G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip’s last overseas trip was to Auckland. That was a year ago. Photo / File
“If you want all the comforts of home, maybe you should… stay home. Nobody wants you travelling.”
When Bruce Poon Tip, a Canadian businessman and founder of G Adventures, delivers this line during a tourism event in Auckland, his cheeky grin and comedic timing get a round of laughs from the crowd.
Yet, behind the humour is a weighty challenge for most tourists and tourism companies.
From backpacker to founder
It was 1990 and 22-year-old Poon Tip was exploring Asia when he noticed the difference between backpacking and mainstream travel.
“I saw these coaches of people who were not really experiencing the country and I was on a $10-a-day budget, travelling around Asia, staying with local people and travelling on local buses,” he recalled.
“I realised that their experience wasn’t even a real experience, so I came back and I founded G…
tourism-g-adventures-ceo-explains/3MIWVY556BENDBY4FB2ETM6BD4/” target=”_blank”>Read further.