Draft:Gondwana Ecotours

Gondwana Ecotours is an American sustainable travel company specializing in small group and private escorted tours to different destinations worlwide. Founded by Jared Sternberg in 2013, it is headquartered in Homer, Alaska and offers itineraries in five different countries across three continents. Each tour focuses on highlighting the destination’s nature, wildlife, and culture.

The name “Gondwana” refers to the ancient supercontinent that existed 500 million years ago. The company visions the “world as one” and its mission is to connect people across continents through travel. All itineraries focus on offering tours with soft ecological footprints, ensuring that guests have memorable experiences that are good for local environments and the planet.

History
Gondwana Ecotours was founded in 2013 by Jared Sternberg. A Tulane University graduate of environmental and human rights law, Jared wanted to help Indigenous and underserved populations preserve their lands and natural resources.

While volunteering in the Ecuadorean Amazon Rainforest with the Achuar Indigenous Nation, he decided to create Gondwana Ecotours to use ecotourism for economic and emotional support for Indigenous people.

Gondwana Ecotours helps guests travel responsibly through local and carbon-neutral tours to support local environments, cultures, and communities by minimizing negative environmental impacts while maximizing tourists' positive experiences.

Sustainability & Partnerships
Since 2016, the company has been certified by the Alaska Travel Industry Association (ATIA) through its Adventure Green Alaska (AGA) certification program. This voluntary certification program for Alaska-based tourism businesses evaluates companies' operations to determine if they meet standards of economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The company has also been certified by Green America, which has examined its social and environmental commitments and contributions. Gondwana Ecotours is also a member of the International Ecotourism Society, the Green Business Network, and Responsible Travel.

In 2021, Gondwana Ecotours partnered with Cooler, a social venture founded by Michel Gelobter, to neutralize carbon emissions and has become one of the few tour companies to be 100 percent carbon-neutral. This partnership neutralizes the impact of their tours’ carbon footprint. Cooler calculates tour-by-tour carbon footprints and buys the equivalent amount of pollution permits from over a dozen states in the USA. This makes available permits more scarce to industrial polluters and contributes to the rising price of permit costs, encouraging companies to find more environmentally conscious operation methods.

This same year, Gondwana Ecotours became a member of the Adventure Travel Trade Association, the largest global network of adventure travel leaders to share commitments to sustainable tourism. The association connects to collaborate on visions for more sustainable business practices.

In addition to carbon offsetting, the company prioritizes working with local communities for its sustainability efforts. It implements scouting trips to their destinations in search of guides, hotels, and restaurants. As a result of these trips, Gondwana Ecotours integrates locally-owned accommodations, restaurants, and activities into their itineraries to support local economies. The company also hires local guides who care for their surrounding areas and are passionate about preserving the environment for their communities.

Gondwana Ecotours also hosts small group sizes to mitigate impacts on destinations’ environments, providing reusable water bottles to all guests, and incorporating sustainable learning into relevant tour itineraries.

In a market research of the US Sustainable Travel Market published March 2024, Research and Markets noted that responsible tourism practices were central to the U.S. sustainable travel market and Gondwana Ecotours was highlighted as one of the "prominent vendors" in the market. In the same month, the company was named among the 14 best sustainable travel companies to book with by TimeOut, a London-based media and hospitality Company.

Gondwana Ecotours also makes donations to local communities. Such partnerships include supporting Aspire Rwanda, a nonprofit offering vocational training and living spaces for single mothers and on-site schooling for their children. It also donates to the Maasai Community Development Initiative, supporting the local Maasai tribe that guests can visit on its Tanzania: Great Migration Safari. The company donates about 10 percent of its profits to the communities of its destinations.