Fielding Critiques On Luxury VolunTourism
This past week, 5 November 2009 to be exact, Matt Villano’s piece, “Silver-Spoon Voluntourism,” (this has since been renamed to “Room Service and a Shovel: The Rise of Voluntourism“) appeared on Time.com. The photo of work gloves atop a silver platter held aloft by a white-gloved hand provides a startling image of contrasting features – no doubt what the editor was trying to achieve as an ‘opening salvo’ for the article. Couple this with the following:
Silver-spoon voluntourism has its critics, of course. Christopher Elliott, a syndicated travel columnist and blogger in Orlando, Fla., thinks these efforts are aimed at wealthy guests “who want to soothe their guilty conscience by doing something that’s billed as ‘giving back.’”
And there you have it. Case closed.
This past weekend I was reflecting on this criticism as I wended my way along a cross-country trail during an early Saturday morning jog in Bonita, California. I was ‘accompanied’ by the voice of Scott Simon, host of NPR’s Morning Edition Saturday, who was interviewing Sting regarding his new album – If On A Winter’s Night. Scott asked Sting, “Can bad reviews get to you?” And Sting’s reply:
They can give you a very unpleasant breakfast, but it shouldn’t disturb your lunch.”
Needless to say, my pace picked up after that comment – such profundity in a short phrase and provided by someone who is undoubtedly familiar with criticism.
As the critics are consumed by the audacity of experiential brands – Fairmont, Mandarin, Abercrombie & Kent, etc. – venturing into the realm of voluntourism, they will fail to notice that very quietly, and unostentatiously I might add, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC has hosted more than 2,000 voluntourists (an average of more than 100 guests per month) since April 2008 when it launched “Give Back Getaways.” Does that not cause one to pause, even if momentarily, to ask if this is all about assuaging guilt?
Whether you are looking at this through the lens of B.E.M. (Before Economic Meltdown) or A.E.M. (After Economic Meltdown), I think the biggest challenge that I have with critiques of luxury voluntourism, in particular, is simply the lack of knowledge and understanding by those who decide to critique it. (As a student of voluntourism for nearly a decade, even I sometimes am challenged by being critical of an approach that is still very much in its infancy.)
This past week Travelanthropist was kind enough to include a quote from my colleague Dr. Nancy McGehee and also from me in their post ‘The Luxury Voluntourism Debate.’ As some of you know, I have written about luxury voluntourism on several occasions (Branding Luxury VolunTourism, Re-Visiting Luxury VolunTourism, and Group Experiences With Luxury VolunTourism). I must admit, it is difficult for me to be critical of activities that encourage those with financial resources to come into contact with social concerns and issues across the planet. Call me crazy, perhaps.
Voluntourism, and subsequently luxury voluntourism, cuts across sectors – public, private, and social; it cuts across geographical boundaries; it cuts across cultures; and it most assuredly cuts across socio-economic strata.
Tourism has always been an exercise in distribution. Now through voluntourism, regardless of the venue or type, it is becoming a distribution channel for beneficence. Anyone for sticking a silver-spoon in that?
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Comments
It is indeed a good thing that the debate is happening, and there are legitimate arguments on both sides.
From my perspective, it largely boils down to:
- is there ongoing consultation with the host communities to assess (1) if they would like to have volunteers, and if so (2) what their felt needs are (rather than imposing on the community what we feel should be done there)
- are the host communities actually benefiting from the volunteers? This needs to be examined from a long-term perspective to see if a culture of dependence is being created, or a culture of skills learning and improved self-worth.
It is hard work, and not all volunteer project providers get it right, which is where criticism, and, I believe, a Code of Practice is necessary.
[...] transactions involved, David Clemmons (see TI100 profile), founder of Voluntourism.org, is much less cynical about luxury voluntourism, and says that “it is difficult for me to be critical of activities [...]