Planeterra – Why Voluntourism?

Why Voluntourism? As an important part of making tourism more sustainable, voluntourism provides travellers and communities a way to connect, to learn, to appreciate each other’s cultures, and work toward a better future. Voluntours provide opportunities for travellers to engage in community projects that are working on health, education, conservation and small business opportunities around the world. While volunteer vacations are longer term with an emphasis on volunteering, voluntours are shorter term adventure vacations that incorporate a volunteer component, spending time at a community project that is supported on a long term basis by Planeterra.

The evolution of Planeterra began with a founder’s dream, an employee’s desire to make a difference, and travellers who were yearning to give back to local people. Planeterra was founded in 2003 by Gap Adventures, the world’s largest independent adventure travel company. Planeterra has been growing and evolving ever since, into a non-profit organization that develops projects around the world in partnership with local communities for sustainable development through travel and voluntourism.

Voluntourism contributes to the local economy not only through the volunteer service provided, but because the mission of the tours is to do just that. Voluntours utilize local guides, incorporate homestays, visits to local markets, restaurants, and other locally-owned businesses, all of which are made possible by the small size of the trips – each with a sustainable and responsible aim at the core.

Planeterra’s projects range from developing community tourism in Ecuador and Kenya to primary schools in southern Africa, and homes for children at risk in India and Peru, among many others. These projects not only help local people achieve their development goals, they are enhancing the destination in the long term, for the wider industry. Travellers that are not volunteering visit the projects to gain a better understanding of the local culture and to take home valuable lessons about what communities are doing to improve their quality of life around the world.

Planeterra believes moving the global tourism industry toward sustainability requires the passion and enthusiasm of a movement. A movement is created by the gathering together of all levels of society who share one goal. The sustainable tourism movement is being motivated by several sectors of society: grassroots community groups, international charities and NGOs, global governmental organizations, academic institutions, private sector associations, and the travel industry itself.

Planeterra has partnered with several organizations within these sectors, joining the World Heritage Alliance for Sustainable Tourism and the Tourism Sustainability Council to participate in policy development and industry implementation of the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria.

Additionally, Planeterra has formed a partnership with The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) to foster traveller education about voluntourism. TIES works to engage travellers in responsible practices through its website and new Your Travel Choice blog. EcoDestinationsfeatures monthly auctions of member trips and highlights stellar ecotourism initiatives around the world. TIES and Planeterra are working together to bring hands-on voluntourism activities to the Eco and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC) in Portland, Oregon in 2010.

The evolution of Planeterra has continued to change the role the organization plays in the industry. New industry partners are coming online in support of Planeterra’s worldwide community development projects. Gap Adventures, Planeterra’s founding partner, has supported the organization since its inception by covering administration costs and matching all individual donations. This has allowed projects to flourish and new ones to be developed every year.

STA Travel USA is now supporting Planeterra, focusing support on the Peru Streetkids Project. Employees of STA Travel USA were engaged by being given a choice of projects to support and given a chance to vote. This provided the company an opportunity to really engage their employees and get behind a project in order to go out and promote it to their travellers and drive more donations to it. With the support of thousands of travellers, Gap Adventures, and STA Travel, Planeterra was able to purchase a $150,000 home that will serve as a permanent location for children in Cuzco who live at risk and in poverty in some of the poorest neighbourhoods of the city. Other industry partners recently signing on to support Planeterra, including Air Canada Vacations and Discovery Adventures will be doing the same.

Industry support at a high level, coupled with global institutional partnerships, is allowing Planeterra to evolve into a true travellers’ foundation, helping to drive the industry toward sustainability and supporting community development through travel and voluntourism.

Kelly Galaski

Kelly Galaski is partnership coordinator at Planeterra and an advocate for integrating sustainability into all business including travel. She has worked for over 10 years in the tourism industry for hotels, restaurants, tour operators, and in community ecotourism development consulting.