Volunteer tourism fields: spaces of altruism and unsustainability

Figures & data

Table 1. Volunteer tourism research from a community perspective.

Author(s)	Fieldwork location and method	Condensed overview of findings
Conran, 2011	Nine-month ethnographic study in Chiang Mai, Thailand	Intimacy overshadows any inequalities within host communities
Frilund, 2018	Interviews with 34 locals and a survey of 100 foreign tourists to Tibet	Volunteer tourism’s sustainability depends upon locals having control over their own communities
Gray & Campbell, 2007	36 interviews and participant observation in Gandoca, Costa Rica	While there are shared positive values, volunteers and hosts hold different preferences and predilections for the outcomes of tourism
Kontogeorgopoulos, 2017	Interviews in Chiang Mai, Thailand with 71 volunteers and 16 managers	Interaction with beneficiaries meets volunteers’ authenticity-seeking motivations while interaction with hosts and managers does not
Lee & Zhang, 2020	35 interviews with volunteers, NGO hosts and local residents in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia	Volunteer tourism lacks sustainability and there needs to be greater consideration for local involvement and ‘ethics of care’
Prince & Ioannides, 2017	Six-week focussed ethnography at Sólheimar eco-village in Iceland	The economic relationship associated with volunteer tourism means volunteers’ expectations are not always synonymous with community goals
Prince, 2017	Six-week focussed ethnography at Sólheimar eco-village in Iceland	There were instances of positive interaction and learning between all parties. However, there was also different perspectives on commercialization
Tomazos & Butler, 2012	Auto-ethnographic study in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico	Volunteer tourists are in a balancing act between hedonistic pursuits and altruistic activities
Zahra & McGehee, 2013	Interviews and focus groups with host community members and administrators in the Philippines	Through bridging social capital, other capital exchanges are influenced. Additionally, two new forms of community capital are established

Table 2. Participant outline.

Project	Participant	Role
Canyon	Peter	Host
	Emily	Host
	Simone	Host
	Max	Volunteer
	Jessica	Volunteer
	Chris	Volunteer
	Ashley	Volunteer
Evergreen	Richard	Host
	Shannon	Host
	Laura	Volunteer
Horizon	Rachael	Host
	Melissa	Volunteer
	Nicola	Volunteer
	Kate	Volunteer
Mountainview	Sieng	Host
	Natasha	Volunteer
Oceanside	Visal	Host
	Tom	Volunteer
	Ryan	Volunteer
Silverleaf	Keo	Host
	Reung	Host
	Paul	Volunteer
	Christine	Volunteer
	Jennifer	Volunteer

Conran, M. (2011). They really love me!: Intimacy in volunteer tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(4), 1454–1473. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.03.014

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Frilund, R. (2018). Teasing the boundaries of ‘volunteer tourism’: Local NGOs looking for global workforce. Current Issues in Tourism, 21(4), 355–368. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2015.1080668

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Gray, N. J., & Campbell, L. M. (2007). A decommodified experience? Exploring aesthetic, economic and ethical values for volunteer ecotourism in Costa Rica. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 15(5), 463–482. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2167/jost725.0

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Kontogeorgopoulos, N. (2017). Finding oneself while discovering others: An existential perspective on volunteer tourism in Thailand. Annals of Tourism Research, 65, 1–12. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2017.04.006

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Lee, H. Y., & Zhang, J. J. (2020). Rethinking sustainability in volunteer tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 23(14), 1820–1832. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2019.1653267

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Prince, S., & Ioannides, D. (2017). Conextualizing the complexities of managing alternative tourism at the community-level: A case study of Nordic eco-village. Tourism Management, 60, 348–356. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.12.015

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Prince, S. (2017). Working towards sincere encounters in volunteer tourism: An ethnographic examination of key management issues at a Nordic eco-village. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(11), 1617–1632. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2017.1297450

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Tomazos, K., & Butler, R. (2012). Volunteer tourists in the field: A question of balance? Tourism Management, 33(1), 177–187. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.02.020

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Zahra, A., & McGehee, N. G. (2013). Volunteer tourism: A host community capital perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 42(1), 22–45. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2013.01.008

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