Volunteer Tourism - Essay Example

The impacts of volunteer tourism on host communities Volunteer tourism has been gaining popularity since the 1990s. Volunteer tourism entails traveling for charity (Callanan and Thomas). The volunteers usually offer a variety of services ranging from semi skilled jobs like cleaning more skilled jobs like medical services. Initially, volunteer tourism was taken by people who had a common cause it, however, developed in the 1990s where both high school and college students began getting involved. Most of the people who take up volunteer tourism have an aim of making a positive impact on the communities where they serve. Despite the positive impact that volunteer tourism has had it has also been blamed for the negative effects it has had on local communities (Wearing, 2001). Volunteer tourism can be divided into; social tourism, cultural tourism, Alternative tourism, eco-tourism, moral tourism, responsible tourism, charity tourism and serious leisure. Even though volunteer tourism became popular when secondary and college students became interested in it, its main turning point was experienced in the 1980s when concepts like sustainable tourism, eco-tourism and responsible tourism emerged. Analysis of volunteer tourism reveals that it has brought services to communities where none existed and that it has also had negative effects on these communities. Advantages of volunteer tourism Volunteer tourism compliments the services of none governmental organization and other community based organizations. The communities reached by volunteer tourism are always remote and served by mostly served by nongovernmental organizations that sometimes run out of funds (Wearing, 2001). When volunteer tourists visit these communities, they help these organizations continue serving these communities (Ellis, 2007). By putting up services like counseling, hospitals and schools, volunteer tourism help the community based organizations offer the much needed services to the members of the host communities. The positive impact of volunteer tourism is also seen in the host communities in the form of direct financial support that volunteer tourists inject into the economy of these local communities. According to Gattentag (2009) volunteer tourists always support their host families during the time of their stay. Volunteer tourists also lias with local organizations through which they channel their funds which helps avoid embezzlement of funds ensuring maximum benefit to the intended recipients in the local communities (Ellis, 2001). The direct financial support ensures local employment and improved facilities to the host communities. Volunteer tourism has been economically beneficial to the local communities where the activities take place. Volunteer tourist groups sometimes partner with local organizations to offer services in the community (Wearing, 2001). These projects such as orphanages provide job opportunities to the members of the community where they are situated. Economic benefits also come in the form of business. When these groups decide to put up a building, the building materials are purchased in the area enabling local businesses to get economic gains. Another advantage of volunteer tourism is the welfare benefits that it affords to the locals. By setting up orphanages, centres that care for the elderly or even medical camps, volunteer tourism renders welfare benefits. Other welfare benefits that host communities receive from volunteer tourism are youth programmes, counseling and free medical clinic (Sin, 2009). This goes a long way in improving the lives of the host communities. Culture exchange is another advantage of volunteer tourism (Callanan and Thomas). During their interaction with the local communities, volunteers get to influence and get influenced by the culture of the communities where they serve. Most tourism volunteers are from the west whose culture is always viewed as affluent by these communities. Their interaction with these communities therefore steer the communities towards westernization. Experience is also another advantage obtained from volunteer tourism (Robert, 2011). It gives both the helper and the helped memorable experiences that last a lifetime. The experience in volunteer tourism has led to sustained services in host communities because volunteers return to these communities to relieve their experiences (Ellis, 2007) Disadvantages of volunteer tourism Despite having a positive impact, volunteer tourism has been blamed for promoting a culture of dependency. Trends in volunteer tourism show that most volunteer mission take care of the elderly, children, refugees, counseling and other social services. These services are mostly offered to in remote villages. When villages start, getting help they tend to minimize fending for themselves and instead wait for free services. According to Robert (2011) the people of Cambodia are abusing the good will of tourists. Since most of the orphanages in Cambodia are funded, some of the children in the orphanages were found to have at least one parent. Only a paltry 28 percent were found to be complete orphans. This shows the level of dependency that volunteer tourism causes. In some instances, the volunteers supported their local hosts (Gattentag, 2009) Volunteer tourism has also been blamed for the loss of