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Intrepid Travel, Australia’s largest adventure tourism operator, has reimagined its product line during its rebuild to incorporate both new and amended itineraries with lower carbon outputs.

The company – which is a world leader in sustainability – 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 historic 2015 Paris Agreement.

As part of their decarbonisation 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 around the globe, including Australia and New Zealand. The tour operator is also switching out carbon intensive inclusions for more sustainable activities on a number of its tours, each of which provides an added benefit of enriching the overall trip experience further.

“Although Intrepid has placed a major importance on reducing our carbon footprint over the years, decarbonisation has become a real focus to our product design as we begin to rebuild. We urge other Australian and New Zealand companies in the travel industry to follow suit, looking beyond offsetting, advocacy and administrative green practices to focus on things that make the most positive impact such as trips,” said Sarah Clark, Managing Director APAC of Intrepid Travel.

Decarbonised 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 decarbonisation plan will include reviewing removing flights 90 minutes or less on our top 50 trips by the end of 2022 where a feasible land or rail alternative exists. 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 has increased its portfolio of walking- and cycling-based trips, recognising that they are some of the lowest carbon-output trip styles, while also being in high-demand as travellers seek 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 – including Australia and New Zealand – resulting in the addition of 25 new walking tours and 15 new cycling tours across a range of destinations. Examples include:

  • Trek The Larapinta Trail (AU)

Travellers experience the heart of the Australian Outback, West MacDonnell National Park in the Northern Territory, during this five-day trip. Guests will hike to shadowed gorges, snaking riverbanks, open plains and mountains filled with a rich diversity of animals and plants along the red rock slopes of the West Macs, appreciating the importance of this place to the traditional owners of the land, the Arrernte people, over thousands of years.

  • Cycle New Zealand: Otago Rail Trail (NZ)

New Zealand is renowned for its great cycling conditions and the Otago Rail Trail makes the most of it. Starting in Queenstown, the Trail then passed through small gold-mining towns like Alexandra, Omakau, Wedderburn and Hyde. There are flat plains overlooked by steep mountains as well as rivers and vineyards all along the route.

  • Cradle Mountain Overland Trek (AU)

Australia’s most famous trek is Tasmania’s Overland track. There will be two expert mountain guides at your side as you make your way through temperate rainforest and eucalyptus groves, across alpine moors and through valleys, skirt the edges of bright blue lakes and take in views of waterfalls and towering peaks in the distance. Camp under star-filled skies, wake up to dramatic landscapes, and take the chance to tackle side trips like summiting Cradle Mountain and the island’s highest peak Mt Ossa.

In addition to the new and amended tours, Intrepid also recognised its power to reduce the carbon output of its trips by looking to its supply chain. For the recently launched Intrepid Premium trip range – tours geared toward high-end travellers – there was a concerted focus in identifying and contracting more accommodation using renewable energy sources with eco-credentials. These efforts will continue to be integrated into all Intrepid Travel trips moving forward.

“For years we have been planning on ways to offer our Australian and New Zealand travellers decarbonised trips and the global pandemic has only heightened the importance of these efforts. The global travel shut down we saw in 2020 provided the industry with a unique opportunity to reassess operations and commit to rebuild with the planet in mind,” said Clark.

All Intrepid trips operate under Safe Travel protocols developed and endorsed by the World Travel & Tourism Council. Travellers can also book with confidence with Intrepid’s Flexible bookings policy.

For more information about Intrepid’s commitment to a low-carbon future, visit: www.intrepidtravel.com/au/climate.