Holidays Over? Start Preparing for the Next Ones Now!

Hotel, hostel, local accommodation or airbnb? All inclusive, half board or just accommodation? Leisure, rural, cultural or open-air tourism? Or military tourism, did you already know this one? What about ecotourism and wine tourism? And here's the last shout: VOLUNTOURISM!!!

I know the holiday season is over, but why not start preparing for the next ones? em>

Have you ever thought that you can be a tourist and at the same time a volunteer?

voluntourism is an alternative ?social? way of ?being on vacation? ? which, as an extra, ends up offering a deep cultural experience that conventional tourism does not provide.

Regardless of the accommodation you choose, the type of service you prefer or whether what you really like is stretching out in the sun or walk kilometers, I guarantee that it is always possible to dedicate even 1 hour to volunteering.

You might be wondering why you should volunteer when you're on vacation?

A hypothetical situation: if all volunteers went on vacation at the same time, there would be no volunteers and, taking into account the huge impact and importance that volunteering has in some services, it would be chaos. So volunteer while you enjoy a well-deserved vacation.

A non-hypothetical situation: taking a chance on volunteer work in a new place will certainly be advantageous for your development and also a good way Thank you to the community that welcomes you. So volunteer while you enjoy a well-deserved vacation.

And now it's my turn to ask. ?Why not??

Long-term volunteering on another continent is part of many people?s ?bucket lists? and is stored in the ?one? drawer day? and so on, but that?s not what I?m talking about? I?m talking about that week of vacation in the Algarve, in Italy, in Brazil, in your grandparents? village or on your usual beach.

voluntourism has gained more and more followers and can be defined as a type of tourism that interacts with the destination through voluntary actions with the aim of positively impacting the local community. And you can be sure that EVERY place has at least one needy situation in which you can help!

You can also close your eyes to that fact and be just another tourist looking for the most ?instagrammable? photo, of course ! But the return on volunteering will be much greater than the number of ?likes? you will receive and there are plenty of reasons to rethink your way of traveling.

The volunturist (yes, that's the cool name given to those who venture into voluntourism) is a tourist aware of the fragility of each place and who seeks to somehow add something to their destination, aware of the responsibilitythat you assume and that your participationwill have to be active, without there being a predicted reward.

However, if you have ever volunteered you know that no matter how much you give of yourself and give everything you have, you always receive even more! Emotionally.

In this case, for someone with this ?gain?, your tourism will be advantageous due to the cultural exchange that will inevitably take place ? for not There is a better way to get to know a region than through its inhabitants, because this is the only way to fully understand the reality of the place, its stories, its secret places and why you challenged yourself to leave your comfort zone!

A very important aspect when planning your next volunturist vacation is the choice of the region and the type of work you propose, as you must identify with both and be prepared to confront reality.

Here in our Portugal, for example, there are testimonies from voluntourists who, while visiting Lisbon collaborated with Re-food, while in Porto they visited a home every day or while in Castelo Branco they helped with the construction of sustainable community. Researching some institutions that meet your ideas and contacting them to see if they are willing to welcome you is another point that you should take into account when planning.

Don't forget to be curious! Before you go, look for information about the institution, its history and its dynamics, as there is work that is already taking place before you and to which you are going add. Once you're there, absorb everything people want to share and don't shy away from asking questions, there are stories that only locals know how to tell!

And after all, what does it take to do voluntourism? Will, generosity, responsibility, time, money (to support yourself) and? Will!

This type of tourism meets the concept of ?citizen?, someone who does not close in on themselves and who seeks interaction and knowledge of others, someone who places their well-being dependent on of the well-being of others and who makes their time and talent available for this purpose.

Being a voluntourist means understanding and assuming that we can all do more for the communities we live in live in the places we visit and thus make tourism more human, making the common good prevail over individual perks.

Think social, change the rules!

Rafaela de Melo

Fonts: Roots of the World