G Adventures Adds Both Vaccine-Only, and Non-Vaccinated Tours to 2021 Schedule
by Daniel McCarthy /
Adventure tour operator G Adventures today announced plans to operate both vaccinated-only, and non-vaccinated, tours in October.
G Adventures’ Vaccinated Tours program will include a fully vaccinated tour guide, aka CEO, and a requirement for all guests to also be fully vaccinated.
However, because of “the vast number of tour and destinations G Adventures is currently operating in, and the slower roll-out of vaccines in some destinations,” the tour operator is also offering “Travel-Ready” tours in October.
Those tours will allow both guests, and local tour guides, to participate without being vaccinated. The goal, according to COO Jeff Russill, is to prioritize the placement of vaccinated guides but allow for those who haven’t had the opportunity to be vaccinated the chance to participate in G Adventures’ unique brand of community tourism.
“By October we will have successfully, and safely, run close to 1,000 tours since September 2020 - more tours than any other operator - supporting employment and boosting the local economies of countries that are dependent on tourism, such as Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Morocco, Peru, and Kenya. We are starting with Vaccinated Tours in October and will be adding future departures as we confirm CEOs and travelers are all fully vaccinated in order to lead and travel on those itineraries.
“As a global operator, we also want to ensure travel equity for those travelers who haven’t been able to be vaccinated as yet due to their age and / or home country, as we have travelers from more than 160 countries join our trips. We expect vaccination rates to increase in most destinations later this year, and as they do we will be operating even more Vaccinated Tours,” says Russill.
Still, G Adventures is requiring all non-vaccinated guests and guides on those tours to produce a negative PCR test within 96 hours prior to day one of the tour’s departure (proof of vaccine can also be used if guests are vaccinated).
In total, G Adventures is offering 304 departures across 116 tours for its Vaccinated Tours program, along with 64 Travel-Ready tours.
Consumers and travel advisors can see which tours are Travel-Ready and which are Vaccinated Tours by going to the G Adventures website. Each tour will indicate which category the departure falls under there.