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The summer sun shines above the ruins of Machu Picchu, high in the Peruvian Andes. In Thailand, the moon is rising as American, Canadian and Aussie tourists vie for bargains at Chiang Rai’s bustling night bazaar. Both locations are among the favourite destinations of Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G.A.P Adventures Inc., the world’s biggest adventure-travel firm. But on this cold day in mid-December, Poon Tip might prefer to be anywhere other than in his exposed-brick Toronto headquarters, negotiating with a tough Russian shipping line to lease an icebreaker to fulfill a commitment to his partners and customers half a world away.
In the 17 years since he founded G.A.P Adventures, the world has been Poon Tip’s oyster. But now geography was working against him. Three weeks earlier, on Nov. 23, 2007, G.A.P’s $10-million icebreaker, the MS Explorer, sprung a leak as it squeezed through pack ice just off the northernmost tip of Antarctica. Some 150 passengers and crew abandoned ship as it slowly listed to starboard. The passengers and crew drifted five hours in open lifeboats before being scooped up by three passenger vessels that had steamed to the rescue. The bone-chilling sea had been blessedly calm, so some passengers called it the best adventure they’d ever had.
Still, the world’s media hammered at the story for days — questioning deficiencies in Explorer’s maintenance logs and staking out Poon Tip’s Toronto home in their breathless search for news.In the end, all the passengers arrived home amid promises of compensation and seats on future trips. But G.A.P’s problems weren’t over. Customers booked on upcoming Antarctic cruises were demanding to know what G.A.P was doing for them.
As a champion of customer experiences, Poon Tip can’t stand disappointing passengers. He sent a few team members to look over the Polaris, a Danish-built icebreaker sitting out the winter in frosty Murmansk, 1,500 km northwest of Moscow. Since Polaris carries only 65 passengers compared with Explorer’s 99, operating the new icebreaker would cost G.A.P more money than simply cancelling the Antarctic season. But Poon Tip and his management team agreed it was the right thing to do — for the customers and booking agencies who depend on them.
Still, hiring Polaris was another story. The owner, Murmansk Shipping Co., treats the Arctic expedition vessel like a favourite child. When Poon Tip offered to charter the ship, Murmansk officials dragged their heels. They wanted more money, they needed more time. With January passengers anxiously awaiting news, Poon Tip sent an e-mail requesting the ship leave as soon as possible. The two sides finally reached agreement, but the next day Murmansk demanded more money. “This negotiation is so tough. I don’t know if we’re going to get anything out of these guys,” a weary Poon Tip said at a G.A.P managers’ meeting. While he was willing to lose some money on this grand gesture, there had to be a limit. So he told the Russians to forget it. The next day, Murmansk backed down on the price and offered to ship out in three days.
Bruce Poon-Tip has come a long way from naïve young backpacker to hardball negotiator. But he is still the determined person who rejected a motorcoach tour of Thailand in favour of a healthier hike along the back roads to remote villages. Poon Tip’s love for local cultures, and his commitment to change the way people vacation, have helped him negotiate his way to the top of the fast-growing adventure-travel business. From a startup company faxing out brochures in a Toronto garage, launched on $10,000 in savings and a $5,000 advance from VISA, G.A.P Adventures has become a $120-million-a-year colossus. Offering 1,000 tours on seven continents, it serves 70,000 customers a year. Last fall, National Geographic Adventure magazine ranked G.A.P as the world’s No. 1 “do it all” tour outfitter. But as the sinking of the Explorer suggests, G.A.P’s journey hasn’t been easy. And now that it sits atop its niche, things aren’t getting any easier.
“There’s no precedent for a company of our size in this industry,” says Poon Tip. And he’s learning that “it’s always more difficult to be the one being chased than the one doing the chasing. It’s something I’ve worked very hard for, but it still takes a lot of adjustment.”
Besides staring down Russian shipping companies, the challenges on Poon Tip’s desk include finding new ways to hang onto G.A.P’s prime customers, fighting off a costly legal offensive by San Francisco-based clothing retailer Gap Inc. and outmaneuvring countless copycats plus TUI Travel PLC, a £12-billion-a-year travel giant that’s acquired numerous G.A.P rivals. Bigger yet is the task of perpetuating G.A.P’s spirit, creativity and core values as the firm becomes a sprawling global entity run by professional managers rather than entrepreneurial instinct.
With such a busy in-tray, you might think Poon Tip longs to grab a pith helmet and set out for Africa. But that’s not so. “I’m not done,” he says. “I’ve only just developed this company to a point where I can do what I want to do. I’m working hard, but I’m having more fun than ever.”
Indeed, Poon Tip was an entrepreneur long before he was a backpacker. Born in Trinidad to Spanish-Chinese parents who moved to Jamaica and then to Calgary to seek a better life for their seven children, Poon Tip grew up working hard. “I had three businesses before I was 16,” he says. “I think of G.A.P as my fourth company.”
While his father was building a chain of gas stations, 12-year-old Bruce was acquiring paper routes and subcontracting delivery to 10-year-olds too young for routes of their own. He later bred Dutch dwarf rabbits for sale to Calgary pet shops. And at 14 he won a Junior Achievement award after he organized local children to produce colour-changing bookmarks that he persuaded pharmacists to stock beside their cash registers. He sold more than 10,000, he says: “I couldn’t get them made fast enough.”
Studying business at Calgary’s Mount Royal College, Poon Tip indulged his love of travel with a tour of Thailand. He was disturbed by his experience. “I was quite young and very political,” he says. “It angered me the way these air-conditioned coaches and Western environments are created for tourists. You never really come in contact with the local people.” He much preferred solo travel, riding local buses, staying in family-run hotels and eating indigenous foods. Not everyone, he knew, was ready for such an uncertain adventure, but he sensed demand for low-cost, grassroots adventures that travellers don’t have to plan themselves.
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