culture in the local communities where they are situated. Most volunteer tourists are from the West, and the recipient communities are normally poor remote areas that would not benefit from conventional tourism (Sin, 2009). When these volunteers go to these areas, they are seen as a representation of the affluence of the western culture. Through their interactions with the locals, the locals are persuaded to emulate the lifestyle of the tourists. This in turn leads to cultural change (Guttentag, 2009). Sustainability is also another problem that volunteer tourism has created. Most volunteer tourists visit their destinations for a period of time, and most of them will never return to these areas ever. The memories of these places, however, remain eked in their memories forever (Wearing, 2001). Some of the projects started by these volunteer groups are never seen into completion because either the volunteers did not stay long enough to see their completion or because of lack of funds (Ellis, 2007). Before embarking on a volunteer mission, volunteer tourists should make sure that there are enough funds for the project and that there are also elaborate plans to see the project into conclusion even if the volunteer are not around. Tourist volunteers have been blamed for failing to take the desires of the communities into account when initiating and taking up these volunteer projects (Callanan and Thomas). A case in point was in Kenya where a community that had no school was build a school by the first volunteer group. The second volunteer group came and in clear disregard to the community’s needs; builds a bigger school complete with a commercial kitchen. Naturally the first school was abandoned. A third group came to build another school, however, ; this last group lacked funds and did not even complete their project. When asked later what they think about the projects, the communities members stated that they did not want a second school let alone a commercial kitchen. They said that had their opinion been sought, the fund would have been channeled differently. They wanted more teachers or more funds to pay the existing teachers (Alexia, 2011). The volunteer tourism community likes to use the phrase ‘every bit helps’ which sometimes hurts their missions abroad. When volunteers sign up, they do so because they want to help, and their double on their lack of expertise in a particular area are always put aside by this phrase. But when they get to the field where the work is supposed to be done, some volunteers become a hindrance to the project. Taking a volunteer who cannot speak Spanish in a Spanish speaking community will derail the efforts of the team (Guttentag, 2009). Sometimes the team has to stop and train the volunteer first before embarking on the project. Another problem of volunteer tourism is the undue pressure that sometimes these volunteer groups put on their hosts. When volunteers offer to stay and help make a difference in the community, they are supposed to be ready to live in the conditions that these villagers live in as this builds their experience and exposure. This is not the case in some instances where volunteers are not willing to give up their comfort. In her research, Sin (2009) found out that a group of students who had gone to volunteer in Cambodia wanted to sleep in mattresses while the villagers slept in mats. Beside the house where they were going to be hosted was too small to fit 29 mattresses. This is an example of the demands and pressure that some of these volunteer groups put on their hosts. Other volunteers also go to these destinations with an attitude that they are superior and need not learn from a developing or third world countries (Ellis, 2009). Such instances give volunteer tourism a bad name and change the perception of the locals on the tourists. Conclusion Volunteer tourism has gained popularity since its inception in mid 20th century. Many benefits received by the host communities have been attributed to volunteer tourism. However, the drawbacks of volunteer tourism have been on the rise with most of the blame being laid on the volunteer tourists. For volunteer tourism to be completely beneficial, it has to be organised properly and project skills properly evaluated to avoid project delays caused by lack of project skills among the volunteers. References Alexia, N., 2011. A tale of three schools. Voluntarism Gal. Retrieved from: http://voluntourismgal.com/2011/01/18/a-tale-of-three-schools/ Callanan, M. and Thomas, S., Volunteer tourism: Deconstructing volunteer activities within a dynamic environment. In Niche Tourism Ellis, S. J., 2007. Voluntourism- pros, cons and possibilities. Retrieved from: https://www.energizeinc.com/hot/2007/07feb.html Robert, C., 2011. Cambodia’s orphanages target wallets of well-meaning tourists. The Independent, 25 March 2011. Retrieved from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/cambodias-orphanages-target-the-wallets-of-wellmeaning-tourists-2252471.html Guttentag, D. A., 2009. The possible negative impacts of volunteer tourism. International Journal of Tourism Research, 11 pp. 537-551. Sin, H. L., 2009. Who are we responsible to? Locals’ tales of volunteer tourism. Geoforum, 41, pp. 983-992 Wearing, S., 2001. Volunteer tourism: Experiences that make a difference. Wallington Oxon, UK: CAB Publishing. Read More