“Philanthropic travel” gains popularity

why we travel — By Bob Riel on November 13, 2008 at 5:30 pm

A new travel niche, called “philanthropic travel,” is gaining in popularity. The goal of this movement is to enable travelers to have a worthwhile experience while simultaneously providing assistance to a people or country. The NY Times has a report:

Nadine Rubin wanted to give her daughter the trip of a lifetime for her 21st birthday. They were planning to visit Hong Kong because her daughter was interested in fashion. “But I wanted to do something else,” Ms. Rubin said. “I’d heard Vietnam was beautiful, but I had mixed feelings about it because I knew people involved with the war.”

But then Ms. Rubin, who lives in Westport, Conn., talked with Lydia Dean, president of GoPhilanthropic (www.gophilanthropic.com), a philanthropic travel company formed about a year ago. “I caught the bug,” Ms. Rubin said.

Ms. Rubin and her daughter, Bryce, decided to experience Vietnam through the lens of the Global Village Foundation, a nonprofit organization run by a humanitarian, Le Ly Hayslip, that distributes portable libraries — wooden boxes with shelving and room for 250 books — to Vietnamese communities. Ms. Rubin and her daughter bought and delivered a library to a village and met the students who would benefit from the books. “Going there and seeing those kids, to say I bawled my eyes out is an understatement,” Nadine Rubin said.

Philanthropic travel — which introduces tourists to local outfits working to better their communities — is on the rise…

“Travel philanthropy is now core to sustainability,” said David Krantz, program director for the Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development (www.ecotourismcesd.org). “In terms of responsible practices, originally companies were following more of a charity model. It was a lot of, ‘I give a check, take a picture and walk away.’ ” …

“Philanthropic travel is about traveling with an intention, with an open heart,” said David Chamberlain, president of Exquisite Safaris. “We need people to visit, connect at the heart and go home and talk about it and try to raise money. That’s philanthropic travel.”