Intrepid Travel chair and co-founder makes special visit to Vietnam to share future tourism growth plans
Darrell Wade, the Chair and Co-Founder of Intrepid Travel, the world’s largest adventure travel company with a commitment to responsible tourism has made a special visit to Vietnam underscoring the business’ growth plans for the country.
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As part of its commitment to its global teams, Intrepid’s co-founders and CEO, who are based in Australia, are travelling to every one of the company’s 27 country offices this year to meet with Intrepid’s team and stakeholders with the aim to introduce the company’s new 2030 Strategy.
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| Darrell Wade, the Chair and Co-Founder of Intrepid Travel. (Photo: Phong Thuan) |
Intrepid employs 38 office staffs, 120 local trip leaders, local guides, drivers, and mechanics in Vietnam and operates 2,942 trip departures across the country. In 2023, it supported 21,378 travellers to explore in a conscious manner.
“Darrell’s visit is a demonstration of Intrepid Travel’s commitment to bringing more economic stimulus to Vietnam by way of supporting a flourishing tourism economy, local community philanthropy and the creation of viable career opportunities for the local community”, said Hanh Nguyen, General Manager, Vietnam.
Beyond Vietnam, the 2030 Strategy involves a global ambition to double its global customers to 600,000 (320,000 in 2023), achieve revenues of 1.3 billion AUD (621 million AUD in 2023) and contribute 1% of revenue to Purpose initiatives. Intrepid plans to deepen its vertical integration to expand into areas including accommodation and grow its presence in key countries, including Vietnam.
One way that Intrepid supports local communities is via its not-for-profit, the Intrepid Foundation. This has raised more than 15.5 million AUD for communities around the world since 2002. In Vietnam, the Intrepid Foundation works with BLUE DRAGON CHILDREN’S FOUNDATION providing exceptional care to Vietnamese children and families in crisis while creating long-term change for a better world, and works with WILDACT to empower Vietnamese communities to engage in science-based conservation of the threatened species and ecosystems, works with VUN ART to empower people with disabilities by providing job training and employment opportunities, worthy-noting the successful 30,000 AUD grant from the Foundation in 2023 to start the bubble milk tea store.
In the same year, the Intrepid Foundation has organized the first off-line marathon walk in Hanoi, Melbourne, Singapore and London and raised over 370,000 AUD for Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation which is 148% above its target. This means significantly not only for Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation but also has contributed to continue to rescue more than 1,388 victims (mainly children) of trafficking so far.
“The girls and boys who find their way to Blue Dragon are with us because they’ve been through something terrible. It may have been extreme poverty, or slavery, or neglect - every child has their own story, but that story doesn't define them,” shared Michael Brosowski, founder of Blue Dragon Children's Foundation
Additionally, the company is committed to creating long-term value for its teams around the world. In the past year, Intrepid has welcomed 421 staff shareholders (up from 52 in 2022) – realising a key principle of its co-founders, which is for Intrepid to be owned by its staff. In Vietnam, Intrepid leads the industry as the first tour operators to introduce the employee shareholder programmes which now has 34 of shareholders (55% increase as opposed to 2022).
Intrepid believes by growing its business, it can achieve more positive outcomes for local communities from tourism. As a certified B Corp, with the highest standard of social and environmental performance, this is a key priority for the business in Vietnam and around the world.
