As we approach our 35th anniversary, I can recall our humble beginnings from a basement suite in Vancouver, British Columbia, where we were hand-writing our itineraries, corresponding by phone and fax machine, and marketing was by word of mouth. The world has changed immensely since then. We've learned a lot about our clients, our industry, and we've adapted to, and embraced, the digital age. I don't think we really would have known what a website was in 1987, nor an email nor a text message, let alone streaming online. I have been very proud of how Adventures Abroad has embraced these new tools at our disposal in our ongoing effort to improve the customer experience. I am also very pleased we are now seeing the travel industry progressively bouncing back and, because of our longevity and experience, we will be able to continue to send our travellers to many destinations around the globe.

On a philosophical level, travel is one of the most rewarding of industries to operate in. Since 1987, Adventures Abroad has dedicated itself to providing lasting memories and life-changing experiences for our travellers. Exploring the world and meeting new people and new cultures allows us to expand our comfort zone and as we grow into that new comfort, we grow ourselves as individuals.

However, the travel industry is not for the faint of heart. We’ve had our challenges in the past. The events of 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, the Arab Spring – all of these tested our mettle and we endured.

As we enter this 35th year of Adventures Abroad’s existence, we have endured our most difficult time yet. The dawning realization of the seriousness of the global pandemic hit all of us very hard as the world took a pause. There were great challenges in bringing everyone home from the tours that were operating at the time, followed by those challenges of how to cope with the tours that were due to run and could not.
However, we have always sustained our hope. Hope that we will emerge from this pandemic sooner than later. Hope we can resume our way of life as we had it before Covid-19. And we believe we can do it. Why? I have you, our travellers, to thank for so much flexibility in how you have dealt with your tours being delayed.

Indeed, as we turn the corner on the pandemic, we ARE bouncing back. We operated several tours in the latter half of 2021 and we are seeing an incredible rebound in bookings for 2022 and 2023. We are more ready than ever to help deliver to you our vision of exploring the world, providing wonderful memories, and learning about other cultures in the small-group tour environment we embrace.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to provide it.

CHRIS BOYCOTT
PRESIDENT, ADVENTURES ABROAD