by Jen Mallia
Last updated: 6:10 PM ET, Wed September 23, 2026
Amid the heat and rain, an enthusiastic crowd kicked off the G Adventures GX event in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The annual event is based around World Tourism Day, Sept. 27th when a summit on community-based tourism will be held, this year in Siem Reap in the shadow of the Angkor Wat temple complex. Leading up to the summit, delegates will tour the country, visiting important sites and partners with Planeterra, G Adventures’ philanthropic arm, to see community tourism in action.
The night, held at Wat Phnom, was rainy but the delegates at the kick off celebration were all smiles. A small market made up of local artisans and community partners were present as well as food stalls that were there in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism. It was the first time the roughly 600 delegates got a chance to mingle. Delegates include media; G Adventures representatives from all over the globe; travellers and travel advisors (with a contingent of 18 Canadian travel advisors).
Traditional Cambodian entertainment: music, dancing and games were all part of the night, interspersed with official greetings from His Excellency Huot Hak, Ministry of Tourism and His Excellency Khuong Sreng, Governor of Phnom Penh. G Adventures founder, Bruce Poon Tip hyped up the crowd with his address, sharing how his team had worked to make this year’s GX event “even better than last year” despite a playful implication that such a feat would be impossible.
Bruce Poon Tip welcomed delegates to GX Cambodia (Photo Credit: Jen Mallia/TravelPulse Canada)
GX 2026 was originally slated to be held in Morrocco, but what Poon Tip referred to as a “last minute pivot” brought the event to Cambodia. The country has struggled with tourism, with foreign arrivals falling a whopping 44.4 percent in the first eight months of 2026, according to the Khmer Times. The report points to ongoing geopolitical tensions and the closure of the Cambodia-Thailand land border, which it says “weighed on tourism-related activity, including transport, hospitality, and trade.”
G Adventures generally hosts GX in a country where tourism needs a boost, using the power of its organization to bring people, money and awareness to places where tourism can be a force for good as part of its “G for Good” philosophy.
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