Rethinking sustainability in volunteer tourism

ABSTRACT

Volunteer tourism is considered an alternative form of tourism [Wearing, S. (2001). Volunteer tourism: Experiences that make a difference. Cambridge: Cabi Press], which focuses on the possibilities of a more sustainable development. Drawing on research in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia and a fast-growing volunteer tourism destination, this paper challenges some premises of the conventional belief that volunteer tourism is a form of sustainable tourism. Using qualitative interviews with different volunteer tourism stakeholders, this paper examines volunteer tourism practices through the sustainability trinity framework (economy, culture and environment) and also extends the discussion to ethics of care by proposing the sustainability triangular pyramid. In doing so, this paper suggests the input of care can potentially strengthen the three pillars in the sustainability trinity, which might in turn help to build a more resilient future for the individuals and host communities in volunteer tourism as a whole.

KEYWORDS:

• Volunteer tourism
• voluntourism
• sustainability
• ethics of care
• Mongolia

Acknowledgements

The first author is a PhD candidate under the supervision of the second author. We are very grateful to our respondents in Mongolia, and would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. The usual disclaimers apply.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

Fieldwork for this research was supported by the HKU Postgraduate Scholarship (010306004), HKU SPACE Research Fund (200004912), and the Faculty of Social Sciences Funding Support on International Learning Experience.