The VolunTourist™ is a premium Newsletter for the Travel Trade. For those interested in dis-covering what is happening in the world of VolunTourism and seeking emerging practices, general information, and case studies, this is your Source.

UnXpected

This Month's Reader Comments

Dear Mr. Clemmons,

I'm Jason Rolan, Voluntourism Director for North by North East Tours , based in Nakorn Phanom , Thailand .  I'm very delighted you featured a link to the recent Bangkok Post article featuring North by North East.  Unfortunately, that link isn't quite the correct one.  Please see this link for better results. 

Also, I would like to invite you to peruse our online database of articles.  If there is something you feel could be useful to your VolunTourist newsletter, please let me know.  I'd like to avail myself and our resources to you as it is so much easier to share and bring about a greater good.

Very best regards,

Jason,

Thanks very much for giving us a better option for the link to the articles. It is great to know that you and your team are building a database of articles for those who would like to learn more about what is happening in the world of VolunTourism.

Let us know if there are articles you would like to include in The VolunTourist and we will make sure to add them to the VT-Lines in an upcoming issue.

Hi David,

Thanks for your message!  I'm really interested in exploring, and leveraging/maximizing (all those great words) the intersections between VolunTourism and adventure travel.  There are some obvious adventure travel components to many VolunTourism trips - I'd like to look at how the two fields might be better connected to attract more travelers and more investment.

I'm in the process now of doing research work for the Adventure Travel Trade Association and also have an independent research agenda that I think has some obvious connections with the VolunTourism movement.

It might be fun to discuss how we could get some VolunTourism companies and representatives at the ATTA conference coming up.  You might peruse the Program and see what you think. There are a couple forum discussions planned that I think could be enriched with the perspective from your area.

Similarly, I bet there are ways ATTA members could be useful to your Forum meeting coming up in February.

Christina,

I am excited about the prospects as well!

When I speak with folks about VolunTourism, I try to express how connecting voluntary service with any form of travel can be incredibly rewarding. Regardless of the tourism niche, there is always room for developing VolunTourism products and services within the context of the overall experience.

As long as this is done with a commitment to being aware of a destination's needs and conducting the necessary assessments to discover those needs, the service projects will be viable and socially impactful.

It is also important for those in the tourism industry to realize that the appropriate steps be made to support funding considerations for supplies and materials, staffiing time, and other direct costs to an NGO or grassroots operation. In so doing, an entrepreneurial relationship is established between the tourism partner and the NGO or grassroots partner. This reinforces self-reliant operations by the NGO, and successfully establishes the consumer/supplier relationship between both parties.

Let us hear from you! Email us with your questions, comments, and testimonials at: voluntourist@voluntourism.org

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