‘Voluntourism’: Keeping it sustainable and a valuable experience for all
In the last few decades volunteer tourism has become a phenomenon, up to 10 million participating and generating up to £1.3 billion revenues in a year. Some motivated by altruism, some for more selfish reasons but whichever, the growth, in scope and mode of ‘voluntourism’ gathers apace and is having significant global impact. Theoretically, volunteer tourism is a win-win; a sustainable means to positive change in host communities, and enlightening personal experience for the volunteer. Job done?
Not so easy. Many snags have become evident in the industry; for-profit unethical operators ‘greenwashing’ the unsuspecting public, skills gap between volunteer and host community needs, poor management of volunteer expectation: cheap labour or means to emancipation? Religious, intolerance and “neo-colonial” attitudes. All giving great potential to damage rather than improve cultural understanding, environments and indeed lives of host community members as intended. So how can the pitfalls be avoided? This article in Journal of Sustainable Tourism discusses volunteer tourism as a research area and how best to move forward and keep it sustainable for all.
Abuse and mismanagement of this socially responsible industry has given call for more regulation and monitoring. Could volunteers be better prepared pre-trip? How better matched to organisations and communities? Should volunteers be systematically debriefed to minimise future negativity? Could social media be a channel for information transfer? A TripAdvisor for voluntourism? In any case research is proving that frameworks are needed to assess the impacts of volunteer tourism. Development of the “International Voluntourism Guidelines for Commercial Tour Operators” has been an important first step; the author now stresses the need for an inexpensive and efficient means of “measuring a small but important group of indicators that are most useful and important to the success and sustainability of volunteer tourism”. By joining the forces of operators, communities and volunteers, the industry could realise the full potential to improve international development in a supremely sustainable way.
_____________________
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS
When referencing the article: Please include Journal title, Author, published by Taylor & Francis and the following statement:
* Read the full article online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2014.907299
Visit our newsroom at: http://newsroom.taylorandfrancisgroup.com/
Follow us on Twitter @tandfnewsroom
-----------------------------------------
About Taylor & Francis Group
-----------------------------------------
Taylor & Francis Group partners with researchers, scholarly societies, universities and libraries worldwide to bring knowledge to life. As one of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly journals, books, ebooks and reference works our content spans all areas of Humanities, Social Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Science, and Technology and Medicine.
From our network of offices in Oxford, New York, Philadelphia, Boca Raton, Boston, Melbourne, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Stockholm, New Delhi and Johannesburg, Taylor & Francis staff provide local expertise and support to our editors, societies and authors and tailored, efficient customer service to our library colleagues.
Media Contact: Iain Matthews, Senior Marketing Executive, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Email: Iain.Matthews@tandf.co.uk Website: www.tandfonline.com/ccsa
The Journal of Sustainable Tourism advances critical understanding of the relationships between tourism and sustainable development. The journal publishes theoretical, conceptual and empirical research that explores one or more of the economic, social, cultural, political, organisational or environmental aspects of the subject. Contributions are from all disciplinary perspectives, with inter-disciplinary work being especially welcome. Holistic and integrative work is encouraged. All geographical areas are included, as are all forms of tourism, both mass and niche market.
Find out more at www.tandfonline.com/rsus