The Intrepid Group achieved something exciting this week; it became the world’s largest travel B Corp. If you’re not familiar with what a B Corp is, it’s a company that uses business as a force for good.
The certification is not easy to achieve. The company must submit to an independent assessment of its social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.
“B Corp certification tells our travellers about the people behind the brands and provides a mark of trust that we’re committed to being a business that benefits people and the planet.”
Intrepid Group CEO James Thornton.
The announcement coincided with the third anniversary of the company’s shareholder split from TUI, marking a significant achievement for the independently-owned company that was bought back by the founders of Intrepid Travel.
“Three years ago the Intrepid Group returned to independent ownership because we no longer wanted to focus on delivering short-term quarterly profits,” Intrepid Group CEO James Thornton said.
“We wanted to invest in creating a business that would have long-term benefits for all our stakeholders.”
Kudos to Intrepid Group for putting their money where their mouth is.
Intrepid is not only the world’s largest travel B Corp, but it is now the largest B Corp company in Australia and introduces first B Corps to Cambodia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.
In an era of ‘greenwashing’, Intrepid wanted a holistic and objective accreditation scheme to quantify its purpose-led business model.
Headquartered in Melbourne, Intrepid has more than 1,800 employees and delivered more than $341 million in revenue last year, making the independently-owned company the largest company in Australia and the largest travel company globally to have achieved B Corp certification.
Thornton said that B Corp certification fills a gap in tourism industry certification schemes by providing an independent audit of the whole business.
Intrepid has charted a new pathway for global travel companies to engage with the sustainability movement by working with the not-for-profit B Lab for three years to create a new roadmap for medium and large travel companies to become certified B Corps.
- READ: Reho Travel salutes Intrepid for joining the ‘B Corp’
- READ: Intrepid commits to NZ with a cool, new Auckland office