Experience Quest - Gap Year Travel

Quest was awarded the Virgin Holidays Responsible Travel Award for Volunteering Organisations two years running, in 2006 and 2007, after achieving over £1m in charitable donations

Quest were Highly Commended in the Best Volunteering Organisation category at the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards.  The achievement follows donations to Quest4Change hitting the £1million mark, a substantial contribution to overseas development. 

Founder, Michael Amphlet accepted the award: “This is a fantastic boost for those volunteering companies that are committed to making a difference overseas. Quest volunteers donate the highest amount in the industry directly to their project and can rest assured that without this the projects that they volunteer on would not be able to progress.  In return our volunteers have had some amazing adventures and met some inspiring people, the memories of which will stay with them throughout their lives.” 

As volunteering has become more popular, the industry has become more and more competitive with big business players spending huge sums on sales and marketing to reap the rewards in profit, of which the communities overseas see very little.  Despite this, Quest and other niche players strongly believe in social enterprise and that the only way to continue is to uphold the commitments Quest made fourteen years ago and to continue work on long term projects and sustainable development. 

Michael Amphlet confirmed: “We are not here to provide quick fixes and create projects to satisfy the market’s needs – we are here to work with communities that need us, for the long-term.  We would not have the heart to continue in the industry if Quest was driven purely by profit.

An example of the difference Quest has made was when Inti Wara Yassi’s land came under threat from development and the donations given by Quest volunteers allowed Inti Wara Yassi to buy their own land and create Parque Ambue Ari, which means ‘New Dawn’.  Inti Wara Yassi run a wildlife sanctuary that aims to rehabilitate endangered species that have been abused or maltreated.  The park is now dedicated not only to the animals it houses and rehabilitates, but also continues its work with the children of the shanty towns by inviting groups down to stay.

Chris Preager the UK Co-ordinator for Inti Wara Yassi says: "I've been involved with a large number of volunteer organisations from around the world, and Quest stand head and shoulders above all of them in terms of the huge attention they pay to developing relationships with their project organisations, their understanding of the context in which we work, and the potential that volunteering offers the volunteers.  Consequently they do an amazing job for both Inti Wara Yassi and their volunteers."