Voluntourism – Is it the Service of the Future for College Students?

Volunteer tourism or voluntourism has seen tremendous growth in the recent years. Young volunteers travel abroad to serve communities and make a difference. They serve orphanages, empower communities, tutor kids, and raise funds to build schools, to name a few. Voluntourists are gifted with an opportunity to travel as well as show their kindness to help underprivileged populations while developing their own character and awareness. Although critics argue that voluntourism is more detrimental than helpful to the communities and is more focused toward volunteers, it can be beneficial if done correctly and monitored appropriately. Most of the tourists are young people –college students– who become part of this constructive trend to benefit the less fortunate communities, enhance their own intercultural exposure and awareness, and help protect the natural environment –and this is the reason why they should engage in voluntourism programs.

Young participants who engage in voluntourism create a positive impact on the local communities being served. Voluntourism programs connect the participants to the communities that are in need. Judith Lopez, director of one of the orphanage centers, talks about how the kids in the institution– some abandoned and others underprivileged – are getting the affection and reassurance they need from the voluntourists who visit the facility (Wertheimer, 2014). She talks about how the kids are enthusiastic to spend their time with the volunteers. These passionate students, hailing from reputed American universities, spend their breaks at such facilities to build libraries, tutor kids, grow plantations, and take up several leadership positions to make the community and its members who warmly welcome the students, thrive (Ruiz, 2013 and Wertheimer, 2014). Moreover, with the aid of tourism firms, voluntourists are able to empower the community members by leveraging their skills and providing employment opportunities to them. For instance, the Planeterra foundation is investing in empowering the Ccaccaccollo community in Peru by organizing weaving workshops for the women, which allows them to support their families by selling these textiles to the tourists and also teaching them some of the weaving skills (Poon Tip, 2009). Overall, by touching every part of the community and empowering them, young voluntourists are giving communities their share of gratification.

Service follows enlightenment. While giving back to the local communities abroad, college students are essentially developing themselves on an interpersonal level. The nature of voluntourism upholds the young volunteers’ ability to interact with cultural diversity, increases their awareness about problems, and augments their social capital – even 2-3 years after the international service (Lough et. al, 2014) .This suggests that the impact of short-term trips can have a sustainable impact on the volunteers. Additionally, international service is a great way for students to build their resume and acquire potential interpersonal skills. Nanny McGehee, professor of hospitality and tourism at Virginia Tech, talks in an interview about how voluntourism transforms the volunteers – helping them pick up great resume building skills as well as exposing them to the bigger issues (Wertheimer, 2014). During this process, the volunteers also acquire a better understanding of the lives of the underprivileged which plays a key role in helping them become more emotionally aware, attain a high level of civil mind, and pave the path to envision solutions for big problems such as poverty, and lack of other necessities. (Stupart, 2013 and Sujarittanonta, 2014). Overall, voluntourism is a win-win for all the stakeholders involved and develops the student volunteers on an interpersonal level.

In addition to the core impacts to the stakeholders involved in voluntourism, voluntourists also take the credit for preserving the natural environment of the places they tour and volunteer. With constant efforts to preserve or leverage the cultural heritage present in the communities, and merging volunteer work with eco-tourism, these programs are essentially augmenting the economic value of the tourist place. For instance, WARF (Wild Animal Rescue Foundation) has integrated eco-tourism with voluntourism in Thailand in order conserve the wildlife and other natural resources (Sujarittanonta, 2014). College students play a pivotal role in this venture to take care of some of the wild animals, and be responsible for the ecological health of the realm. The owner of FMA Techniek, Henk Arissen, says that this is possible due to the educated volunteers who are dedicated and willing to learn with a constructive mindset (Sujarittanonta, 2014). Hence, conservation of the environment is a major part of volunteers’ efforts in benefiting all stakeholders involved.

Critics of voluntourism argue that such short trips might actually do more harm than good to the community. Volunteers often develop bonds with the communities which might cause the communities to be more dependent and might actually damage some of them –especially kids – psychologically after the volunteers leave (Richter, 2010). In addition, it might seem that these voluntourism programs might be focused more towards the student volunteers than the communities. According to Zakaria (2014), voluntourism puts too much focus on the volunteers and the notion of community service or community gaining is doubtful under such cases.

While this view is justifiable, most of these are short-term trips partially solve this by keeping the bonding time between volunteers and the community short, as well as focusing more on ‘service’(‘The Agenda with Steve Paikin, 2011). On the same note, the emotionally rewarding experience which the communities receive during that period outweighs the negative consequences of the aftermath (Stupart, 2013). With certain precautions in mind, voluntourism can be a healthy and rewarding experience. It important to choose the right kind of organization to travel with and do some background research whether the organization is community-centric, transparent, profit or non-profit as that makes a difference in the motivation levels for such firms. (Wertheimer, 2014 and ‘The Agenda with Steve Paikin’, 2011). Additionally, optimizing the projects and monitoring them to avoid overloading of volunteers can also potentially assure a positive experience for both volunteers and the communities (Poon Tip, 2009). Overall these measures would minimize the harms of voluntourism to the communities.

To conclude, short-term voluntourism programs have a great impact on the remote places in third-word countries, a marked influence on college student’s interpersonal growth and social capital, and all of this together with maintaining the natural environment of the place. An increasing sense of purpose in these communities thereafter is likely to promote enriched quality voluntourism programs and encourage volunteers. The flaws can be refined, and service can be done in the right way, however, it is not practical to abstain young people from serving people for a right cause and giving them a lifetime experience of learning and service.