September 30, 2005
Interview Preview: Bruce Poon Tip - Global
Adventure Travel Entrepreneur with a Conscience
Yesterday I had a chance to meet Bruce Poon Tip, owner and CEO
of G.A.P
Adventures, one of Canada's most successful travel entrepreneurs.
You may wonder, what is he like? Bruce is the owner of Canada's
largest adventure travel company, an attractive man of about 37
years of age, dressed in casual attire and not afraid to speak off
the cuff. Certainly a charismatic personality who was able to captivate
last night's capacity crowd at the G.A.P. concept store in Toronto's
Annex neighbourhood.
Bruce Poon Tip
In 1990 Bruce went on an organized backpacking trip to Thailand
where he had a chance to explore the people and the country on $10.00
a day. This experience gave him the idea to create G.A.P Adventures,
today Canada's largest adventure travel company that now sells thousands
of different trips and annually sends 40,000 passengers on their
own small-group adventures. G.A.P has about 300 employees today,
headquartered in Toronto, with operational offices in various countries
of Latin America. It's most recent endeavours are the G.A.P
concept stores which have recently been opened in high-traffic
areas in Toronto and Vancouver, places where travellers can research
their adventure trip, get more information about their desired destination
and book their once-in-a-lifetime experience supported by good advice
with no sales pressure.
For his entrepreneurial savvy Bruce has won numerous awards, besides
receiving an award as one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40, Bruce has
been also been honoured as one of Canada's top 5 entrepreneurs by
Canadian Business as well as Canada's 100 leaders of tomorrow. Profit
Magazine named him in their 20th anniversary issue cover story as
one of Canada's Top 10 Entrepreneurs of the last 20 years. Bruce
also received the Global Traders Leadership award from the government
for his ground breaking ideas in exporting services.
Recently Bruce was asked by the World Bank and UNESCO to represent
a team to visit the Peoples Republic Of China to lecture on Sustainable
Development. In January of 2002 Bruce was the only Canadian operator
invited to speak at the United Nations Launch of the Year Of Eco
Tourism in New York. Bruce defied the odds once again last year
by winning Canada's prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year, as well
as the National Citation for Entrepreneurship.
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Macchu Picchu |
Beautiful Newfoundland |
Glorious Greece |
G.A.P's additional awards include having two trips chosen among
the TOP 25 Adventures in the World by National Geographic Adventure
magazine, the Ethics in Action Award, the Global Traders Award and
the Clean Air Commute Award for five straight years.
Although a consummate business man, Bruce Poon Tip has a conscience
and he has founded his entire entreprise on the concept of sustainability
and established travel practices that show consideration of natural
surroundings and local cultures. By limiting the travel group size
to 12 people, by taking local transportation and staying in small,
locally owned hotels and guesthouses, G.A.P travellers are able
to minimize their footprint in foreign communities and get maximum
exposure to local culture.
Young weaver
Planeterra
is a non-profit organization founded by G.A.P to give back. Today
Planeterra raises funds for a number of community projects, international
charities and an endowment fund to ensure long-term support of community
development and conservation projects for years to come. Some of
the community projects that G.A.P sponsors through donations include
a community school in Ecuador, a foundation in Honduras to help
women start their own businesses, an NGO in Costa Rica for environmental
and wildlife conservation projects, a local battery recycling project
in Chile, a drop-in center for street children in Cuczo, Peru, and
many more. G.A.P Adventures itself also initiated a Women's Weaving
Project in Peru that taught local women ancient weaving techniques
as well as natural fabric dye processes. Today all G.A.P travel
groups visiting the Sacred Valley in Peru have a chance to see and
purchase high quality textiles produced by these weavers, all sold
at fair trade prices.
The "Explorer"
As another example of the innovativeness of his company, Bruce
shared with us the story of how he went out to purchase the "Explorer",
the world's first purpose-built expedition cruise ship. In March
of 2004 Bruce went on an expedition cruise through the Antarctic
and fell in love with the experience. He figured he need to buy
his own expedition cruise ship and started looking for suitable
vessels. In April of 2004 he found the "Explorer", a historic
expedition ship with a capacity of 112 passengers and a crew of
60 people. The ship had been docked in Genoa, Italy, for many months
due to the financial problems of its owners. Just another 2 months
later, but after many complications, G.A.P took possession of the
ship. Only another 4 months later, after extensive restorations,
the Explorer went on its inaugural journey and today offers expedition
cruises to such unique places as Antarctica, the Amazon, Spitzbergen,
and Greenland. (Incidentally, G.A.P. has agreed to sponsor our first
Travel Story Contest and the grand
prize winner of our contest will win an exciting adventure cruise
on the Amazon in the Explorer - all thanks to G.A.P.
Adventures.)
G.A.P's innovative business ideas don't end here. G.A.P also has
a travel TV Show: Great
Adventure People TV shows viewers the world – G.A.P
Adventures style. The camera accompanies small groups of G.A.P Adventure
travellers and follows them on unique G.A.P. adventure trips–
cycling through the fascinating country of Vietnam, exploring exotic
Morocco, and hiking, biking and rafting through captivating Spain
and Italy. New episodes can be seen in Canada on CTV and will soon
also be available in Great Britain on the UK Travel Channel.
G.A.P is a unique company, with a unique philosophy and a unique
way of operating. I am looking forward to interviewing Bruce personally
and to finding out how he is able to combine a successful high-growth
adventure travel business with his dedication to social causes and
sustainable travel. Stay tuned for some interesting insights into
a brilliant entrepreneurial mind....
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Images of India |
African wildlife |
Sacred Uluru |
G.A.P Adventures
is the sponsor of the grand prize for our first story contest: an
exciting adventure cruise on the Amazon on the historic and unique
Explorer expedition cruise ship. Visit our contest page to find
out more about our first travel story
contest.
Related Articles:
The completed interview with Bruce
Poon Tip, CEO and founder of G.A.P Adventures
An interview preview with Danielle
Weiss, G.A.P's Sustainable Travel Coordinator
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