TORONTO — G Adventures’ founder Bruce Poon Tip is officially a Travel Vanguard for 2018.

The Canadian entrepreneur was honoured with the distinction at AFAR Media’s third annual awards, which recognize visionaries who harness the power of travel to make a difference and, in doing so, help to shape the future of travel.

Poon Tip is the first tour operator to be named as a Travel Vanguard.

“I thank AFAR for this award and for recognizing our 28 years of hard work, for believing how travel can be transformative and change lives,” said Poon Tip in his acceptance remarks. “That’s what we believed at G Adventures years ago. We believed travel can be a force for good, if done right. It can create jobs. It can create well-being. It can empower.”

AFAR Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Joe Diaz said: “Social enterprise is a model that all of us in the travel industry should incorporate. The brands that will last are the ones that make people’s lives better. That is the essence of G Adventures.”

Diaz also added that he saw firsthand the impact of Poon Tip’s work with G Adventures and Planeterra Foundation during a trip to Peru earlier this year. “Their work lifts people up, literally helps lifts them out of poverty to live decent and purposeful lives.”

Earlier this year Poon Tip was also inducted into the British Travel & Hospitality Hall of Fame, a program that recognizes the highest achievers in the travel, hospitality, tourism and leisure sectors.

“We can alleviate extreme poverty in our lifetime, even see the eradication of extreme poverty by 2030. I’m a real believer that travel can be a vehicle to do that,” he added. “It can be a great form of wealth distribution if business models evolve to value social impact as much as they value profit. But it’s when the consumer creates that demand that we’ll see true change.”