Isabelle Delorme
Special collaboration February 3, 2024 
Photo: Guillaume Dartigue Village Monde propose des expériences de tourisme durable en encourageant les voyageurs à aller à la rencontre des communautés en zone rurale en dehors des circuits habituels.
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Promoting the smallest players in the food chain while generating additional income through the establishment of a sustainable tourist activity: this is the objective of agrotourism. The sustainable tourism charity Village Monde, founded in Quebec almost fifteen years ago, is launching a new development project to support small Peruvian producers outside of traditional tourist circuits.
Photographer Guillaume Dartigue's page on Vaolo, a free collaborative platform which puts online sustainable tourism experiences offered by Village Monde for international travelers, will display in a few weeks new agrotourism addresses visited by the Frenchman in Peru. “He’s one of our long-time collaborators! » says Émilie Couillard, project manager at Village Monde, about the man who notably explored Costa Rica and Morocco.
Once Guillaume Dartigue's photos and accommodation details in Peru are posted online, users of the platform will be able to integrate his addresses into their itinerary. “He left for 26 days, including Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley, which are part of the classic circuits. But he got off the beaten track by meeting small coffee, cocoa and tea producers and visiting mini bed & breakfast very little known”, describes Émilie Couillard.
The photographer was able to ensure the direct and positive economic repercussions of all these initiatives on these communities, before allowing travelers to be accommodated there thanks to the Vaolo platform. “Our ultimate goal is to improve people's living conditions through sustainable tourism activity, which remains a complementary activity allowing them to continue their more traditional activity,” explains Ms. Couillard.
From exploration to travel
Guillaume Dartigue is one of the 70 explorers who collaborate with Village Monde to promote sustainable tourism trips with positive impacts on communities. “We divide our action according to three main axes, explains Émilie Couillard: first of all international cooperation, because our team of three permanent staff works with partners in 85 countries to implement our projects. Global citizenship education, our second axis, consists of making travelers aware of the impact of their trips and showing them the importance of sustainable tourism and meeting communities in rural areas outside of the circuits. usual, to achieve a better planetary lifestyle. » Innovation, the third axis, consists of using technology to help communities. This is enabled by the Vaolo marketing platform, set up in 2019 to give visibility to their initiatives.
From exploration to travel, there is only one step with Village Monde. “You can start as a traveler then become an explorer and vice versa! » says Émilie Couillard. All it takes is a short training course offered by Village Monde to become an explorer, in order to “give additional meaning to your journey by being our eyes and ears on the ground to identify initiatives, give them visibility and help them structure their offer and to develop interesting content highlighting their impact,” indicates the project manager. This voluntary collaboration can sometimes be supported by travel grants regularly offered by the organization on its social networks.
Varied experiences
“We have all types of travelers, from young adventurers who feel empowered to get off the beaten track to senior explorers, often retired, who have traveled a lot in their lives,” describes Émilie Couillard.
The comfort of exploring or traveling depends on each person. “The type of experience varies depending on people’s desires and budget. We have very luxurious cabins in the jungle in Costa Rica, but we also offer sleeping in a family’s hammock in the middle of the jungle.” The common denominator of these experiences: the socio-economic, environmental or cultural outcome on local communities is always positive.
This content was produced by the Devoir special publications team, reporting to marketing. The editorial staff of Devoir did not take part.