The travel industry is filled with buzzwords that essentially segment the industry into different niches. You’ve heard of cultural tourism, culinary tourism, educational tourism, ecotourism, adventure tourism, and volunteer tourism or voluntourism.
Here is another emerging travel concept – humanitourism, described as “travel combining humanitarian projects with adventure tours designed to create longer term relationships between travelers and communities.” The core idea of humanitourism is recreational altruism, so is it a variant of voluntourism? Is humanitourism a hybrid of volunteer travel and adventure travel? Does humanitourism work to dissolve the …
As part of our on-going series, Budget Volunteer Vacations , we spotlight low cost, no frills volunteer travels to various destinations around the world. These trips do not include airfare, but meals and lodging are often included at no cost or for a minimal cost of $100-$200. These trips are great add-ons to your vacations!
Looking for a low-cost, challenging, and fun volunteer vacation this year? Washington Trails Association (WTA) hosts week-long work parties for adults, teens and families. For $150 ($125 for WTA member) they will provide you with a …
Today’s teens are developing an appetite for traveling and volunteering. A recent analysis done by the Family Travel Forum (FTF) revealed “at least 51% of American teens have traveled outside the U.S. by their 18th birthday, and that 15% more of these young travelers were involved in service projects compared to 2007 results.” FTF editor, Kyle McCarthy, said, “The 15% increase in teen voluntourism seen since last year may be due to a heightened awareness of our interconnected world, from the environment to Darfur to President Obama’s campaign for change.” …
If you search for volunteer vacations on the Internet, you often encounter third party organizations that set up travelers with different volunteer projects around the world. These are generally full service organizations that do all the work for you — finding a volunteer project, providing lodging and meals, providing you with language lessons if you want, scheduling excursions, etc. It’s definitely easier to have someone organize everything for you so you can get right to work when you step off the plane. But you pay for these services.
There is a …
We are starting an on-going series, Budget Volunteer Vacations, which will spotlight low cost volunteer travels to various destinations around the world. These trips are generally no frills and you will have to pay for airfare to get there. Meals and lodging are often included at no cost or for a minimal cost of $100-$200. Volunteer services range from community development to conservation to working with children. These trips are also great add-ons to your vacations.
Hawaii
Are you looking to take a volunteer vacation in Hawaii? There aren’t many, but we’ve …
How many t-shirts in your closet are feeding malnourished children?
We found an innovated non-profit “retailer” that uses hip, contemporary eye-catching, attention-catching campaigns to raise awareness and funds for orphan children.
Photo: CommonThreadz
Photo: CommonThreadz
CommonThreadz is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is working to build and fund sustainable projects that help save children living in extreme poverty in Africa and other developing nations. The charity has a series of socially conscious t-shirts with designs donated by talented artists from around the world that provide a school uniform to an orphan for each …
Whether voluntourism makes a difference is an on-going, often heated debate. The debate centers on whether voluntourism is altruistic or selfish and whether it is helpful or harmful to the local community. Both critics and supporters of voluntourism believe passionately their respective viewpoints are correct.
Photo by art makes me smile
We hear two recurring criticisms from some traditional service groups of voluntourism:
1. That it’s a feel good trip. It’s true, not every volunteer is motivated by altruism, but almost everyone enjoys the satisfaction that comes from giving. We think it’s dangerous …
USA TODAY
We are thrilled USA TODAY picked up our recent post on “Remedy for Recession” this past Friday. Travel writer, Laura Bly, echoed our sentiment that laid-off workers needn’t stay put, they can give back.
We believe you will see more on this topic in traditional media. Volunteering abroad as a travel option is extremely attractive for those who are flexible (finance, time, etc.) and have a desire to do something greater than themselves.
A few things are happening that are creating momentum for volunteer travel abroad:
1) there has been a strong …
