TORONTO — The transformative power of travel was on full display at the second annual GX World Community Tourism Summit. 

Taking place in Jaipur, India on Sept. 27, 2024, World Tourism Day, and hosted by G Adventures and its non-profit partner, Planeterra, the summit brought close to 500 travel industry representatives together from around the world, including travel agents, partners, suppliers, media and travellers. 

With the support of Incredible India as a headline sponsor, the event featured a lineup of powerful speaker and panel sessions, all of which highlighted the impact of community tourism and how it can changes lives and create lasting positive effects. Key discussions focused on how community tourism is empowering women in India to gain economic independence, and how the climate crisis is disproportionately affecting in-need communities globally.

PHENOMENAL PROGRESS

Jamie Sweeting, President of Planeterra, highlighted the progress made since the first GX summit held in Peru in September 2023. There, he announced the launch of Project 300 and the Trees for Days, a tree planting initiative in partnership with G Adventures. 

“Project 300 has a bold target to uplift 300 communities through travel by the year 2030. I’m delighted to report that in the past year, 13 new community tourism enterprises have been integrated into G Adventures trips, including four in India,” said Sweeting. “This means that today, 130 community projects are currently benefiting from the power of tourism. New partners include Pink City Rickshaw in Jaipur which offers women from low-income households sustainable livelihoods as they proudly drive designer e-rickshaws and Sheroes Hangout in Agra – a café that offers acid attack survivors opportunities for personal growth and recovery.”

Sweeting also announced that over three million trees will be growing by the end of 2024 as part of the Trees for Days initiative which sees a tree planted for each day a traveller is on a G Adventures trip. 

“Since its launch 12 months ago, we’ve nurtured 18 community tree-growing projects in 14 countries, benefiting over 40,000 community members. We’ve learned that if you plant the right kind of tree with the right kind of people in the right kind of place, it can be absolutely extraordinary.”

INSIGHTS & CONVERSATIONS

The event also featured an engaging conversation between G Adventures’ founder Bruce Poon Tip and Lonely Planet founder, Tony Wheeler. In an ode to the impact Tony has had on local communities with his Lonely Planet guides, they reflected on how backpacking defined responsible tourism and discussed how community tourism today can help shape the future of travel. 

Elizabeth Becker, author of ‘Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism,’ also took to the stage to share insights from around the world on how government policies can influence how local communities benefit from tourism. Award-winning travel storyteller and founder of Climate Conscious Travel, Shivya Nath, followed by stressing the need for a shift in responsibility from individual travellers to the travel industry. “I think tourism by default must become tourism that supports local communities. Hopefully, we come to a day where we don’t need a World Community Tourism Summit. It will just be a Tourism Summit, because all tourism will support communities,” said Shivya.

Other speakers of note included Meenu Vadera, the Founder of Azad Foundation, Aayusha Prasain from the Community Homestay Network, Indian poet Aranya Johar as well as presenter Ernest White II of Fly Brother and Paras Loomba, the founder of Global Himalayan Expeditions. 

PLANETERRA ENTERPRISES

Attendees also had the chance to learn more about Planeterra-supported social enterprises in India including Women with Wheels, Sheroes, Anoothi, Sunder Rang, Together we Earn (TWE), Tenacious Bee Collective, Odisha Ecotourism Foundation, Pink City Rickshaw, and Salaam Baalak Trust. During the event, Planeterra also announced a new five-year community tourism development partnership with G Travel Community (GTC) member, G Touring, featuring a donation and match funding model to support future projects. 

NEXT YEAR’S SUMMIT

Poon Tip captured the essence of the day by concluding that GX is a way to celebrate the incredible power tourism has to change the lives of communities all over the world. 

“We’ve had this dream at G Adventures, since we first started, that travellers can change the world just by going on holiday. And that’s what GX is all about,” he said. “Bringing all of our communities together in India to showcase how the right kind of tourism can positively impact lives on a daily basis has been a huge privilege for me. Our guests have had the opportunity to visit remarkable projects and meet remarkable people during their time here. The experience has been transformational for everyone involved.”

The day wrapped-up with the announcement of the host destination for the next GX Summit, which will be held in Jordan in September 2025. In partnership with the Jordan Tourism Board North America (JTBNA), Royal Jordanian Airlines will sponsor the event along with support from USAID Jordan through its Tourism, Resilience, Innovation and Promotion Activity (TRIP). The event will also celebrate G Adventures’ 35th anniversary. 

For more information go to https://gx.gadventures.com/.