Comments on: How are Travel and Volunteering Related?

By: Fei An

Fei An — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:08:58 +0000

Nice job! I like that you emphasise the difference between voluntourism and volunteering. uVolunteer (http://www.uvolunteer.org) is often mixed up as a voluntourism company, which we really aren't! I agree with Daniela that voluntourism can cause positive tourism impact, but I think people's main focus, when they do something like that should be to help the community. We had people coming here that used volunteering more as an excuse to justify their holiday and refused to get their hands dirty. This makes your company look bad towards the local partners and doesn't serve the purpose of volunteering…

You can find our blog at: http://www.uvolunteer.org/volunteer-life

By: travelanthropist

travelanthropist — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:59:27 +0000

I completely agree with Daniela that when done right voluntourism, in fact, helps make tourism impact more positive. Voluntourism serves as a great introduction to many travelers who are not aware of the impact they can make in and during their travels.

By: Daniela Papi

Daniela Papi — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:49:06 +0000

I very much agree! As the founder of PEPY Tours (www.pepytours.com) I believe we share the same values as Hands Up Holidays and agree that the hybrid-model of NGO work and tourism adds value to the tourism industry.

I added other thoughts (linked below) on how I think "voluntourism", rather than being the "bad" little brother of volunteering is, in my opinion, a key to improving the tourism industry as a whole. When done right (this is of course a big WHEN), as you point out, voluntourism operators can do so much more than just doing good with the volunteering or philanthropy portions of their trips. They can bring the travel dollars back into the country and the economy by designing the whole tourism experience to be a positive contributing force for change in the area visited. When combined with educating travelers, this can indeed change how they travel as regular "tourists" in the future, no matter where they go.

In my experience, "voluntourism" does not end up taking people who would otherwise become full-time volunteers away from that path. Instead, when done right, it takes people who would be your typical tourists and helps them make their tourism impact more positive.

More of my thoughts here: http://voluntourismgal.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/volunteering-or-voluntourism-who-cares/

By: handsupholidays

handsupholidays — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:13:08 +0000

Great article!
As the founder of Hands Up Holidays, (www.handsupholidays.com) clearly I am biased, as we specialize in hybrid-tours that combine responsible sightseeing with meaningful volunteering.
I started Hands Up Holidays as a result of travelling this way myself in Guatemala and South Africa, and want to make it easy for people to have similar, life changing experiences.