Volunteering abroad is nothing new. For decades, people have gone abroad with the Peace Corps, with relief organizations or even on their own. But the momentum for volunteering abroad has never been stronger than today as more opportunities are available for just about anybody.
Collectively, we have made this huge shift from thinking about ourselves to helping people on other continents. At its core, this is a by-product of an affluent society where our basic needs are met and we are ready to use our excess resources to help others globally. …

North Americans and Europeans accounted for the largest groups of travelers in the last 30 years. Travel experts expect that to change in the next 30 years with more people from Russia, India, China, and Brazil traveling. They expect destinations in Southeast Asia and Latin American will jump in popularity because of their proximity to the new source of travelers. UK travel specialist Hoseasons chief executive Richard Carrick indicated, “There will be a shift in the axis of power over the next 30 years. As people from China and India …

One exciting news expected to come out of the upcoming UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen December 7-18 is the launch of Hope Plus, seen as a global online Peace Corps or a global “eBay for caring.” This is a global, multilingual web portal that allows people interested in social change projects to meet online, share ideas and resources and start planning projects such as helping disaster victims, building schools, campaigning for clean water. It will run independent of any government. The project, backed by Obama and Gates, is led …

Luxury voluntourism is a higher-end travel experience organized by a luxury travel operator or a hotelier that includes some time dedicated to voluntary service in a destination. For most luxury voluntourism, the trip itineraries have a greater tourism focus with a shorter time dedicated to voluntary service.
Luxury voluntourism is on the rise. Conde Nast Traveler magazine and the Ritz Carlton through its “Give Back Getaways” program are key luxury travel influencers that have pushed luxury voluntourism to the forefront giving it coverage and credibility. Conde Nast Traveler has dedicated an …

In a move to offer travel packages to an increasingly popular alternative travel market, a major airline, Air Canada, has partnered with Gap Adventures on a collection of 30 adventure travel packages.
The co-branded collection includes 30 authentic travel experiences created exclusively for Air Canada Vacations by Gap Adventures. The style of travel is described as sustainable and authentic which means they will take travelers to places that may be off the popular tourist track. This could include sampling mysterious foods in Japan, watching the sunrise at Machu Picchu in Peru …

With the rising popularity of voluntourism, more research have been undertaken to understand the motivations and interests of voluntourists — leisure travelers who include volunteering in their trips. Armed with greater research, the industry can better assess business practices to serve the traveler and the local communities more effectively. The newly-released industry report, 2008 Voluntourism Survey, provides some great profiles on voluntourists and how they influence volunteer tourism participation. The authors, David Clemmons of Voluntourism.org and Nancy McGhee and John Lee of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Virginia Tech, …

A recent Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) survey of 287 tour operators in 51 countries serving two million customers reported that travelers are showing increased interest in the following:

Custom itineraries:  84% (i.e., 84% of operators reported an increased interest)
Shorter duration trips:  73%
Closer-to-home, shorter haul trips:  55%
Activity based adventures:  79%
Cultural-interaction adventures:  70%
Volunteering within travel:  40%
Multigenerational travel:  55%

One survey after another, the results overwhelming support that travelers today are into customization, personalization, and meaningful or purpose-driven travel –  themes we have been talking about for some time now. We will see a …