March Meet-Up: Ethical Travel & Responsible Tourism

For the month of March, Travel Massive Toronto members gathered at Betty’s in their funky upstairs party room. As always the group mingled and shared their latest adventures before watching an inspiring presentation by Eyal from Operation Groundswell on “voluntourism” and ethical travel.

Betty’s on King (240 King Street W, Toronto)

It was a dimly lit loft filled with old sofas and chairs, perfect for our little monthly gathering. The intimate space provided the perfect setting for travel mingling. Betty’s served up platters of party snacks filled with veggies, chicken satays, quesadillas, spring rolls and onion rings. There were lots of beers on tap and the drinks were flowing.

“Voluntourism” and Ethical Travel

Eyal, Executive Director of Operation Groundswell (and part of the founding team of OG at the ripe age of 22!) gave us an inspiring presentation on “Voluntourism”, an industry that has quickly grown into a billion dollar market. The purpose of these types of trips are to create positive lasting change in the world, while giving someone a new perspective of their own world as they try to better themselves.

The many ethical travel tour groups have evolved from their early days in the Peace Corps or Gap Year excursions but are still facing many challenges and issues. There are many instances where having too many volunteers can actually harm the community or venue the tour operators are trying to help.  In fact, it’s not just that having too many volunteers can do harm, but having any volunteers at all can be harmful if these volunteers are imposing work that is unnecessary and creating a cycle of aid and dependency for these communities. Orphanages are a prime example of this.  Most of the time, the kids in the orphanages don’t need a steady flow of volunteers to guide them. The problem with orphanages is that they are exploitative and harmful to the children’s psychological well-being. Many of these children already suffer from separation anxiety or other mental issues from having lost a parent. Having volunteers come in and develop bonds only to leave every two or so weeks exacerbates the mental and emotional distress they may already suffer. More than that, these orphanages may exploit the children seeing as they are able to generate profit from well off Westerners. As a result, many of the children who end up at these orphanages, aren’t actually orphans. Over 70% or so of them actually have a living parent. So it’s a perfect example of creating a need that may not actually exist.

Operation Groundswell strives to create these experiences respectively, responsibly and ethically. Their take on ethical travel is to allow the volunteer to experience the world in a genuine way, respecting the cultures they interact with, while trying to make a meaningful difference.  The OG volunteer projects work with local non-profits that they are partnered up with whom have expressed a need.  This is something they clearly take great pride in and what truly sets OG apart as an ethical alternative to many other volunteer travel organizations. They always consult with local partners and never seek out projects that make work or take work.  The program also encourages, people to be active “alumni” by trying to keep them engaged well after they return home from their trip.

Operation Groundswell is a non-profit organization that offers travel and community service experiences around the world. Their goal is to build a community of “backpacktivists” that are socially, environmentally and politically aware of their impact in the communities they travel to and live in. You can view more of their slide presentation here.

This Month’s Winners

This month we had several tweet-to-win opportunities thanks to prizes donated by our friends at Global Sunrisers, Operation Groundswell, and Mountain Equipment Coop. This month’s winners were:

Emily Bailie (@emilybailie) – pickpocket proof pants donated by Global Sunrisers

Cheryl Howard (@cdngrrleh) – iPhone skin donated by Global Sunrisers

Arienne Parzei (@seeusoontravel) – iPhone skin donated by Global Sunrisers

Bran Hill (@theplanetd) – Backpack donated by MEC

Yvonne Ivanescu (@undertheyew) – Scrubba donated by Operation Groundswell

Rain Takahashi (@ra_raines) – Scrubba & Men’s TShirt donated by Operation Groundswell

Jane Canapini (@janecanapini) – Women’s TShirt donated by Operation Groundswell

Thank you to all of our prize donors!

We want to extend extra thanks to Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC). We teamed up with MEC for the first time, a Canadian-owned company that has been fostering sustainable outdoor and adventure travel for more than 40 years and producing travel gear with high ethical standards. We look forward to working with MEC again in the future!

Special thank you to our event sponsor Operation Groundswell.  For more information on how you can volunteer with Operation Groundswell visit their website or Facebook page.

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Sharon Mendelaoui has been a member of Toronto Travel Massive since 2013. She is a travel writer, blogger, and photographer based in Thornhill, Ontario and founder of Dream Travel Magazine, an online travel magazine specializing in Caribbean all-inclusive getaways and turning dream vacation destinations into reality. You can follow her on Twitter at @dreamtravelmag or on her Facebook page.