Guest Bio
Yves Marceau is the Vice President of Product at G Adventures, a leading small-group adventure travel company. Since joining G Adventures in 2014, Yves has played a pivotal role in developing innovative travel experiences that cater to diverse traveler interests. With a background in product development and a passion for responsible tourism, he has been instrumental in launching new travel styles and expanding the company’s offerings to emerging destinations.
Show Summary
In this episode, Yves Marceau discusses his journey in the travel industry and his contributions to G Adventures. He delves into the creation of the ‘Solo-ish Adventures’ travel style, designed exclusively for solo travelers seeking personal growth and connection. Yves also highlights the introduction of the ‘Geluxe Collection,’ a line of premium tours that blend comfort with adventure. Additionally, he shares insights into G Adventures’ expansion into new destinations, such as Pakistan, and the company’s commitment to supporting local communities through responsible tourism practices.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Innovative Travel Styles: Developing unique travel experiences, like ‘Solo-ish Adventures’ and the ‘Geluxe Collection,’ to meet evolving traveler preferences.
- ✓ Destination Expansion: Introducing travelers to emerging destinations, such as Pakistan, to promote cultural exchange and sustainable tourism.
- ✓ Responsible Tourism: Emphasizing the importance of supporting local communities and ensuring that tourism benefits local economies.
- ✓ Adaptability: Responding to changing traveler mindsets by creating products that cater to solo travelers and those seeking premium experiences.
- ✓ Leadership in Product Development: Leveraging extensive industry experience to innovate and enhance travel offerings.
What You’ll Find on G Adventures’ Platform
- ✓ Solo-ish Adventures: Trips exclusively designed for solo travelers, offering a balance of group activities and personal time.
- ✓ Geluxe Collection: Premium tours that combine luxury accommodations with immersive adventure experiences.
- ✓ Active Travel Style Trips: Physically engaging tours, including hiking, cycling, and kayaking, in various destinations worldwide.
- ✓ New Destinations: Expeditions to emerging travel locations, such as Pakistan, providing unique cultural experiences.
- ✓ Ripple Score Initiative: Transparency in how travel spending impacts local economies, promoting responsible tourism.
👉 Visit G Adventures’ Official Website to explore their offerings and learn more about Yves Marceau’s contributions to innovative travel experiences.
Learn more about G Adventures and connect with Yves at:
https://www.gadventures.com/
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Podcast Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated on recording, and has not been edited by a human. It may contain lots of mistakes, crazy words, and stuff that makes no sense. The host and the guest are not responsible for the accuracy of the transcript.
Jason Elkins (00:02.325)
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Big World Made Small podcast for the Adventure Traveler. Big day today here on the Big World Made Small podcast we’ve got Yves Marceau Vice President of Product for G Adventures. Yves so happy to have you here this is quite a treat. Thank you.
Yves Marceau (00:20.442)
Ah, thank you Jason. Thanks for inviting me. Exciting!
Jason Elkins (00:23.349)
Yeah, yeah, this is going to be fun. Obviously, I’ve known about G Adventures for a long time. I think most of our listeners have at least heard the name, if not actually been on one of your trips. And this is we’re kind of giving them a guess behind the scenes or behind the curtain type of insight into you as a person primarily, but also a little bit of G and what’s going on over there. And so really excited to have the conversation. Thank you. Let’s.
Let’s start with let’s go back as far as you want to go into your childhood first memories, whatever What I think people are interested in knowing is how did You get from where you started to where you are now kind of what was the journey? Because typically with people in adventure travel, they don’t always take the most direct route Sometimes they do but sometimes they don’t so what’s your story?
Yves Marceau (00:56.77)
Hahaha
Yves Marceau (01:15.074)
I am probably typical of that and not really having taken the direct route. I actually never thought I’d end up in travel. I moved to the US probably 34 years ago, 35 years ago after graduating college in Canada, in Montreal.
traveled around for a while and decided I was going to become a teacher. So I actually have a background in teaching and I taught for many years at a small school in western Massachusetts. And it was while I was teaching there that I started getting into travel and getting into travel like I was teaching French and I found that my students, you know, really didn’t connect very much with the language.
And part of it is small rural community in Western Massachusetts, Southern Vermont. A lot of the kids had never really left the area. And so how did I expect them to connect with taking a second language? Not a lot of people spoke in the area. So I decided my first year to work with an organization that brought students over for the summer.
and do homestays with American families and worked with the families in my school district and we brought in a group from France who was there for a month and it was a spectacular experience for everyone including me because I met what became a really good friend of mine. She was a teacher in France and
And by the end of the summer, you know, we were great friends and we decided we were going to do our own student exchange, bringing my students to France, her bringing her students to the U.S. And that’s how I got into travel. We started planning these trips every year. And then One day there was an ad in the paper. I was having my morning coffee. There was an ad in the paper. I mean,
Yves Marceau (03:35.498)
No one finds jobs through newspapers anymore. But there was an ad in the local paper, and it said they were looking for someone who was fluent in French, who had an educational background and knew France and knew food and wine. I had gone through college working in fine dining, so I knew food and wine, plus I love food and wine.
I was a French teacher and I had been to France multiple times so out of the blue I said, you know what, I’m gonna apply for this because teaching’s fun but I wanna travel.
Jason Elkins (04:14.973)
Yves and this was in like the local newspaper in Western Massachusetts?
Yves Marceau (04:19.946)
This was in the local newspaper in Western Massachusetts. And the company…
Jason Elkins (04:24.089)
Did you feel like it was written directly to you? Like who else would fit that well?
Yves Marceau (04:28.026)
Oh, I was like reading it and I’m going like, okay, like, did someone like find my profile somewhere and like write this for me? So I applied for the position I got a call like three days later, which is probably the time it took my resume to reach the desk of the person. And it was all by mail, you didn’t email like so
Jason Elkins (04:35.779)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (04:47.077)
Mm hmm. Back when you sent it in the mail, right? Yeah.
Yves Marceau (04:56.842)
I went for the interview and this is just a funny story, like something you should never do. The guy handed me a sheet of paper to test my language skills and it was a fax that was written and for those of you who remember what a fax is, it was a fax written in French. And I had just come from teaching so I had my bag with me. So I reach into my bag and instinctively.
Grab the red pen and start making corrections on the facts.
Jason Elkins (05:27.982)
Oh.
Yves Marceau (05:32.434)
And then the guy’s looking at me and I realize, I go, Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I hope you’re not the one who wrote this, but there’s like some really glaring spelling mistakes and syntax mistakes.
Jason Elkins (05:44.213)
And he was just wanting a translation, I assume. He wanted to see if you could read it or…
Yves Marceau (05:49.311)
He wanted to see if I could read it and understand it and not correct it.
Yves Marceau (05:56.214)
But what he was looking for was someone who was detailed oriented. So after that, he looked at me, he goes, well, this could go either way. I could either give you the job or tell you to leave. He ended up giving me the job. No, no, it was written by the person I was going to I was replacing. And and so.
Jason Elkins (06:08.025)
Did he write it? Did you find… was he the one that wrote it?
Jason Elkins (06:15.561)
Oh, even better. Did did that birth did was that already predetermined when you say that it was written by the person you were replacing, but did they actually intend for you to replace that person or only after the out only after the interview with all the red circles on the paper?
