B&R Wins Big at PURE

Dave Bowden

George Gets Feted

When we tell people that George Butterfield pretty much invented active luxury travel, they understandably take it with a grain of salt. After all, we’re pretty big fans of George’s, so we’re naturally inclined to say nice things about him.

Fortunately, you don’t have to take our word for it. Today we are absolutely thrilled to discover that George has won the PURE Award for Experiential Travel at PURE Life Experiences, the world’s leading travel trade show for the high-end Experiential Travel community. Voted on by attendees of the trade show, the award honours “an individual whose efforts have directly influenced the development of the experiential travel movement – a true maverick whose commitment, curiosity and daring sets new standards for the industry at large.”

It was a well deserved award for a man whose vision and “Slow Down to See the World” philosophy has inspired thousands over his nearly five decades in the travel business. Of course, George being George, he accepted the accolade with the grace and humility for which he’s long been known.

Thank you for this award. We accept it humbly and with gratitude. My name is on the door, but if the door were large enough it would list all of our travellers, all of our guides/leaders, all of our staff and management over nearly 50 years. That’s thousands and thousands of people. It is the collective creativity of that team that is being honoured. You have made us all very proud and we are grateful.

– George Butterfield

The Slow Road Honoured

Before the euphoria of George’s big win wore off, we at B&R were at risk of becoming downright spoiled when we learned that not only had George been honoured, but so had The Slow Road.

Voters at PURE graciously named The Slow Road the winner of the PURE Award for Innovative and Experiential marketing, awarded for “a clever campaign that uses innovative or unusual methods to encourage personal engagement with a travel product, while staying true to the independent, experiential ethos of the brand.”

Following on the heels of our Best Blog award from Travel + Leisure magazine’s SMITTY Awards in July, the PURE award caps off a banner year for The Slow Road. We strive to harness the travel intelligence of B&R’s team of travel experts in order to provide readers with the insight and expertise they need to immerse themselves in a region—and we couldn’t be more thrilled to learn that we’re on the right track.

From George, Norm and the entire B&R team, thank you to everyone at PURE who voted in favour of slowing down to see the world!