Travel with a purpose

Voluntourism as Purposeful Travel
Volunteer Vacations, Voluntouring, Voluntourists,
and Alternative Travel

Voluntourism is a form of purposeful travel. It combines volunteer work with travel, tourism, and community development efforts. Variously referred to as volunteer vacations and voluntouring, it's one of the hottest travel trends today.
Alternative Travel as Voluntourism
Indeed, each year thousands of tourists travel abroad to engage in good works normally associated with nonprofit organizations and NGOs (non-governmental organizations).
Volunteer work and alternative travel have been around for a long time. Often associated with young, inexperienced, and liberal people with few resources and skills – stereotypical backpackers in search of alternative travel experiences – today such volunteer work and travel appeal to a very different class of travelers.
Many of today's voluntourists are over 50 years old. They tend to be disproportionately experienced, skilled, conservative, and affluent travelers who are seeking greater purpose in their lives. They want to share their life skills with others who are less fortunate and in need of greater opportunities.
The New Voluntourism – Doing Good, Traveling Well
More and more nonprofit organizations and tour groups are focusing on voluntourism and what we call legacy travel. These organizations sponsor two- to six-week purpose-driven trips to assist people in developing countries. These are working vacations with a nonprofit emphasis.
Participants in such travel, who are often upscale travelers with a wealth of life experiences, may pay $5,000 to $10,000 for a four-week tour that involves volunteering for three weeks and then spending the final week sightseeing, shopping, great restaurants, and five-star resorts and spas.
The type of volunteer work they do includes such activities as:
  working in an orphanage
  building homes
  teaching children
  mentoring
  helping refugees
  rescuing animals
  preserving the environment
  joining an archaeological or restoration tour

They derive an enormous amount of satisfaction by “doing good” when traveling abroad. Many of them also make financial contributions for sustaining their development efforts. For U.S. residents, a large percentage of this travel also is tax deductible.

Voluntourism Promotes Legacy Travel, Sponsors, and Sustainable Development

Other groups participate in legacy travel. Such travel is designed for people who want to leave a legacy behind without actually getting their hands dirty by doing physical labor.
Disproportionately wealthy, these people travel to places where they have a wonderful time meeting local people, learning about  needs, getting involved in projects with a purpose, and deciding to make financial contributions, such as providing building, equipment, and program support to schools, orphanages, or hospitals.
Their financial commitments may be substantial and long-term, especially if they decide to “sponsor” programs and facilities. They are especially interested in promoting sustainable development efforts.
New Trends in Voluntourism
Voluntourism and legacy travel are growing phenomena with both nonprofit organizations and tour groups. The demographics and economics favor a great deal of growth in such travel.
In fact, voluntourism and legacy travel respond to growing trends among retirees who want to:
  travel
  be engage
  meet new people with other walks of life
  learn more about other countries and cultures
  have a purpose and do good
  share their life skills with people in need
  leave a legacy behind

Indeed, some nonprofit organizations have begun to organize such tours as part of their revenue-generating plans.

Voluntourism Books and Resource Kit
If you love to both travel and do good works, you should seriously consider getting involved in this increasingly popular form of tourism and travel.
For more information on voluntourism and legacy travel, consult several of the following books as well as our special voluntourism and alternative travel kit, which list various groups and tours involved in voluntourism around the world:
  Alternatives to the Peace Corps
  Green Volunteers: The World Guide to Voluntary Work in Nature
  How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas
  International Voluntary Work
  Jobs for Travel Lovers: Opportunities at Home and Abroad
  Volunteer: A Traveler's Guide to Making a Difference Around the World
  Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others
  World Volunteers: The World Guide to Humanitarian and Development Volunteering
  Your Gap Year

The following special kit includes 12 resources on voluntourism and alternative travel:

                    Voluntourism and Alternative Travel Kit

Voluntourism Websites
The following websites also will introduce you to the growing world of voluntourism. Many of these sites serve as gateways to numerous voluntourism programs around the world:
  Backdoor Jobs
  Explorations in Travel
  GiveSpot.com
  Global Citizens Network
  Global Community Service Foundation
  Global Volunteer Network
  Global Volunteers
  GlobeAware
  Go Differently
  GoNOMAD
  i-to-i
  Idealist.org
  International Volunteer Programs Association
  ResponsibleTravel.com
  Sustainable Travel International
  TransitionsAbroad
  Volunteer Match
  VolunTourism
  World Volunteer Web

Recommended Voluntourism Company
If you are interested in participating in some very special soft travel adventures involving voluntourism and sharing life skills in Vietnam, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), or Bhutan, we highly recommend the following travel company, which specializes in special interest and customized tours:
Global Spectrumhttp://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=8065http://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=9383http://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=5548http://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=3802http://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=7056http://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=9382http://impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=5575http://impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=5575http://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=9384http://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=9384http://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=9440http://www.impactpublications.com//index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=9381http://www.backdoorjobs.comhttp://www.volunteertravel.com/http://www.givespot.com/http://www.globalcitizens.orghttp://www.globalvoluntourism.org/http://www.volunteer.org.nz/http://www.globalvolunteers.org/http://www.globeaware.org/http://www.godifferently.com/voluntourism.asphttp://www.gonomad.com/http://www.i-to-i.com/http://www.idealist.org/http://www.volunteerinternational.org/http://www.responsibletravel.com/http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/http://www.transitionsabroad.com/http://www.volunteermatch.org/http://www.voluntourism.org/http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/Tour_company.htmlhttp://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=9383http://ishoparoundtheworld.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=149http://www.impactpublications.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&PRODID=8098http://ishoparoundtheworld.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=149shapeimage_4_link_0shapeimage_4_link_1shapeimage_4_link_2shapeimage_4_link_3shapeimage_4_link_4shapeimage_4_link_5shapeimage_4_link_6shapeimage_4_link_7shapeimage_4_link_8shapeimage_4_link_9shapeimage_4_link_10shapeimage_4_link_11shapeimage_4_link_12shapeimage_4_link_13shapeimage_4_link_14shapeimage_4_link_15shapeimage_4_link_16shapeimage_4_link_17shapeimage_4_link_18shapeimage_4_link_19shapeimage_4_link_20shapeimage_4_link_21shapeimage_4_link_22shapeimage_4_link_23shapeimage_4_link_24shapeimage_4_link_25shapeimage_4_link_26shapeimage_4_link_27shapeimage_4_link_28shapeimage_4_link_29shapeimage_4_link_30shapeimage_4_link_31

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