Yves Marceau (06:29.662)
Yeah, yeah, I was, the intent was I was, yeah. Yes. So, so, so it was, it was, it was, I mean, it was a fascinating way to start in travel because it was working for, for a company at the time that was called Elder Hostel. Nowadays, it’s called Road Scholar. But it was basically educational trips for older Americans and everything we did was
designing, like was thinking of travel in the thematic sense and how do you build a course around a theme and travel? I mean this was before adventure travel really kind of existed, like the concept of adventure travel kind of grew out a little bit of from educational travel and from people going around like in the 90s and
You know, adventure travel really comes out as a child of the 90s, and this was like the really early 90s. And so my first assignments were building food and wine tours in France.
Jason Elkins (07:29.881)
Hmm.
Jason Elkins (07:40.813)
So did you quit the job teaching and went, is this okay?
Yves Marceau (07:43.294)
Oh yeah, absolutely. Once I found out, build food and wine tours in France, travel for work, and I didn’t even really care about what the salary was going to be. I was like, alright, yeah, okay, when do I start?
Jason Elkins (07:58.929)
I’ve been there done that. Yep, I get it.
Yves Marceau (08:02.251)
And it proved to be a wonderful, like I was there for 15 years, you know, and got to travel all over the world. I mean, places that I never thought I would ever visit. I got to explore in depth parts of the world and…
You know, my specialty really became opening up new destinations and really kind of looking at how do you go into places and build new and we call it product, but new tours, new experiences that appeal to the North American market mostly. And, and you know, I went to
Jason Elkins (08:46.19)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (08:52.33)
I went to places that I didn’t, you weren’t really allowed to travel. Like I was, I spent so much time in Cuba when, uh, when we opened travel to Cuba, I was there every two weeks and had, have had the opportunity to travel the whole island and drive around the whole island at a time when even my Cuban counterparts hadn’t been to parts of Cuba that I’d had been to. And, you know, it’s interesting. Um,
Jason Elkins (09:19.181)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (09:22.378)
when you get into this business, and you might know this, you sometimes as a product person have more travel experience in the destination than the partners you’re working with in that destination. Like I remember like, you know, working in France, designing food and wine tours. I knew France better than my friend who…
Jason Elkins (09:36.259)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (09:47.642)
who was the teacher that I met the first year I started the exchange program, she was like, Yves, you know the country better than I do. And that’s really what brought me to G from Road Scholar.
Jason Elkins (09:53.102)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (09:56.717)
Yeah, yeah.
Jason Elkins (10:06.073)
So what do you think is behind that? Other than just the necessity of knowing a country, what do you think that says about maybe your personality or the personality of people that work in adventure and this, I’m gonna say adventure travel, what I mean in this kind of exploratory type of world that we’re working in.
Yves Marceau (10:20.892)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (10:25.938)
I mean, you have to be curious. You have to want to discover and explore and find places that you couldn’t find. I mean, nowadays you can do a lot of research online. I mean, when I started, it was guidebooks and in-field research is what you had to do. Like you had to get around.
You know you might be lucky enough like tourism boards might have half of the accommodations that are available in a destination half of the Things that you can do but like if you really want to find a cool restaurant you got to go from village to village to find the restaurant meet with the chef and you know, and that’s really What you know, you want to replicate an adventure travel. That’s what adventure travel is like
Jason Elkins (11:17.613)
Hmm.
Yves Marceau (11:18.878)
I look at it and how we build like new tours today is a little bit of how I would build my exploratory tours when I would go out and do some field research. And, well, in the way that, you know, when you look at adventure travel, it’s about discovering places that
Jason Elkins (11:34.501)
Okay, in what way? Help me understand that when you say.
Yves Marceau (11:47.858)
aren’t necessarily on the beaten path or the absolutely known. Like you want to go outside of your comfort zone with adventure travel. It’s not about just staying in like the one track. And that’s what attracted me to adventure travel. Like I went from educational travel to adventure and that really was the key. I wanted to really push the envelope a little bit more.
Jason Elkins (12:16.865)
love that you describe it that way and listening to you describe it reminds me of how I’ve described it often and comfort zone is the number one thing that generally comes up for me as well because people ask well what is adventure travel sometimes when I reach out to people to discuss the podcast they well I don’t you know maybe they say well we don’t really do adventure travel well hold on let’s discuss this because you know maybe they’re doing you know culinary tours cultural tours
Yves Marceau (12:40.344)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (12:45.473)
For me, that can be adventure travel. If it’s outside of your comfort. Some of the best adventures I’ve had in my travels have been walking down the street somewhere and looking down an alley and seeing a gathering of people and thinking, oh, I’m gonna go see what that’s all about. So I take a right turn and I walk down and it’s, you know, some street vendors or some little party I’ve been invited to.
Yves Marceau (12:48.146)
Go!
Jason Elkins (13:09.409)
birthday parties because of that just so I walk up and you know I remember in Guatemala once you know there was music and I just I had to go check it out and they invited me in sat me down fed me a plate full of food and some coffee and it was it was a huge adventure although I didn’t work up any sweat I didn’t you know the maybe a little bit of adrenaline just because I thought it was cool
Yves Marceau (13:14.658)
Bye.
Yves Marceau (13:28.738)
Ha ha.
Jason Elkins (13:31.673)
But I love that you bring that out because it’s about getting outside the comfort zone and then the word curiosity is the other thing that you brought up. And I think…
Yves Marceau (13:38.666)
Yeah, yeah, you know, you, people often think of adventure travel as being like these remote destinations or the more like obscure or the more kind of like mythical places. I will say that the greatest growth in adventure travel in terms of numbers of travelers is probably happening in Europe at the moment.
And it’s this whole concept of going beyond just the known cities or the known monuments in Europe and it’s like discovering the parts of Europe that truly non-adventure companies don’t go to. Like, you know, there’s a lot of companies that do tours to Europe, a lot of travelers. There’s a reason Europe is the number one destination for North Americans in the world. It’s beautiful.
But, you know, it’s we only scratch the surface in Europe. Like I’m currently working on something. We’ve launched a new product line and I’ve been working with the team on this new product line, which is all about, you know, looking at.
popular destinations in a slightly different way, still giving travelers like the experience of the sites you wanna go, like when you go, if you go to Portugal, you know, you wanna go to Lisbon, you wanna go to Porto. But in between there, taking them into a completely different path and making them discover parts of Portugal that really not a lot of travel companies go to. And…
Jason Elkins (15:21.88)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (15:23.25)
And you can only do that by doing a lot of field research and really doing your research and understanding kind of what it is that the curious traveler wants to see and wants to experience. And people want to feel connected to the places they’re traveling. And they want to feel like they’re meeting people there that also want to be connected with them.
Jason Elkins (15:48.737)
Yeah, you said connected to the places and when you said that immediately, I thought for me it’s connecting to the people in those places. And then you mentioned the people in those places connecting as well, because, you know, I was discussing this with somebody the other day as you pick the most beautiful place on the planet and I go there to see it. And if there’s nobody else there.
Yves Marceau (15:55.406)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (16:11.221)
And I’m just there by myself looking at this beautiful scenery. I don’t know if it would do it for me. Honestly, you know, I just, you know, drop me in the middle of the Amazon where it’s amazing and, and I’m just literally by myself. I’m not going to get much out of it. You know, it’s, I want to be with the local guide. I want to, I want to, you know, meet somebody’s kids and, and see them playing and experience maybe the food and the culture. So.
