International non-profit community travel specialist Planeterra has launched the third round of its Global Community Tourism Fund. The fund is a grant programme that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation for community tourism enterprises worldwide.

Bruce Poon Tip is the archetype of an entrepreneur. At 12 years old in Calgary, Alberta, the G Adventures founder wasn’t content to be a paper boy — he accumulated routes and subcontracted them to boost his earnings.

Following the inaugural event in Cusco, Peru, last year, agents, suppliers, media and travellers will once again gather from around the globe to experience first-hand what a monumental impact community tourism can have on a destination, on local people, and on travellers themselves.

As we witness the evolution and integration of social impact in travel, we find more travel experiences charged with a kind of social purpose and activism.

With misinformation and greenwashing rife in tourism, Behind The Green interviews take it back to basics. Back to storytelling. Hear from the visionaries behind the world’s best sustainable travel experiences and the leading thinkers who help us to reimagine, reset, and reinvent travel.

Evaneos, an online platform that connects travellers with local agencies that are committed to protecting nature and culture in their destinations, is investing in and partnering with Planeterra, a nonprofit that helps organizations and communities use tourism as a force for good.

Through conversations with residents and community leaders in Vidigal Favela in Rio de Janeiro, we consider how community-driven favela tour experiences can create positive social impact and reduce the exclusion and separative otherness of marginalized communities.

Our sustainability contributing editor looks at the most powerful ways you can support places and communities as you travel, so you can give back more effectively.

Community-led tourism is one of the buzzwords in sustainable travel, but what does it mean in practice? Andrew McQuarrie joins G Adventures with a group of UK travel agents in Peru to find out more.

Planeterra’s highly effective model of local regeneration empowers small communities around the world to take control of their lives and conserve their environment and traditions through sustainable tourism.

During GX – the first annual World Community Tourism Summit in Cusco, Peru hosted by G Adventures and Planeterra – Jamie Sweeting, president of Planeterra, announced the launch of Project 300, a bold endeavour with a singular focus: to be uplifting 300 communities through travel by the year 2030.

G Adventures, leading small group travel company and pioneer of community tourism – together with its non-profit partner, Planeterra – hosted the first annual World Community Tourism Summit, dubbed GX, on September 27, 2023 in Cusco Peru.

During GX – the first annual World Community Tourism Summit in Cusco, Peru hosted by G Adventures and Planeterra – Jamie Sweeting, president of Planeterra, announced the launch of Project 300, a bold endeavour with a singular focus: to be uplifting 300 communities through travel by the year 2030.

G Adventures and its non-profit partner, Planeterra have hosted the first annual World Community Tourism Summit, GX, in Cusco Peru.

G Adventures, leading small group travel company and pioneer of community tourism – together with its non-profit partner, Planeterra – hosted the first annual World Community Tourism Summit, dubbed GX, on September 27, 2023 in Cusco Peru.

The people of the Andes have banded together to create immersive travel experiences that showcase the real Peru.

Project 300 will aim to uplift 300 communities around the world by 2030 by including community tourism enterprises into G Adventures’ tours.

The planet is facing an environmental crisis that is becoming increasingly urgent. Travel companies – and travelers – have the potential to play an important role helping protect the earth for future generations.

It’s World Tourism Day 2023. We’re sitting in the city hall in Cusco, Peru, at G Adventures and Planeterra’s Inaugural World Community Tourism Summit. On stage is a man named Delphine and his wife. They’re from the Amazon jungle, and it’s their first time in Cusco. Delphine has a lot to say. He’s talking to us about the importance of community, connection and Pacha Mama – Mother Earth

Travel host Tabitha Lipkin fills us in on this new way to think about traveling while giving back to local communities.

The smile on Francisca Qquerar Mayta’s face never let up as she moved through Peru’s Sacred Valley from one community project site to the next in the days leading up to G Adventures’ inaugural GX Summit.

A new initiative links travelers with Indigenous and rural guides, opening access to regions that have been largely untouched by tourism.

G Adventures has announced it has launched its new Trees for Days initiative, to protect the protection of the environment and empower local communities.

G Adventures has announced it has launched its new Trees for Days initiative, to protect the protection of the environment and empower local communities.

“If done right, travel can transform lives in the community,” said Bruce Poon Tip, the founder of G Adventures. “Travel can be the greatest form of wealth distribution that the world has ever seen and impact the most in-need citizens on the planet.”

“Community is about everybody. Everybody who is part of our supply chain in tourism,” said Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures. “It’s people who get together with a shared sense of responsibility.”

