Tubular! G Adventures celebrates ’80s hair band hits with agents at Rock of Ages

It was a night of Whitesnake, Twisted Sister, Pat Benatar…and G Adventures.

To show its appreciation for the travel trade, the made-in-Canada adventure travel company pulled a “random act of G” Tuesday night (March 14) by treating a select group of travel advisors to dinner and orchestra seats to see Rock of Ages, an '80s-inspired, power rock-infused jukebox musical that’s currently playing at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre.

“We love our agents, we are very agent-centric, we always want to engage,” said David Green, global vice-president of sales and customer operations and managing director for Canada at G Adventures, who hosted the night alongside G’s Ontario business development manager Anup Mistry.

The rowdy night out – which happened to unfold on the three-year anniversary of the day Ottawa urged travelling Canadians to return home as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold – was a celebration of travel for good and earworm ’80s chartbusters.

Rock of Ages, a long-running show on Broadway, is a comedic blast of “power-guitar heaven,” with a dash of hair band glam, that follows the lives of a young ambitious rocker, a country girl trying to make it big, an arrogant rock star and a gentle-mannered bar owner as they all find their way on L.A.’s sweaty Sunset Strip in the late 1980s.

As the killer cast belted out chart-topping bangers on stage, from Starship’s "We Built This City" to Twister Sister’s “We're Not Gonna Take It" to Journey’s “Don't Stop Believin,” travel agents bopped along to the rocking setlist in their seats.

It was an uplifting and moving show. David Green, for one, may or may not have teared up during the ballads.

Incentives galore 

But the night also gave agents an opportunity to casually connect with their G team.

G Adventures, a leader in community and sustainable tourism, has some exciting incentive programs that are currently open to Canadian travel advisors.

For starters, the company’s annual agent incentive program, G-Normous, is currently running.

A campaign that began in January, the four month-long program has travel advisors competing for a $10K grand prize, with added trip giveaways, monthly cash prizes, bonus commission and more.

Agents have a chance to win with every G trip they book.

G’s Change Makers incentive has also returned this year after a three-year hiatus.

Agents will be able to earn their way to G’s global summit – to be held from Sept. 22-28, 2023, in a yet-to-be-revealed destination – by choosing to change people's lives through travel.

READ MORE: G Adventures’ Change Makers agent incentive returns for 2023

The campaign went live on March 1 and runs until June 30, 2023. Agents who earn a place at the Change Makers Summit will see firsthand how their work directly impacts local communities in the destinations G visits.

“At G Adventures, we change the lives of our travellers when they choose to explore the world with us, and as the pioneers of community tourism we change the lives of people in the places we go. We’re so excited to not just welcome our valued agency partners on this special trip, but to also celebrate the return to travel with them,” said Green, commenting on Change Makers. 

Agents can visit here and log into Sherpa, or speak to their regional global purpose specialist for more info.

After last night's show, Green and Mistry gathered their travel agent guests together on the sidewalk outside of the theatre to thank them for their support.

“We can’t do what we do without you,” Green said.

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