"The world is so big, I want to see it." "Youth is a non-stop process of missing and meeting each other." A group of strangers from all over the world come together to experience the folk culture of a beautiful place and participate in public welfare and ecological protection. It sounds tempting enough.

Especially when the opportunity to "free orders" arises.

But upon closer inspection, nothing is completely free. Travelers themselves also need to bear the obligation to promote the organization with their personal image or provide cheap labor.

The latter's connections are loose and different from de facto labor relations, and there is a lack of safety and security. Travelers mainly rely on spontaneous organizations to help each other when encountering emergencies.

Organizer not involved in travel agency business As the new year is approaching, Hainan, a place with long summer and no winter, has become a popular destination.

The detailed itinerary reveals the proportion of "volunteers" and "travel": In the morning of the first day, participants followed the wetland protection staff on a boat trip to patrol the sea, plant trees, and test sea water quality; in the afternoon, they explored an uninhabited island to collect coconuts.

, drink coconut water, and then bask in the sun at a small beachside luxury camp; in the evening, camp on the beach.

On the second day, participants experienced water sports in the morning, went to the Marine Animal Rescue and Protection Center in the afternoon to visit rescued animals, cleaned sea lions’ residences, and made turtle feed. In the evening, they experienced Southeast Asian cuisine.

On the third day, we hiked to the Tropical Rainforest Garden and visited the Spice and Beverage Research Institute of the Academy of Tropical Sciences.

The fourth day is mainly for recreational activities such as country cycling and sailing.

"After successfully completing the project, you will receive a volunteer certificate from the local NGO organization International Volunteer Association to commend you for your perseverance over the past four days and the sweat and effort you put in on the road." The platform stated that participants can receive

The volunteer check-in time is 4 to 8 hours, and the volunteer certificate is endorsed by the "International Volunteer Association", "Hainan World United Charity Foundation" and "Blue Ocean Animal Rescue and Protection Center".

It is worth noting that a cultural communication company in Beijing launched a replica of the Hainan itinerary and commitments, with a quote of 3,200 yuan.

When asked at the beginning, the staff insisted that the project was self-operated by the company and that the founder had conducted on-site inspections. The different prices were due to the different "depth of participation in the project."

But similarly, industrial and commercial information shows that the company's business scope does not involve travel agency business at all, and does not even include tourism consulting services.

When asked about the qualification issue, the staff also said that the agency is also following the path of cooperation with travel agencies.

“Free” travel and the business behind it Clearly priced “volunteer travel” is not all.

There is a common copywriting saying, “When you have time, you don’t have money, and when you have money, you don’t have time.” It hits the college students the best. Now there is an opportunity to travel without spending money. If you don’t know how to spend your vacation, do you want to sign up?

?

Some applicants said that after submitting the information, they immediately received precise promotions for learning the local language, and suspected that the information was leaked.

Some people also used screenshots to question that the large-scale promotion of free is to pave the way for paid projects, because after announcing the shortlist of only a few people, these platforms quickly pushed back saying that you can spend money to experience the same itinerary.

Nothing is completely free. “Experience Officers” help the platform increase exposure in exchange.

They need to sign an agreement regarding image rights, and according to the agreement, the platform can publish photos and videos of participants during this trip.

Another task is to complete a Weibo travel note every day and post it on Weibo to interact with the platform officials.

Generally speaking, Xiao Lu believes that although the schedule is compact, it is not a quick trip.

"It's not just to take photos and check in, we are going to listen to local introductions and learn something seriously." Similarly, the business scope of Shanghai Mayfly Culture Communication Co., Ltd. reads "Travel consultation (not allowed to engage in travel agency business)

" Yang Yiyu also said that this problem must be solved through what Xiao Lu calls "ground connection", that is, local travel agencies.

As for the business model of this type of platform, "Our official account has nearly 6 million fans, and we mainly make money through advertisements, such as training for CET-4 and CET-6, minor languages, and accounting. We are an event platform.

, not a public welfare institution,” he emphasized.

New gameplay and hidden frictions In recent years, the concept of "volunteer travel" has also undergone changes, from volunteer projects of non-profit organizations, to paid travel that includes some public welfare activities, and then expanded to purely labor in exchange for free food and accommodation.

The concentration of "volunteers" in "work and stay" has gradually diluted, while common destinations have narrowed from overseas to domestic tourist attractions due to the impact of the epidemic.