These are good times for volunteer vacations; though publications like Transitions Abroad have been writing about alternative travel for decades, it’s good to see so much about it in the mainstream press. Like this piece from Sunday’s (December 17, 2006) NYT Travel section:
“Ecotourism: Traveling the World to Help Save It,” By Bonnie Tsui, in which she writes:
“As exotic destinations become more commonplace and travelers seek out more unusual and broadening experiences, nonprofit groups are responding. By promoting and helping to organize ecotourism, nonprofits benefit by raising awareness — and money — for their causes. The draw for travelers? Gaining access to places that they wouldn’t be able to get to otherwise. . . According to the International Ecotourism Society, the market for conservation-oriented tourism continues to grow; in 2004, worldwide ecotourism and nature tourism were growing three times faster than the tourism industry as a whole.”