Agentes de viaje provenientes de diferentes mercados del mundo e “influencers” en redes sociales promoverán el potencial del turismo vivencial comunitario que forjan y ofrecen familias campesinas del Valle Sagrado, en la región Cusco.

One of the biggest announcements at G Adventures and Planeterra’s inaugural World Community Tourism Summit was a new tree planting project in partnership with Brisbane-based social enterprise, Reforest.

The world is coming together on Sept. 27 to mark World Tourism Day 2023, which is focused on redefining the direction of tourism investments – following the disruption caused by COVID-19 – for a more sustainable future.

G Adventures and Planeterra have announced the speaker and performer schedule for the inaugural GX event, which will culminate with the first World Community Tourism Summit on World Tourism Day, September 27.

G Adventures and Planeterra have announced the speaker and performer schedule for its inaugural GX event, and it includes a private concert by iconic, world renowned, music group The Village People, PAX has learned.

Iberostar Group, through the Iberostar Foundation, has joined forces with Planeterra, an impact-driven non-profit using tourism to uplift communities, launching an ambitious program to promote community tourism initiatives at destinations where the Spanish hotel group is present, in order to boost the social and economic development of the local communities in which it operates and protect their ecosystems.

Grupo Iberostar, a través de la Fundación Iberostar, ha firmado un acuerdo de asociación con la red de turismo comunitario Planeterra para impulsar del desarrollo social y económico de las comunidades locales en las que opera el grupo hotelero mallorquín y proteger a la vez sus ecosistemas.

Instead of the traditional approach of shielding tourists from places’ ‘messy’ parts, more travel-focused social enterprises are working with marginalized communities to introduce tourists to their destination’s complex fabric.

It’s vital we hold the travel industry to account if we sense any exploitation of Indigenous communities for the benefit of tourism, Planeterra president Jamie Sweeting tells TTG to mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples today.

On the Kinabatangan River, a 560 km stretch that connects the mountains of southwest Sabah in Malaysia to the Sulu Sea, the boatmen who steer river safaris – a leading mode of tourism in the region – have a special way of communicating whenever rare animals are spotted along the banks of Borneo’s jungle.

Through this program, the nonprofit provides small grants of up to $3,000 USD, as well as community-specific training and mentorship to help local entrepreneurs and communities scale up and improve existing experiences.

Eighteen organisations worldwide have been chosen to receive financial support from the Planeterra Foundation’s Global Community Tourism Fund.

Tourism can be more than just traveling for entertainment and Bruce Poon Tip had a clear vision from the very beginning. He envisioned using tourism to do good things around the world and that is how the Planeterra Foundation came into being.

Travel’s biggest community tourism summit – GX – has been announced to take place in Peru, and will also feature the 2023 Change Makers agent incentive.

Upon arrival at Oodles of Noodles in Hoi An, Vietnam, travellers will watch a video that features once-homeless and at-risk youth sharing stories about how a bowl of noodles can make all the difference.

Planeterra, the world’s non-profit dedicated to uplifting communities through travel, has announced the launch of the second round of the Global Community Tourism Fund, a grant program that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation for community tourism enterprises worldwide.

This International Women’s Day we celebrate some of the women around the world who are busy dismantling stereotypes, by doing jobs typically the preserve of men in their societies, from Maasai engineers to Mokoro polers.

As 2023 gets underway, the future of travel continues to look bright. The U.S. Travel Foundation projected in a recent report that despite inflation, all segments of travel will continue to surge at least over the short term, due to post-covid demand.

Small group travel specialist G Adventures is forming a new holding company for its existing brands and acquisitions called G Travel Community (GTC).

Sustainability editor Juliet Kinsman takes a trip around Delhi, Agra and Kathmandu with G Adventures – and gets a glimpse of some lesser-seen projects.

TTG teamed up with G Touring (Just You and Travelsphere) to take a group of agents to Vietnam as part of the TTG Sustainable Travel Heroes initiative, so they could learn what responsible tourism really means and how to sell it better. Here they share their highlights and top takeaways!

All of the funds raised for Planeterra will be directed to supporting an Indigenous San Community in Botswana, who have been hard-hit due to the tourism drought caused by the global pandemic.

Sustainable, regenerative, responsible, meaningful — the buzzwords of pandemic-era travel reflect a change in the way many people are thinking about the world, and how they interact with it on vacation.

What is community tourism, why are local communities embracing it and where can you go to join a community tourism project?

Planeterra has been recognized in Condé Nast Traveler’s first-ever Bright Ideas in Travel list for its Global Community Tourism fund, a grant program that supports community-based tourism initiatives.

