Stanislas Gruau (EDHEC Master 2009): adventure as a driver of change

Sport runs deep in Stanislas Gruau’s veins. In 2011 he beat the record for the journey by foot from Lille to Nice (between the two EDHEC campuses), and in 2018 he co-founded (with Alix Gauthier) the adventure travel agency Explora Project. From trading raw materials for Cargill – in his former life – to responsible entrepreneurship, and from TV appearances on “Qui veut être mon associé ?” (M6) to local environmental initiatives, this chameleon has witnessed first-hand the needs of people in faraway places and leisure activities done “differently”, as well as what it means to reconnect to the self and the world. Snapshots of tangible generational aspirations. 

Tell us about your current position and responsibilities.

I’m CEO of Explora Project, a travel tech firm for responsible tourism in the wild. Like all start-ups, our lasting value added must come from financing solutions and a vision that are sufficiently disruptive compared to the established sector. I also manage interpersonal relations in this company with a staff of 30, and I am the face of the firm, particularly on social media, while maintaining oversight of all departments alongside my associate Alix, even though I don’t have expertise in any of them! 

Is adventure the only way to decarbonise tourism?

No, but the market for adventure travel is way ahead when it comes to environmental awareness. It’s a type of tourism far removed from excessively touristy areas. Large visitor numbers lead to more concrete, and concrete means return on investment, which in turn means more visitors. To leave this vicious circle, you need to tell stories of new elsewheres, be able to stimulate people with something other than the reproduction of a photo or idealised holidays. Adventure tourism is about trying to repopulate the available space, because 95% of tourists across the planet are found on 5% of its territory. Away from the beaten paths, with means of transport and activities often relying on human or animal strength, it requires much less infrastructure and therefore consumes much less energy. 

Covid restricted traditional tourism. Hotels could no longer open, restaurants were closed. Solutions closer to the environment had to be found. Unguarded refuges were full to the brim, a market niche growing right before our eyes. Beyond the sense of environmental engagement, adventure travel is a huge vector of values involving reconnecting to nature and one’s body: finding Man’s place, taking the time needed, giving life some meaning. It’s a Trojan horse that can change the sector, which reflects the problems contemporary society faces.

How can these values be preserved as the market rapidly expands?

Within the market for travel adventure, which offers activities in the wild, a certain number of subcategories are not suited to the climate challenge, like kite surfing in Bali or Brazil for a few days. Sustainable adventure travel, our niche within a niche, is about explaining to the more “long-haul” adventure travel segment that market growth poses a danger. The aeroplane is the crux of the problem. In terms of overall carbon emissions, all the rest is just a detail. In spite of our growth, we aim to further reduce the proportion of air travel in our catalogue (currently at 14%) and become the first plane-free European travel agency. Since 2020, Explora Project has been France’s first mission-based travel agency. Our raison d’être is to offer a travel experience to as many people as possible and a positive impact for mankind and the environment, and to convert more and more people to this way of travelling. When you consider that simply moving from one place to another has a carbon impact, it’s essential to compensate with positive actions beyond our participants.

So is that raison d’être about changing the lifestyle of the people who travel with Explora Project? 

Regardless of the sector, the eco-responsible approach involves four steps. First, measuring the carbon footprint; then reducing emissions as much as possible while maintaining economic viability to enable growth and have an impact on as many people as possible (indeed this is where economics and ecology come head-to-head); next, neutralising or compensating for the excess, for example with forestry partnerships; and lastly, engaging staff, clients, members and followers in every walk of life, so it becomes the prism through which they analyse their daily consumption habits. These four circles are increasingly diffuse and numerous. Our approach is to run initiatives that are always local (e.g. waste collection in Annecy), because even if everyone has understood that we are facing a climate emergency, until it has affected our lives, apart from generating eco-anxiety we’re not even aware of, people don’t know what to do in concrete terms. This issue has become a mental burden for many. And so it has to be presented with a lighter touch. Clients come to us because they want something different, to experience something thrilling, but not necessarily because they want to travel responsibly. If we immediately start explaining the impact of their travel, they will definitely disengage. It needs to be done bit by bit, depending on where they are in their own personal process.

Are we seeing a shift in the approach to travel, from a simple Instagrammable photo to an experience of “new elsewheres”, as you put it earlier?

