How to support volunteer tourism after COVID-19

How to support volunteer tourism after COVID-19

COVID-19 has caused a stop to international travel, meaning thousands of volunteers are unable to partake in volunteer tourism vacations.

Projects Abroad, a company helping volunteers to work on international projects, reported that volunteers were down by 98% in April.

But, it could be an opportunity for the industry to become sustainable in the long-term.



With borders closed and airlines grounded for almost six months, COVID-19 effectively shut down the global tourism industry at a scale never witnessed before.

Besides leisure travel, restriction of movement threatened to destroy volunteer tourism businesses and NGOs (non-governmental organisations), devastating the projects that depend on them for support. The pandemic has especially hit hard the recruitment of volunteer tourists, with some volunteer-sending organisations already forced to take measures to survive.



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