When it comes to driving demand for niche product and travel ideals, Chimu Adventures' founders Greg Carter and Chad Carey are no strangers. Having spent the past 13 years successfully promoting remote locations and sustainable travel in an otherwise mainstream and consumerist market. All done with in an environment where they were were constantly told the words 'no',' can't' and 'impossible'.

What began as an idea in a pub in England, between then travel buddies Chad Carey and Greg Carter, has since expanded to a 40 million dollar enterprise, which has not only taken thousands of travellers to destinations they never thought possible but having raised over a quarter of a million dollars to gift to various charitable causes and working prolifically in micro financing, offering impoverished people a sustainable start to a new life. They feel like it is just the beginning.

“Like any business it takes time to establish, we began working nights on third hand laptops and threw the words ‘cumbersome’ and ‘problematic’ around more than ‘profitable’ and ‘successful’ when it came to our original business plans, but we had a dream and we were not willing to give in to mainstream.” Said Chad Carey, co-founder of Chimu Adventures.

“We would have been a lot better off in the back pocket, in the beginning, if we didn’t have a sustainable angle to our business plan, overheads are high and margins are low in travel and I think that’s what originally puts other business off supporting charities, but right from the outset we drew a sustainable angle into our plan and I’m proud that we’ve not only been able to maintain that, but grow that area of our business.” Said Carey

Chimu Adventures manage to maintain their charitable practices by specializing and selling niche travel products in Latin America, Antarctica and now the Arctic. They frequently run charity cruises with celebrity guests to the Antarctic and have just launched their inaugural charity cruise to the Arctic, Arctic Unveiled which will benefit the MAD project, Chimu’s charity and voice for small NGOs and worthy charities in Australia.

“We’ve managed to sustain substantial sales and our charity work in these niche locations by being the driving force behind the market we want to be in, not a reactionary company waiting to be told what to do by riding on the coat tails of other existing businesses, we made a noise and travellers have followed, we would love to see more of the industry using this mindset” Said Carter, co-founder of Chimu Adventures.

“Travellers, like sheep, can tend to follow trend, we need to be leaders, we need to influence not only in the product that we sell but the ethics behind the products we sell and we believe that our business is proof that this can be done.” Said Carter.

To make this noise, Chimu Adventures have spent the past 13 years in story telling mode, constantly advising and creating awareness of niche locations, driving important messages to consumers on what they can see beyond the Eiffel Tower and how they can travel to make a difference. This very saying was the driving force behind their charity ‘MAD Project’, otherwise known as Make A Difference Project where they claim. “if we are all at least doing something instead of nothing, each and every action will add up to create a global reaction and together we can create a better future for our planet, people and environment.”

“We are frequently astounded by industry members announcing they have no demand for a certain product, location or style of trip, when we know it is there, just look at our business. We need to collaborate as an industry, make a noise and make a better future, for not only our industry but the people affected by our travellers, if all we are doing is fighting a price war against each other, this industry will be limited.” Said Chad Carey.

Chimu Adventures are offering travel agents personal consultation and comprehensive marketing packs to help travel agents grow their businesses by diversifying the demand from their consumers, attracting more high yield bookings from the locations they operate in and, at the same time, drive sustainable practices in the industry.  For more information on this bespoke consultation please contact our partnership manager sarahbaxter@chimuadventures.com or mobile 0434 228 969

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For media enquiries, please contact: 

Meg Hall  PH: 02 9458 1222 E: meghall@chimuadventures.com.au

ABOUT CHIMU ADVENTURES

Founded in 2004, Chimu Adventures is an Australian owned company offering fully flexible, guaranteed itineraries to Latin America, plus small ship cruises to Latin America, Antarctica and the Arctic. Catering to clients of all ages, Chimu’s philosophy is simple, “use specialised knowledge to work with our clients, accommodating their individual needs at reasonable prices”.

Our team is committed to the destinations which we operate in and are proud members of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, work with Kiva micro financing and operate our own charity the MAD Project benefitting small NGO’s and worthy Australian Charities.