Social media is evolving. What was Instagrammable a few years ago – beautiful photography – is no longer, because when facing the camera people give an honest account of their emotions and bring their viewers to tears. We are seeing a change in the world of travel, a kind of generational upheaval. To characterise: the generation born in the 50s and 60s wanted to travel comfortably after working hard all year. It was tailor-made travel where the more money you had the further you travelled and added luxury. Gen Z projects the idea of travel differently: it’s about experiential and sensorial travel, whatever the destination, to feel a sense of shared belonging to the planet and awe in the face of our world. It’s not just about going to such and such a country, like when I was small. Nowadays, we accept a group of people we don’t know but whom we’ve chosen. With social media, you can get enough information about other people’s lives to know whether you want to travel with them. The travel group you end up in is no longer a lottery. These shared experiences, which are powerful emotionally, involve testing one’s limits in a spirit of respect for the environment, and this is reflected in our consumption habits. The younger they are, the stronger their sense of engagement, but the less money they have. The older they are, the trend is reversed in both respects. 95% of 25-45 year olds don’t go on holidays through travel agencies, which is proof that the offer previously available on the market did not suit them. 

The notion of experience has spread to all layers of society. What makes it different at Explora Project?

Every sector has its specificities. Experience is what one person will go through but not necessarily the next. At Explora, we have the advantage of a radically different environment that has an impact on almost all of our clients’ senses. They are fully immersed in nature, with all its scents and sounds. The food is local and organic, without any waste. We have a whole chain of suppliers, and the guide always includes fresh daily produce. Of course it’s not all about appearance, but once your senses are stimulated, you’re extremely sensitive to what you experience, and it’s much easier to remember landscapes that leave a strong impression. Like moments when you’re exhausted or gunning it on a trail, you take mental photographs of the places that contributed to that experience. All that remains is to bring emotion into the equation. That’s what fills the pathways of memory. I think it’s about being outside your comfort zone, with people you don’t know on paper. That’s what comes into play, it’s that need to create links, personal survival, group cohesion. Some are less sporty than others, some really struggle but don’t dare to mention that they’ve got a sore back, while others will want to be seen running ahead, and others willing to divide up the load. A group emerges from itself in a completely different place, and all social barriers melt away. You need to be able to get the right people on the right expedition and with the right level of ability, for the right adventure and so that emotion of testing yourself to the limit can be experienced, so all the markers of the sensorial experience come into place and the client will never forget that moment.

Is the show “Qui veut être mon associé ?” a similar exercise to traditional fundraising or are there constraints in terms of image? 

It’s really not the same exercise as pitching to investors. It’s actually an extension of social media. Like an enormous live Instagram. With the same codes, the need to be clear, captivating and concise, without people switching off, you have to adapt to your audience, be careful about the jargon you use so you don’t come across as a know-it-all. You have to know what you can allow yourself to say with your past, your physique, your sector. On the telly, given the huge importance of audience stats, it’s risky to seem too sure of yourself, too businesslike, or not giving your activity enough common appeal. Whereas for investors, who are the same ones we talk to regularly, we can never be “too” anything, they nonetheless ask real questions. It’s a balancing act. What you need is to understand the real challenge – engaging 2 million television viewers – and the channel – being credible in the eyes of investors. It boils down to an exercise in communication, which for us was an emotional rollercoaster: up to 400,000 connections per minute to the website, social media going mad, tens of thousands of tweets, declarations of love, insults and even death threats! 

Does this personal branding bring you clients?

It’s always hard to measure the bridges between social media, the website and me. I can convey messages that I can’t necessarily convey with the brand, and it’s also the cheapest and most effective way to do so. It’s still very experimental, and it can sometimes be hard to find the business dimension, even though brands that are embodied find it easier to convey messages. I took part in the last season of “Ninja Warrior : Le Parcours des héros”, which will be broadcast on TF1 next January and February. I did it in a personal capacity, but I feel it’s consistent for my personal branding as an athlete to reflect the world of adventure travel. Indeed, the presenter Denis Brogniart has already travelled with Explora Project. It’s never a bad thing to be on TF1 during the prime time slot! It always comes back to the same thing: being popular or in the thick of things, damaging your personal image, your brand or your values for the audience’s benefit, and being subject to staging that you have no control over. I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other, but I think it’s an area that is worth exploring!