The demand for indigenous-led tourism is growing globally, and South Africans travelling abroad are as interested as everyone else to discover other cultures, heritages and habitats.
“There’s huge demand,” said Jane Davidson, Director of Development Promotions, which represents G Adventures in the South African market.
G Adventures has almost 100 indigenous-led tours, with an average of 12 to 16 people in a group, that allow travellers to really get involved in the local cultures of travel destinations. On these tours, the operator only supports small hotels, local homestays and small boutique hotels and, according to Davidson, these smaller hospitality and tourism services are a product that is in demand post-pandemic as people explore more unusual destinations.
She said the most popular G Adventures destinations for indigenous-led tours were Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, Japan, India and Peru.
“For G Adventures, indigenous communities are an essential part of its business and industry. It started off as a non-profit organisation and globally, every tour it takes is led by a local person. It is continuously developing communities,” explained Davidson.
G Adventures’ G for Good experiences are community development projects, often intended to protect local cultures and heritage while providing jobs to the local population. Tours and activities among indigenous peoples simultaneously entertain and educate travellers while supporting communities.
An example is Oodles of Noodles, the G for Good Moment in G Adventures’ Classic Vietnam 10-day tour. In partnership with STREETS International, a hospitality and tourism social enterprise initiative, the experience offers travellers a noodle class where they learn from and interact with former street youth who are training at STREETS. The travellers assist the youths with English and their hospitality skills-set, to help expand their opportunities in the tourism industry.
The Funtasia Project Visit is the G for Good Moment in the Best of Egypt eight-day tour. Travellers are offered a bike tour of the Funtasia Project centre on the West Bank of the Nile, led by student guides from the NGO’s life skills, health, emotional management, coding, art and sports training programmes.
The Ccaccaccollo Community and Women’s Weaving Co-op visit in Cuzco, Peru, is included in the Inca Discover eight-day tour. Travellers visit the G Adventures-supported Ccaccaccollo Community Centre, created in 2005, to meet the women who weave, dye and sell traditional alpaca wool textiles.
G Adventures is committed to upholding several ethical, social and environmental policies and guidelines created by the company’s founder.
“G Adventures’ founder, Bruce Poon Tip, was exploring indigenous tourism in 2016 and there were no global guidelines, so he partnered with the University of Washington to explore what the guidelines should be,” said Davidson, “because you’ve got to respect people’s cultures and their local laws. It was also to try to avoid indigenous people being exploited, to be very sensitive to the needs of locals and communities, and to give back to them.”
These guidelines include investing in social enterprises and small businesses; protecting wildlife, marine life and the environment; protecting children and vulnerable communities and regularly consulting with indigenous communities regarding G Adventures’ tours’ impact on surrounding local communities.
