Voluntourism

"Voluntourism" is the new term for the increasingly popular trend of volunteering whilst on holidays. Tourists are no longer content to visit a destination and watch from the outside. They now want to get involved in the lives of the people they are visiting and experience their cultures. In return, they are willing to give their time and sometimes money to improve the community in which their hosts live.

In Thailand, there is a huge disparity of living standards, especially when comparing city people with country communities. This gap is even bigger between the Thai villages and the tourists who visit them.

So now you can help these people as part of your holiday.Help to build a dam, which will make the village sustainable, or visit an orphanage and sponsor a meal for the children, or teach English for a week or two.

There are a number of companies that are running these programmes as not-for-profit branches of their tour companies. Two such companies are Track of The Tiger, which has set up VolunTourists Without Borders. They operate out of Chiang Mai and focus on helping local communities to build sustainable tourism so that they can survive on their own, without assistance from anyone. North-by-Northeast also runs tours with volunteer elements, including teaching English or computer skills and physically building school rooms for local kids.

Dam - VWB

Building the dam

Courtesy of VWB

Most of their programmes run in Isan in the north -eastern part of Thailand or across the border in Laos.

Following the tsunami, there was much (and still is) that could be done by volunteers to help the locals get back on their feet. A wonderful tour company called Andaman Discoveries was set up with the help of international volunteers and many villagers who lost their livelihoods in the tsunami are now qualified as tour guides and run homestays. Just by doing one of their tours you will be helping the villagers, but if you want to do more, they can arrange for you to do anything from teach English, to light construction work or conducting hospitality training. For more information, click here.

There are a number of companies in Australia and around the world that are offering voluntourism. Intrepid Travel not only offers a number of tours through which you can help the locals, but they have set up The Intrepid Foundation, where every dollar donated is matched dollar for dollar by the company and given to an array of carefully chosen NGOs and charities.

The Imaginative Traveller, Peregrine Adventures and Hands Up Holidays also offer wonderfully diverse tours with a focus on community development.