Recently, CNN published The World’s Greatest Places of 2024, according to TIME
By Maureen O'Hare, CNN
Published 2:26 PM EDT, Thu July 25, 2024
https://www.cnn.com/travel/worlds-greatest-places-2024-time/index.html
You can view the list here: https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places-2024/
What Volunteer Centre County finds interesting is the concept of Regenerative Tourism.
Regenerative Tourism is otherwise known as Voluntourism.
As quoted from the CNN article by O’Hare:
Voluntourism — where travelers work as volunteers in the regions they visit — “has become a little bit cliched, perhaps, in that it makes you feel good about what you’re doing, but maybe isn’t actually that helpful,” says Barker.
The fresh new take on this theme is regenerative tourism, which is “more about really leaving the landscape and the place better than it was.”
TIME wanted to bring attention to Maui, where West Maui reopened to tourism in November after being devastated by wildfires last summer.
The indigenously-owned non-profit Maui Cultural Lands offer volunteer opportunities that are “legitimately fun,” says Barker. “You’re not wasting your vacation by doing hard labor, although it is work. You’re out in this stunning landscape, planting trees. You have a great time and then go support the local businesses.”
What Centre County Nonprofits may find intriguing is that perhaps they can participate in voluntourism. I once traveled to Iceland with Volunteers for Peace (https://vfp.org/) and we helped a cemetery deconstruct wreaths and recycle the components (straw, wire, plastics) that were placed on the graves and had started to look too worn to remain there. It created a camaraderie with our small group of travelers, as this activity gave us time to chat, listen, and learn from each other in a way that would otherwise not have happened. When you focus on a task, it offers a bit of an excuse to listen and chime in casually when you’d like, but there is no pressure to hold a conversation as would be expected, say, in a social event. Voluntourism could also bring hotel and restaurant dollars to Centre County. There are multiple benefits. Maybe this is something worth considering?