The numbers of people travelling across the globe to be volunteers has rocketed since the economic downturn began. As unemployment and redundancies continue to increase, there is growing interest in taking time out to do voluntary work overseas, or to learn new skills in a developing country. There's an increasing sense that now is a good time to get away, spend some time abroad doing something worthwhile, and then return when the economy is back on its feet. Another motivation for taking a placement abroad is the chance to gain experience and training that could help facilitate a career change. It seems that rather than thinking of the credit crunch in negative terms, people are determined to turn it into a positive and use it to do something worthwhile. The British Red Cross says it has seen inquiries about volunteering opportunities quadruple since the downturn began. The Red Cross figures echo findings published late last year by volunteering charity VSO, which said it had seen inquiries about volunteering double. Projects Abroad, the biggest organiser worldwide of overseas volunteer work, and Hands Up Holidays have has also seen a rise in inquiries amidst the credit crunch furore. What these findings seem to suggest is that the economic downturn is drawing in more people – it is inspiring people to seek meaning and enrichment through volunteer travel. People will always find creative ways to source and pay for their travels if they feel their travels have value and meaning. This is what makes volunteer travel one of the most resilient markets during a recession. A recent international volunteer survey conducted by GeckoGo in conjunction with Bradt Travel Guides and Lasso Communications, revealed the fact that travellers find meaning in volunteering abroad during a recession. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of respondents believed that their trip was very meaningful, 22% found it was meaningful, and less than 1% felt that their trip was not meaningful in any way. A constant battle in the voluntary work sector is to effectively manage expectations of the volunteer – the fact that almost 100% of respondents found their experience meaningful in some way shows a major victory for the field. This provides strong evidence of sustainability and longevity for volunteer travel abroad. Some other interesting findings from the report included that sixty-four percent (64%) of females are currently volunteering or have volunteered before, compared to only 51% of males. The majority of travellers went on their trip alone (57%). Travellers were more likely to arrange their travels through an organization (48%), but independently organized trips were gaining ground (34%) and price was a major consideration (43%). Based on the findings of travellers' concern with pricing, coupled with greater amount of information available on the internet, it is expected the DIY (do-it-yourself) volunteer travel sector will benefit most – with its market share rising in the coming years. The top overall volunteer travel destinations were Peru (23%) and Brazil (14%).
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The numbers of people travelling across the globe to be volunteers has rocketed since the economic downturn began and this seems to indicate that volunteer travel is recession proof.
Stephen Knight is the webmaster of Volunteer Latin America and the main contributor to the Latin Lounge
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