TORONTO, Canada 9, March 2022: Founder of G Adventures, Bruce Poon Tip, thanked Sabre for removing Aeroflot from its fare and travel content distribution system, praising it for stepping up and doing the right thing.
But he calls for the travel industry to step up and support sanctions and prevent Russia from using booking sites and tour booking systems.
“The power to have the most dramatic impact in travel right now lies in the hands of one company, and last week it stepped up and did the right thing. Without Sabre, Aeroflot cannot issue tickets, which will cause mass disruption for domestic travel in Russia.”
He claimed that all across the travel industry, businesses are uniting and cancelling tours to Russia and, in the case of G Adventures, banning resident Russian nationals from trips to apply internal pressure and invoke change.
“This is what we need to come together in travel to embrace our ability to be a transformational industry. Just a few hours before the announcement, I was set to click send on an appeal to Sabre, asking them to stop their support of Aeroflot and realise their potential as a key player in the travel industry’s fight against this unjust war.”
Noting Russia has a thriving domestic travel market, serving leisure and corporate travellers… Having already been cut off from the world of international travel, it is at home that the Russian people will feel the most pressure and become increasingly frustrated with this regime.”
Sabre led the charge and was quickly followed by Amadeus and Travelport, the other two major global distribution systems worldwide to shut down Aeroflot’s fares and booking channel.
The Russian government needs to know that every industry, including travel and tourism, stands against its actions and will support all sanctions that seek to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty, freedom and independence.
SWIFT has banned Russian banks, historically neutral Switzerland has frozen Russian assets, and even FIFA has stepped up. Industries all around the world are fighting in their own way, wielding their individual power and influence to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said.
“It is so important that travel plays its part alongside these movements to drive transformative change.”
G Adventures has cancelled all trips to Russia and are no longer allowing Russian nationals residing inside the country on our tours, nor are we taking bookings from Russian travel agencies.
About G Adventures
Founded in 1990 by social entrepreneur Bruce Poon Tip, G Adventures is a small group adventure travel operator offering more than 1,000 tours in 100 countries on all seven continents.
Its responsible approach to travel is demonstrated through social impact initiatives, including travel guidelines for children, wildlife and Indigenous people. Community-based social enterprise projects travellers can experience on a trip. It also pioneered an industry-leading ‘Ripple Score’ assessment that measures how many traveller dollars stay in the local economy. Visit www.gadventures.com
