Author, entrepreneur and philanthropist Bruce Poon Tip believes that travellers can reshape how they travel in a post Covid-19 world. Poon Tip is the founder of G Adventures and the author of a short ‘instabook’ called Unlearn: The Year the Earth Stood Still, which he wrote in April while in isolation.
The free e-book aims to inspire travellers to continue to dream and reimagine how they will plan their holiday when it is safe to travel again. In his new book, Poon Tip explains why he believes people should challenge themselves to make better travel choices post Covid-19.
“This pandemic has created the largest startup economy ever seen as we all go into hibernation and wait until we can travel again. When we travel again, we can do it better. We can rethink everything we thought was normal. Why fight so damn hard to return to normal when the opportunity to transform travel is on the other side of this mess? This is about you…it’s about me…it’s about everyone,” Poon Tip said.
G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip believes travellers can reshape how they travel in a post Covid-19 world. Picture: Supplied.
He said the e-book was initially meant to reassure people that travel will return and to provide them with hope for the future. Instead, he wrote the book to inspire travellers to think about the positive impact they can have on communities by making wise choices.
“People will travel again. We don’t yet know when, but we know that they will. I want to challenge everyone who travels to ‘unlearn’ what they think they know. We have the opportunity to use this reset to be more conscious about how we can improve, both as individuals and as a wider travel community. We all have the ability to create positive change and to transform even more lives in the future,” he said.
Poon Tip describes Unlearn: The Year the Earth Stood Still, as an instabook designed to ‘capture a moment in time’. In the book he reveals how this crisis unfolded for him, and looks at the current state of the travel industry with regards to home-sharing, climate change, ‘flight-shaming’, overtourism, and the proliferation of mass-market holiday options. Poon Tip also explores the important lessons travel teaches people, including showing compassion, the potential for community tourism to be a force for good, and how we can all do better going forward.
Unlearn: The Year the Earth Stood Still is available for free download at www.unlearn.travel, on Apple Books, and Kobo in Canada.