OVER 225 delegates attended the 2008 Travellers’ Philanthropy Conference held in Arusha, Tanzania on December 3-5, 2008.

Travellers’ philanthropy, a relatively new concept, is about responsible tourism practices with businesses and travellers ‘giving back’ to tourism destinations by providing financial support, expertise, and material contributions to local projects and community initiatives. The three-day conference marked the first time that travellers’ philanthropy had been addressed in Africa. “We are thrilled with the results of the conference. Not only did more delegates attend than we had expected but the conference is also generating a number of new educational materials that will help to strengthen travellers’ philanthropy initiatives,” says Martha Honey, co-director of the Centre on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development (CESD). “These materials will help provide, for the first time, the tools to help tourism businesses and host communities initiate and effectively carry out travellers’ philanthropy projects.”  The conference included 18 workshops on topics such as serving local development priorities through travellers’ philanthropy; the responsibility and response of the travel industry to climate change; moving travellers’ philanthropy from a charity model to social empowerment and entrepreneurship; and bad practices and best practices for engaging travellers. In the wake of the conference, CESD plans to develop a list of ‘best practices’ for both tourism businesses and travellers involved in supporting projects in the host communities, promote and distribute the first documentary on travellers’ philanthropy, launch a new discussion board and blog, and expand the Experts Bureau to include more professionals who can work with companies, community organizations, NGOs, and others to develop travellers’ philanthropy projects.