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FEATURE ARTICLE 2

Voluntourism: Seven Years After Its New Orleans' Adoption

by David Clemmons

I was speaking to a journalist recently. She was inking a piece on family voluntourism and she asked me a very good question: “when did family voluntourism begin to expand?” I thought for a moment and realized that much of what we have seen in the growth and advancement in family voluntourism can be traced to the tourism and social sectors’ responses to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the U.S. Gulf Coast region. Over the seven years that have followed, we have observed a notable convergence between these two sectors and how the resulting collaboration has provided a host of opportunities for not merely families but numerous groups (including corporations) and individuals across the globe to get involved in supporting their respective travel destinations.

Introduction

On 26 August 2005, the United States and its citizenry were shaken by a natural disaster that took thousands of lives. This singular event had a ripple effect that awakened not only marked discontent regarding the U.S. Government’s response to the tragedy, but also a wave of effort by individuals, groups, and, you guessed it, families, arriving in the area to offer what support – time, resources, skills, and sweat equity – that they could to assist residents and the community in reviving.

Alliances, too, began to be formed between a decidedly damaged tourism sector and an overwhelmed social sector that received far too many queries – “what can we do to help?” being the dominant theme thereof. The tourism sector was desperate to recover in a destination that had been labeled as a disaster zone. Hotels began offering discounted rooms to those individuals who had come to the area to help. And within 12 months, the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau had posted the term “voluntourism” on its website, encouraging visitors from all over the world to venture to the city to help out in the aftermath of the devastation.

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Families with teenagers and moms and dads with their fully-grown adult children began venturing to the region. At first, they were strictly volunteering in the Big Easy, but as the tourism sector began to recover, families began exploring the French Quarter again and taking in the various touristic offerings of the surrounding area. Hotels began creating packages for “voluntourists,” blending the best of voluntary service and experiences such as Fat Tuesday, JazzFest, and others. By mid—to-late 2007, this trend began to move to other cities. Hotels that had launched “voluntourism” efforts in response to Hurricane Katrina started experimenting in other destinations. And by Spring 2008, when the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC, launched its brand-wide voluntourism program - Give Back Getaways™ - we saw a wave of similar efforts emerge across the globe. Families did indeed have options.

In a relatively short time, we watched hotels & resorts create voluntourism experiences that were tailor-made for families – short-term engagements focusing on environmental projects (planting trees, working with animals, preservation of habitats) and other children & teen-friendly options. Cities such as Philadelphia discovered unique opportunities, like the Mural Arts Program, and opened the door for family members of all ages to get involved. NGOs, tour operators, and a growing contingent of “voluntourism” operators were apparently paying attention as the number of family-friendly options expanded during this period.

Rekindling Values Via the Global Economic Meltdown

And then something very unexpected happened: the world entered the Global Economic Meltdown.

But when the pendulum swung to remind us of just how insidious and greedy certain members of humanity can be, it did not take long for it to begin its return swing with equal force. A resurgence in values – values stressing integrity, responsible actions, concern for the well-being of others – found its way into business schools, corporations, and even K-12 classrooms. Couple this with the increasing awareness of Climate Change and the ingredients for a potential, full-fledged shift in family vacations was slowly forming.

Families also began saving money again. Gone were the days of extravagant spending; belt-tightening became the motto of many a household. This further influenced families, particularly the women who do most of the family vacation planning, and helped to set the option of making a difference on holiday to be an ever more attractive one. But, it is important to keep in mind that what happened for families has had a lasting impact for all voluntourists: the social sector and the tourism sector are in the process of forming a more integrated bond year after year.

The Present State of Cooperation Between the Tourism & Social Sectors

New Orleans became the focal point of combining traveling and volunteering, at least in the eyes of some Americans in the first couple of years following Hurricane Katrina. Certainly one of the long-term effects of this tragedy has been a growing level of cooperation between the tourism and social sectors - not that we can point directly to Hurricane Katrina as the sole force behind this increase in cooperation, of course, but all signs point to this as a definitive moment, nonetheless.

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Tourism Cares has been one organization that has built a reputation of connecting the social sector and the tourism sector. Much of their efforts, including one in the Gulf Coast region, have concentrated on incentivizing members of the tourism sector to volunteer in destinations throughout the United States and, most recently, in Peru. Such examples demonstrate that the link between these two sectors is expanding and strengthening over time. Perhaps we are arriving at a level of awareness that speaks to just how important the social sector is to the well-being of destinations and, therefore, the ultimate sustainability of tourism.

We are also beginning to see a switch in the manner in which hotels and resorts connect with voluntourism. Discussions I have had with insiders in this space point to the notion of working with NGOs to create "voluntourism days," whereby all hotels and resorts in a given area could inform their clients of the opportunity to participate in these experiences, rather than trying to build a sole-sourced relationship. Because multiple brands are now owned by one overarching uber-brand, this type of approach may be fully realizable.

What's more, these relationships have a strong impact on NGO partners. Much like the results of cause marketing in the 1980s and 1990s, NGOs have the opportunity of linking their missions, goals, and objectives with a recognized travel brand, in some cases delivering instant credibility with travelers and the potential discretionary wealth at their disposal.

Final Thoughts...

Increasingly, the tourism and social sectors are finding a common ground through voluntourism. This is not to suggest that all are in agreement: there are those who look upon how these two sectors are discovering the importance of integration to meet the demand of a more engaged generation with deep concern. Perhaps this is justified at present. However, maybe what we are waiting for is the social sector to take the lead in this space. Maybe, just maybe, the NGO World can reconstruct its own identity and recognize that its role in voluntourism places it in a markedly different position than traditional tourism - when its role was situated as the "clean-up" mechanism by which destinations could recover from the damage created by tourism run amuck.

In our discussions here in Bolivia, I am infinitely inspired that with the proper tools, communities and their NGO liaisons can tame the tourism tiger - - not by force, but by a wisdom that is inspired by the strong conviction that even tourism can be developed. This will be the exploration we undergo here in Bolivia over the next three years. We will, with any luck, uncover different approaches to balancing the needs of communities with a potentially broader distribution of resources. Exactly what a socialist-leaning government will likely appreciate.

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