Members of the UK travel industry have raised more than £30,000 for charity by climbing Mount Toubkal, the highest point in North Africa. The trek, organised by G Adventures and named G Trek for Good, saw the group climb the 4,167 metre summit and exceed their £20,000 target.

What are some good examples of tourism organizations investing in people, promoting decent work and meaningful careers, and supporting innovations that put people at the center?

It’s like sustainable tourism 2.0—with a focus on leaving destinations better than we found them.

An integral part of the global economy, the tourism industry has grown rapidly over the past few decades and is expected to continue its growth well into the future.

On Tuesday (Aug. 12), agents visited a Planeterra-supported women’s handicraft shop in the seaside town Ayvalık called Çöp(m)adam, which sells accessories made from throw-away materials.

El “Proyecto de Turismo Sostenible en Áreas Protegidas en un Mundo Post-COVID”, liderado por la UICN y co-implementado por la Fundación Internacional Planeterra, llevó a cabo una serie de capacitaciones sobre seguridad y salud para 160 personas en nueve comunidades amazónicas en las áreas protegidas de Río Abiseo y Amarakaeri.

Non-profit plans to grant “holiday wishes” to community tourism initiatives worldwide.

TORONTO — After the deals and discounts of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, corporations and other organizations are giving back today, on Giving Tuesday.

The Wish List allows supporters of Planeterra and community tourism, to be part of making “wishes” come true this holiday season after a difficult two years with limited income from international travel.

The tourism industry has been turning away from a mass tourism model toward a more locally focused one. Yet this surge in interest is also paired with uncertainty: What does “local” even mean? 

Non-profit organisation Planeterra has appointed five women as members of its international board of directors.

Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) travelers visiting Cambodia’s legendary Angkor Wat also often make a later stop in nearby villages, where the tour operator has helped provide water wells for many impoverished local families.

The country’s new sustainable tourism master plan could set a precedent for the region if the government puts its money where its mouth is. But is Panama’s private sector ready to embrace sharing the tourism pie after a major downturn?

Has the global pandemic hit the tourism reset button? Industry insiders weigh in on what post-pandemic travel could—or should—look like.

El Proyecto de Turismo Communitario Jamao Ecotours ha sido escogido como miembro de la “Red Global de Turismo Comunitario”, una Red Mundial creada por Planeterra, organización sin fines de lucro que ha reunido a más de 200 negocios turísticos comunitarios en 68 países.

Planeterra launched the Around the World Challenge, encouraging travel lovers to join the non-profit’s movement to support community tourism enterprises as travel reemerges post-COVID, all while celebrating the diversity and power of community tourism.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — The Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) on Friday said it is collaborating with a Canada-based non-profit organisation to support community tourism in CTO member countries.

In the Asia-Pacific region, an interest in ecotourism and nature-based tourism is gathering significant momentum. The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) claims that nature-based tourism is now the fastest growing tourism sector globally!

With sustainability being the need of the hour, the tourism industry is gradually, yet consistently, moving forward to embrace responsible and mindful ways of travelling, which minimises environmental harm to a great extent.

The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt been a challenging time for us all, not least the travel industry, but it’s also provided an opportunity to rethink and reset our path towards a more sustainable future.

BRIDGETOWN — Planeterra and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) have a new partnership to scale up community tourism and change lives across the Caribbean.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and Canada-based global community tourism non-profit Planeterra have joined forces to support community tourism in CTO member countries.

We celebrate the corners of this sprawling world of ours that are extra special when it comes to enriching the lives of people and protecting nature

BRIDGETOWN — Planeterra and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) have a new partnership to scale up community tourism and change lives across the Caribbean.

Last year’s Planeterra Trek Challenge saw hundreds of industry professionals and travel lovers virtually climb the distance to the iconic Everest Base Camp trek – while raising over $100,000. Building on that success, Planeterra is launching the 2nd annual virtual Trek Challenge.

Apoyar a las empresas de turismo comunitario tiene el potencial de cambiar millones de vidas a mejor mientras el mundo comienza a viajar de nuevo, así como de ofrecer experiencias locales inolvidables a los viajeros. Pero son pocas los negocios comunitarios que cuentan con el conocimiento y los recursos para poder aprovechar al máximo la cadena global de suministro del turismo.

Non-profit organisation Planeterra has created a network of more than 200 community tourism enterprises from 68 countries to share experiences and lessons.

The concept of community-based tourism, in which businesses are owned and operated by local communities with revenue, in turn, targeting rural development, dates back to the 1970s. Pre-pandemic, a greater number of community enterprises were entering the tourism value chain as travelers increasingly sought culturally immersive experiences with travel dollars going directly to local communities.