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| Type | Tour Operator |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1990 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Canada |
| Key people | Bruce Poon Tip, Founder and CEO |
| Industry | Tourism |
| Products | Small group Adventure Travel |
| Employees | 700 |
| Website | www.gapadventures.com |
Gap Adventures is a worldwide adventure travel company that offers socially and environmentally sustainable travel to all seven continents of the world. Bruce Poon Tip launched Gap Adventures in 1990 with the intention of offering travelers authentic adventures in the real world. As of 2009, the company has over 700 employees worldwide and offers more than 1000 adventure tours to over 100 countries on all seven continents; over 90,000 passengers [1] travel on small group adventures with Gap Adventures every year. In 2007, Gap Adventures was the only travel company included in the respected list of Canada's Top 100 Employers[2] and is recognized as a world leader in eco-tourism[3].
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The concept of Gap Adventures initially started in 1989 [4] when Calgary native, Bruce Poon Tip, went backpacking through Asia on a $50-a-day budget, staying with local people and traveling on local transportation. The name Gap Adventures came from the gap in the market between mainstream and backpacking. In 1990, Tip founded Gap Adventures with the belief that other travelers would share his desire to experience authentic adventures in a responsible and sustainable manner. For the initial start-up, he funded the entire company with only two credit cards. Gap has since expanded to become one of the largest adventure travel companies in the world with offices all over the globe. [5].
Gap is universally recognized as an industry leader in sustainable tourism and community development and does so by following a few key rules: small groups (generally 12 to 15 people); use local transport; employ local guides and have groups stay in locally run hotels [6].
The company has taken a stance against carbon emissions and climate change with their Book a Trip, Plant a Tree [7] program where a tree is planted in a reforestation project every time a traveler books a tour with the company. Through its non-profit organization Planeterra, Gap Adventures plans to offset the carbon emissions from staff travel by planting a million trees of their own by late 2009.
In 2002 Gap launched The Planeterra Foundation, a non-profit organization designed to give back to the people and places visited on tours by supporting local community projects focusing on health, education, childcare, environmental conservation and employment skills training [8].
Through the Dollar-a-Day program [9], travelers are encouraged to donate one dollar per day for the duration of their tour, all donations are matched by Gap Adventures with 100% of these proceeds going directly to support Planeterra projects.
Planeterra supports approximately 25 projects worldwide; such as working with porters and weavers in Peru and helping with turtle habitat protection in Costa Rica. It also sponsors a microsurgical eye camp in rural Tibet that has helped restore sight to hundreds of people with a simple 15-minute cataract surgery [10].
In June 2009, the company acquired the first of its new hotel brand, the G Hotels, in Quito, Ecuador [11]. Designated as a historical heritage site by the city of Quito, the property is the first of four hotels Gap Adventures plans on acquiring in the coming year. Subsequent properties are schedule to open between now and 2010 in Lima and Cusco in Peru, as well as in Costa Rica.
Gap re-launched its range of Expedition cruises with the purchase of the Antarctic cruise ship MS Expedition in November 2008[12].
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