Altruistic travel 

On the one hand, when people travel, they want to learn, while on the other hand, they also want to help.

"People feel there is a bigger opportunity to help in Africa. I think that's behind a lot of travels to Africa," said Levine.

Graham Chennells, Former Mayor of South Africa's Eshowe Town in Zululand, currently runs the Chennells Volunteer projects, which target international students who come to South Africa to teach Zulu children English.

As a Rotarian, his major passion is community development. "My first language is Zulu and I want to uplift the community. Learning English is the biggest step they can take forward," he told ChinAfrica. The hope is to expand children's horizons through teaching them English.

Chennells believes that it's a growing trend that people want to help. "A lot of young people have a university education and realize that the world was not [all] the same. They want to give a bit of help before they settle into their careers," he added.

On October 16, one day before the conference, around 30 delegates of WYSTC and several students from SpeakChinese (a Chinese language and culture center based in Beijing) joined in a volunteer project at Beijing Bainian School, a school for the children of migrant workers. Participants worked in teams of two to teach a 40-minute English class to students in grades from one to nine.

"The experience was valuable. You cannot only take, but you also need to give something back to the community. To do something voluntarily will make you happy," said Idowu Latoye, a Nigerian now studying at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Chennells felt volunteers teaching English here is similar to what he does back home. "I told the students they should learn English well so that they could travel around the world," he said.

Travel Trends

Giving Back

There are a growing number of civic-minded consumers who seek to establish a give-and-take relationship when they travel, volunteering time and expertise as well as financial contributions to communities they visit. This growing movement is referred to as altruistic travel or travel philanthropy.

Examples of organizations involved in altruistic travel are: 

> Africa Foundation

> Airline Ambassadors International

> Sustainable Travel International

> Voluntourism.org

Source: www.sustainabletourism.travel