International Volunteer Tourism. Stephen Wearing
materials targeting young Australians.
In the UK, the international ‘gap travel’ sector is much more mature, having grown to become a significant element of outbound tourism, which is supported by an industry of commercial and NGO provider organizations (Simpson, 2004). In 2005, the gap-year in the UK was valued at £5 billion per annum with predictions that it will rise to £20 billion by 2015 (Ward, 2007).
Gap-year travel describes a wide array of activities. Some of these are considered hedonistic (Simpson, 2004), such as the popular and sometimes infamous budget coach-touring through Europe. Other forms of gap-year travel such as longer-term independent travel have also been criticized as a form of dropping out and escape (West, 2005). In recent years, there has been growing interest among young people in gap-year volunteer tourism. Gap-year volunteer tourists are those who use their gap-year to volunteer on a wide range of projects, particularly in the area of community development.
Volunteer Tourism and Pro-poor Tourism
The worldwide interest and growth in volunteer tourism over the last 20 years has also proved to be fertile ground for the phenomenon of PPT (Hall, 2007; Meyer, 2007; Goodwin, 2008; Harrison, 2008; Suntikul et al., 2009; Theer-apappisit, 2009). While conceptually volunteer tourism and PPT are often seen as discrete elements of the tourism sector, in practice each overlap and interact in various ways.
Sustainable tourism researchers and practitioners often argue that tourism, if conducted sustainably, has the potential to reduce poverty in developing countries (Suntikul et al., 2009). However, it has only been since the early 1990s that a specific response to this goal has taken shape in the form of PPT. The principle of PPT is the following:
Tourism that generates net profits for the poor … (it) is not a specific product or sector of tourism, but an approach to the industry … PPT strategies aim to unlock opportunities for the poor — whether for economic gain, other livelihood benefits, or participation in decision making.
(Ashley et al., 2000: 2)
In many ways, PPT overlaps with ecotourism and sustainable tourism more generally in its approach to provide sustainable development for local communities so that they might achieve a higher standard of living. The difference between PPT and other forms of tourism such as volunteer and ecotourism is that PPT focuses on countries in the less developed South. ‘Poverty is the core focus, rather than one element of (mainly environmental) sustainability’ (Ashley et al., 2001: viii).
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has become committed to exploring ways in which tourism can contribute to the well-being of poor communities and their environment. ‘The World Tourism Organization is convinced that the power of tourism — one of the most dynamic economic activities of our time — can be more effectively harnessed to address problems of poverty more directly’ (UNWTO, 2012: 1). Using tourism as a tool to reduce poverty makes sense given that international tourism makes important contributions to the economies of developing countries, particularly to foreign exchange earnings, employment and Gross Domestic Product (Roe & Urquhart, 2001: 3). The focus of PPT is generally economic benefits. Therefore, strategies attempt to achieve outcomes with this goal and include expanding business and employment opportunities for the poor, enhancing collective benefits, capacity building, training and empowerment (Roe & Urquhart, 2001: 5–6).
An important aspect of the success of PPT projects is volunteers, generally from developed countries. An exemplary organization that provides opportunities for volunteering and development in disadvantaged communities is Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), which is an international development charity that works through volunteers. The majority of volunteers are skilled professionals with an average age of 41. Volunteers work on a range of projects with the aim of imparting their knowledge and skills to locals. Placements are typically 2 years, with some projects in communities being up to 12 months long (Voluntary Service Overseas, 2012).
Book Outline
Chapter 2 examines alternative tourism experiences and how tourists themselves construct them, then contextualizes the concept of volunteer tourism within those boundaries of alternative tourism as well as mass tourism. In exploring alternative tourism experiences within the context of wider discussions about culture and society, it is proposed that alternative tourism experiences can best be clarified by the particularity of the specific tourist experience.
Chapter 3 focuses on community development in volunteer tourism destinations. Ideally, volunteer tourism programmes and projects are developed in a way that places the community at the centre of the discussion. While many organizations wholeheartedly agree with and work to implement this perspective, they sometimes struggle with the operationalization of the concept. Fortunately, there are several practical community-based tourism development models available that can address this problem. These include the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach, the Tourism Optimization Management Model (TOMM), Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Appreciative Inquiry (AI). Each brings a viable framework to the community development table that can assist with the inclusion of volunteer tourism in the alternative tourism mix. Chapter 3 explains each of these models in detail and provides examples of their value to volunteer tourism development
Chapter 4 discusses the importance of the volunteer tourism organization as a vital component of the three-legged stool of the host community, the volunteer tourist and the volunteer tourism organization. After initially laying the groundwork that includes a review of the research in this area, the author targets several exemplary organizations, including CVA, MIUSA and YCI. The chapter concludes with a list of other exemplary volunteer tourism organizations.
Chapter 5 is written by Simone Grabowski and explores the motivations and perspectives of the volunteer tourist. This includes a review of the work in mainstream tourism motivations, with particular attention paid to the theoretical perspectives that have been at the centre of the discussion for decades. This is followed by a more specific discussion that targets the unique motivations of volunteer tourists, which includes the altruism versus self-development debate, the role of adventure/discovery, social interaction, learning and timing. The chapter concludes that there is not one single motivation that is more common among volunteer tourists than the others, and in fact the core motivation will vary depending on a person’s values, personality and life stage. Although a number of empirical studies have been cited, current research is still limited, and a clear picture has yet to emerge on whether the motives of volunteer tourists differ according to demographics or some other independent variable.
Chapter 6 is organized into two primary sections. This first introduces the reader to a potential mechanism that can improve the way projects are established and evaluated with local communities: The 2008 Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC). These guidelines brought together over 40 of the world’s leading public, private, non-profit and academic institutions in a broad-based stakeholder consultation process. The GSTC focus on: maximizing social and economic benefits to local communities; reducing negative impacts on cultural heritage; reducing harm to local environments; and planning for sus-tainability. Standards such as these can bring about less market-based and more genuine local community projects and volunteer tourism experiences grounded in the cultures and daily lives of local communities. The second section presents research on three volunteer tourism programmes, including the Taita Discovery Centre in Kenya (by Andrew Lepp), the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, Phuket, Thailand (by Sue Broad & John Jenkins), and a collection of study tours to Cuba including Global Exchange Reality Tours and Oxfam (by Rochelle Spencer).
Chapter 7, written by Matthew McDonald and John Wilson,