Bruce Poon Tip has started and runs a tour company, written books, and spoken at the United Nations. Now he’s dipping his toes into the cinematic universe with the production and release of a documentary film, “The Last Tourist,” which channels the G Adventures founder’s omnipresent social conscience by challenging consumers to make better holiday choices following the global pandemic.
The independent documentary, created and executive produced by Toronto-based Poon Tip and directed by filmmaker Tyson Sadler will debut at next weekend’s international film festivals in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, the latter having already awarded the film its ‘Special Jury Prize for Social Impact.’
Following its run on the festival circuit, Elevation Pictures will release the film in Canada in 2022.
Poon Tip says his vision for the documentary came well before the pandemic, but the timing of its release could not be more relevant as the world “wakes up to the problems facing tourism” as travel ground to a halt.
“We’ve always said travel – community tourism in particular – could be the biggest distributor of wealth the world has ever seen, and even the fastest path to peace,” he says. “We wanted to bring these life-changing stories to life on the big screen, and at the same time expose some of the often well-intentioned, but harmful, practices many tourism experiences support.
“This documentary demonstrates the dire state the industry was in pre-pandemic and addresses practical ways travellers can use their personal power to have a positive impact as the world reopens to international travel again.”
Filmed and produced over the past three years, “The Last Tourist” is a 101-minute, feature-length documentary starring well-known tourism and conservation visionaries including Jane Goodall; Elizabeth Becker, the author of “Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism”; Judy Kepher-Gona, founder of the Sustainable Travel & Tourism Agenda; and Poon Tip himself.
Director Tyson Sadler says the film took its crew on a journey to more than 15 different countries where they interviewed dozens of leading travel experts, tour operators, and academics, as well as travellers and tourism employees in a host of communities that are leveraging tourism to improve their quality of life.
“During the filming process we amassed nearly 400 hours of footage, which was then edited into a 90-minute film designed to pull back the curtain and show us the true cost of travel on the environment, wildlife, and host communities,” Sadler says.
“This film-making journey culminated during the global pandemic and international travel was halted,” he adds. “As the world slowly opens its borders again, travellers have the opportunity to be the driving force that paves a new way to travel; a more thoughtful approach that protects people and places and secures a positive future for destinations and community.”