Exploring the recent popular trend of "voluntourism" where execs can give back the local communities on luxurious vacations
By Alexandra Stadnyk
Richard Degnan, a senior executive for Williams-Sonoma Inc., took a four-week jaunt to Africa last year. On his trip, the 40-year-old San Francisco resident visited four countries and took two high-priced safaris. He also spent two days at three orphanages, where he played with children and dropped off suitcases full of clothes. It just didn’t seem right, he said to the LA Times, to go to Africa and not do any volunteer work.
Have you ever wanted to take your family or exec team on an adventure where you help under privileged children in the townships of Cape Town, assist in the building of a library in an impoverished Berber community in Morocco, or provide support at a home for street kids in Rio de Janeiro? Many tour companies have seen an upswing in interest in “voluntourism” where execs can give back to the local communities, which they visit without compromising on luxury.
“We focus on a blend of up market sightseeing with a taste of volunteering– the idea is that these are still vacations, and the volunteering is quite short, but long enough to make a difference,” says Chris Hill, Founder and Managing Director of Hands Up Holidays, a travel company that creates tailor-made vacations that blend sightseeing with four to five days of volunteer experiences.
“We make volunteering accessible to people who might otherwise be put off by the perception that you have to ‘rough it’ to volunteer, or that you have to go and help for long periods of time,” he adds. Doing something “worthwhile” during your vacation has caught the attention of many execs, says Hill, who has created trip itineraries for many large corporations seeking team building or incentive trips.
“These trips work well for companies that want to both reward employees and also improve their Corporate Social Responsibility profile,” say Hill. The Ritz-Carlton has started a program called “Give Back Getaways” that allows hotel guests with the option of volunteering their time and assisting local communities where they are vacationing.
Programs include cooking and serving meals at the North Texas Food Bank, helping restore homes in the ancient water town of Wuzhen, China, planting coconut palms and vegetables in Jamaica or assisting the Cancun Department of Ecology return endangered sea turtles back to the sea. “We felt many of our clients wanted to have a different experience and feel good about spending time working for a good cause,” says Vivian Dueschl, Vice President of Public Relations for Ritz-Carlton.
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