Buffalo Tours Presents Case Studies for Voluntourism

December 18, 2006: Buffalo Tours in the Mekong has embarked on several community volunteer projects. Among them are the Saigon Children’s Charity, Clear Path, International, Kids First and Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development (CVCD). For a summary of these case studies, click here. Buffalo Tours Web site.

Volunteering for Tourism-related Projects in Asia Pacific
May 30, 2006: There are many tourism professionals (of all ages) who are ready, willing and able to make a professional, voluntary contribution which enables the growth of sustainable tourism economies in Asia Pacific. They are motivated by many reasons.

Communities and destinations also have a variety of reasons for wanting to interact with volunteers. They will be influenced by a number of factors, including their individual stages of destination or business development or significant major events that may be impacting on the destination (positive and negative – such as a major sporting or cultural event, the desire to alleviate poverty, or a natural disaster).

There are numerous international volunteer organisations already operating within both the public and the private sectors in the developed as well as in less developed economies. Some have a specific focus on assisting the development of tourism enterprises and destinations.

As tourism becomes more recognised by the international development sector as an effective tool to assist in poverty alleviation and contribute to other aspects of the Millennium Development Goals, there is an emerging global trend for what have been more traditional applications of international volunteer programmes to focus on tourism planning, policy, development, capacity building and operations.

While PATA does not endorse any specific volunteer organisation, below is an introductory list of some agencies you may wish to further investigate if you have an interest in this area of activity.

If you represent an organisation that would like to be considered for addition to the following list of links, please message Editor/Admin -- or join the Wiki and add the links yourself.

[Based on a letter by Steve Noakes, former PATA Sustainable Tourism Advisory Committee Chair]

Links

Alliance Abroad Group
Association of Voluntary Service Organisations
Australian Business Volunteers (ABV)
Australian Volunteers International
Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development Citizens Development Corps
Conservation Volunteers Australia
Earthwatch GoAbroad International Exchange Programs (IEP)
JOCV (Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers)
Peace Corps (USA)
STA Travel and the ‘i to i Program
The International Volunteer Programs Association (IVPA)
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Co-ordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS)
UNWTO.TedQual Volunteer Destinations
Volunteers for International Development from Australia
VolunTourism
Voluntourists Without Borders (VWB)
WorkingAbroad (formerly known as (VWIS) Voluntary Work Information Service)
World Volunteer Web