Alternative Tourism
The Expansion of Tourism
In the most recent years, a new drive for tourism sees travelers drawn to novel experiences in unconventional places that could not be replicated elsewhere in what experts dub as alternative tourism. Tej Vir Singh, founding Director of the Centre for Tourism Research & Development (CTRD) in Lucknow, India, studied how alternative tourism came to rise in opposition to conventional tourism. Rather than staying at hotels and enjoying resorts, alternative tourism encourages visitors to engage in the activities and businesses from the local population.
Ecotourism
Hawai’i’s wildlife and natural beauty are attractive qualities that draw tourists in anda popular way to enjoy nature on a closer level is through participating in ecotours. Martha Honey, the Co-founder and Director Emeritus of the Center for Responsible Travel, researched how ecotourism has developed over time to become one of the most popular ventures of alternative tourism. Honey wrote, “ ecotourism [is] one of the fastest-growing sectors in the tourism industry, with an annual growth rate of 5% worldwide, representing 6% of the world gross domestic product and 11.4% of all consumer spending”. Typically, ecotours involve visiting areas that are under some form of environmental protection by governments, conservation or scientific organizations, or private owners or entrepreneurs.
Volunteer Tourism
One of the most popular ways for people to participate in alternative tourism is through volunteer tourism. Stephen Wearing, Associate Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, studied how volunteer tourism came to such prominence in alternative tourism. Wearing (2001) described volunteer tourism as a way for tourists to interact with the community that they are traveling to in a mutually beneficial arrangement. Tourists are able to work alongside local organizations during their time visiting so that their time there serves a dual purpose of leisure and volunteerism.
One of the organizations that has capitalized on the volunteer tourism industry is the online travel database GoAbroad Inc., who advertise 11,106 travel programs and 300,843 participants matched with programs. GoAbroad serves as an online directory for organizations to pay to advertise their travel programs on the site. One of the volunteer opportunities found on the GoAbroad site is with their partner organization Muaisa Hale Pule, a nonprofit shamanic lodge on the Kona Coast of the island of Hawai'i. The program advertises itself as “Earth Medicine” volunteerism where applicants can work shifts of gardening, landscaping, grounds keeping, and maintenance in exchange for staying at the lodge and completing a ten day Shamanic Healer/Medicine Man Certification.
Check out what people had to say about their time volunteering with Muaisa Hale Pule below:
