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When volunteering travel company i-to-i was sold to First Choice Holidays back in 2007, the £20million price tag raised a few eye brows.  Deidre Bounds, the founder of the company which specialises in finding voluntary placements overseas was hailed as a self-made millionaire business woman.  It’s clear that volunteering has become big business with the knowledge that Real Gap, another of the UK’s major players in the overseas voluntary market, is owned by International travel group Tui.  It was perhaps unsurprising that a small backlash took place after the sale of i-to-i and a debate on the ethics of ‘volountourism’ (the idea that a holiday and voluntary work can be merged) ensued.

Yet two years later, an ever-growing number of the estimated 23,000 young people who take gap years each year, are choosing to spend at least part of their time as an overseas volunteer.  When done well, the benefits of volunteering overseas can be extensive both in terms of a volunteer’s positive impact on their local community as well as their own personal and career development. Queen Mary’s student Ruth Wallace considers the three and a half months she spent volunteering as a teacher in India as “One of the best things I have ever done.”  Wallace considers the experience so influential that she added, “I really think that everyone who has any interest in travelling or experiencing other cultures should think of volunteering. It’s a fantastic thing to do and you do actually help people in a very real way rather than just throwing money at them.”

LSE undergraduate Francesca Washtell explained her motivation for volunteering overseas, “I wanted to do something constructive on my gap year as I travelled and I also wanted the chance to integrate into a specific community more than just pass through.”  Now studying International Relations and History, she has had time to assess the impact of her two week voluntary placement in Malawi, “[I] didn’t agree at all with the project and how it was being run… I agree with working on conservation projects and wildlife projects for any amount of time but when it comes to people and community based projects I think it can only be properly rewarding and of benefit to the local community if you stay for a longer period of time.  Otherwise it’s just more [of a] constructive holiday.”

A number of students questioned suggested that they were dissatisfied with their experience and often received very little or no support from the organisation they paid to arrange the placement.  London student Frances Simpson Allen explained, “I went with Global Xperience, who filed for insolvency two weeks before I was due to leave for Ecuador. Luckily, their customers were ‘bought up’ by RealGap though I did have to pay again with the hope of being refunded by Global Xperience’s insurers.” Fellow student Maya Goodfellow went with i-to-i on a two week placement to a Lion Park in South Africa.  She commented, “It was massively overpriced. The company that organises it gets a big cut.”

If you type the phrase ‘volunteer overseas’ in to an internet search engine it brings up over six million results.  In a 2007 report by Tourism Concern it identified seventy four organisations in the UK alone offering voluntary placements overseas.  With so much choice and high competition, it is inevitable that some volunteers will  fail to choose the organisation best able to meet their expectations and it is clear that anyone planning such a trip should spend plenty of time researching their choices.  In order to help facilitate this process Dr. Kate Simpson set up the website ethicalvolunteering.org.  A free downloadable guide can be found on the site which lists seven questions which any good volunteering organisation should be able to answer.

International volunteering charity ICYE were enthusiastic about the release of these guidelines.  Jenny Williams, ICYE Long-Term Sending Coordinator said, “As a small charity we have seen the industry expand massively over the last 15 years yet ICYE stills feels it is important for volunteers to ask plenty of questions and engage in dialogue with their sending organisation.  For that reason we aim to meet all of our volunteers in person before they leave the UK.  It’s important that people realise that just because an organisation has a slick brochure, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will offer the most fulfilling or worthwhile experience.”

Many students who chose to volunteer rather than simply travel do so in order to develop a real understanding of the country they are visiting.  UCL student Sonia Rimankova spent four weeks in Peru and describes, “I lived in the culture, met the locals, took local transport and ate as the locals did.”  Jenny Williams from ICYE explained, “Many sending organisations place their volunteers in shared, hostel style accommodation.  ICYE prefers, where possible, for volunteers to live with host families.  That way they truly become part of the community, they attend local events and gain a real understanding of the culture.”

Shared hostel-style accommodation for volunteers is certainly good for morale but can sometimes cause an unwelcome party atmosphere. It is clear that in such situations, badly prepared volunteers who are unwilling to integrate with locals could end up doing more harm than good for the community they purport to help.  Queens Mary’s student Will Phipps spent 3 months teaching in Malawi and said, “One previous group [of volunteers] caused so many problems that I had to get the Headmaster to accompany me to the visa office to confirm that I was not with them. It just reminded me of an attitude that I had wanted to avoid.”

SOAS Postgraduate Shireen Lau took a break from studying and spent eight months volunteering at a project for disabled children in Vietnam.  There she experienced some of the highs and lows of volunteering overseas.  She said, “I think there is a problem with the concept of ‘volountourism’.  Volunteering isn’t a holiday; its challenging and hard work at times and there can be as many lows as highs.  But if a volunteer goes with the right attitude and through the right organisation, it can be an incredible and life-changing experience.”

Tourism has seeped in to almost all but the most far-flung and remote cultures of the world.  As London Student Travel Editor I celebrate the fact that it is relatively easy to visit each and every country my itchy feet should take me.  Yet I’ve often wondered if there is ever a time when the conscience should rail-in the wanderlust; is acceptable to visit a country whose government is rife with human rights abuses or corruption?

In spite of lengthy cautions found under the travel advice section of the British and Foreign Office website, Burma is not ‘officially’ off-limits to British tourists.  The most recent figures record that 3,700 British nationals visited the country in 2007.  When asked if visiting Burma was condoning the regime, London Student travel writer Zoë Tipler said, “I don’t think so.”  She added, “To boycott a country and punish its people who have incredible strength and courage in the face of such enormous adversity is not the way to solve a problem.”

Although Lonely Planet (whose majority share-holder is BBC Worldwide) produces a guidebook for Burma, the guide makes a point of not listing any government run transport companies or hotels.  For some however, this does not go far enough and in February 2008 Tourism Concern along with The Burma Campaign UK and the New Internationalist led a campaign to boycott Lonely Planet unless it withdrew its Burma title.   Tricia Barnett, director of Tourism Concern said, “Given the appalling human rights situation in Burma, we don’t believe it is possible for any company, including BBC Worldwide, to adopt a neutral position on the issue of travel to the county.”  She continued, “The BBC should stop sitting on the fence and send a clear message of condemnation to the regime by withdrawing the Burma edition of its book.”

The Burma Campaign UK, an NGO fighting for human rights, democracy and development in Burma enlisted over seventy high profile celebrities and politicians to put their name to the campaign to boycott Burma.  Actress Anna Friel made the statement, “The best role in the world wouldn’t get me to Burma” whilst famous faces such a Sir Ian McKellen, playwright Tom Stoppard and Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas joined the campaign.

But if we choose to boycott Burma and listen to our ethics rather than follow our itchy-feet, at what point do we draw the line?  In August 2008 the Foreign Office lifted its ban on travel to Zimbabwe but should the intrepid traveller feel totally comfortable visiting a country still in the grips of Mugabe‘s dictatorship?  And what of the human rights abuse reported in backpacker’s favourites such as Sri Lanka, China and beyond.  Can the line be drawn there or would some travellers feel they ought even to boycott US states that practice capital punishment or should we give Italy a miss in protest at Berlusconi’s seemingly undemocratic grip on the countries media?

On the other hand some have argued that visiting a country oppressed by its government can not only bring respite to its people, but such travellers can highlight the state of the regime, helping to campaign against the abuses they have witnessed once they return home.  Amnesty International does not actively dissuade travel to Burma or any other country.  Niall Couper said, “Amnesty International will never tell people to not travel to Burma or anywhere. However, if you do want to go to Burma you should try and keep an open mind. There are numerous human rights issues there and a large number of restrictions placed on the Burmese people. Repression is wide spread. Human rights defenders there put their lives at risk every day by challenging the ruling military junta.”  Couper warns travellers, “If you do go be sensible. If anyone does talk about the persecution in Burma they are doing so at a great risk to themselves.”