Yves Marceau (16:17.864)
No.
Yves Marceau (16:40.002)
Mm-hmm, it drop you in and the Amazon in a village where you have and it’s more than just dropping you in the Amazon in a village because You could do that on your own But it’s dropping you in an Amazon in a village in the Amazon with someone who can be there to help facilitate an experience for you that you can
Jason Elkins (16:41.049)
Why not?
Jason Elkins (16:44.682)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (17:05.018)
understand but also the person you’re interacting with also can understand a little bit better. That creates a deeper connection than if you just dropped yourself there and tried to hand movements and everything. You would still feel that connection. Would you take away as much? No. I mean with an adventure tour you’ll actually take a lot more and you’ll go oh my god this is mind-blowing I actually understood what’s going on.
Jason Elkins (17:25.262)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (17:32.161)
It’s that interpretive part, I guess, that really plays in. I remember I was in, where were we? I think we were in Zambia in Livingston and went and visited one of the villages there. And the guide that walked us through the village lived there and showed us his house, which was really was a mud hut. And he was in the process of building one right next to it because his son was turning eight and the
Yves Marceau (17:33.994)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (17:59.693)
the age of eight, I guess the boys don’t live in the mud hut with their mom and their dad anymore. So he’s building a mud hut right next to it. And, and we were, if I just walked through that village, I would have seen some interesting things, but to have him there explaining it. And then as we walked through the village, his little boy,
Patrick, I remember Patrick, seven year old Patrick, holding my hand as we walked through, the entire walk through the village. He’s holding my hand, just grinning ear to ear because he’s so proud to be with the tourists and proud that his dad is the village guide and just the…
the ability to really connect with what was going on there was so much higher than if I had just shown up, you know, on my own and just started walking through the town trying to take pictures. I would have got all those looks like who are you? What are you doing? So provide an opportunity for Patrick connect to connect with me and me to connect with Patrick. And of course, my son is seven and was back home in the States. So I felt that, you know, so as soon as I go home, I’m showing pictures to my son of Patrick. And for years
Jason Elkins (19:07.471)
I’m like, what are you talking about? You know, Patrick, the little boy in Africa that you met. So that connection went all the way from Patrick there, through me, back to my son, and created. And now I travel with my son and have spent time in Southeast Asia and Central America with him. And yeah, it’s that connection is I just, I don’t want to travel if I can’t connect with people.
Yves Marceau (19:13.686)
That’s awesome.
Yves Marceau (19:30.374)
Exactly. And I actually think, you know, it goes even more. It gets bigger than just us, just individuals. I think the more we travel and build those connections with people in different cultures, in different countries, as a people and as a as a as a humankind, we start thinking bigger and more interconnected
like our needs, our wants, and it becomes like how do we, I mean, I see it as a force for peace and a force for good the more we travel.
Jason Elkins (20:14.041)
You might’ve noticed the name of my podcast and that was where I was going with that whole thing was, okay, it is a big world. I created the podcast when I went to Southeast Asia for the first time and it was, I always thought of it as being so far away, but once you get on the plane and you go and you start connecting and meeting people, it feels so much closer. So it was kind of that, yeah, it’s a big world, let’s make it a little smaller. And that was kind of the intent of having these conversations with people all over because you’re right, it’s, I think…
I think it’s important that we get to know each other and build these connections whether it’s listening to a podcast of you know maybe I’m interviewing somebody that’s a guide in New Zealand or Malaysia or whatever or if we can encourage people to get up, you know and go visit these places that’s even better So I get it and that’s just that’s my passion in the space and that’s why it’s so much fun You know talking to people like yourself that live kind of the same the same mindset. So
Yves Marceau (21:08.938)
The same mindset, yeah. And I have to say, I haven’t met anyone in travel that’s done a lot of travel that doesn’t have that same passion or that same drive. And I don’t think that’s ever gonna go away. And I joke with people, my retirement plan is to become…
a CEO and a CEO at G is at G and sorry, I’m using G terminology, but a CEO is what most other companies would call a tour leader. And, you know, my plan for retirement is I’m gonna be a CEO and I’m gonna go lead tours and take people on.
Jason Elkins (21:41.272)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (21:46.262)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (21:53.729)
It’s a term like chief experience officer, is that or what? Yeah, yeah, familiar with that. Yeah, no, I get it completely. I mean, I just, I will go find people to guide. I travel full time now and.
Yves Marceau (21:57.034)
That’s what it is, yes.
Jason Elkins (22:08.641)
You know, if I run into somebody that’s kind of looks like they need to go have an adventure, I’m like, hey, let’s go. Let’s go get on the bus. You know, I’m in Colombia. Let’s go get on the bus. Let’s go get on the metro and just go find something interesting. And it’s so much more fun when you can share it with people. And and, you know, guiding has always been it’s a lot of fun. I’m curious.
Yves Marceau (22:28.894)
It is, and I love guides. Guides like when you meet them, like in tour leaders and CEOs, like they share that same passion. And that’s really like, you know, what’s important when you look at adventure travel is making sure that whomever you’re traveling with has that passion.
Jason Elkins (22:35.918)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (22:52.705)
Yeah, yeah. I’m curious, because you’ve been around, you’ve been in this space for a while. And I only say that because we were talking about newspapers and faxes earlier. And I’m curious, so if you just look at the general population, and this is not a knock, we all have our own strengths and weaknesses and interests and things, but when you speak about the type of person that makes a good guide, what percentage of the population do you think just has that?
personality, that curiosity, that passion that could just like, you could almost pull them out of anything and just drop them in, teach them an area and they’d be amazing guide. Cause I feel it’s pretty rare.
Yves Marceau (23:32.082)
It is, it is. Because you have to have that passion and it’s easy to spot someone who’s going to be a good guide. Because right away it’s someone who’s got generally, you know, who’s got the right personality. And you know, a lot of people would assume, oh you have to have a bubbly personality, you have to be outspoken. Actually, I found that some of the best guides are not people that are like the first one to talk. They’re often the ones who listen the most.
Jason Elkins (23:40.48)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (24:01.377)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (24:02.098)
Um, because they talk when it’s important and, uh, but, and I’m not answering your question, but I’m kind of, kind of am, um, I, I think it’s a small percentage of people who can really do a good job at it because, you know, to, to be a good guide, a good tour leader, a good CEO, um, you, you have to be part teacher. You have to be part entertainer.
Jason Elkins (24:10.379)
Hahaha
Yves Marceau (24:31.05)
you have to be part saint. And I say that because you have to be very patient because you often have to repeat things for travelers. And you have to be like excited when you’re sharing knowledge and sharing a destination. And where really what matters the most for you is like, when you show someone an experience,
and you see their face, that’s all the reward you need. You know, because money aside, all of that, that’s great, but it’s not money that makes you a great guide or a great CEO, it’s like wanting to let people experience intense feelings when they’re traveling.
Jason Elkins (25:23.229)
I love the way you describe it and I think you’re right. I think very few guides are drawn in because of money. It’s generally that personality. I find any way that personality is kind of sometimes oblivious, maybe to a fault. I know I know I am. I know I’m that way. I’ve been reminded by I have two ex wives that both remind me, Jason, I know this thing that you’re doing is a lot of fun and wouldn’t it be great if.
Yves Marceau (25:29.229)
No.
Yves Marceau (25:38.678)
Sometimes, yes.
