Asia Travel News Commentary, Reviews, and Insights

I was just in India on a trip with 8 other travel agents from various countries including Canada, Poland, France, Australia, and India. We were touring Kerala after attending the Kerala Travel Mart. Normally, I don’t like traveling with people in a group…I’m more of a loner and like to experience things on my own terms. This trip helped me understand why. We were staying at a 200-year-old ancestral home that had been converted to a guest house. The owner, a wonderful host, had requested that, as we were visiting the local community, we not give anything to the local children; that giving money, candy, or pens encourages begging. He said that if we felt the need to help these chldren, that we could deposit money in a box in his house that would be used to help fund the needs of a local school he helped support. I agreed and was of the opinion that all enlightened tourists, especially experienced travelers like travel agents, understood that handing out anything was really just exploiting the locals.

I was wrong. Our group was visiting a village potter to see a demonstration of how they make the local clay pots.  One Polish woman in our group had brought candy from home and handed it out to the village children so that she could take picures of them…I asked her to stop, citing the requests of our host…but she thought he was just talking about giving money, not candy or pens.

Later in the trip, our group was touring the Backwaters of Kerala and taking a smaller boat through some narrow waterways lined by local houses. Our Indian host of the tour, had brought a bag full of pens and started throwing them to local kids of school age. Soon we were being followed by every kid around…essentially, we could no longer enjoy the normally serene boat ride. Our host, a vice president of one of India’s largest tour operators, wasa encouraging begging in his own country! I cringed when I saw it and complained to him later about it, but I don’t know if it went took root or not.

Giving handouts to children is a persistent problem. If you want to help the locals in the places that you are visiting, please give to an organization that has the ability to ensure your efforts go to a good cause.