Voluntourism
An interesting and continuing trend I've noticed in the youth/student travel trend is a focus on giving back or volunteering for a service project while traveling.
For years I've been providing educational tours to students and families that focused on experiential travel events which means making a bit of history come alive for travelers through participative activities and re-enactments.
More and more we're now having requests for youth to interact with other youth in the destinations we offer participating in service type projects.
For example, we lead youth/family tours to Hawaii. The Volcanoes National Park in Hilo Hawaii not only provides unique experiences for our travelers (night hikes to live lava flows and exploring underground extinct lava tubes) but allows us to participate with local youth in a re-forestation projects inside the park!
In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania our travelers visit the actual battlefields of this monumental civil war battle with an inter-pretive guide and then participate in a renovation project to honor those who lost their lives.
We are calling this the "Adopt a Spot" and every year as the school returns with their youth and families, they continue working on that spot of the battlefield.
We're hoping that year's later when these youth return as adults with their children, they will identify their spot and feel a part of history and pride in what occured on a very sacred place in our history!
More and more of these type of experiences are being developed by the National Parks and should be more common in family travel.
Bruce Bitnoff
Comments
The Bayfield Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Bureau in Wisconsin is eagerly preparing for the Apostle Islands Sled Dog Race on February 6th and 7th.
"All the early snow in the Midwest this year means that the mushers and dogs are sharing another wonderful season," explains John Theil, owner of Wolfsong Adventures in Mushing, "The best thing about a sled dog race is that you can feel the excitement in the air! The dogs love it, the mushers love it, the volunteers love it and all that energy ignites the crowd."
The Bayfield Chamber is also very excited to be welcoming over 40 "Voluntourists" to Bayfield to help out as volunteers for the races this year. "The voluntourism program has become such an amazing success. We have again increased our numbers over 2009 greatly, and we even have people coming back to experience these races for a second time," explains Kristen Sandstrom, Marketing & Events Manager for the Bayfield Chamber and Visitor Bureau.
For more information on this opportunity to volunteer, and all other Bayfield information and events, visit www.bayfield.org or call (800)447-4094.
Just thought I'd mention the Disney "Give a Day, Get a Day" promotion. You can simply log on to the Disney site, enter your zip code, and find volunteer opportunities in and around your city for adult and kids, ages 6 and up.
It's an awesome opportunity! Every family member who donates a day is eligible for a free one day ticket to a Disney park :)
Just thought I'd mention it as I just registered my family last night :)
Heidi LaDuca,
Rochester, NY