We listen to, celebrate, and elevate the mountain tourism workforce.
This is Where Their Voices Live to Tell Their Truths
The Porter Voice Collective is a nonprofit organization composed of the voices of mountain tourism workers such as porters and guides from Nepal’s Himalayan Trails, Peru’s Camino Inca and Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro. PVC is a media platform that aims to tell the true stories of their lives on the trails. We utilize storytelling as a means to create advocacy towards the creation of Workforce Equity Tourism which ensures that companies and the industry as a whole respect the basic human rights of porters and adhere to equitable treatment of all individuals who work in the trekking tourism industry.
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The Porter Voice Collective is a 501(c)(3) grassroots non-profit organization based in the U.S.
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Our Mission
We seek to transform the trekking and tourism industry into a more just and inclusive space by advocating for Workforce Equity Tourism that centers the voices and needs of those who have historically been marginalized.
Our work includes:
Training and educational programs that build the skills, leadership, and career pathways of porters, guides, and women working in mountain regions
Storytelling and media advocacy to amplify the lived experiences of trekking workers and challenge exploitative narratives
Public education and community outreach to increase awareness and accountability across the global travel industry
Through documentary film, journalism, capacity-building initiatives, and grassroots advocacy, we aim to reimagine mountain tourism as an industry that honors labor, uplifts local leadership, and values ethical storytelling.
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Who We Are & Our Vision
Rooted in grassroots storytelling and advocacy, The Porter Voice Collective work across Nepal, Peru, and Tanzania to challenge the colonial legacies embedded in mountain tourism and to foster systems that center the dignity, labor, and humanity of those who make mountain experiences possible.
Through the power of narrative, media, and community-led collaboration, PVC seeks to reshape the global understanding of adventure travel—from one of privilege and consumption to one of respect, reciprocity, and justice.
We envision a decolonized mountain tourism industry where the workforce — not the tourist — stands at the center. An industry where every porter, guide, cook, and support worker is seen, valued, and compensated with fairness, dignity, and respect.
Through our commitment to Workforce Equity Tourism, we aim to build a global movement that redefines success in adventure travel—not by the summits reached, but by the equity achieved along the way.
Collectively, we listen to, celebrate, and elevate the Mountain Tourism Workforce.
Proud Member of Mountain Partnership
Our Community
You can support the Porter Voice Collective in different ways:
Join our Facebook and follow our Instagram to receive the latest updates.
Join our Internship and Volunteer programs.
Be a contributor. Share a story with us that will elevate the porter voices. It can be an article, a photo essay or video that you captured on the trails.
KM 82: The Porter Voices of Peru’s Camino Inca
This documentary represents PVC’s first major initiative and remains central to our educational mission. We want to share the KM 82 film doc on behalf of Quechua porters.
KM 82 is about the workforce inequities that the porters face on the Inca Trail and their struggle to create a more equitable mountain trekking industry. For over 50 years, the classic 4 day Inca Trail has been in operation and yet the porters who carry tourists’ bags up the mountains continue to fight for their dignity, fair pay and decent working conditions on the ground.
KM 82 centers the voices of the Quechua porters who have been unheard on the issues for too long. It follows the story of Alberto Huamanhuillca, the Porter Federation president, and his advocacy for the basic human rights of porters and the Quechua community within the context of mountain tourism.
Current Initiative: The Himalayan Women Trail Leaders
The Himalayan Women Trail Leaders Initiative is the winner of the 2024 Social Entrepreneurship Competition in Tourism. HWTL is made possible through its partnership with Equity Global Treks and aims to decolonize Nepal’s tourism industry through elevating, amplifying and celebrating the voices of Nepali female trekking guides.