Yves Marceau (25:46.158)
Hehehehe
Jason Elkins (25:53.329)
Um, so that that’s part of it. And I’m curious if, so if your job, if someone hired you, okay. And you have done this, I know Yves is your job is to go out and recruit a bunch of guides for our upcoming season. And you sit down with a strategy. Okay. Where am I going to go look for these people? Let’s say you can’t look at current guides or anybody in the industry.
And you’ve got to just start from scratch and go into a particular industry to try and recruit people to be great guides. Where do you go?
Yves Marceau (26:28.603)
I mean, I would probably start with people that are in education.
Jason Elkins (26:32.185)
I knew you were gonna say that. Just like you. Yeah.
Yves Marceau (26:37.043)
Uh, a little bit. Uh, or, or people that are in the, the restaurant sector, like service sector. Uh, and, uh, and the reason I say that is like, like I said, being a good guide is part being educator and teacher. And part of it is being Saint and patience. I think teachers have like that patience.
Jason Elkins (26:45.065)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (27:00.86)
Mm.
Yves Marceau (27:04.618)
and they have that skill to learn, they know how to learn, they know how to teach themselves, and then they know how to share that knowledge for the most part. But I also think people in the service sector, especially, I find waiters especially are good at that kind of stuff, or bartenders tend to be good at that kind of interaction with the public. But you also see it with some of our greatest CEOs
Jason Elkins (27:22.259)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (27:34.026)
at G have come from our supply chain. They’ve either been, you know, a receptionist at the hotel or, you know, a waiter at one of the restaurants we’ve worked at or the driver’s assistant on the bus. And they just say, I want to be like him or her. And they get inspired by, you know, some of our CEOs and our CEOs take them under their wing. And
You know, in a lot of countries, becoming a tour guide or a CEO or tour leader is actually access to the middle class. You know, so when we talk about like the good travel can do, like, that is one of the realities of travel in many places. Travel here in the US working in travel or, you know, in Europe is kind of not, you know, it’s not seen as a high paying kind of profession.
Jason Elkins (28:10.839)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (28:31.362)
But when you go into like India, Africa, Asia, being a tour guide or being a guide is actually access to the middle class for many people. And our CEOs will often take young people who express interest under their wing and kind of teach them a little bit and push them. And, you know, I love seeing that. And again, that’s something that creates a connection because
Jason Elkins (28:42.819)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (28:59.106)
They’ll often show their group that or introduce them to this young person and it just encourages them to pursue and grow themselves. So, you know, it’s infinite the good you can do with travel.
Jason Elkins (29:12.376)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (29:17.557)
No, it’s very cool. I’ve seen that. I worked in the fly fishing industry for years and. Virtually all of it was international stuff and I would go somewhere and spend all day with a guide and you really kind of get to learn about their family and the dynamics of the area. And.
you sometimes when you get back to the dock, just the way the people interact with them on the dock or their children come out and excited to see them or just you can see, you can just really sense that there’s a great sense of pride. You know, the ones that are good and there’s very many good, great ones. Just the sense of pride that they have and the respect that they have in the community.
Yves Marceau (29:42.935)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (30:02.509)
maybe sometimes, you know, I’ve seen them after hours too, walking around in the town or the village and they just, they look like leaders, you know, in their communities. And without that type of work, you gotta wonder what does that look like? Cause I don’t, I’m not gonna, I don’t wanna say anything disparaging, but sometimes they look like leaders in the sense that they could also be a negative leader, you know, in their community.
Yves Marceau (30:27.785)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (30:28.589)
You know, they’re walking around, they’ve got a little bit more financial resources, a little bit more of a swagger, they kind of hold their head high. And in some communities, especially impoverished communities.
that person that looks like that may be doing something totally different to generate their income and respect and I think it’s just great to see hey this guy’s out there you know making this living and creating this for himself and his family as a fishing guide or as a tour guide of some sort as opposed to just the badass on the block that you know is you know running some other businesses on the side that are not so great for the community.
Yves Marceau (30:43.723)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (31:03.358)
Yeah, I find that people like that though in travel, they come through very quickly and they tend to not stick around for a long time or they’re like not allowed to stick around for a long time or their influence diminishes very quickly. Like once you start getting into that bad apple place, like I’ve not
I mean, I’ve seen the bad side of travel, trust me. But when we’re talking about adventure travel, I find that kind of personality doesn’t stick around for a long time.
Jason Elkins (31:42.133)
Okay, I got what you’re saying and I’m wondering if maybe I didn’t explain very well. Well, what I’m thinking is, is not that I’m a badass because I’m a guide. It’s the, I’m proud of what I’m doing. I’m doing something great. I’m helping people experience amazing things. My community sees that my community values that my family values that as opposed to. Somebody else in the community.
Yves Marceau (31:47.598)
Okay, so maybe, yeah. Sorry!
Yves Marceau (31:55.896)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (32:11.469)
that maybe has similar financial resources. However, achieve those financial resources by doing other things that are not so supportive of the community and that type of thing. So I guess that’s where I was going with that. And that’s a pleasure to see that because without tourism, you gotta wonder, okay, well, what’s this guy gonna do? You know? So I agree that I think tourism provides a lot of opportunity.
Yves Marceau (32:14.727)
Okay, yes.
Yves Marceau (32:23.529)
Okay.
Yves Marceau (32:33.422)
Exactly. Yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry. Yeah, it’s just I have seen people in tourism that are not necessarily like don’t really think bigger picture bigger like the good of the community. And I find they don’t like it’s one of those industries where people like that don’t stick around very long in any one place. I mean, they may stay in the industry, but they’re not super successful or they’re not like
Jason Elkins (32:46.517)
Well, yeah, I’ve seen that too.
Jason Elkins (32:54.244)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (33:01.698)
They don’t stay with the same company or in the same path for very long because people catch on very quickly. You know, and, and we’re a small community in travel. Like the, the one thing no one ever talks about, but like, uh, it’s amazing how small the travel community is when you think about how big the world is.
Jason Elkins (33:09.117)
Oh yeah.
Jason Elkins (33:13.209)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (33:23.113)
Yeah, no, I, I get it. It’s, it’s so interesting. Sometimes I have conversations with people and we dig a little deeper and find out it’s at seven degrees of separation, but I think in, in tourism, it’s like two degrees, like we’re, we’re not, I’m not planning to go here on this conversation, but Yves, I’ve never met you in person. I don’t really know too many people at G adventures. And I’m pretty sure that if we started.
Yves Marceau (33:37.885)
Oh, I was gonna say it’s probably two degrees.
Jason Elkins (33:52.353)
Comparing notes there’s I probably have a hand You know a ton of people that I’ve worked closely with that you’ve worked closely with and it’s just always so Interesting and it’s definitely come up as I’ve been working on this podcast. You know, we’re filling
Yves Marceau (34:00.137)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (34:07.177)
recording this in January 2024. Podcasts only been around a few months. I’ve interviewed about 50 people now. And I’m to the point now where I send out an invite to somebody that I’m excited about chatting with and they come back and say, oh yeah, you interviewed so and so and so and so and so and those are my friends and absolutely. Yeah, let’s connect. And it’s all just becoming this big word of mouth community and it’s been a lot of fun. So I get that. So what’s your best advice to somebody? Maybe there’s somebody out there listening to this that
is a school teacher or you know is working in a restaurant or a hotel and their dream is to go be a guide for G Adventures. What’s your best advice for them? Yeah well that’s a really good start.
