Spotlight: Intrepid Travel - Exploring the World, Protecting What Matters

Meet Intrepid Travel… the purpose-driven adventure company leading a global movement toward more sustainable tourism, and the Seeing Green Solutionist of the Day for October 8

In this Spotlight episode, we turn to travel — one of life’s greatest joys and one of the planet’s biggest challenges. Tourism supports roughly one in ten jobs worldwide yet contributes close to 8 percent of global carbon emissions through flights, lodging and food. Intrepid’s founders, two friends from Australia, saw a different path back in 1989: travel that connects rather than consumes. Their single Land Rover journey across Africa grew into the world’s largest small-group adventure company, now operating more than a thousand itineraries across a hundred-plus countries.

Intrepid builds purpose directly into the itinerary — from women’s cooperatives in Morocco to reforestation in Peru — showing that exploration and impact can coexist. As a certified B Corp and carbon-neutral pioneer since 2010, the company continues to raise the bar with transparent carbon labelling, a 55 percent emissions-reduction goal and its Intrepid Foundation funding community and wildlife projects worldwide. Adventure, regenerated.

Transcript

Welcome to Seeing Green - Solutions for our Daily Lives. The podcast where we spotlight the brands, ideas and people making it easier to live sustainably every day.

Today’s episode is part of our “Spotlight” series – a deep dive into one of our Seeing Green Solutionists of the Day. And now… today’s solution.

Welcome to this deep dive number 36 in our Seeing Green Spotlight series. Today we're focusing on the Solutionist of the Day and the real answers they bring to help us live healthier, greener lives.

Yeah, absolutely. And before we jump into today's topic, just a couple of quick housekeeping things for you listening. First, if you haven't had a chance to already, definitely check out the deep dive right before this one. That was a special one marking 30 Solutionist spotlights so far. We shared five big themes we've seen and um we each picked our three favorite Solutionists. So yeah, give that a listen if you missed it.

And if you are enjoying this kind of content, please uh go ahead and subscribe to the Seeing Green podcast wherever you get your deep dives. And follow us @SeeingGreenEco across social media. That helps us out a lot.

Definitely. And if you haven't popped over to the website recently, check us out at www.seeinggreen.eco. That's kind of our mothership. We've added some cool new things like the Greener Bites and Sustainable Sips area. It's a library of great planet friendly recipes. We've also got the green screen which is our live social media feed right there on the site. And we now have more than 200 solutionists plus tips and resources all organized by themes like home, apparel, food, travel, you name it.

And speaking of travel.

Yeah

That takes us right into today's subject. We're looking at a well true global leader in sustainable adventure tourism.

Yeah.

And I know this feeling and I bet many of you do too. You really crave that connection, the perspective shift that travel gives you, but it often comes with that growing kind of nagging concern, right, about the environmental footprint, the impact on local places.

Yeah, that tension, that conflict. It's really the modern dilemma for anyone who loves to travel but also cares about the planet. And that's exactly the space Intrepid Travel stepped into really right from the beginning. They're genuine pioneers in responsible adventure. They operate on a huge scale now, but their core idea, their ethos is incredibly focused.

Right. And they've been at this for a long, long time. This wasn't like jumping on a recent bandwagon.

Exactly. They weren't just reacting to a trend. I think this quote sums it up perfectly. “Before carbon labels and B Corp were trending, Intrepid was already rethinking what adventure could look like. Local, low impact, and full of purpose.” So, today we'll dig into their origins, their surprising expansion into hotels, which is pretty new, and importantly, how they're actually trying to help decarbonize travel without, you know, taking away the joy of exploring the world.

Okay, let's start at the beginning then because the origin story, it's sort of pure backpacker legend, isn't it? It all started with two Australian university friends Darrell Wade and Geoff Manchester.

That's right. Their whole idea, the whole concept, it came out of this really epic 9-month overland road trip they took. This was back in 1988, maybe early '89. They went from London all the way down to Nairobi. And they did it in this modified secondhand truck just packed with about 12 of their friends.

That trip basically became their blueprint.

Wow. So instead of thinking about luxury or you know just getting there fast, their vision was simpler. It was travel that should connect people, not just, well, consume resources.

