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 …
Sensing growing consumer preferences (and market opportunity) for meaningful and give-back travel experiences, travel operators such as hotels and cruise lines, eager to expand their products, are quickly adding voluntourism to their program offerings. Another sign of voluntourism being mainstreamed.
Holland America just announced its pilot program, Cruise With Purpose(SM), which enable cruise guests to participate in meaningful community volunteer work and scientific data collection on specially designed tours as part of their shore excursions. Beginning with their Alaska cruise this summer (May through September 2009), they will feature volunteer …
We never know what may result from our volunteer travels. Sometimes the impressions made on us may lead to a return trip, other times it may spawn larger ambitions to give back which could lead to a career change or the creation of a business or a non-profit that would give back perpetually or meet a particular need in the world or both. Such is the case of Jan Hanson. We love her story because it embodies the promise and potential of every volunteer and every volunteer trip.
Jan Hanson …
The growing popularity of volunteer travel or voluntourism has people curious about the industry asking — who takes these trips and what is it about? As one of the fastest growing areas in travel, people in and out of volunteer tourism want to get a good look into this developing industry.
Alexia Nestora of Lasso Communications sent us their newly released volunteer travel study, conducted in conjunction with GeckoGo and Bradt Travel Guides, that provided a snapshot of consumer attitudes toward volunteer travel, the motivations behind taking this …
Celebrating its 8th year, WorldHum recently republished a marvelous essay by Pico Iyer on Why We Travel. The essay explored the transformative nature of travel – breaking down prejudices and assumptions, self-discovery, connections, and other inner journey discoveries. Iyer painted wonderful imageries of how our souls are re-awakened and challenged and our minds opened. So many of his descriptions could equally be speaking about the heart and spirit of voluntourism.
Photo by jay t kendall
“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We …
Responsible tourism is a hot topic that sparks passionate discussions on why we should do it and those in the tourism industry have long debated on how best to do it.
Recently, Shane K Beary, CEO of Track of the Tiger T.R.D. (Tourism Resources Development) in Thailand, sent us an article on the opportunity for responsible tourism during this current economic crisis and his proposal of an alternative structure to implement responsible tourism.
What do you think of his views? Do you agree with them?
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The Global Financial Crisis, Responsible Tourism Development & …
