Motivation and socio-cultural sustainability of voluntourism
Date
2012
Authors
Alomari, Thabit
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Anthropology, c2012
Abstract
Volunteer tourism (voluntourism) has been described as an alternative form of tourism to mass tourism. It has been suggested that understanding the motivations of voluntourists might lead to a better understanding of the socio-cultural dimension of voluntourism sustainability. The aim of this thesis is to identify the key motives of voluntourists and how these motives affect the socio-cultural sustainability of a society. Virtual ethnography, observation, and semi-structured interviews were employed in order to collect the research data from Eden Valley – a Canadian First Nation reserve, Global Citizen Network (GCN) – a voluntourism organiser, and voluntourists who took part in previous volunteering trips. The study found that authenticity, cultural concerns, the search for unique experience, helping the ‘other’, and self-healing are the key motives that drive travellers to participate in voluntourism projects. The data collected show that voluntourism has a greater positive socio-cultural impact on targeted communities than mass-tourism.
Description
viii, 122 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm
Keywords
Volunteer tourism , Volunteer tourism -- Social aspects , Dissertations, Academic