Exactly that. They wanted immersive, affordable adventures. And importantly, they specifically chose local home stays over, say, big international hotels. They relied on public transport, local food, making sure the money actually benefited the local people and the places they were visiting. They ran their very first official trip in Thailand, I think it was 1989, with just five travelers. Tiny start.

And look at them now. That one Land Rover or truck has grown into the world's largest small group adventure company. It's pretty incredible growth.

It really is. The scale now is huge. We're talking over a thousand different itineraries across more than 100 countries, but they've somehow kept that original focus, that idea of real connection, not mass tourism.

Okay, a thousand trips is definitely massive scale, but how do they keep that small group intentional feel across so many different kinds of travel?

Well, the range is huge. They do everything from like high altitude trekking and cycling tours to culinary trips, polar expeditions, even specific women's expeditions. But the key, the unifying thing is the structure. It's always small groups, usually around 12 to 14 people max. And critically, they're led by their local leaders. They have over 2,300 local guides now. That's kind of the magic of their model, you know. The expertise, the employment -- it's local, which makes the experience way more meaningful for the traveler and genuinely lower impact on the destination. 

And now they're taking that commitment even further, moving into actual infrastructure, which feels like a pretty big step for a tour operator. You mentioned they're launching Intrepid Hotels starting in 2025 with a goal of acquiring what, 20 properties?

Yeah, 20 eco-conscious accommodations across Asia, Africa, and the Americas by 2027. It's ambitious. They're basically taking control of the lodging part of the equation, which is um really crucial if you want to raise sustainability standards across the board. So, take their new place in Marrakech, Morocco. It's a 17  room riad opening next year. It's partnering directly with the Amal Association. That's a local nonprofit that empowers women through culinary training.

Oh, wow. So, right away, just by staying there, your visit is contributing to social good on the ground.

Exactly. Or look at the resort they bought in Tasmania, the Edge of the Bay Resort. It's near Wineglass Bay. They're planning a big sustainability focused renovation there. They're partnering with Greening Australia to restore native ecosystems. And importantly, they're doing a cultural heritage assessment with the Palawa people, the original custodians of that land. They're also using the uh WTTC Hotel Sustainability Basics program across their hotel partners which helps kind of standardize accountability in the lodging sector. It pushes everyone.

Okay, this brings us to that bigger picture. The uh the footprint of wanderlust as the outline calls it. We love travel. It connects cultures. It supports what one in 10 jobs globally. Huge economic engine. But we have to face that paradox. Tourism is responsible for roughly 8% of global carbon emissions. That's significant.

It is. It's a tough reality. And like we can't just tell people to stop traveling. That's not realistic or even desirable in many ways. So, we have to figure out how to travel better. And Intrepid CEO James Thornton has actually been surprisingly um blunt about how the wider industry has failed here.

Right. I saw that quote where he called out greenwashing directly. He said, "The travel industry has lied to people for decades." It's pretty strong.

It is strong. But he's pointing out how easy it is to make travelers feel good about, you know, skipping a plastic straw while completely overlooking the massive impact of long-haul flights or say poor labor conditions at resorts. It's a valid critique. He really emphasizes that we as travelers have agency. Who we choose to book with, how we decide to move around, what businesses we support on the ground, those choices actually shape the future of the industry. It's not just passive consumption.

And this is really why Intrepid stands out as a Solutionist, isn't it? They are actively tackling that footprint. Their whole approach which seems to be under this banner of adventure regenerated. I mean being carbon neutral since 2010, that's almost 15 years. That's a long-term commitment. Did that decision like hurt their business initially or did they see it as a competitive edge from the start?

That's a great question. I think it was definitely a huge operational lift and probably a financial risk at first, but they seem to view it as essential, almost like long-term insurance for their business model and yeah, a massive differentiator. And now they really lead by example. They were the first tour operator globally to set verified science-based climate targets.

Okay. What does science-based target actually mean for a traveler looking at their trips? How does that translate?

It means their reduction goals aren't just, you know, plucked out of thin air. They're externally audited and confirmed to be aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius. It's about real accountability. And their goal is ambitious. They want to cut per passenger emissions by 55% by 2030. And they're making tough choices like prioritizing rail travel over short flights, even if it adds a bit of friction. They removed flights under 90 minutes from their European itineraries.

And that transparency piece you mentioned earlier feels key. Publishing carbon labels for what over 800 trips and then giving away the guide on how to do it. That's like sharing your homework with the class.