Yves Marceau (34:50.026)
apply? I mean, it’s like, you know, I think, you know, people often think, well, I’m not qualified, I can’t do it. You know, there are always introductory roles available or first year, there’s always a first year tour leader, CEO. It’s really
The most important thing I would say is do your research and make sure you go work with a company that shares your value, but also that what they’re looking to deliver works with who you are and your personality. Because
You know, there’s companies out there that really want tour leaders that are more, you know, academic. They’ll want someone who talks to the client more from a, you know, academic perspective, learning perspective. Then there are companies who want you to talk much more from a local knowledge perspective. So they’ll hire you, but in an area where you’re really knowledgeable.
Jason Elkins (35:57.206)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (35:58.042)
Or and then there’s companies who are looking more for people who can facilitate The group dynamic and create a group dynamic that’s really tight because part of the experience about that people are looking for when they travel on a group trip is that connection with other travelers and You know, I find that when you have a CEO that can build that connection on tour
The experience the group has with the activities we’ve set up or the interactions we’ve set up is that much better because there is that bond that’s formed between the travelers and they want to have a shared experience all of a sudden. Instead of going back to you alone in the Amazon, imagine if you were in the Amazon with a bunch of friends visiting that village.
Jason Elkins (36:39.874)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (36:47.)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (36:57.75)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (36:57.814)
that experience becomes even more intense and even more touching to you and more meaningful.
Jason Elkins (37:07.425)
No, I, I agree. And when you were saying that, I was imagining kind of a scenario where if you’ve got a great trip leader, tour manager, whatever you want to call it, the CEO, um, that’s able to bring the group together. I can imagine scenarios where if you’ve got a really cohesive group that everybody feels involved, everybody feels connected and respected and all those things that go along with that. They may actually have.
This is hard for me to put in words, but you might be able to take them somewhere that’s maybe even not that exciting or that interesting. And they’ll still have a really good experience. Whereas if you take a group of people to someplace that’s mind blowing, but you don’t have that cohesion, you’re not feeling that shared experience, you’ve got three or four people in the group that feel like, oh, nobody likes me, nobody wants to talk to me, I kind of feel left out here, then.
Yves Marceau (37:43.242)
Thanks for watching.
Jason Elkins (38:05.477)
I would rather have the lesser experience, maybe the destination that’s not as exciting with a really cohesive group than a really exciting destination with a group that’s just totally disconnected and discombobulated. What do you think?
Yves Marceau (38:20.714)
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think every destination is exciting, by the way, because I think it really, it really depends on…
Jason Elkins (38:26.693)
Well, I kind of do too. I was just trying to make a point. So I don’t know. Like if you had if I had to give you examples, I don’t know what they’d be because I can pretty much have fun anywhere as long as I’m connecting with people. I guess that’s what I’m saying.
Yves Marceau (38:39.47)
Exactly. That’s where I was going to go with this. I think, you know, and I don’t want to, I don’t want to use any destination as an example, because I’ll get a call from a tourism board that’ll say, how could you? But, but you know, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world is if you if you as a, like me, basically as a product person in my team.
Jason Elkins (38:52.825)
Uh-huh. I get it.
Yves Marceau (39:04.418)
have built something that’s solid, that’s built on like, you know, creating experiences, creating connection, and you have a CEO that is on top of that, you know, that knows how to connect the group, understands what the experience needs to feel like to people, understands the community, and you have a community that is
embracing receiving travelers, it’s gonna be a phenomenal experience for travelers. No matter where you are.
Jason Elkins (39:38.829)
Right, yeah. And kind of the, I also hear you saying in that, you know, if maybe you and your team put together an amazing product because there’s an interesting mix of experiences and opportunities, that trip leader.
can be the icing on the cake or can really also kind of just diminish it pretty quickly. So it’s kind of like you got the foundation and then it’s the trip leader’s ability to create an experience to turn that experience into a shared experience of some sort or the connection. I think that’s super important.
Yves Marceau (40:05.226)
can diminish it, yes.
Yves Marceau (40:15.972)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (40:21.15)
Yeah, I mean, tour leaders are a little bit like, you know, they’re a little bit art, artists, you could say, you know, because we can give them like the best itinerary. But if they don’t really deliver it, it’ll still be a good travel experience. It just may not be like that phenomenal like, you know, connection that you feel.
Jason Elkins (40:28.287)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (40:48.417)
And it can be as simple as not being able to remember people’s names. Right. I mean, just something that simple. If you’ve, if you’re leading a group, you’ve got a group of 12 or 24 people and everything else is great, but you just cannot remember people’s names. And you just, you know, someone walks up to you, Hey, Bob, how’s it going? Are you having fun? They’re like, no, my name’s Phil. That, you know, that, that connection could go really, really quick. So there’s, there’s a lot of different things.
Yves Marceau (40:52.814)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (41:13.758)
Yeah, or not waiting, not waiting for people who like, you know, you’re walking through like a town and you stop somewhere to explain what’s in this pastry shops window and you didn’t wait for the last five people and they go. Why do we stop here? Like.
Jason Elkins (41:32.613)
And it’s always probably going to be the last five people. So after a week of that, those five had a totally different experience than the five that are the quickest walkers. Yeah.
Yves Marceau (41:35.302)
Yes.
Yves Marceau (41:41.791)
Yeah, yeah, and you know, and it’s like a really good guide will sometimes not lead the group, but like, back up the group, push the group, I might say. You know.
Jason Elkins (41:52.149)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, and I’ve seen, you know, in some tour situations where they’ve got a team, you know, two really, really good people. You’ve got the one at the front and then you always have the one at the back to make sure that everybody’s kind of feeling involved and kind of move things along. But that’s not always, you know, feasible. I get that. And I can see why, you know, when it is feasible that people do that.
Yves Marceau (42:10.102)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (42:16.394)
Yeah. And I mean, ultimately, it comes down to, you know, also you as the traveller knowing what it is that you need as a person and as a personality. Like, you know, because adventure travel is really broad. Like, let’s be honest, there are adventure travel companies where you stay in, you know, homestays.
Jason Elkins (42:34.581)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (42:42.378)
and a homestay might be just a bunk bed in the corner of the room with the family. And then you have adventure travel companies where you stay in five-star tented camps with bathtubs that can fit six people in the middle of the room in a bed that’s the size of a boat.
Jason Elkins (42:49.363)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (43:06.755)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (43:08.902)
And they’re both adventure travel. It’s really, you have companies where the adventure, is a little lighter, like it’s more about, seeing than doing. And you have some companies that are more about doing and seeing. So it’s really as a traveler, it’s understanding where you fit with a company. Like which company fits you or,
Jason Elkins (43:24.046)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (43:38.622)
which company do you fit or which travel style do you fit? Like, because that will help you have a better experience. Sometimes people, you know, are driven by price when they’re shopping. And I’m taking us in a different direction here, Jason, by the way, because I think travelers like need to know that there is a difference between companies and they need to find a company.
Jason Elkins (43:52.813)
No, I love it. I love where we’re going with this.
Yves Marceau (44:03.926)
that really matches what they’re looking for in their travel experience. And, you know, and there are multiple ways to do that, you know, start by researching the company, start by looking, but don’t always shop by price. I think that’s a mistake people often make is like, oh, this is a great deal. You’re going to have a great experience.
