Who Gains the Most from Voluntourism?

The University of Arizona sends record numbers of students to study abroad every year. Increasingly, international exchange is viewed as a vital component to the enrichment of our academic career. Not only does study abroad add dimension to our academic studies, but international travel broadens cultural perspectives and imparts invaluable lessons about the complexity and variety of our world.

The growth of study abroad and student exchange programs is illustrative of a broader phenomenon—not only are students venturing out of the country to study, but they are also travelling to developing countries to build schools for the poor, preserve threatened wildlife habitats, and volunteer with AIDS patients.

And students are not alone. According to the Travel Industry Association of America, more than fifty-five million Americans have participated in so-called volunteer vacations—vacations including a jaunt in charitable activities abroad—and some one hundred million Americans are contemplating similar trips.

The American commitment to volunteerism fused with our intrepid thirst for travel has created a burgeoning industry of volunteer-abroad service providers. This new brand of volunteer service differs from organizations like the Peace Corps in that it often thrusts untrained individuals into projects in developing countries for a much shorter time period.

Whether volunteers serve for two weeks or two years, they arguably provide a developing community with economic and social benefits, all free of the American commitment to volunteerism fused with our intrepid thirst for travel has created a burgeoning industry of volunteer-abroad service providers charge and largely motivated by good will. Check out any of the glossy brochures distributed by the volunteer travel industry and you’ll find a diverse range of virtuous projects: community development, conservation, health improvement, teaching, etc.

Yet, volunteer tourists are often equally motivated by the opportunity to travel and feel the personal rewards of philanthropy. Personal satisfaction may be an indivisible element of altruistic acts, but how much are these short-term voluntourism projects aimed at satisfying the personal impulses of the volunteer rather than the needs of the project and the target community?

Many voluntourism providers are for profit agencies, and as such, their priority is to satisfy the consumer. Volunteer service providers like I-to-I and Cross-Cultural Solutions spend hefty sums developing projects that guarantee the volunteer moral satisfaction. Accordingly, they charge high prices for their services—a two-week teaching stint in Ghana can cost up to $1,495. That fee doesn’t even include the thousands of dollars you’ll need to pay for inoculations, flights, meals, in-country transport, and visas.

When such agencies spend more time and resources satisfying the desires of volunteers, the sustainability and needs of the volunteer project come second to the caprices of wealthy tourists cum humanitarians. Admittedly, some part of the program fee goes toward the project, but the vast sums of money could probably be better spent on building pre-existing infrastructure within the target community or even right here in the United States.

Voluntourism promotes sentimental concern for the needy abroad that can blind us to the poverty at home.