In our increasingly connected society, the links between people are loosening, which induces, in reaction, a recrudescence of the need to share. Thereby, many choose to go alone to provoke the meeting. For travelers eager for discovery, solo adventure often appears to be the best option for recreating the social bond between cultures, but it can also be an opportunity to be part of even more ambitious projects.
The desire for authentic vacations has promoted new forms of stays, which are often grouped together under the term sustainable tourism. Its participatory variation, solidarity travel aims to restore this balance between discovery and solidarity, pleasure and ethics. But also to perpetuate actions with local populations and allow them to benefit from the tourist windfall. While allowing them to promote and maintain their specific way of life. Presentation of this mode of travel.
A conscious journey with solidarity tourism
Faced with the explosion in demand, many forms of alternative tourism have developed in recent years to meet the growing need of favored populations to share their chances. Green, fair, sustainable or responsible, tourism is now the vehicle for rebalancing wealth thanks to a global and social vision that allows each traveler to discover new ways of life without impacting them negatively.
Solidarity tourism goes even further. Its primary objective is to allow local populations to directly benefit from the financial benefits of stays, organized by associations or structures. These trips, often in immersion with locals and always in small groups, are therefore intended to support the development and maintenance of societies, in particular through the implementation of solidarity projects.
Go alone to give more
With the development of mass tourism, the opportunities for sharing and meeting have been greatly reduced. In reaction, many travelers have chosen backpacking as a fallback solution to be closer to local populations. With solidarity travel, these long-haul loners can now combine their need for discovery with that of participating in the promotion of the companies they visit.
Going alone to find local associations and well-established structures is thus an opportunity to take advantage of your trip to restore global balances, weakened by excessive globalization and its sometimes devastating effects on human societies. Equipped with this ethical and responsible conviction, the traveler is thus part of a forward-looking approach which affirms his intention to share resources and pool goodwill to create a more just world.
Social aide
A solo trip yes, but an essential organization
If a solo trip can be an opportunity to be part of a sustainable approach, those who seek to maximize their impact on the populations will prefer to turn to well-established organizations. You can organize a solo trip with Double Sens for example: a solidarity travel agency recognized for its experience and know-how, and offering actions supervised by local associations.
Indeed, these particular organizations define their action plan in the light of a long-term project, in line with the needs of the local populations. The renewal of travelers within a specific framework makes it possible to put in place larger-scale measures, which will allow the communities on site to meet specific needs, particularly in terms of job stability.
Social values and economic benefits of solidarity travel
At the heart of solidarity travel therefore lies a desire to promote equity and contact between people. Thus, the structures and associations which support the traveler undertake to allocate a significant portion of the profits to the development of the local economy. Homestay accommodation and meals can, for example, provide an attractive financial contribution for small local family entities and communities.
The solidarity projects put in place affect a large number of areas. From agriculture to the environment, including the launch of participatory projects: the objective here is to create a lasting partnership between local associations and agencies offering solidarity trips. This is the meaning of this approach which, unlike mass tourism, aims to emancipate rather than exploit.
From the preservation of the environment to that of the populations
The projects carried out by organizations in accordance with the needs of local populations are very diverse and group together different themes. Preservation of the environment and the establishment of sustainable agriculture very often make it possible to emancipate populations. By building irrigation systems, maintaining vegetable gardens or participating in the purchase of agricultural equipment, travelers discover populations through their basic needs while pushing them towards autonomy.
Heritage restoration or participation in micro projects also promotes economic independence. By helping populations to improve their living environment, solidarity travelers are making allies in the education and development of young and old alike. At the same time, the socio-cultural activities offered in workshops or self-financed libraries produce a fertile ground for autonomy and offer broad horizons to all those who benefit from it.
Become a real actor of change ...
With solidarity travel, the traveler is no longer a disconnected foreigner who travels up and down the country without ever fully entering into the local culture. On the contrary, not only does it take part in improving the living conditions of inhabitants through financial participation, but it is also a real actor of change. As ethical as it is responsible, participatory as it is social, solidarity tourism lays the foundations for a new travel paradigm and can sometimes give rise to unsuspected vocations, which will perhaps lead travelers to become even more deeply involved in aid to travel. next through a humanitarian trip or a lasting immersion in one of the communities encountered ...
So tell us, are you tempted by solidarity travel?
