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UnXpected
David Clemmons, Publisher/Editor of The VolunTourist, responds to some of your questions and emails. (Additional questions and responses are posted on the VolunTourism.org Blog)
Volume 5, Issue 4 Reader Comments & Other Mail
Hello David,
We (a future research institute from Germany) are researching for an analysis about tourism and are really interested in the voluntourism trend.
Unfortunately there is not much information about the number of people who actually book a voluntourism holiday. How many customers do you guys have? Are your tours very demanded? Could you give me an overview about the people who book travels with your agency?
I thank you very much in advance!
Best,
Sarah
Dear Sarah,
Thank you for your email.
Hard numbers are very, very difficult to come by.
First, one has to define what they mean by 'voluntourism.'
Is it a certain length of time dedicated to volunteering? to tourism? 3 weeks or less? Must one participate in both activities for it to be 'voluntourism'?
Once this definition has been established, then gathering the data is extremely difficult because 'voluntourism' operators may be unwilling to share how many people they host on an annual basis.
If you would like to establish your definition, then I could work with you to select a sample of organizations that would fall into the category of 'your' definition. But, this would only be a sample.
What may be possible is to come up with percentages of changes from organization to organization on a year-over-year basis.
For example, if you contact the folks at Students Today Leaders Forever (STLF.net), they have kept excellent records of all of their participants, the number of service hours provided, the number of trips they have run, etc. They are very willing to share this information. It only represents one group, however.
I know this does not help much. Let me know if you have additional thoughts.
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Dear Mr. Clemmons,
My name is Rebecca Kaufman and I am currently a Sophomore at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. I have visited your website, VolunTourism.org, because I am in the process of writing a research paper on the emerging market of Volunteer Tourism for my Hospitality Development and Planning class. Our assignment is to understand the new market, i.e:
-Who is our target market?
-How has VolunTourism evolved?
-Is this a growing segment?
-What countries are active?
I was wondering if you had any additional information or even time to set up a conference call where you could describe to me your perspective on VolunTourism, and possibly help in answering the questions above. I would really appreciate any additional insight you could offer me. Thank you for your time.
Ms. Kaufman,
I am quite honored that someone from Cornell University would seek my assistance in conducting research on the subject of volunteer tourism.
Before we get too far down the road, I think you should know that I have focused my attention on the convergence of voluntary service and tourism rather than trips that are conducted specifically for volunteering purposes. This may seem like a fine line of distinction, but by looking at the former, it has allowed me to discuss voluntourism in the context of meetings & conventions, incentive travel, and, of course, group leisure and FIT leisure.
I simply want to be clear on this from the beginning.
Also, I think you will want to be more specific in regards to your questions. For example, the first question you ask below: "Who is our target market?" We should be very clear as to whom we are referring when we define 'our.' This information will be pertinent to the answer, obviously.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
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To Whom It May Concern,
My friend and I will be in Cancun for Spring break and are looking for opportunities from the 18th of March till the 23rd. We are nursing students who will be graduating in mid-June and are highly trained in the nursing structure.
We would be willing to do any kind of volunteer work, even if it does not pertain specifically to the medical field.
We are both limited in spanish speaking, but very unlimited in our desire to help. If you could let us know of any need or opportunity that would be wonderful!
Thank you,
R. Kaligithi
Dear Ms. Kaligathi,
Thank you for your email.
I suggest that you visit HealthcareVolunteer.com. The website is set up to address queries from health professionals like yourself. If you do not find a match for what you are seeking, I suggest that you contact them directly and discuss your specific situation. They may have a network of individuals who have traveled to locations, such as Cancun. Having a conversation with any of these folks could support you in your endeavor.
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Hi,
I'm an italian journalist. I'm starting an article about humanitarian association for Natural Style magazine (Cairo editore) and thing to do to help africa, can you send me some activities you have in this moment?
it is a large article: non only how to help poor or sick children, but also eco turism, things to help enviroment and animals, crafts to help a community...
I even need the phone number of the person who I can interview. Can you even send me some pictures of your volonters and travellers?
thanks a lot for your help, see you soon!
Margherita
p.s do you have something in south africa?
Dear Margherita,
Thank you for your email.
This sounds like an interesting article you are working on.
To answer you question, VolunTourism.org does not have programs in Africa, nor do we have programs anywhere else in the world. This being said, you can certainly contact some of the voluntourism operators listed in the 'VolunTourism Trips' section of the website.
These operators should also be able to assist you in accessing photos for your piece.
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