Tour operators turn to marketing ‘volunteer tourism’

Imagine packing your bags, boarding your transport and heading out to a destination where you will spend half your holiday tending to various humanitarian or environmental needs while the other half is spent enjoying the surroundings.

This is a growing trend as people combine their holidays with do-good missions.

This kind of holiday is known as “voluntourism” and with its growing popularity there has emerged a new kind of tourists known as “voluntourists” or “do-gooders”.

It combines vacation travel with volunteering at the destination of choice.

Here, one can get involved in various voluntary projects from low skilled work, specialised projects, working in a local school or refugee camp, taking part in environmental conservation, or participating in local charitable causes.

Originally, such vacations were taken by people with a direct connection to a particular cause and were considered more short term, intense volunteer projects rather than vacations.

Just like business travel, the volunteer would spend a few days from the work and sight see the local destination, but volunteering was the main purpose of the trip.

Previously, most of the trips were organised by or in partnership with international development assistance organisations, which placed short term volunteers on community development project sites.

In recent years though, the vacations have changed offering a balance of both volunteering and sight-seeing.

Niche product

The practice is today being pushed by tour operators as a niche product, tapping into those wanting to “do something good” as they enjoy their holiday.

Its popularity also grew with more students taking holidays abroad during their gap year and participating in volunteer projects.

Many students, especially from Europe and US, are opting to spend the one year before going to university in developing countries.

Prince William and Prince Harry opted to spend their gap years in Chile and Lesotho. Prince William helped in building a school.

With the rising popularity of volunteer tourism, one can find dozens of organisations that are involved in organising such trips.

In 2008, during his gap year, Prince Harry opted to spend his time enjoying the beauty of Namibia as he taught in local schools.

It is a balanced approach that combines voluntary service to a destination with the traditional elements of travel and tourism — arts, culture, geography, history and recreation.

Chosen cause

Most volunteer tourism programmes are noble but as with any travel trend, plenty of opportunists have jumped on to the gravy train.

So, double check the credentials of the organisation and ask questions to gauge the depth of its commitment to its chosen cause. Or you could be taken for a ride.

It is also advisable to book such a holiday with a reputable company.

However, this kind of tourism has drawn sharp criticism from some quarters who say the move by tour operators to cater for the needs of volunteers beats the purpose of the trips.

Anyway, volunteer tourists have many options before them.

They can choose to stay within the borders of a host country and camp out or stay in a five star hotel, or travel beyond the country.

The real considerations in “voluntourism” trips is usually not measured in financial terms but in the contribution one makes to others or the environment.