GX Summit 2024 Highlights the Positive Impact of Community Tourism

The day was comprised by a lineup of uniquely compelling speaker and panel sessions, which overall emphasized the potentially life-altering effects of community-based tourism and its ability to have a lasting positive impact. Presentations and discussions centered on current obstacles and opportunities, including the ways in which community-focused tourism allows Indian women to gain economic independence and the outsized impact of the climate crisis on vulnerable communities.

Backed by Incredible India as the headline sponsor, the event was an uplifting celebration of the power of travel, which highlighted the transformative impact of community tourism and its potential to drive meaningful change.

Jamie Sweeting, President of Planeterra, highlighted the extraordinary headway that’s been made since the first GX summit, which took place in Peru in 2023. At that time, he had introduced Project 300 and Trees for Days, a tree-planting program operated 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,” Sweeting announced. “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.”

In addition, Sweeting shared that Planeterra’s Trees for Days initiative, which plants a tree for each day a traveler spends on a G Adventures itinerary, will have resulted in the growth of more than three million trees by the end of 2024.

“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.”

A highlight of the summit was the conversation between Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures and Planeterra, and Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler. The two travel pioneers discussed the evolution of responsible tourism and how community-focused travel can shape the future of the industry.

Planeterra not only celebrated the successes of past projects, but also revealed a new five-year partnership with G Travel Community (GTC) member, G Touring, which will rely upon a donation and match financing model to fund future initiatives.

Jordan was also announced as the host country for the next GX Summit, which will take place in September 2025. Next year will also mark G Adventures’ 35th anniversary, so it’s safe to assume the event will be even grander in scale and substance.

Poon Tip summarized the spirit of the day by calling the summit a celebration of tourism’s remarkable ability to change lives and transform communities worldwide. “We’ve had this dream at G Adventures, since we first started, that travelers can change the world just by going on holiday. And that’s what GX is all about,” he said.

The 2024 GX Summit’s full lineup of speakers:

• Aayusha Prasain – Community Homestay Network
• Aranya Johar – Poet
• Brian Young – G Adventures
• Bruce Poon Tip – G Adventures
• Elizabeth Becker – Author, “Overbooked”
• Ernest White II – Fly Brother
• Jaideep Bansal – Global Himalayan Expeditions
• Jamie Sweeting – Planeterra
• Meenu Vadera – Azad Foundation
• Michelle Degenhardt – Flight Centre
• Paras Loomba – Global Himalayan Expeditions
• Shivya Nath – The Shooting Star
• Tabitha Lipkin – TV presenter, journalist and creator
• Tanya Alag – Salaam Baalak Trust
• Tony Wheeler – Lonely Planet