You’re traveling with a company that doesn’t have a tour leader, that doesn’t have included activities. I mean, it’s a hotel, it’s a breakfast, and it’s transfers between sites. The rest is up to you to build. It was a great price, but, okay, like, are you prepared? Have you built anything ahead of time? Like, I see travelers come back, people tell me all the time, oh, I went there, but, you know, there was nothing planned.
Jason Elkins (44:48.91)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (44:49.95)
Okay, well, but that’s what you bought, like, it’s understanding who you’re working with, and I think that’s an important piece.
Jason Elkins (44:56.469)
I think that’s super important and one example that comes to mind when you speak about the range is just like, if you said, okay, I want to go to Africa and a friend says you should go to Tanzania.
Okay, great. And I start, I, if, if it’s all I have in my mind is I want to go to Tanzania and I’ve got X budget that I’m working with and I want to spend as little as possible and you find yourself on a, you know, a camping track up Mount Kilimanjaro as opposed to, you know, game viewing, safari and luxury camps. Um, it’s important to kind of know what, what really are you looking for? Um,
because otherwise, yeah, you can just go and you can come back and say, well, yeah, I went to Africa, it was horrible. I spent seven days climbing up this mountain, sleeping in a tent and eating ramen noodles and I would never recommend that. So it is important to not just think Africa, price point, go online, Google, trip to Africa because there’s so many different options. And I wanna ask you though directly when you say, make sure you’re aligning with a company that kind of, because you mentioned that both for…
Yves Marceau (45:51.478)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (46:06.473)
somebody looking to get into the business and also, you know, potential client looking to take some trips. I think we touched on, we don’t need to touch too much on the person looking to get in the business, but I’m curious, how does G, how do you describe your
Typical, I guess the avatar, the, the person that is generally the best fit with G and I know there’s some flexibility and maybe you’ve got two or three different avatars based on your different products, but I figure you’re probably the person to ask. So if somebody’s listening to this right now, maybe they can see themselves.
Yves Marceau (46:26.862)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (46:36.542)
Yeah, yeah, no. And it.
So whether you’re looking to get into the business as a tour guide or as a client, you look at a company like G, and this is what attracted me to G, is as a company, very much the goal and the essence of the company is that travel is a force for good. When done right, it’s a force for good. And I think that’s what…
Most people who work in travel really feel like they want that and they see that and they understand that from having traveled. And gee, we take that to the next level. Like, and that’s what attracted me. But when you look at avatars, like we have multiple travel styles. You can go on an escorted backpacker trip that’s much more targeted for youth, where you stay, you know, you might do more home stays, hostel stays.
and more budget hotels where you take overnight trains and potentially overnight buses. But you know, your dinner will be street food in Hanoi led by a tour leader where you’re gonna have the best ramen noodle you’ve ever had. But you know, and that’s the kind of experience much more targeted for someone where comfort is not as important as safety and experience and getting out in the world and…
Jason Elkins (47:53.939)
Mm-hmm
Yves Marceau (48:06.994)
and having and being on a budget because those tend to be a budget tool.
Jason Elkins (48:11.949)
I want to ask before we move on past that one, you mentioned typically attractive to, you know, I’m thinking like the backpackers, the younger backpackers. I’ve been traveling full time for two years. I stay in hostels and everything you just described is like, yeah, that’s me. And I’m not, I’m 50. So I’m curious, anybody that’s listening to this, it’s a little older that maybe feels inspired the same way I just did when I heard you say that.
Yves Marceau (48:19.552)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (48:29.666)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (48:37.721)
Do you feel like typically those groups are open to the older folks as long as they kind of understand that this is a backpacker trip?
Yves Marceau (48:44.746)
Um, yeah, generally, generally and uh, you know, and there are travel styles more targeted towards that Um, you know like we have we our youth product is actually we kind of have an age limit like over 40 Like it’s 18 to 40 to travel on that and part of it is like it really is uh about um the Connection that happens between the youth and the group dynamic
Jason Elkins (49:00.222)
Okay.
Jason Elkins (49:11.577)
the group dynamics. I get it. Cause I see that as well. Yeah, I get it.
Yves Marceau (49:15.418)
You know, you look at our classic travel style where we use homestays, we use all kinds of accommodations, and that has a much broader age range. And it’s still everything about meeting the communities, about connecting with the communities. It’s still the ramen noodle in Hanoi, you know, it’s the street food in Amman.
It’s just done with a little bit more comfort and a bit more understanding that you’re dealing with a traveler who might want a little bit more comfort. Like, and a little bit more, you know, sense of like an overnight bus ride, probably not the thing they wanna do. But they might do an overnight train, you know? And that’s what we look at. And then, you know,
Jason Elkins (50:01.944)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (50:09.266)
I mean, we have our National Geographic Partnership, which is much more for someone who’s looking for a travel experience that’s a little bit more cerebral in nature and kind of touches on some iconic places and iconic experiences, but from the National Geographic Society perspective, so understanding the history behind it, the culture behind it. It’s a little bit more cerebral in nature.
Jason Elkins (50:32.195)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (50:38.509)
Isn’t that what’s great about branding is you just have to say a national geographic partnership, national geographic type of trip. And so many people listening to this. Oh yeah. There’s going to be somebody with a PhD probably, you know, that, uh, that’s going to probably be super excited about, you know, Marine crustaceans or something like that. And, and I love that. I think that’s cool as well. So, yeah.
Yves Marceau (50:38.741)
Um…
Yves Marceau (50:47.322)
And so many people understand exactly.
Yves Marceau (50:53.225)
Hahahaha
Yves Marceau (51:04.094)
Yeah, yeah, no, and you’re right. There’s gonna be really smart people on these tours that are gonna connect with you. But we also, and again, because of who we are as a company, we take that whole concept of doing good and connecting to a slightly higher level.
even with Nat Geo. So it’s like, so you might still have the ramen noodles and the street food tour but you’re going to have it at a slightly different level. So maybe instead of like the lady who has the cart on the side of the road it’ll be like the best little ramen noodle shop in Hanoi that we’re going to take you to. Where tourists don’t generally go but we know it’s good, it’s safe and you’re going to have an awesome ramen experience. So
Jason Elkins (51:53.45)
Mm hmm. I love that we’re talking about ramen. I love that. That is to me. That’s adventure. I you know, I’m in Columbia and I was at the market the other day just at the grocery store buying some stuff and I saw ramen noodles and I haven’t eaten ramen like I haven’t made ramen noodles for myself in a long time.
Yves Marceau (51:55.61)
I know.
Jason Elkins (52:12.373)
since probably college and I saw ramen noodles in the store and I actually bought two little bags of the ramen noodles and brought them back to my little guest house. I’m staying in and made ramen noodles, which felt weird, but it was kind of an adventure on its own, right? I guess. I don’t know.
Yves Marceau (52:26.994)
Yeah, and it’s probably going to be someone in this podcast going, Yves, my god, you’re in Hanoi, it’s not ramen noodle, it’s pho. Yeah. So let me stand and correct myself, pho.
Jason Elkins (52:35.893)
Yeah!
Jason Elkins (52:41.709)
That was that was good. Maybe I should I go back and edit out every repetition of the word ramen? But yeah, you’re right. But I get it. I we know what you’re talking about. So all right. That’s it’s very cool. This I want to ask you this now because I want to make sure I don’t forget. Where did the name G Adventures come from? What’s the story there and what?
