In response to the pandemic, G Adventures is offering discounted, flexible, private group tours that protect participants from travelling with strangers. Rose Dykins reports

G Adventures has launched “Book Your Bubble” to help people build confidence in travelling as part of group tours after Covid-19. The programme is a collection of 80 tours, whereby travellers will only go away with a group of people they know.

Travellers across the world are dreaming of their next adventure. But many feel uneasy about joining a group tour during a pandemic. Spending time in close quarters with strangers who may have different views on social distancing may be too much of a risk.

Those who have been separated from loved ones during lockdown also want to reconnect with the people they miss. And for some, a holiday is the perfect solution. According to research from adventure travel company G Adventures, 32 per cent of travellers across the UK and Ireland plan on taking their next trip with several friends or family members (or both).

Crossing the Costa Rica Fortuna Suspension Bridge led by a G Adventures CEOWith Book You Bubble, customers get perks they wouldn’t normally receive when booking a small private group trip with G Adventures. These include the flexibility to cancel and rebook trip, and discounts that can be combined with G Adventures 15 per cent off sale.

G Adventures’ Book Your Bubble programme grants 50 per cent off a place on the tour when a bubble of eight people makes a booking, or a free place on the tour for a bubble of 12. Discounts can be divided amongst the group.

All Book Your Bubble tours will also be led by a G Adventures’ local Chief Experience Officer (CEO). They will share extra local knowledge and updated safety recommendations with travellers to give peace of mind.

The Book Your Bubble programme includes G Adventures’ eight-day Inca Discovery trip , which involves hiking along the Inca Trail from Lima to Cusco. The company’s seven-day Classic Highlights of Portugal trip travelling from Lisbon to Porto, and its eight-day Sailing Croatia tour from Split to Dubrovnik are also part of the collection.

Customers can ask for Book Your Bubble conditions to 700 other G Adventures tours and its tailor-made holidays (only without the same discounts).

Founder of G Adventures, Bruce Poon Tip, says: “We want to ensure travelling is made as attractive as possible following this pandemic. The Book Your Bubble collection makes booking a private tour more flexible and affordable than ever before.

“G Adventures is a company built on changing lives through travel, and there are local people who need our support, so we’re doing all we can to encourage travellers to get back out there and start making a difference again as soon as it is safe to do so.”Inca Discovery trip in Peru, with a G Adventures CEOIn a survey conducted by G Adventures to research predicted travel trends post-pandemic, 69 per cent of travellers said they expect to see travel companies make changes to their health and safety measures.

Of those, 51 per cent expected operators to implement physical distancing measures for future travel arrangements, while 88 per cent demanded increased sanitisation and cleaning procedures.

As a consequence, G Adventures has also launched a Travel with Confidence Plus Collection of 37 trips in 27 countries that incorporate additional physical distancing measures and complements the company’s new Travel with Confidence policy, which outlines increased hygiene and santization across all its tours.

The Travel with Confidence Plus Collection is available for departures from October 2, 2020 to December 31, 2021. Measures include:

  • Smaller group sizes – All trips will have an average of eight to ten travellers as opposed to the average group size of 12. This means being able to stay at smaller hotels and dining at smaller restaurants with fewer people around the dinner table.
  • Private transport – While G Adventures is using more private transport where possible on all trips, this collection only uses private vehicles (except for planes) with daily assigned seating for added distance on the vehicles.
  • My Own Room – My Own Room option is available for 50 per cent off across all tours in this collection for people wishing for their own space to relax and sleep.
  • More personal space – All rooms on trip will be either double or single and have en suite bathrooms. There will be no multi-share accommodation or shared bathroom facilities on any trip in this collection.

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