Recent studies have started to discuss volunteer tourism and religion, and this study aims to build on this research momentum. The paper explores street-aid volunteer tourism as a micro-niche and, ...more specifically, Faith-Based Volunteer tourism (FBVT). Drawing on qualitative data, this study explores the activities of three organisations and their volunteers in an international setting. In the process, the author uses the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) to examine the motivations of faith-based volunteer tourist and what these motivations mean in today's secular society. The author confirms that religiosity, which is complex and multi-layered and requires further attention, should be a separate measurement. Thus, a clear framework or understanding of intrinsic/extrinsic or personal/ institutional religious motivations would help better understand religion's complexity and a deeper study of spiritual psychology.
Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork and using Actor-Network Theory (ANT), the authors trace the interactions of a primary actor and other agents within the context of the volunteer tourist experience ...at a children's home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This paper has two key objectives; first to sketch the volunteer tourism reality as it is shaped by the actions of different actors, and second to showcase how this sensitively balanced ecosystem was significantly disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Staying true to the ANT approach and ‘following the actor’ (Latour, 1993), the authors demonstrate how the volunteer tourist setting is relationally reproduced through the incessant alignment of different human and non-human actors and their sometimes conflicting interests and actions. By taking this radical approach, we reveal the need to reconsider the narrative that views all children in orphanages in the global South as victims and pawns of the ‘orphan industrial complex’ and how the children's home in the study offers much-needed support to children and people that have no safety net. The study shows that these actors sometimes unknowingly become part of the network and serve a good cause while acting in pursuit of their own interests.
Using data collected from 9,508 volunteer tourists, we employ Critical Incident Technique to identify and explore the volunteers' experience and how this affects the liminality of their journeys. ...What becomes apparent is that the liminality of the experience can have uncertain outcomes as volunteer tourists have to navigate living conditions, culture, operational differences, and feelings of marginalisation and vulnerability, all while feeling powerless to make meaningful change. As such, volunteer-sending organisations should be mindful of the use of transformation within the marketing of their programmes, given the highly individualised experiences of volunteers. The use of transformation should be fine-tuned to the individual, their expectations, and the contribution they wish to make.
Opinion is a readers' column that aims at providing feedback to the editor on the quality of the journal by commenting upon the issues such as thematic coverage, readability, problem solving ...approach, presentation and usability of content. Despite the best efforts of the editors and referees' strict scrutiny and evaluation of the submission, there are chances that some kernel of truth remains to be discovered. This section encourages readers to express their views (pleasant or less-pleasant) by way of constructive criticism, with bias towards none. Opinion piece should be sent in 500 to 1000 words, addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, Tourism Recreation Research at
trrworld@gmail.com
One of the more recent forms of tourism to emerge from the continuing fragmentation of tourism into many different forms is what has become known as Volunteer Tourism. Although itself taking on a ...number of variations, it is essentially the practice of individuals going on a working holiday and volunteering their labour for worthy causes. The concept of volunteer work has existed for several decades since its origins immediately following the First World War, but the idea of combining this activity with tourism is relatively new and has already changed considerably over a very short period. This thesis reviews the process by which volunteer tourism has developed, focusing on its transformation from an individual altruistic endeavour to a more commercial form of conventional tourism. As such, volunteer tourism has mirrored in many ways the development and commercialisation of opportunities for individuals to engage in ecotourism, another form of tourism which also began on a small scale with compassionate and non-economic priorities. This thesis provides a twin pronged approach to the study of volunteer tourism focusing both on the demand and the supply of volunteer tourism. The demand is investigated through an observation of a group of volunteer tourists in Mexico over a three week period and a new conceptualization of participation in volunteer tourism as a balancing act between commitment and hedonistic pursuits is developed. This thesis also reviews the growth in number of websites devoted to the various forms of volunteer tourism that now exist, and discusses the changes that have taken place in the content and focus of these websites and the organisations they represent over the last two decades. In relation to this analysis, it also examines the location of destinations which are being made available to volunteer tourists and providing the opportunity to engage in this activity. As a part of this analysis, the thesis examines the changes in the distribution of these locations and the relationship between location and the relative need of the respective destinations for assistance. The current distribution pattern of volunteer tourist opportunities now bears little similarity to the acute need for assistance that one might expect if the real motivation for providing this assistance was altruistic rather than commercial. In proposing a new approach of viewing volunteer tourism participation as a balancing act, but also by showing that the organizations involved vary in terms of their commitment and expectations, this study presents clarification on the role, expectations and motivations of the main players in volunteer tourism.
One of the more recent forms of tourism to emerge from the continuing fragmentation of tourism into many different forms is what has become known as Volunteer Tourism. Although itself taking on a ...number of variations, it is essentially the practice of individuals going on a working holiday and volunteering their labour for worthy causes. The concept of volunteer work has existed for several decades since its origins immediately following the First World War, but the idea of combining this activity with tourism is relatively new and has already changed considerably over a very short period. This thesis reviews the process by which volunteer tourism has developed, focusing on its transformation from an individual altruistic endeavour to a more commercial form of conventional tourism. As such, volunteer tourism has mirrored in many ways the development and commercialisation of opportunities for individuals to engage in ecotourism, another form of tourism which also began on a small scale with compassionate and non-economic priorities. This thesis provides a twin pronged approach to the study of volunteer tourism focusing both on the demand and the supply of volunteer tourism. The demand is investigated through an observation of a group of volunteer tourists in Mexico over a three week period and a new conceptualization of participation in volunteer tourism as a balancing act between commitment and hedonistic pursuits is developed. This thesis also reviews the growth in number of websites devoted to the various forms of volunteer tourism that now exist, and discusses the changes that have taken place in the content and focus of these websites and the organisations they represent over the last two decades. In relation to this analysis, it also examines the location of destinations which are being made available to volunteer tourists and providing the opportunity to engage in this activity. As a part of this analysis, the thesis examines the changes in the distribution of these locations and the relationship between location and the relative need of the respective destinations for assistance. The current distribution pattern of volunteer tourist opportunities now bears little similarity to the acute need for assistance that one might expect if the real motivation for providing this assistance was altruistic rather than commercial. In proposing a new approach of viewing volunteer tourism participation as a balancing act, but also by showing that the organizations involved vary in terms of their commitment and expectations, this study presents clarification on the role, expectations and motivations of the main players in volunteer tourism.
PDF