Travel philanthropy and sustainable development: the case of the Plymouth–Banjul Challenge

Abstract

Travel philanthropy is an evolving phenomenon. It owes its origins to rising frustrations with conventional aid and traditional philanthropic giving and is seen as development assistance enabling resources to flow directly from the tourism industry into community development and conservation initiatives. Philanthropists have long sought to achieve social transformation, and travel philanthropy in all its forms has evolved through the democratization of charity, as a kind of “doing good” through “giving back” whilst travelling. This paper evaluates values, practices and impacts of traditional, modern and post-modern philanthropy. Drawing upon evidence emerging from a longitudinal study, which involved the retrospective evaluation of personal diary entries, participant observations and semi-structured interviews about the transcontinental Plymouth–Banjul (car) Challenge (PBC), it exemplifies how an initiative can evolve across all three philanthropic approaches. It further debates critical understandings of the problematic travel philanthropy concept and its role in stimulating sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa.

慈善旅游与可持续发展：以普利茅斯-班珠尔挑战赛为例

慈善旅游是一种新兴的社会现象。它的原型来自于为频发灾难地区提供传统援助和慈善捐赠的行为，并被视为能够使资源直接从旅游产业流入到地区开发与保护的发展援助。慈善家们一直致力于实现社会转型，以及开展通过慈善民主化发展的各种慈善旅行，并以此作为从“行善”到“回馈”的旅游形式。本文对传统、现代和后现代慈善事业的价值观、实践及影响进行了分析评价。文章根据纵向研究得出论据，其中涉及到对横贯大陆的普利茅斯-班珠尔（汽车）挑战赛（PBC）参与者个人日记的回顾性评价，以及对他们的观察和半结构式访谈。此案例充分证明了慈善旅行如何跨三种慈善途径进行发展。本文进一步讨论了对问题重重的慈善旅游理念的理解，以及该理念在促进撒哈拉以南非洲地区可持续发展事业中起到的作用。

Keywords:

• aid
• charity
• social entrepreneurship
• social justice
• travel philanthropy
• The Gambia

关键词:

• 援助
• 慈善机构
• 公益创业
• 社会公正
• 慈善旅游
• 冈比亚

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express gratitude to Julian Nowill and the PBC Team, in particular M. Ndimbalan, and the PBC community for sharing their valuable experiences.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marina Novelli

Marina Novelli is a reader in tourism and international development at the University of Brighton's Centre of Sport, Tourism and Leisure Studies (CoSTaLS), School of Sport and Service Management. Her research interests include tourism policy and planning, niche tourism development and management and sustainable development approaches.

Nigel Morgan

Nigel Morgan is a professor of tourism and events marketing at the University of Surrey's School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. His research interests include destination development/marketing; well-being and tourism; tourism and social justice; critical thinking, education and action in tourism; event and place marketing.

Geri Mitchell

Geri Mitchell is the Director of Sandele Eco-Retreat and Learning Centre (Karton, The Gambia) and a responsible tourism practitioner who has lived and worked in The Gambia for the past 15 years.

Konstantin Ivanov

Konstantin Ivanov is a graduate of the School of Sport and Service Management. His research interests include tourism and cultural theory, anthropology of tourism, development anthropology and human geography.