Adventure travel operator, G Adventures, and global OTA, Hostelworld, have teamed up to combine the hostelling experience and small-group adventure travel with the launch of their joint ‘Roamies’ collection of tours.
These offerings will be sold by both G Adventures and Hostelworld, as well as by travel agents, who can book Roamies tours along with all other G Adventures offerings via the operator’s Sherpa platform.
Aimed at the 18 to 35 age group, the collaboration starts with offers of 38 tours spanning 15 countries, with more than 50 hostels for young backpacking travellers to choose from.
The tours – of up to 34 days – depart from May 8, 2022, with bookings already open for groups of 16-24 people per trip. Over time, more tours and itineraries will be added to the Roamies portfolio.
Seeking to combine the freedom of adventure travel with the social aspect of hostels, each tour will have an expert ‘Chief Experience Officer’ on board.
Roamies trips are priced from R2 799 for a three-day trip. Countries visited across the entire current collection are Albania, Austria, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Peru, Thailand and Vietnam.
G Adventures’ founder, Bruce Poon Tip, says the average traveller has changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the partnership was born out of the desire to create something new for younger travellers, many of whom have not had a chance to travel over the past 20 months.
“Our mission is to help hostellers meet other travellers they want to hang out with while travelling,” Gary Morrison, CEO of Hostelworld Group, adds.
“When young people travel, they want to do more than just see places – they want to make meaningful connections and have new experiences that positively change their perspective on themselves and the world.”
