There are destination events. There are conferences. There are FAM trips.
And then there is GX.
Later this month, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 600 to 650 people will descend on Cambodia for G Adventures’ annual celebration of community tourism. Travel advisors will be there. So will media, suppliers, travellers, employees and local community partners.
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Behind the scenes is Dre Giroux, Director of Global Community Operations at G Adventures, our guest on Episode 12 of You Came to the Right Place.
Giroux and her team spend an entire year putting GX together.
Her secret weapon?
Spreadsheets. Lots and lots of spreadsheets.
GX Jordan, 2025 (Photo Credit: G Adventures)
You Can't Spreadsheet This Part
GX isn't designed to simply show attendees the highlights of a destination before putting them back on a plane.
Giroux describes it as a celebration of community tourism; an opportunity to connect people in the travel industry with one another, but more importantly, with the people who live in the destinations they're visiting.
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That means figuring out what can reasonably be experienced in just a few days and working directly with local communities and G Adventures' nonprofit partner, Planeterra, to make those experiences meaningful.
While the conversation takes listeners behind the scenes of GX, it becomes something much bigger: a discussion about what tourism can accomplish when the people who live in a destination aren't treated as scenery.
What Happens After Everyone Leaves?
Community tourism is a phrase used frequently in travel, but Giroux gets specific about what it means in practice.
G Adventures works with Planeterra to develop community tourism enterprises that can create income and opportunities locally, including initiatives supporting women, youth and environmental protection.
Dre Giroux, Director of Global Community Operations at G Adventures (Photo Credit: Supplied)The objective isn't to create something that exists only while G Adventures is there.
Giroux points to Jordan as an example. Around the time GX was held there, the number of community tourism partnerships grew dramatically, from only a handful to 23.
“We really try and build new partnerships that last longer than just the event,” she says. “They're self-sustaining and continuing long after we leave.”
That philosophy also drives Project 300, an initiative working toward integrating 300 community tourism enterprises into G Adventures trips by 2030.
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Knowing where tourism dollars go — and understanding the people and businesses that benefit from a trip — gives advisors another story to tell their clients.
As Giroux puts it, anyone can sell Peru or talk about the Inca Trail.
Understanding the impact behind the itinerary can change the conversation.
She talks about Cambodia, her love of Jordan, the friendships that form when strangers travel together and why sometimes the best strategy when a trip goes sideways is simply to “lean into it.”
Then comes the Pulse Check.
We discover Giroux travels with enough medication to earn herself a reputation as a “walking pharmacy.”
We learn that despite being a devoted Swiftie, her unofficial soundtrack to travel isn't Taylor Swift.
And then there is the story involving Peru, a traditional outfit that wouldn't come off and a woman who solved the problem by taking Giroux into the kitchen, pulling out a chef's knife and cutting her free.
You don't get that story from a press release.
Why You Should Listen
This episode asks a more interesting question: What happens because they went?
For advisors, it's a look at the enormous machinery behind one of the industry's most impactful gatherings and a reminder that the experiences we sell can have an impact well beyond the traveller.
Episode 12 of You Came to the Right Place, featuring G Adventures' Dre Giroux, is available now wherever you get your podcasts.
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