• Expand your knowledge and skills
• Share your knowledge and experience with other enterprises
• Grow your enterprise
• Be part of a movement to put communities at the heart of tourism

We believe that tourism can leave a positive impact on host communities. To do this we must actively protect the vulnerable, be it people, species or our environment. Read our Responsible Travel Policy here.

The Global Community Tourism Network is a movement, and supportive group of community enterprises striving to achieve ambitious impact goals, together. It is not a membership platform. The Global Community Tourism Network is supported by a generous community of donors, including travellers, travel companies, development agencies and government partners that believe in its mission. The Global Community Tourism Network will always be free for communities.

You can join the Network through this link. You are not immediately part of the Network after completing this process. If your organization meets all necessary criteria you will be contacted with next steps.

You can access the Learning Hub here which is a portal to all the benefits within the Global Community Tourism Network, including the Facebook group and online training opportunities.

The Global Community Tourism Network is managed in English and Spanish. We are actively seeking opportunities to make the platform and content available in more languages to increase accessibility and impact.

You should be part of an organization that is actively involved in tourism, working towards achieving social, economic or environmental benefits through your tourism program, and eager to exchange ideas with other community tourism enterprises on how we can work better and achieve more impact through tourism. You should be able to communicate effectively in English or Spanish, and have access to technology (e.g. smartphone, internet connection) in order to meaningfully participate in the Network.

The Global Community Tourism Network engages leaders and decision-makers within a community tourism enterprise so that they can implement and share learning directly with their teams. These leaders could be from any aspect of your work – business management, tourism experience management, impact management or marketing as a few key examples.

Access to the Global Community Tourism Network will give you unlimited access to the Planeterra Learning Hub, an online resource site full of insights on effective enterprise management. You will also have access to ongoing training videos and webinars with experts in the field of community tourism. You will have unlimited access to fellow community tourism enterprise professionals through the online community to share ideas and collaborate for a better future. The Global Community Tourism Network is led by a team of Regional Representatives based in Latin America, North America, Africa, Europe and Asia that are available to support your organization’s success.

One of the main things you can do is be engaged in the content shared – especially within the online Facebook community and in live training sessions. The more you share your ideas and experiences, the more others can learn. If you want to be part of our Partner Spotlights or have a specific learning you want to share with the community, please reach out to community@planeterra.org and our team will coordinate with you and help you share your story on the platform.

No, Planeterra facilitates and manages the Global Community Tourism Network, being part of the Network does not guarantee you funding from Planeterra. However, we encourage the Network partners to collaborate and share regional funding opportunities. Where relevant, Planeterra may also collaborate on a funding opportunity with enterprises within the Network, or seek funding that will directly benefit Network partners.

No, the Global Community Tourism Network is not associated with G Adventures, Planeterra’s founding partner, and they will not visit your tourism experience because you are part of the Network. However, Planeterra is committed to actively building relationships with travel companies around the world to promote Network partners’ access to the industry.

As part of the Global Community Tourism Network, we expect you to be an active participant in both receiving and giving knowledge and experience to help community tourism grow. This means participating in online trainings, using the online resources, participating actively in online discussion, and sharing your knowledge with other community tourism enterprises whenever relevant.

Yes! Planeterra knows that a major component of success as a community tourism enterprise is marketing and promotion. By adhering to the Responsible Travel Policies outlined for the Global Community Tourism Network you will open up promotional opportunities for your enterprise.

The Global Community Tourism Network is not a certifying platform. However, if you adhere to the Responsible Travel Policies you will receive an image that you can place on your website or print, identifying your participation in the Network and alignment with responsible travel values.

Planeterra believes strongly in the mission of the Global Community Tourism Network. Born through the COVID-19 crisis, the Network was created as a way for Plaenterra to share its knowledge from 16+ years of community tourism development with a wider audience, and help achieve its impact goals at scale. As the number of communities within the Network grows, Planeterra is actively seeking funding partnerships to continue our track record of seeing a 100% success rate in bringing community tourism experiences to market through a market-driven approach.

Planeterra is the world’s leading NGO turning travel into impact in communities. We’re experienced agents of change, with confidence boosted by our 100% success rate. Our market-driven, traveller-centric model and its ripple effects ensure more money stays in the hands of local people. Put simply, it is a better kind of tourism – improving the lives of community members as they provide the traveller with better experiences. When travellers win and communities win so do travel companies and destination governments.

Visit www.planeterra.org to learn more.