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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