Volunteer tourism

Abstract

Once a poster child for sustainable tourism, volunteer tourism has recently received a lot of critical attention. This chapter considers some of the expectations that we have of this sub-sector, as well as common themes within the volunteer tourism (demand-side) literature, including transformational experiences, authenticity, role ambiguity, the hero’s journey and touch on host–volunteer relations. It argues that the three elements altruism through volunteering, egotism in the form of personal benefits, and enlightenment through learning that creates the tension within volunteer tourism in a way that is rarely present in other forms of tourism. This tension also impacts the roles played by volunteer tourists, and how volunteer tourists self-identify. While the experience creates opportunities for tourists to trial new roles, there is relatively little guidance on how to balance these dualities both for the person herself or himself and with the people they interact with. Perhaps as a result, the promise of transformation does not completely materialize and leads to criticisms that volunteer tourism can reinforce inequalities and a lack of accountability within the sector. For this reason, it is argued that our expectations of the sector may need to be reconsidered, and that adopting an ethical perspective may help bring about the transformative potential of volunteer tourism if we explicitly focus on the moral issues and system-based issues that are the focus of many of the volunteering activities.