New York Times Op-Ed Columnist, Nicholas Kristof wrote an interesting column this past weekend, “Cum Laude in Evading Bandits” (May 31, 2009), encouraging students to travel. In some ways, it’s also a pronouncement of the education system.
The kind of travel he talks about doesn’t include enjoying luxury hotel services, sipping latte or cappuccino or visiting popular tourist venues. He’s talking about traveling to impoverished areas of the world where lessons on tolerance, diversity, human struggle, and compassion are better taught than in the classrooms. In fact, he advocates schools to …

The second annual goodpurpose study (winter 2008) published by Edelman, one of the world’s largest PR firms, profiles today’s consumer as a proactive user and collaborator (no surprise here – just look around) and an advocate for social causes. The report tells us that people’s commitment to helping others — and to brands that share the same commitment — is strong.
Edelman surveyed 6,000 consumers across 10 countries, here are the highlights:

42% of consumers say “helping others and contributing to my community” brings them the strongest feelings of contentment, but …

Today ecotourism is a very trendy and politically correct way to travel. There is a strong movement to put green in travel. Tourism companies are rushing to put the green label on their products — after all, it’s lucrative. Travel and tourism is the largest business sector in the world economy and is responsible for over 230 million jobs and over 10% of the worldwide GDP. According to the World Tourism Organization, international tourist arrivals were up 2% to 924 million in 2008 and generated about $856 billion …

Yesterday’s New York Times article confirmed what we have been saying, voluntourism or volunteer travel is resilient during this recession because people will find creative ways to source and pay for their travels if they feel their travels have value and meaning. Certainly, there will be adjustments and compromises as cost becomes a bigger factor in the decision-making process. But as the article noted, teens, in this case, will continue to go on service trips because these experiences are far too important for them to forgo. Schools are requiring …

A volunteer vacation to an impoverished community makes a lasting impression on a North Carolina college student

A veteran of several volunteer vacations, North Carolina college student, Melissa Hite, recounted her experience traveling to Belize. She first visited Belize back as a high school senior on a cruise and remembered walking down one strip of Belize City and concluded that the city had nothing to offer and went snorkeling. Then as a college senior, she was given the opportunity to go down to Belize on a two-week service trip and …

Think you have to pull up your sleeves and work on building orphanages in rural Africa or teach children devastated by poverty and AIDS in southeast Asia to give back when you travel? Not so. Responsible travel and travel philanthropy is all about giving back to the people and places you travel to AND there are endless ways you can do that. Voluntourism is just one of the more evident ways. Anyone CAN take a trip that gives back, even while enjoying travel luxuries.
This month Conde Nast Traveler features “Eight …

Photo by wolfgang staudt
Want to travel to Europe, but can’t quite afford it?
Europe is known to be one of the more expensive summer travel destinations. Yet, you can still find great low cost volunteer travel opportunities. We found ten great trips that cost less than $300 a week including accommodation and food (airfare is extra). Most of these projects run 1-2 weeks or more.
These trips help you experience a side of Europe that’s not covered by the guidebooks. One of the basic pillars of responsible traveling is giving back, making …

The Associated Press (AP) just released a poll indicating that fewer Americans will be traveling for leisure this summer. While this is probably true and is expected given the health of our economy, the decline is less than we expected, 42% of Americans plan vacation travel this summer down from 49% in 2005.
On the flip side, this polling data reveals that ALMOST HALF the group surveyed will STILL be traveling for leisure DESPITE the economy. The data suggested more travelers will be coming from those with higher income (66% in …