Yves Marceau (52:49.642)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (53:05.75)
So it predates me. So I know it because I’ve read Bruce’s book a couple times, actually. And so G Adventures actually had a previous name, and it was Gap Adventures, so Great Adventure People. And it was a play on the concept of a gap year. And that’s where it comes from.
Jason Elkins (53:29.966)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (53:34.87)
You know, today we dropped the gap and just made it G Adventures.
Jason Elkins (53:42.481)
That makes sense. And I think it was the conversation of the backpackers, the ramen or the FAA and that made me remember. Oh yeah, I do recall that it was a gap adventure. So, okay. All right. So.
Yves Marceau (53:48.446)
Yes.
Yves Marceau (53:53.594)
Yeah, yeah, it was, and it’s funny because it, I mean, the brand is really well known, known in parts of the world. I was in Bolivia, so I went about three years ago, four years ago, yeah, right before the pandemic. I went to Bolivia and I went to do, I wanted to go see
you know, because people were telling me this was impossible to do at a more comfortable level, to do the desert crossing between the salt flats and Chile, to do it at a slightly higher level that was a little bit more comfortable. And I said, well, I don’t believe that it’s impossible because I don’t, every time I’ve been told something’s not possible, I go and I find a way to do it. So I said to the team, I said, I’m going.
And so we went and when we got to the border in Chile, I mean, this is border in the middle of the desert, by the way, there’s like nothing around it except like you drive through this garage. Like it’s this metal building, the garage door opens, the car goes, on one side you’re in Bolivia, on the other side you’re in Chile. And you put your luggage on like a…
Jason Elkins (54:54.164)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (55:06.434)
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Yves Marceau (55:12.886)
you know, kind of like an airport carpet. And they check your luggage. It was quite an interesting experience. But you come out of the garage, the door opens, and that’s where there was someone there with a Mr. Marceau Gap Adventures. And we hadn’t been Gap Adventures for five or six years by that time. But it was like, that’s how.
Jason Elkins (55:20.107)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (55:33.674)
I’m sorry.
Yves Marceau (55:38.71)
deep of a connection the brand sometimes have in destinations. Like people know you, like, and they know who you are. And companies that make an impact are known locally. And it’s important to, you know, I go back to, it’s important to travel with the right company for you as an individual and to do your research and because you will have a better experience.
Jason Elkins (55:52.814)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (56:07.582)
I think for most travelers, there is a travel style at G for them. But, you know, some people may want something that’s not as adventuresome, not as, you know, not as organized sometimes, or even a little less organized. So it may not be the trip for them, but research the trip, make sure you ask questions and those are the important things as a traveler.
Jason Elkins (56:29.94)
Okay.
Jason Elkins (56:33.445)
Great, great advice. And was there any other, I don’t know, levels or different types of, I mean, we, we spoke about national geographic. Was there, cause you guys have another one that I was reading about here lately that’s pretty new. Yeah. So tell us about that.
Yves Marceau (56:46.838)
We just, so we just launched a new one, yes. And I’m very excited about this one. And this is the one I was telling you about. I think I alluded to research earlier. So it’s called Gelux and it is a upgraded, more active travel style. And it’s…
Jason Elkins (57:01.335)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (57:14.034)
it’s taking everything we do at G and taking it to 11. So we’ve taken the accommodations to 11. So they’re really purposeful, comfortable. And I don’t want to use the word luxury because we really don’t want to use luxury, even though the name is Gelux. It’s more a play on
Jason Elkins (57:33.182)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (57:36.598)
Deluxe like having the deluxe burger versus the regular burger. It’s having more of the good thing So are the accommodations are all really curated properly like they’re comfortable we have on every tour like what we call an OMG stay because Once you get there and have the experience because it’s more than just about the accommodation It’s about the whole experience around where you’re staying. You’re gonna be
Jason Elkins (57:40.494)
Yep.
Yves Marceau (58:05.522)
Oh my god, I can’t believe we did that.
Jason Elkins (58:08.309)
So do you, so as a product person, do you plan that? Where do you plan that? Like in the course, cause I think sometimes trips can be like a story.
Yves Marceau (58:17.189)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (58:20.348)
and then the fond memories. So where do you put that OMG stay in your typical product mix? I’m just curious.
Yves Marceau (58:26.41)
So, it depends on the destination. Like, we haven’t really said it’s gotta be there. The whole point of the OMG stay is we’re gonna take you somewhere in the trip where…
Jason Elkins (58:30.53)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (58:41.49)
Not a lot of people go or it’s not well known and we’re gonna find an accommodation that’s really super cool It’s always gonna be comfortable but it’s also gonna be super cool and What we can do around there or what we can do at the accommodation is going to be a really unique community connection It’s I mean, it’s really going to blow your mind
Jason Elkins (59:08.777)
Yeah, I’m, I’m excited to learn more. I need to, I need to get on the team with you and start developing some of this stuff. It sounds like a lot of fun. Sounds very cool.
Yves Marceau (59:17.214)
So we launched the first batch of trips in November, and we are wrapping up the second batch of trips that are gonna go live at the beginning of March.
Jason Elkins (59:29.537)
Now are these all group trips or do you do? Okay. Okay, is a group trip with G Adventure is a good place to meet a partner or somebody is like, I’m single, I love to travel, I would love to meet somebody that likes to travel because I’m a firm believer that if you wanna meet somebody that likes to do something, you should go where those people are doing things. So like, you know, what do you think?
Yves Marceau (59:32.278)
They’re all small group trips, yeah.
Yves Marceau (59:48.746)
You know, it’s interesting you should bring that up. I actually was talking to a reporter from the Guardian this morning in the UK, who’s doing an article about solo traveling.
Jason Elkins (01:00:00.672)
Mm-hmm
Yves Marceau (01:00:04.606)
It is. I mean, again, you have to pick the right company because a lot of companies, like, they attract much more couples. At G, about 50 to 60 percent of our travelers are solo. Now, solo doesn’t always mean single. So, you know, some people are traveling alone because their partner doesn’t like to go do this activity. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:00:17.277)
Oh wow.
Jason Elkins (01:00:24.833)
Doesn’t mean that everybody that’s there by themselves is fair game and you should be working your charms.
Yves Marceau (01:00:32.43)
But, you know, we hear a lot of stories of people who’ve connected on tours and, you know, have become lifelong friends. Yes, we do have a number of people who’ve met on tours and they’ve done their honeymoon on a tour later on. Those are always cool stories and when I read them it just warms my heart.
Jason Elkins (01:00:47.073)
Yeah, that’s cool. Yeah.
Yves Marceau (01:00:53.674)
because you know they found each other like at a time where they were both like having a good time and then they’re doing their honeymoon on one of our tours like that always like makes me smile.
Jason Elkins (01:01:04.197)
It’s very cool. Do you think that there’s like, do your, your trip planners or whatever you call the people that are taking the calls and helping people choose trips? If I would ask one of them, do you have like certain trips that are just like best for single people that are looking to create relationships? Would they have some go to like, Oh yeah, this is the best trip for that or, or is it not like that?
Yves Marceau (01:01:26.482)
I think they would like depending on who you’re talking to they might know because they they’ve been on so many of our trips But you’ve just given me a great idea Yeah, I Don’t know but not so much no, it’s No, it’s more it’s more something for our staff if they do get that question that we could give them tours where we see a lot more solo travelers like
Jason Elkins (01:01:35.093)
Yeah. All right. What are we going to call it? Do you want to announce it right now on the podcast?
