Originally published in TEACH Magazine, May/June 2013 Issue
By Martha Beach
Imagine you are standing in the hot sun on an exotic holiday wearing shorts and sandals. The sky is blue, the grass is green, and you’re looking forward to an evening bike ride. Now imagine you feel absolutely energized as you push a wheelbarrow filled with bricks across a dirt yard to help finish the wall of a house. For some vacationers, the first part sounds like the perfect holiday. For others, the second half of that image is an ideal way to spend their free time.
Volunteer travelling—dubbed “voluntourism”—has become very popular in the last 25 years. Voluntourists range in age from teens to septuagenarians, and their personal reasons for participation vary widely. They want to travel, learn, and experience community in a way that typical on-and-off-the-bus tourists would not.
Martha Beach lives and works in Toronto as a freelance fact-checker, editor, and writer for a wide variety of publications. When she’s not working, you’ll find Martha on her yoga mat or hanging out with her daughter and husband.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://teachmag.com/the-altruistic-tourist-putting-vacation-to-good-use/&media=https://teachmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Altruistic_Tourist_Web.png&description=Volunteer travelling—dubbed "voluntourism"—has become very popular in the last 25 years.){kind=link}