As travel rebuilds into 2023, community tourism pioneer and small-group adventure operator, G Adventures, is announcing the formation of a new holding company to bring its existing and new brand acquisitions under the same overarching parent brand, to be named G Travel Community (GTC).
The purpose of GTC is to create a community of travel companies that have ‘community-led growth’ at the core of their strategies, and a shared belief in the power of changing peoples’ lives through travel. The GTC brands are united in their mission to bring people together through travel to affect positive change – changing the lives of the traveller community, those of the local people in communities benefiting from tourism, and all GTC team members across the business.
The current brands joining G Adventures in the GTC portfolio are G Touring (Travelsphere and Just You) and TruTravels, which are both based out of the United Kingdom. Planeterra, G Adventures’ non-profit partner, will also benefit from this ‘shared services’ model. All brands will be supported from a centralised administrative standpoint, with each brand retaining its own sales and marketing function, customer services, product development and tour operations, and importantly its own unique values and identity.
The launch of GTC also heralds a number of senior leadership changes within the business. Bruce Poop Tip, the founder of G Adventures, will also take on the title of chairman, G Travel Community. Jeff Russill, currently chief operating officer for G Adventures, will become the chief executive officer of GTC, overseeing the G Adventures, TruTravels and G Touring brands. Ben Perlo, currently managing director for G Adventures in the United States, will take on the mantle of president and chief executive officer for the G Adventures brand, in addition to his current role in the short-term. Perlo will remain based in Boston, United States.
Bruce Poon Tip, the chairman of GTC and founder of G Adventures, says the timing is perfect to announce the new community-centric business model. “G Adventures formed an investment partnership with Certares one year ago, with the goal of implementing an acquisition strategy for the business. The pandemic lasted much longer than we thought it would, which gave us the time to build an even more solid structure and foundation to deliver on our long term multi-brand strategy, and to place a laser focus on the importance of cementing a sense of community throughout our organisation.
“The formation of GTC – the travel community – signifies that this sense of community is truly at the heart of our entire business – from the naming of our holding company all the way through to our community tourism projects on the ground. We are the pioneers of community tourism, so it’s exciting to see this be fully embraced internally as well as externally.
“Everything we do is about having a greater impact. For 32 years G Adventures has had a positive impact on both our travellers and the communities we visit, but our goal is always to have a far bigger impact in the wider world of tourism. “With the formation of GTC we are finally creating that community – a stable of travel brands that can really drive change to a wider demographic of people who love to travel, but at the same time want to change the world.” says Poon Tip. The GTC holding company is now fully operational, with all leadership changes taking effect immediately.