It really is. They genuinely seem focused on lifting the entire industry, not just guarding their own, you know, green credentials. This whole commitment is backed up by their B Corp status, too. They just got recertified in 2012. score and their score went up significantly to 102.5. That's up like 24% since their first certification in 2018. That puts them firmly among the leaders in purpose-driven business. They walk the talk.

Okay, moving beyond just carbon, let's talk about animal welfare because that's another area where Intrepid seems to have drawn a really clear and sometimes difficult line.

Yeah, this is a huge one and a major differentiator. A decade ago, they made a decision that really shook the industry at the time. They completely stopped offering elephant riding on all their trips. This followed a big study by World Animal Protection that found something like 1,300 elephants suffering abuse in tourist venues across Asia. Seeing that kind of mass cruelty, it must have forced a really immediate and probably painful business decision for them. But they did it.

Wow. And they've stuck to that strong stance, right? No petting lion cubs, signing pledges against breeding farms.

Yeah, absolutely. Their whole Wildlife Policy is guided by the five domains of animal welfare. Thinking about nutrition, environment, health, behavior, and the animals’ mental state. And they're also focused on making sure their trips give back directly to the communities people visit. They build in these impact initiatives like supporting women's cooperatives in Morocco, funding mangrove restoration in Vietnam, running waste-free trekking programs in Nepal. Plus, their nonprofit arm, the Intrepid Foundation, has channeled over $18 million now to more than 160 community and wildlife partners globally. And they match traveler donations dollar for dollar, which is great.

They're even using their platform for activism, it looks like, even here in the US.

Yeah, that United by Nature campaign was interesting. They donated $50,000 to the National Parks Conservation Association, specifically to fight proposed federal funding cuts and help address that massive uh $23 billion maintenance backlog our national parks are facing. It just shows their commitment goes beyond just the trips they operate. It really comes back to that core idea. Adventure and accountability can share the same itinerary.

And it seems like this purpose-driven model is actually working really well for them financially. You hear sometimes that sustainability costs too much, but maybe it's driving their profit.

The numbers suggest exactly that. Intrepid's profits are reportedly up 35%. And the company has actually doubled in size since the pandemic hit. They're having their strongest financial performance in their entire 36-year history. So, yeah, James Thornton, the CEO, definitely sees sustainability as a core competitive advantage now. He's aiming for Intrepid to be a $2 billion business by 2030. 

So, they're proving the market really does want more ethical, responsible travel options. And they're using that strategic clout for bigger picture planning, too. Like that partnership you mentioned with the Moroccan National Tourism Office.

Right. This is where you see strategy meeting sustainability on a national scale. They have a goal to help attract 200,000 Australian tourists to Morocco each year. But, and this is the crucial part, they're actively working with the tourism office to promote geographically distributed travel, encouraging visitors to explore the High Atlas mountains, the Sahara Desert, not just funneling everyone into the already crowded medinas of Marrakech or Fez. They're essentially trying to use their influence to help Morocco avoid that over tourism problem, spreading the economic benefits more widely.

Got it. And looking even further ahead, you mentioned they're talking about nature positive solutions now. What does that mean exactly?

It means going beyond just minimizing their own negative impact, beyond just being neutral. The focus is shifting towards actively helping to repair and regenerate ecosystems and biodiversity where they operate. So, it's aiming for travel that actually gives back more to nature than it takes. It's the next frontier really.

So, ultimately, this whole deep dive into Intrepid, it really kind of reframes sustainability and travel, doesn't it? It's not about restriction or feeling guilty. It's actually about adding purpose, adding depth to the experience. Seeing the world, but doing it in a way that helps ensure it's still there and thriving for others to see.

Couldn't agree more. It really leaves you with this powerful thought to chew on. The world's biggest adventure is figuring out how to protect it.

Indeed, a great place to wrap up. To learn more about Intrepid Travel, you can visit them online at intrepidtravel.com.

And are you interested in finding more brands and innovators who are really dedicated to creating a greener, more sustainable world? Then definitely subscribe to the Seeing Green podcast so you don't miss an episode.

Visit the Seeing Green website. You can see more trailblazers making really significant strides in promoting eco-friendly living through innovative products, solutions, practices. It's all online at www.seeinggreen.eco.

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Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the Seeing Green Spotlight Series podcast.

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