The National Geographic Mission

National Geographic Expeditions is committed to sustaining the character and integrity of each place we visit—its environment, culture, and heritage, as well as the well-being of its residents. In providing authentic travel experiences, we strive to support local economies in our choice of services. At the same time, we believe that the powerful positive effects of sustainable travel go beyond the long-term economic benefits, inspiring passionate stewards committed to protecting the places we visit.

For more than 130 years, the National Geographic Society has identified and funded a global community of Explorers: leading scientists, educators, storytellers, conservationists, technologists, and many other changemakers who help us define some of the critical challenges of our time, drive new knowledge, advance new solutions, and inspire positive transformative change.

These Explorers conduct work around the globe like the National Geographic Pristine Seas project, which seeks to explore and help inspire the protection of the last wild places in the ocean; the Big Cats Initiative, a comprehensive program to protect endangered felines worldwide; and the Enduring Voices Project, which documented a language in India that had previously been unknown to linguists.

For National Geographic Expeditions that are operated in collaboration with other tour operators, we also promote awareness about the world’s treasures and protect the places we explore together. The Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic (LEX-NG) Fund helps support projects to understand and protect our world’s oceans, restore critical marine and coastal habitats, and foster environmental stewardship in the regions the fleet explores, from Alaska to Galápagos to the Peruvian Amazon and beyond. Through the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship, we have sent 315 exemplary Pre-K–12 educators to destinations such as Antarctica, Arctic Norway, Galápagos, Alaska, Iceland, the South Pacific, and Central America aboard the fleet, to help them advance geographic knowledge in their classrooms. Since 2008, travelers aboard the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet have made it possible for the LEX-NG Fund to invest more than $16.3 Million in conservation, education, research, storytelling, and technology projects in 51 countries across all 7 continents. National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures also support local communities through a number of projects, from teaching hospitality skills to disadvantaged youth in Vietnam or helping establish a community restaurant in Peru.