Intrepid Travel, which touts itself as the world’s leading sustainable tour operator, says it’s “reimagined” its product line during its rebuild to incorporate both new and amended itineraries with lower carbon outputs.
The company has been carbon neutral-since 2010 and in October 2020 became the first and only tour operator in the world with verified science-based climate targets, operating in line with a 1.5°C future championed by the Paris Agreement. As part of its decarbonization work in the last year alone, Intrepid has introduced over 40 low-carbon alternative tours, including new closer-to-home adventures and walking and cycling trips in the U.S., U.K. and Australia. The tour operator is also switching out carbon-intensive inclusions for more sustainable activities on a number of its tours.
Decarbonized Itineraries
As part of Intrepid’s commitment to a 1.5°C future, the travel company continues to reduce emissions across its operations and trips, replacing transportation options on many of its itineraries to lower-carbon alternatives. Intrepid’s decarbonization plan will include removing flights of 90 minutes or fewer from Intrepid’s top 50 itineraries by 2022. For example, Intrepid has traded out internal flights with high-speed rail on the majority of its trips in China and continues to make similar changes elsewhere whenever there is a feasible land or road alternative available.
New “Human-Powered” Tours
During the past year, Intrepid says it has also increased its portfolio of walking- and cycling-based trips, recognizing that they are some of the lowest carbon-output trip styles. The company adds these trips are in high demand as travelers are seeking outdoor active adventures following months of indoor quarantining. The onset of the pandemic accelerated the company’s focus on more travel options closer to home in its major source markets of Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., resulting in the addition of 25 new walking tours and 15 new cycling tours in these destinations.
In addition, for the recently launched Intrepid Premium trip range—tours geared toward high-end travelers—there was a concerted focus in identifying and contracting more accommodations using renewable energy sources with eco-credentials. The company is also trialing electric vehicles for its travelers’ arrival transfers in several destinations, such as Jordan and Iran. Each of these efforts will continue to be integrated into all Intrepid Travel trips moving forward.
For more information, visit www.intrepidtravel.com.
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