JORDAN — With the end in sight at the recent GX Summit in Jordan, Travelweek talked to G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip about the company’s 35th anniversary, the renewed partnership with National Geographic – targeting a higher-end traveller with its National Geographic Signature with G Adventures collection – and where Poon Tip will be heading to as he unwinds from GX 2025 (and before plans for GX 2026 in Morocco kick into gear).
Travelweek: Happy 35th anniversary. Are you doing anything personally to celebrate this milestone?
Poon Tip: “You’re the first person to ask me that, and the answer is no. I guess I should, actually. Because we’re so hyper-focused on GX, and GX is a year-long kind of marathon to get ready for. There’s so much excitement built around it. There’s so much commitment that we’ve made to the government and to the people here in Jordan.”
Travelweek: Why is GX so important to you?
Poon Tip: “GX is important to me because we bring all of our communities together to celebrate what we call our community of communities. We created nine ‘tracks’ of everyone who makes our brand successful. … Community tourism has been at the forefront of what we do, from the product we put on the ground to the communities we engage that benefit from it.”
Travelweek: One of these tracks is called Changemakers.
Poon Tip: “Changemakers are the travel agents. We have more than 100 travel agents from around the world selling our programs, but they’re also very committed to learning and contributing to tourism being a kind of transformational industry. So they’re all here to celebrate community tourism, but also learn more.”
Travelweek: How long does it take you to choose a destination for GX?
Poon Tip: “Some destinations are obvious for us. Peru [2022] and India [2024] were much easier. We have more than 300 employees in Peru. We have hundreds of employees in India. Jordan made a very aggressive pitch to bring GX here. We don’t have a lot of operations here, but I wanted the whole organization to be ready, with a year of preparation. A good example is G Adventures had two community projects in Jordan prior to GX. Now, there are 20.”
Travelweek: Like this traditional lunch at this women-led co-op we’re at right now?
Poon Tip: “Yeah, it’s one of our originals. Which is so amazing that you can showcase something that you’ve kind of helped build. We have people here all year, helping us find some of these communities that we could bring into the tourism supply chain. We took 18 months to make Jordan happen.”
Travelweek: How do you relay the message that travel and politics don’t always mix?
Poon Tip: “The biggest problem right now is overtourism. But we don’t see overtourism if we can get people out to see some other beautiful corners of the world, like the ‘Stans,’ one of the fastest growing areas for us. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan. And Jordan, you know, these countries that are beautiful and safe and offer so much, it’s our job to educate the industry and the traveller on what’s possible. It’s that moment where you can offer opportunities to see the world.”
Travelweek: I think, also, about how we travel, and our wellbeing as a whole.
Poon Tip: “People have this cliche, ‘travel is the best education.’ We know it’s the best education. But you don’t realize the benefits it offers, the richness it gives and the richness you can give back to a community. For years, it was just a one-way conversation.
“It’s our mission to break down these barriers; the understanding that you benefitting local communities by your decision to go on holidays are intrinsically connected. People were buying ‘luxury’ holidays – thread counts on sheets, eating French food or sushi no matter where they were, big shows and indoor surfing and whatever kinds distractions. And the destination was no longer relevant. It’s the most dangerous place to be for us as an industry if people don’t care where they go, and they’re only buying amenities. COVID was actually a good thing in some ways. Because it made travel more purposeful.”
Travelweek: You talked about luxury, and you’ve launched Geluxe. Are you redefining luxury?
Poon Tip: “It’s the most successful launch we’ve ever had in 35 years. It’s bringing luxury to the community, which people never thought was possible. It’s funny, when we launched Geluxe, people said, this is something that no one’s ever thought of, as if we kind of did some magic. Really, it was data telling us that our customers were getting older, yet more active. They loved their comforts and they shouldn’t sacrifice comforts to experience community. That was our challenge, and it’s been an exceptional success. And we introduced Solo-ish this year, and it’s going to beat Geluxe, I think.”
Travelwweek: Now have you had a chance to think about how you’ll personally celebrate 35?
Poon Tip: “I’m going to Barcelona for a month, to just reflect. Spain is one of my happy places. I want to unwind and be with my family, and let it all sink in. GX is extremely complex for me, like an on/off switch. I’m ‘on’ for GX every year, and it’s very emotional for me to see all these people, see the excitement. I sometimes think, ‘what the hell am I doing here? And where do we go next?’ And that’s what GX is all about. It’s a turning point.”