{"id":35758,"date":"2019-12-08T21:49:50","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T21:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=35758"},"modified":"2019-12-08T21:49:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T21:49:50","slug":"voluntourism-a-billion-pound-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/voluntourism-a-billion-pound-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Voluntourism: A billion pound industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tis\u2019 the season of giving and many Britons will be donating to charities this Christmas. In fact, studies show that the average donations to charities rise by 5% during December<\/u><\/a> and some go as far to volunteer abroad this Christmas. In recent years, voluntourism is seen as a \u201cgrowing phenomenon\u201d<\/a> as it is becoming increasingly popular among university students and people from more developed countries such as the US, Canada and countries in Western Europe. In fact, the industry is estimated to be worth $2.6 million dollars<\/a> every year. But does this do more harm than good?<\/p>\n

Voluntourism is where individuals travel to a different country and engage in various volunteering projects such as tutoring English, building houses, distributing food and so on. A branch of this is orphanage tourism. This is where individuals, who were initially tourists, visit orphanages or institutions as part of their vacation package or day excursion.New research has found that it isn\u2019t only university students who are engaging with this travel trend. In fact, a 2017 study<\/a> have suggested that dating app users, notably Tinder users, are benefitting from voluntourism.<\/p>\n

Nathasha Fernando, an academic from the University of Westminster states that, \u201cOn apps such as Tinder where photographs are the main line of communication, certain narratives are conveyed, and we can assume that this is an important part identity which is something they believe make them more attractive.\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Source: The Atlantic and HumanitariansofTinder.tumblr.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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What are the potential dangers of voluntourism and orphanage tourism?<\/h2>\n

Orphanage tourism has created an industry which has increased the demand of orphans in institutions and led to orphan trading.<\/p>\n

“We know that volunteering in orphanages can be particularly detrimental to children; it can lead to child trafficking,\u00a0sexual exploitation<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0psychological disorders<\/a>.” said David Coles, Volunteer Centre manager of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).<\/p>\n

“Along with the fact that many children in these residential centres\u00a0have at least one living parent<\/a>. Over\u00a060 years of research<\/a>\u00a0shows the problems associated with growing up in a residential care home.”<\/p>\n

“…we should all be striving to help\u00a0keep families together<\/a>\u00a0not creating further\u00a0demand for more orphans by continually sending volunteers to orphanages.”<\/p>\n

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Source: Unsplash<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Furthermore, it prevents local people from finding paid employment and takes advantage of volunteers who pay thousands<\/a> to work for free.\u00a0A recent study<\/a> by Leeds Metropolitan University have suggested that the more expensive the trip, the less responsible the organisation that are hosting the trip is.<\/p>\n

Maddie Potterwood, a volunteer for the WONDER foundation, a women-led charity, states, \u201cIf you\u2019re confident to do [volunteering] in your own country then you could do it another country. But you can\u2019t use another country as your testing ground.\u201d.<\/p>\n