
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About Intrepid Travel
Independently owned by the founders and staff of
Intrepid Travel, Intrepid Group is a collection of
three tour operator brands and 25 destination management
companies united by the vision of
Changing the Way People See the World. For more
than 30 years, Intrepid has been taking small
groups to travel the local way, on real life experiences
that give back to the places and people we
visit. As this style of travel has caught on, Intrepid
has grown and in 2019 offered more than 2,700
trips to more than 130 countries and on all seven
continents
www.intrepidtravel.com
American World Traveler Winter 2020-21