Abstract
The extent to which volunteer tourism can contribute to peace promotion through intercultural exchange and understanding is a central theme in this paper. We present the tensions of situating volunteer tourism within a broader tourism industry that promotes hyper-consumption and homogenous development discourses. As volunteer tourism becomes increasingly commodified and co-opted by a profit-driven industry that perpetuates neoliberal capitalism and neocolonial development, the benefits of volunteer tourism to local communities are questioned. The differences between commodified and decommodified volunteer tourism are highlighted, with the heterogeneity of volunteer tourism through a diverse economies lens considered. Through a case study of a not-for-profit volunteer organisation in Ecuador, we examine volunteer tourism as a force for peace and social justice, outlining how volunteer programs can facilitate encounters that foster mutual understanding and respect for different cultures and knowledge systems. When volunteer tourism operates outside of hyper-consumption and neocolonial development aid models, peace can be (re)centred through intercultural learning and exchange.
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