Geoff Manchester on Redefining Adventure Travel through Small-Group Tours

Published 25/11/2024
Geoff Manchester from Intrepid shares how sustainable tours and community initiatives create meaningful connections while addressing climate and overtourism.

Geoff Manchester from Intrepid shares how sustainable tours and community initiatives create meaningful connections while addressing climate and overtourism.

Geoff Manchester, co-founder of Intrepid Travel, reflects on how he aimed to transform travel by creating affordable, experience-rich tours that align with sustainable principles. Geoff highlights the company’s commitment to climate action. They have achieved carbon-neutral status in 2010 and have set ambitious science-based targets for emission reductions. Intrepid’s approach also includes offering smaller, community-focused tours. Those tours help mitigate overtourism and foster meaningful connections between travelers and local communities.


What has inspired you to co-found Intrepid Travel? How has sustainability shaped your business approach?

My co-founder Darrell Wade and I had done a lot of backpacking ourselves. We knew it could be quite challenging and not for everyone. We wondered: what do people who aren’t confident about backpacking do? Do they simply stay in resorts or take traditional, boring bus tours of Europe?

In essence, we believed there should be a travel style like backpacking – using public transport, staying in small hotels and guesthouses, and connecting with locals to fully experience a country, warts and all. One of the joys of backpacking comes from the daily frustrations and annoyances. Yet, these challenges are often balanced by the unexpected discoveries that linger in your memory for years to come.

In the late 80s, you could go backpacking in Asia and comfortably live on $10 to $15 Australian dollars a day. However, any organised travel was $100 a day. If it was adventure travel, it was probably $120 a day. We felt that wasn’t right. We said if everyone does it for $100 a day, we will price our trips at $50 a day. That concept of offering value was important to us for a long time, and I guess it still is in a lot of ways. The idea is to give people the opportunity to travel without costing them an arm and a leg.

Another important driver when starting Intrepid was moving away from pure sightseeing to giving people experiences, especially those focused on local cultures. That’s how the market has moved now. 35 years ago, travel was very much about going to see things rather than experiencing them. Any sort of adventure travel at that time was pretty much all about physical adventure, typically trekking in Nepal or Peru. There was no real concept of cultural adventure. I’m not sure we even used that term. What we wanted to do, and still do, is focus on sustainable experience-rich tours.

Sustainability and philanthropy were part of our approach right from the start. For example, something as simple as using local public transport is what backpackers do. The idea was that we would do the same. This relates to the important issue of sustainability because it means using existing infrastructure. There’s no need for developing countries to import buses from wealthier nations to service tourists. That was a key foundation of our approach.

As a pioneer in sustainable tourism, can you share some of Intrepid’s most impactful sustainable tourism initiatives and their impact on both the environment and local communities?

For me, the KOTO restaurant, while not sustainable in the sense of preserving the environment, is a great example of supporting sustainability in the social sense. KOTO was founded by an ex-Intrepid leader of Vietnamese Australian descent. While leading trips, he encountered many homeless kids in Hanoi and created KOTO to teach them about the hospitality industry, training them as chefs, waiters, and front-of-house staff.

Their graduates receive certifications from a tertiary institution in Australia and have gone on to work in major hotels and renowned restaurants, not just in Vietnam but around the world. This subtly yet significantly reflects the type of work we do.

The Intrepid Foundation helped establish KOTO and supported it for several years. More importantly, every one of our groups in Vietnam visited KOTO – initially a café that later became a restaurant- supporting it in a much more meaningful way than simply donating money. Now it has been operating for over 25 years, and we continue to visit.

How does Intrepid ensure that the communities you work with directly benefit from tourism, and how do you involve them in decision-making processes?

I think the important thing is that we work directly with local communities rather than using middlemen. Because we have our own destination management companies (DMC), we can understand exactly what they want to achieve from tourism.

Our DMCs are run and managed and staffed by locals, so they really understand the issues in the country and how tourism can help. On the other hand, it’s great for us to explain what they can expect. Also, they can educate communities about the pitfalls and negative aspects of tourism. We want to balance the income generated from tourism with the preservation of their lifestyles.

Have you seen a shift in traveller attitudes toward sustainability over the years, and how has Intrepid adapted to align with these changing expectations?

Sustainability has become more important for travellers, but it’s still not the most critical factor in their decision-making. Price and departure date are really important, as well as the itinerary. So, while sustainability isn’t necessarily the number one factor, I think it plays a more subtle yet significant role in the background.