Jason Elkins (01:01:53.069)
Yeah, because I think that would be.
Yves Marceau (01:01:54.238)
like what tours tend to attract more solo travelers.
Jason Elkins (01:01:57.677)
Yeah, I think that would be interesting to know. And sometimes some settings are just more inclined to create those types of connections too, I would imagine. I don’t know, I’m not in the dating travel business. Ha ha ha.
Yves Marceau (01:02:11.387)
I mean, you definitely see more solo travelers on our 18 to 30s and our, you know, our Rome’s trip but those tend to be younger travelers anyway so they’re probably not married yet.
Jason Elkins (01:02:21.973)
Yeah, and they’ll find people along the way anyway. It’s that, I think it’s that divorcee, you know, that woman or man that was married for 20 years, their partner didn’t like to travel. They, you know, they kind of towed the line and now they’re 40, 50, 60 or more. And they’re like, I wanna go travel, but.
Yves Marceau (01:02:25.503)
Yes.
Yves Marceau (01:02:29.175)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:02:45.049)
They didn’t travel for 20, 30 years, so they don’t have a network of friends and people that like to travel and wouldn’t it be great to find a partner that was in the same situation that you know, because there’s a lot of like Facebook groups, find a travel buddy type of thing.
Yves Marceau (01:02:56.83)
Yeah, yeah, so one of the things I can say is that it doesn’t matter the trip you go on. The nice thing with, I mean, and I can’t speak to other companies because I don’t get to see their demographics like I do ours, but it doesn’t matter which trip you go on. Our trips tend to attract, you know, a good number of solo travelers, so even…
Jason Elkins (01:03:11.877)
Hmm?
Jason Elkins (01:03:22.516)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (01:03:24.766)
Even if you’re not looking for a spouse or someone and you’re a solo traveler who just wants to travel and you know because ultimately you always find your spouse in the love of your life when you’re not looking. So that’s my advice. It is that you’ll be able to connect with people who want to and you know at G we
Jason Elkins (01:03:37.229)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (01:03:50.358)
We offer solo travelers the ability to do a match, so they don’t have to pay for a single supplement. So if you’re traveling solo, to share with someone of the same gender, yeah. And if we can’t match them, we’ll give them a free single room. Like if we don’t have someone to match them with, they’ll get a single room for the trip.
Jason Elkins (01:03:57.229)
Nice. So is that as, as long as they’re willing to share with a same sex, okay, same gender. Yep. Okay. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:04:09.429)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:04:14.157)
That’s a, that’s a huge thing that anybody that’s listening to this, that doesn’t, hasn’t tried to travel solo before or hasn’t priced out trips. Um, the single supplement is something that can really make a difference for a lot of people and so yeah, listen up closely.
Yves Marceau (01:04:31.058)
Yeah, yeah, and people don’t often think of the single supplement because they say, well, why should I pay more for the room? But you’re not paying more for the room. You’re paying more because you’re alone in the room. Like when we do the price of a package, yeah, yeah. When we do the cost of a trip, we assume the room has, you know, two people. So.
Jason Elkins (01:04:42.266)
you’re not splitting the cost with somebody else. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:04:52.157)
And, and an organization like, you know, like you’d mentioned, you have, I think you said 50, 60% of your travelers are solos. So when your audience or when you’re, you know, your, your clientele travels that way, you can say, okay, there’s probably a high likelihood that we can pair people up so it makes sense for you to take a little bit of financial risk there to, to kind of make that promise that as long as you’re willing to share.
Yves Marceau (01:05:14.036)
Exactly.
Jason Elkins (01:05:17.829)
Um, then you don’t have to pay for the single supplement where if you’re a single traveler and you are considering a company that does lots of couples and families and all that type of thing, the chances of you finding an arrangement like that is as much lower and, um, and it’s just.
Yves Marceau (01:05:34.91)
Yeah, and a lot of companies, if you’re traveling solo, you have to pay for a single right up front. So that goes back to like researching the companies and seeing, yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:05:40.769)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:05:46.553)
Mm-hmm. All right. Very cool. We we’ve discussed so many things. I can’t wait to see what you create with the team here in the future. Um, look forward to maybe having some opportunities to collaborate as well. And I’m curious, Yves, what did I forget to ask you or what should I have asked you that you think are our listeners really need to, to hear before we wrap it up?
Yves Marceau (01:06:09.354)
Well, the one question that everyone always asks me is, is what’s my favorite place that I’ve been to? And I’m glad you, I’m actually glad you didn’t ask that because that is the hardest answer in the world. And as someone who’s traveled, you probably totally understand what I’m saying.
Jason Elkins (01:06:16.645)
I wasn’t going to ask that. I’ve asked that of… ..
Jason Elkins (01:06:28.217)
That’s, there’s a reason I don’t ask that, but go ahead, I’m curious to, I’m happy you brought it up.
Yves Marceau (01:06:33.714)
I mean, there isn’t a favorite place that I travel. There’s favorite experiences that I’ve had. And I think it comes down to traveling being about experiences and, you know, and experiences that sometimes make you cry, experiences that make you laugh, experiences that, you know, just make you enjoy the world. Like, so I think…
The, I think one of my favorite experiences, I have to say was probably in Africa, where we were driving in the Serengeti and we were kind of rushing to go from one camp to another and I was doing an inspection. And so we weren’t really doing wildlife viewing, but.
We were the only vehicle in this entire area and we drove by this bunch of trees and the driver stopped and there was an entire pride of lions, like right there. And we spent half an hour stopped and I just told the guy, I said, let’s just stop and enjoy this. And…
Listen to the pride of lions. Like literally they were like 10 feet from me. And I’m sitting in this vehicle with the guide and we’re talking and we’re having this conversation about preservation in Africa with this pride of lions that’s right there in front of us with all these cubs. And I felt so blessed and privileged to be there and see this. And I was thinking like,
Jason Elkins (01:08:06.285)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (01:08:19.045)
Mm-hmm.
Yves Marceau (01:08:30.142)
Here I am, little guy from Montreal, Canada, like grew up like, I’m going, I’m here in Africa and I’m like watching this Pride of Lion. How lucky am I? And that’s like, that’s like the things you have to remember when you travel, when you have these experiences, like how lucky, how privileged we are to be able to have these experiences.
Jason Elkins (01:08:42.535)
Yeah. What a great story.
Jason Elkins (01:08:55.429)
Not everybody is able to do that. And I think that when we are able to do that, we almost owe it to ourselves and the people that we connect with when we travel to go do it. And thank you. That’s a great place to wrap it up. Yves.
Yves Marceau (01:08:59.832)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (01:09:08.266)
Yeah.
Yves Marceau (01:09:13.174)
Thanks. Jason, it was a pleasure talking with you, and I hope everyone enjoys these stories we shared.
Jason Elkins (01:09:17.389)
Thank you so much.
Jason Elkins (01:09:23.277)
I trust that they will and that’s my purpose and I can’t do it without folks like yourself. So Yves, thank you very much for taking time out of your day to come share some stories and some insights and just help our listeners kind of make the big world a little smaller. All right. We’ll talk to you real soon.
Yves Marceau (01:09:39.314)
Excellent. Well, I’m there. Thanks. Bye.
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