The Impact of Volunteer Tourism on Host Communities - Essay Example

The Impact of Volunteer Tourism on Host Communities Introduction It is apparent that volunteer tourism involves travel that entails volunteering for charitable cause. There are several benefits both to the volunteer tourists and the host community. For volunteer tourists, they benefit in gaining more intercultural knowledge during their volunteer activities because it involves carrying out charitable work to the host community that could be different from that of the tourist. Benefits on the host community However, it is evident that the host communities benefit more. First, in essence, volunteer tourists provide assistance in terms of skills, and knowledge expertise on the way to develop and manage development projects (Holmes and Smith). If the host community is from developing countries, it is therefore evident that host community might have little or no knowledge on how to develop and manage development projects. For this reason, the volunteer tourists find it critical to design some training programs that would enable the community to come up with projects that can help them overcome various economical and social challenges facing them. This way, even after the tourists leave the community, the trained members would be in a position to run the already established projects and even be able to come up with others. Therefore, they do not necessarily have to rely on the tourists all the time they have challenges. The overall goal for such an initiative is to equip the community with the necessary knowledge that they can use to alienate poverty and other social economic challenges (Bricker, et al 256). For instance, many developing countries have arable lands, but they lack the knowledge that can be used to make it economically viable. In such a situation, volunteer tourists may decide to come up with a project that educates farmers on the best farming practices that can help them improve their outputs. On the same note, although some people may be having good knowledge of producing abundant farm products, some may lack the necessary skills that would enable them make good earning from the same. Some produce perishable products that cannot last for a long time, but lack the knowledge on how to preserve them. In that case, volunteer tourists can help them on how to preserve such products. On the other hand, although some would be able to produce abundant products, they might lack the skills required to trade in order to get money from their products. Different trading skills can be taught and how that can be turn around to become a farming business. Therefore, it is correct to argue that provision of skills and knowledge by volunteer tourists benefits the host community in different ways (Weeden 48). Volunteer tourists also provide funding to such projects. In some situations, the host community may be having knowledge on how to carryout different projects, but lack finances that fosters the development of such projects. In that case, volunteer tourists may decide to offer financial support to such people. This helps them to increase the volume of their produce thus high profits. In addition, finance matters are also taught to such a community on how to manage their finances including savings and investment. This includes advice on how to market their products and the best way they can produce top quality that would satisfy their customers. In some cases, some communities are not able to access basic needs as required. In such a case, volunteer tourists may decide to design some of them and educate them on how to run them. For instance, due to bad governance and leadership, although a certain community might have good doctors and nurses, they may lack hospitals and healthcares. In such a case, volunteer tourist may decide to set up a healthcare for the community where the community doctors and other health professionals can be employed. This way, the communities gets employment opportunities as well as improves their health condition. Other facilities may include schools and rehabilitation centers. These facilities are important because as Darrow (83), argued, poverty and poor living standards lead to increase in crime and drug abuse. In light of this argument, the initiative of volunteer tourists to put up facilities such as rehabilitation centers can help the community to deal with instances of drug and other substance abuse. Some of these initiatives may come with a project package that can be used to educate the youth on the importance of abstaining from crime and drug abuse. In addition, programs on how they can keep off from such intrigues can be designed. For example, youths can be introduced to an economic project whereby they can engage themselves in income generating projects. This way, they become busy and avoid idleness that encourages crime and substances abuse. In another dimension, volunteer tourism help foster mutual respect and understanding to the host community. This can be done by the tourists encouraging cultural interaction among the members of the host community. Some of the areas that can be used by the tourists in this regard involve teaching the host community on how to have shared responsibilities for a common purpose. For instance, in order to help the community keep