Voluntourism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Voluntourism - Research Paper ExampleVoluntourism comes from a desire to contribute something, however small, to the wellbeing of slew who are otherwise disadvantaged. It gives those who get inculpated in it the opportunity to rag innovative countries, experience new environments, and most of all, to learn about the cultures of those people among whom they will be living. Voluntourism provides regular people the chance to visit places, which they would otherwise not normally visit, such as the slums in less developed countries. Some types of voluntourism involve people visiting places for the purpose of studying their environment, or being able to conduct other scientific studies. Those who participate in voluntourism projects have to provide a fee whose purpose is to cover the expenses during their proceeds in diametric parts of the world. Furthermore, the participants are required to participate in projects within the countries, which they visit, and this is usually based on their localisation and their personal interests. The people who originally went for voluntourism tended to have a direct connection to the causes in which they were going to volunteer. The organizations that facilitated their decease considered the duration of their travels to be of the short-term, volunteering in projects in the countries, which they were visiting. ... These often gave people the opportunity to contribute to these projects for short periods to begin with going back to their home countries. The origins of what came to be voluntourism can be traced back to the United States Peace Corps, which created a path for volunteers (voluntourists) to travel all over the world (La Prensa San Diego, 2011). Later, the need to travel, while contributing something to the less advantaged communities in the world, became immensely popular among college students this led to the development of exchange programs, which enabled students, to tour to and study in the countries of their preference. Not notwithstanding did these students get to know more about these countries and enjoy themselves, some even volunteer in local projects (Wagner, 2009). Voluntourism also came to affect the scientific field because some scientific organization saw it as a way through which they could get the public interested in science. These organizations facilitated the bringing collectively of scientists and unpaid assistants in various locations around the world, which had scientific projects. This served a dual purpose as it provided free labor for scientists in the field, that is, the volunteers while it was also a source of additional funding to the projects, through the fees paid by the volunteers. Voluntourism picked up pace in the 1990s when companies in the travel industry developed means through which individuals could go on vacation, and while on it, also volunteer in various projects. These companies targeted those people who wanted to travel and had no prior experience with causes. The products provided by the travel industry attracted a large number of adolescent people, who tend to be the most adventurous of all age groups (Hansen, 2009).