Opinion Summary:
- Voluntourism, or volunteer tourism, is a huge industry and is valued at $2 billion. Participants pay to volunteer in programs that range in focus from conservation to teaching.
- There are many valid reasons why people want to join volunteer tourism programs. But, at core, it is a massive, unregulated business that in some cases harms more than it helps.
- Do your research on volunteer programs before signing up and avoid unethical segments of the industry, like orphanage tourism.
Traveling the world while making a positive impact through volunteering almost sounds too good to be true – and that’s partly because, in my opinion, it is.
Every year, 10 million people participate in voluntourism programs under the guise that they’ll be helping firsthand. While there are reputable volunteer programs for tourists, many of them are highly predatory.
Voluntourism benefits travelers, but it can have negative impacts on the local communities. Let’s take a closer look at the voluntourism industry and its consequences.
Table of Contents
The Basics of Voluntourism
Voluntourism is a travel experience where tourists go abroad to do various types of volunteer work. It is also a $2 billion sector of the travel industry [ source,source] .
The voluntourism movement started with the creation of the Peace Corps by President Kennedy in 1961 [ source]. The goal was to get trained volunteers on the ground in foreign countries [ source]. Today, the industry has boomed and hundreds of companies provide volunteer opportunities worldwide.
Thailand, Costa Rica, Cambodia, and India are popular countries for voluntourism. Program focuses vary from the environment and animals to construction and teaching. Orphanage tourism is one of the most popular and detrimental forms of voluntourism.
The Appeals of Voluntourism
It’s easy to understand why voluntourism is so popular.
First off, everyone wants to travel the world right?
And, while travel on a budget is more possible than most realize, travel is still viewed as a luxury by many.
When you add volunteering to the mix it allows you to travel and feel like you’re helping people at the same time. It feels warm and fuzzy to get involved firsthand and make a positive difference in the world.
You leave a volunteer program with a sense of accomplishment and feeling good about yourself.
Plus, It’s a safe bet that you will walk away from a volunteer experience with some new skills in your back pocket whether you’re building a house or planting trees in the rainforest.
Best of all, participating in a volunteer program is appealing to future employers or universities. You can’t return from a regular vacation and throw the experience on your resume, but you are encouraged to do that post-volunteer trip. Voluntourism is often sold like an investment in your future.
Why Voluntourism Can Be Harmful Instead of Helpful
Despite the numerous benefits for travelers, voluntourism doesn’t always have the same wholesome impacts on the communities they’re trying to help.
Oftentimes, the presence of voluntourists can even be detrimental. Here’s why:
Voluntourism takes jobs from locals
A company usually hires an employee for a job and then proceeds to pay them for their work.
However, voluntourism companies don’t have to pay a cent to the foreigners who come for a few weeks to complete a volunteer program. On the contrary, they earn a significant amount of money from the situation.
It gives voluntourism regions less incentive to hire and pay locals because foreigners are willing to pay them to work for free.
As explained in , the end result is perpetuation of a cycle of poverty for the local community.
The industry is almost entirely unregulated
Billions of dollars flow into the enterprise every year. The voluntourism industry is still largely unregulated both financially and operationally and this causes real harms.
One former volunteer at a program that cost up to $3,000 per week was told that only a mere $9 of the fee went back into serving the community. The rest went into the program’s pockets as profit.
Nobody is keeping an eye on these companies to ensure they’re safe and ethical. This is especially concerning considering voluntourism programs care for thousands of children.
A United Nations expert named Mama Fatima Singhateh recently called for the voluntourism industry to be more closely monitored to protect defenseless children around the world.
Volunteers are unqualified for serious roles
No matter how well-meaning a volunteer is, the truth is that they’re usually taking over a role that they are extremely unqualified for. This is particularly true for programs that work with children.
Even if a volunteer has a childcare background, their presence at places like orphanages isn’t contributing positively. They’re not a consistent figure in the children’s lives.
Volunteers come in, give the kids attention for a week, and then leave. Think about how painful that would be to relive that scenario over and over again as a child. It’s traumatizing and can lead to pervasive attachment issues.
The 2 Billion dollar industry cares most about paying voluntourists
Voluntourism is a business, not a charity, and many companies prioritize profit over the communities they’re supposed to serve.
Catering to the best interests of locals isn’t their main goal, in my opinion.
The real objective is figuring out how to entice foreigners to volunteer and spend more money. They don’t truly want to eradicate suffering orphans or poverty because that’s what is attracting paying volunteers.
Orphanages are particularly problematic. Many even traffic children from impoverished families to keep bringing in volunteers [ source, source]. Several voluntourism companies have stopped working with orphanages due to these repercussions [source].
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The bottom line is that travelers must be diligent about vetting a voluntourism company before handing over their money and time.
Not every volunteer tourism program is necessarily bad, but many of them do more harm than good.
If you’re working with a reputable company to do a beach clean-up or plant trees, it’s probably okay to join in. However, spending a week at an orphanage taking care of at-risk kids with zero prior training is more than likely an unethical situation.
Think critically before jumping on the voluntourism travel trend and carefully consider if a volunteer program is harmful before participating.
(Featured Image Credit: William.Visuals / Shutterstock.com)