off from crime, parents and other local leaders can be encouraged to take charge of counseling and guiding the youth on how they can refrain from such activities. On the other hand, the youth can be educated on various ways through which they can participate in peace keeping and coexistence. Self determination can well be instilled to the host community by the volunteer tourists by designing programs that can regularly educate and encourage people on how to live positively. For instance, religious institutions including cultural activities that encourage good practice and cohesion can be educated on how they can be holding different meetings with people and teach them about positive things in life. For example, this may involve engaging people in church youth meetings, creation of church choirs, organizing football matches and other cultural practices that enhance socialization. According to Getz (134) such events encourages socialization and good morals among the people involved. In another dimension, volunteer tourism helps in local environment conservation. In most cases where the local community is unable to meets its economic needs, people turn to the environment for survival. For instance, people might decide to start the business of burning and selling charcoal. Therefore, they end up cutting down the trees that act as rain catchment areas. This translates to low rainfall thus little food produce. In addition, their lands may end up being eroded as a result of wind erosion that takes place when there is deforestation. In such situations, volunteer tourism may come up with programs of educating the host community on how they can engage in other economic activities in order to save their environment. Drawbacks on the host community On the other hand, although many benefits are accrued from volunteer tourism, it is also apparent that not everyone benefits from projects initiated. Only a fraction of the community members benefit (Lyons and Wearing 189). In addition, some projects require high start ups, thus becoming difficult to achieve the intended goal. Conflicts emerge in such situations when the projects become expensive to start. The rich people in the host community would at some point want to intervene and take advantage of such an initiative. They invest in the project and dictate most of its operations with the intent of reaping heavier than the poor, who are the initial beneficiaries of such a project. Therefore, this can create conflict between the rich and the poor. Another apparent thing in volunteer tourism is the issue of acculturation or loss of host community cultural values due to interaction with the volunteer tourists (Wearing 158). Smith (90) argued that cultural interaction encourages and contributes to culture erosion. For instance, the host community may adapt the tourists’ culture to emulate them especially when they appear to be more advanced than the host community. Therefore, conflict may arise between the members of the host community that adapt new cultures with those that have not adapted. In a broader sense, this becomes critical in that in the attempt to assume the full concept of the emulated culture, an individual may develop bad behavior. For example, one might want to wear expensive cloths like those of the tourist. However, due to lack of success in acquiring enough money to do so, such an individual may engage in crime so as to get the money to buy such a cloth. In another dimension, the host community might end up depending much on foreign aid. Some communities are lazy and only rely on foreign aid. As such, even when the tourists start up some projects for them, they may fail to maintain them or even end up destroying them. In such situations, they may not be able to help themselves and can only wait for the foreigners to help them. Conclusion With many deliberations on the impact of volunteer tourism on the host community, it has emerged that here are various benefits accrued to it. Nevertheless, there are also some negative impacts associated with that. The indispensable ting to do is to ensure there is harmony in the way volunteer tourism intends to do with what the host community wants to achieve from such initiatives. Works cited: Bricker, Kelly et al. Sustainable tourism & the millennium development goals: effecting positive change. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2013. Print. Darrow, Clarence. Crime: Its Cause and Treatment. Auckland: The Floating Press, 2012. Print. Getz, Donald. Event Studies. New York: Routledge, 2010. Print. Holmes, Kirsten and Smith, Karen. Managing Volunteers in Tourism. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print. Lyons, Kevin and Wearing, Stephen. Journeys of discovery in volunteer tourism: international case study perspectives. Wallingford, UK; Cambridge, MA: CABI, 2008. Print Raymond, Eliza and Hall, Michael. "The Development of Cross-Cultural (Mis) Understanding Through Volunteer Tourism." journal of sustainable tourism 16. 5 (2008): 530-543. Print. Wearing, Stephen. Volunteer tourism: experiences that make a difference. New York: CABI Pub., 2001. Print. Smith, Lelanie. Tourism, culture and regeneration. Wallingford, UK; Cambridge, MA: CABI Pub., 2007. Print. Weeden, Clare. Responsible Tourist Behaviour. New York: Routledge, 2013. Print. Read More