“Time” Takes A Look At Voluntourism: Overpriced Guilt-Trips Or A Real Chance To Change The World?

By Kate | Permalink | No Comments | August 4th, 2007 | Trackback

World Hum recently pointed me towards Vacationing Like Brangelina, where Time takes a look at voluntourism and asks if these are “merely overpriced guilt trips with an impact as fleeting as the feel-good factor? Or do they offer individuals a real chance to change the world, one summer jaunt at a time?”

Time quotes Voluntourism.org founder David Clemmons, who explains the benefit of volunteer trips which include more typical tourist activities as well: “You don’t walk away from the destination only with this snapshot in your mind of ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s this wretched, horrid poverty…You see there are other sides.”

Critics from Tourism Concern point out that the frequent language barrier between volunteers and “beneficiaries” and the short-term nature of voluntourism trips may preclude making any real connection and, presumably, effecting real change. Another criticism was “The market is geared toward profit rather than the needs of the communities.” Tourism Concern is developing a code of ethical conduct for the sector to address these concerns, which I would be interested in featuring here when available.

I think criticism is a great tool because, unlike unquestioning acceptance, it can actually lead to positive change. However the lack of depth present in many “criticisms” of voluntourism often disappoints me, and, while I don’t agree with all of his conclusions, I think one of the best cases I’ve seen against voluntourism is that presented by Our Man in Granada, written specifically for the Volunteer Logue here.

I’m long-winded on this topic and may have summarized my feelings best in my guest piece at Voluntourism.org. Briefly, I think:

1. It’s absolutely true that voluntourism activities should take the local community into consideration, and should anticipate possible negative unintended effects and avoid them. I agree that the needs of the community should play a central role in the development of any project.

2. It’s highly unethical for a for-profit organization to misrepresent itself and take advantage of people’s idealistic notion of doing good.

3. It’s worth keeping in mind that even a non-profit organization involved in voluntourism has an interest in getting participants and in promoting the idea that voluntourism is good.

That said, the argument that voluntourism is about profit would be a lot stronger if, for example, tourism in general was not also about profit, and if business practices throughout the world were also not about profit. I don’t think the majority of current alternatives to voluntourism focus on the needs of the community either.

Similarly, it is unrealistic to expect a two or three week trip incorporating the labor of essentially unqualified foreigners to effect change equivalent to that of local non-profits or international aid organizations which utilize highly skilled professionals with years of experience. For this reason it doesn’t make sense to me to hold a two week volunteer trip to the same standard as one would a real aid project.

I don’t think voluntourism is an either/or situation and I think the fact that it offers participants a chance to expand their world views – especially in the sense described by David Clemmons above – is significant and also hard to quantify. I do, however, think that coverage of the theme is important and despite all this was pleased to see it featured in Time.

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