Do Good while on Vacation: Voluntourism, Criticism, and Genuine Sustainable Projects to get involved in
Few things are as fulfilling as knowing you are doing something good and meaningful. Even while on vacation. No wonder there are so many "projects" and organizations offering opportunities for tourists to get involved. Voluntourism promises an exciting trip combined with the good feeling of volunteering. And it is sustainable, as well. Is it not?
Criticizing Voluntourism
In contrast to genuine volunteer work, the focus of voluntourism is clearly on the traveler's experience. This alone should make people concerned with sustainability in tourism take notice. After all, "volunteering" that focuses primarily on the well-being of participants loses sight of the real purpose: to have a positive impact on local people and the environment.
The other common points of criticism of voluntourism revolve around this issue:
- Stays are usually very short, sometimes as little as one day. This leaves no time for adequate preparation, follow-up, and reflection, which are essential components of volunteer work.
- As a result, it takes longer to train volunteers than it does to get them actively and effectively involved in the project. Before they can be meaningfully integrated into the team, they're already gone. This costs resources, both in time and people.
- Volunteers do not need to have any professional or language skills. No background check or criminal record is required. A point of concern, especially when working with children. In addition, untrained and technically incompetent participants can sometimes do more harm than good.
- Voluntourism providers work for profit. In most cases, they are neither NGOs nor non-profit organizations, but commercial tour operators.
In fact, voluntourism projects have the potential to do more harm than good. For example, there are repeated cases of staged orphanages exploiting children who still have parents, or children being "put on display" (for further reading, we recommend this study on voluntourism by ECPAT (Working Group for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation) and interview with ECPAT spokesperson Dorothea Czarnecki (german only)).
Commercial volunteering can also make local communities dependent on those volunteering. In addition, there are the ethical issues of such practices and the environmental impact of volunteers' travel.
Sustainability or Greenwashing?
Reputable volunteer service organizations usually do not offer short-term placements. Additionally, you should make sure that there is extensive preparation and follow-up when selecting projects, especially if you are interested in projects outside of your own cultural area. Preparation includes a skills assessment to match the skills of potential volunteers with an appropriate project.
Finally, there is the question of what the volunteer service will entail. Is it just a project that caters to the so-called white savior complex of Western travelers? Or will the initiative have a real positive local impact? Does the provider work closely with the local community or is it even a local initiative? Is there transparent documentation of the project? How is the safety of the children guaranteed?
Note: If you witness child abuse while traveling or elsewhere, you can and should report it. One way to do this is to visit www.nicht-wegsehen.net or dontlookaway.report
Do Good while Traveling: Alternatives to Voluntourism
If you want to support local people and help the environment while you travel, you can do so by traveling in a sustainable and conscious way. This means using public transportation or walking whenever possible, eating in local restaurants and buying from local people, giving preference to family-run accommodations, etc.
If you want to get involved in a more active way, you can find out about local projects. Beach clean-ups, for instance, are a popular activity, and if you are traveling sustainably anyway, this has nothing to do with greenwashing or "indulgence trading". On the other hand, if one does not live sustainably 364 days a year and then brags about cleaning up a beach on vacation …
Another option is getting involved within your hotel. Sustainable accommodations often have their own projects to help the local community. Even small decisions, such as choosing not to use housekeeping services, are matched with donations to charitable organizations. The Green Pearls® hotels show what other such initiatives can look like.
Waiving of the room cleaning service
More and more hotels are doing away with daily room cleaning. Not only are we happy about this, but our guests are giving us positive feedback as well. "Many are in favor of this measure to protect our resources and the environment," reports the HUBERTUS Mountain Refugio in the Allgäu region of Germany. At Hotel Klosterbräu, guests can choose not to have their rooms cleaned. Instead, the hotel donates three euros to the Seefeld Forest and Bee Project. A similar practice is in place at Klosterhof - Alpine Hideaway & Spa. In recent years, five-figure sums have been collected for the mountain rescue service.
Clean-Ups
While refusing room cleaning services is more passive, guests can actively participate in community clean-up efforts. In Keemala, Thailand, the team visits Kamala Beach every two weeks to help the community keep the bay clean. Guests are welcome to join in.
SCHWARZWALD PANORAMA also makes regular visits to the forest. In particular, a Black Forest Clean-Up is offered as part of the conference program. The goal is not only to clean up the forest, but also to raise the awareness of the participants. After the collection, the collected waste is weighed and the diversity of the waste is emphasized.
Planting Events
In addition to cleaning up the island's beaches, guests of the Eco Aparthotel The Dreamer's Club on Korčula can also take part in planting campaigns. In general, the hotel aims to inspire and motivate its guests to be environmentally conscious, for example by providing reusable shopping bags free of charge.
At the Hotel Das Rübezahl in Schwangau, Germany, tree-planting events are held regularly with guests. "Even today, there are still a number of guests who take care of "their" little trees every year," says the Thurm family with great enthusiasm. Every week, guests of the Romantik Boutique Hotel are invited to take part in a guided beekeeping tour. These guided tours have already allowed some guests to get acquainted with the beekeeping community.
It does not always have to be a big project, and it does not always have to be voluntourism, to do some good while on vacation. If you do not have several months to spend on a volunteer project, you are better off taking a conscious, sustainable trip. That way, you are automatically doing good.