People may choose certain companies over others because of their commitment to sustainability. We became carbon neutral in 2010, and we now have an ambitious decarbonisation plan. We also have policies around anti-bribery, corruption, diversity, equality, and inclusivity — these are the sorts of things people expect from us.

In 2018, we formalised our commitment by becoming a certified B Corporation. In 2021, we took it a step further, recertifying with an even higher score – improving from 82.7 to 91.2. Being a B Corp signifies our heightened dedication and accountability to making a positive impact where it matters most. It reflects our commitment to generating benefits for everyone. This certification not only serves as our official pledge to operate responsibly but also emphasises our aim to leverage travel as a force for good in the world.

The Intrepid Foundation collaborates with nearly 50 local partners across every continent, each of which aligns with at least one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. We prioritise long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships with organisations that address essential needs in their communities and engage our travellers.

Building quality partnerships requires time and effort. What sets these partnerships apart is that they are chosen by Intrepid’s local staff, who live and work in their countries and have a deep understanding of the local issues affecting their communities.

Intrepid has made significant progress in addressing climate change, becoming the first global tour operator to achieve carbon-neutral status. Can you share how your ongoing climate action initiatives are shaping the future of your tours?

While we have been carbon neutral since 2010 and continue to offset all our trips and offices, we recognise that offsets alone are not enough. That’s why we are committed to verified science-based targets through the Science Based Targets initiative, aligned with a 1.5°C future. By 2035, we aim to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 56% compared to 2018 levels. This includes a 71% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2035 relative to 2018.

We are currently focusing on our supplier engagement goals. 98% of our total carbon footprint originates from our supply chain. This includes partnering with the WTTC Hotel Sustainability Basics program last November, making us the first global travel company to extend this internationally recognised sustainability verification scheme to our suppliers.

In terms of product changes, we have removed some short-haul flight legs across our trips, where a viable alternative exists. We have reviewed our itineraries to ensure they include more purpose-driven experiences that give back, such as community-based tourism homestays and new First Nations and Indigenous experiences.

We also want to ensure that Intrepid customers understand the impact of their travel. In 2023, we took a major step toward this goal by introducing over 800 carbon labels on our itineraries, allowing clients to make more informed decisions about their trips.

With the recent launch of Only Intrepid, how does this campaign reflect Intrepid’s commitment to sustainability and responsible travel? And what unique experiences does it offer to today’s conscious travellers?

This was one of our largest campaigns yet and we wanted to highlight the many unique places, people, and experiences that Intrepid offers. From dancing to underground house music in Marrakech to making mochi in a rural homestay in Japan. Travellers can look forward to life-changing and profound experiences on our trips. This campaign offers a sneak peek into the unique moments only Intrepid provides.

At the heart of every Intrepid experience is the connection to the places we explore, the people we encounter, and the local communities we engage with. With our small group sizes, we can create meaningful and memorable connections that extend far beyond the usual tourist experience.

What do you see as the key trends and innovations that will shape the future of sustainable tourism? How is Intrepid preparing for them?

The tourism industry is front and centre in the climate crisis, witnessing its impact on iconic destinations. Travellers are already seeking cooler summer alternatives. We’ve experienced a 40% surge in bookings to Scandinavian locations this year, with the Baltics seeing an impressive 113% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels.

We’ve seen hotspots across Europe actively protesting and working to address overtourism, as seen with the summer demonstrations in Barcelona. Local authorities face the challenge of striking the right balance. Cities like Barcelona rely on tourism, but it must be sustainable for both residents and the local ecosystem. Some destinations are shifting their focus from the quantity to the quality of tourism. Bhutan, for instance, imposes a tourism tax of $100 per day.

Travellers can take steps to help mitigate overtourism by exploring alternative destinations away from the usual tourist spots. This doesn’t mean venturing far; it can simply involve visiting lesser-known areas of a familiar place.

There are also more responsible ways to experience popular destinations like Venice.  Travelling with a local tour guide can provide insights into the culture, help visitors align with local customs, and lead them to off-the-beaten-path businesses. Our style of travel is very much the opposite of overtourism in this sense. We operate in smaller groups of around 12 to 14 people. We can offer unique local experiences beyond the typical tourist attractions.

Thank you, Manch!


Connect with Manch on LinkedIn or find out more about Intrepid Travel here. If you enjoyed our interview with Manch, please share it and spread the word about sustainability and responsible travel.

Manch has been featured because he has been peer nominated for our community of sustainable tourism impact makers. We count over 400 trailblazers around the world (meet them here).

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