“VolunTourism” is relatively new. The trend  probably started sometime in the 1990’s with small, “bite sized” vacations that gave travelers with no previous community or mission-driven experience the chance to combine their vacations with short-term work that would help the places and locales they were visiting. Most of these were developing countries or regions.

The idea got a big boost after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when thousands volunteered to help save New Orleans. They hauled trash, built homes, filled sandbags, and got to know New Orleans and its people in ways no tourist ever could...

read full post