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People usually go on holiday to get away from it all and relax and do as little as possible. This is why lazing on a sunny beach is so popular. But there is a growing trend among tourists, young and old, to make their holidays more meaningful. This has led to a rapidly growing niche travel industry called volunteer tourism, or voluntourism if you want to be cute.
The concept is not new. For decades people have been taking sabbaticals and time-outs from their stressful lives to travel to remote countries and use their skills to help others. These "holidays" usually lasted several months, perhaps even years depending on the dedication of the people involved. As a result, the option to volunteer on vacation was limited to only a few people who had the resources and time to be away from home for extended periods.
These days, tour operators have latched onto the idea, realised that it is tremendously popular and created shorter holiday packages to suit a range of tourists. According to a report, Volunteer Tourism: A global analysis, the voluntourism has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. A survey of over 300 international volunteer organisations revealed that approximately 1.6 million people per year embark on volunteer holidays and that the industry garners between $1.7 billion and $2.6 billion annually.
The report also cited a 2007 survey of 8500 people, which revealed that the majority of volunteer tourists are women. Volunteers are also quite young, between 20 and 25 years old. However, there has been a steady increase in older age groups as jaded professionals take extended breaks to find out what they really want to do with their lives. Retrenchments and early retirement have also left some middle-aged people with a lot of time on their hands and valuable skill-sets that they still want to put to good use.
Africa, Asia and Latin America are the most popular destinations. This has as much to with the global perception of these areas as in desperate need of first-world aid, as it does with the exotic locations available. Both of these motivations have received criticism from those who think that volunteer tourism hurts more than it heals.
Critics say that well-meaning "voluntourists" lack the skills and the know-how necessary to provide adequate assistance in whatever field they have chosen, be it working with children or those affected by HIV, or animals and conservation. Organisations that offer opportunities for working with children have been particularly criticised because it's possible that all the good done is undone when volunteers leave; the last thing children living in deprived conditions need is to have to deal with abandonment issues.
In an article for the International Institute for Environment and Development, Kate Lee delves into some of the more serious problems associated with volunteer tourism, such as the fact that it has become commercially driven and organisers are more focused on meeting their clients' needs than the needs of the host community. The result is that communities have very little input into the nature of projects (where they take place, what are the objectives, etc) and are often not asked for any feedback.
According to Lee, the industry also feeds stereotypes (the rich helping the poor) and rather than working with communities, volunteers and organisations think of themselves as working for communities; help is doled out rather effort put into empowerment.
Lee would like to see greater regulation of the volunteer tourism industry, to ensure that unskilled volunteers don't end up working in delicate environments that require certain basic qualifications. This would also have to entail comprehensive pre-acceptance interviews and post-departure training to ensure that volunteers are not only correctly placed but also know what to expect.
When all is said and done, volunteer tourism is not a bad thing and people with good intentions and who are committed to making a difference should not be deterred simply because they lack higher qualifications. But as Lee says, more regulation is needed. When people's lives and the conservation of endangered species are at stake, it's not enough to blunder along as best as one can.
Phil writes about tour booking for the South Africa travel & adventure directory, Leeulekker.
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