TORONTO — Intrepid Travel is encouraging travellers to discover lesser-known destinations by launching its annual ‘Not Hot List’ as well as a new brand campaign, its biggest one yet.
The 2025 Not Hot List, which seeks to address overtourism by inspiring travellers to discover different experiences around the world, includes alternative regions in popular countries like Morocco as well as emerging destinations like Pakistan and Greenland.
This year marks Intrepid’s most comprehensive Not Hot List to date, and includes:
- Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan
- (Qeqertarsuaq) Disko Island, Greenland
- Cape York, Australia
- Adirondacks, New York
- Sainshand, Mongolia
- Rupununi Savannah, Guyana
- Anti-Atlas Mountains, Morocco
- Accra, Ghana
- Maldonado, Uruguay
- Oslo, Norway
According to Erica Kritikides, General Manager of Global Product for Intrepid Travel, group sizes remain very small (an average of 10 travellers), plus only local leaders are employed and locally-owned accommodation and suppliers are almost exclusively used.
“Our annual Not Hot List strives to bring travelers off the tourist track and inspire them to consider lesser-known destinations, while helping to spread the benefits of tourism to places where it can have an outsized positive impact on communities and local economies,” said Kritikides. “While promoting alternative destinations is a small part of the solution to overtourism, we remain committed to addressing the bigger issues through our product design. Developing tourism in concert and consultation with host communities is the best way to combat the negative effects of overtourism.”
To support the development of tourism in these destinations, Intrepid has launched brand new trips in four of the Not Hot locations featured: the 10-day Intrepid Greenland Expedition, the 15-day Benin, Togo and Ghana Adventure, the 11-day Trans-Mongolian Railway Adventure, and the 11-day Cape York & Torres Strait Explorer. These are all in addition to Intrepid’s 10-day Pakistan trekking trip, which first ran in 2024.
The 2025 Not Hot List can be downloaded here.
NEW GLOBAL BRAND CAMPAIGN
To fight overtourism and appeal to travellers to visit these alternative destinations, Intrepid has also launched a new global campaign that spans paid, earned, owned and shared channels, driving engagement across different touchpoints across the globe. It features global media buys and out-of-home in major cities including Toronto, New York, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and London. It also includes a newly launched ‘Only Intrepid’ content site, a campaign film and a social content series.
With almost 1,000 creative assets in production and representing an initial investment of over US$3.3 million, it marks Intrepid’s largest single brand campaign to date.
“Travellers are guaranteed to have soul-defining and life-changing experiences on our trips, and this new campaign gives a glimpse into the unique moments that you can only have with Intrepid,” said Natalie Placko, General Manager of Global Brand at Intrepid. “This campaign is the latest chapter in transforming our marketing strategy to focus on brand, and differentiating Intrepid by owning what we do, how we do it differently and bringing Intrepid moments to life.”
