An examination of not-for-profit volunteer tourism sending organisations' guiding considerations that influence volunteer tourism programmes

Abstract

This exploratory study examines the guiding considerations that not-for-profit volunteer tourism sending organisations utilise in designing and implementing volunteer tourism programs. These considerations encompass overarching factors that affect the strategic and operational direction sending organisations take, influencing their choice of activities and providing the framework for their programs.The study explores the vision and mission statements of not-for-profit sending organisations along with their program principles to extrapolate guiding considerations that underpin the implementation of volunteer tourism programs. Eleven guiding considerations were determined, with the five most frequently occurring listed in rank order as: Interaction, Needs of Host Community, Participant-Focused Benefits, Host Community-Focused Participation and Quality of Life.With three guiding considerations focused heavily on the impact on, and needs and involvement of the host community, it is a promising indication that not-for-profit sending organisations place strong emphasis on a host community-led strategy that keeps their programs relevant to key beneficiaries. However, the needs of the participants are not neglected, with participant-focused benefits, such as the learning and adventure components of trips, being a prominent guiding consideration to emerge from the analysis. Lastly, bringing mutual benefits and positive interaction between host communities and volunteer tourists is also a key focus of sending organisations in organising their programs. This research contributes to the limited literature on volunteer tourism sending organisations and offers an initial insight into the motivations and criteria that mould programs from the perspective of these organisations.Keywords: Host Community, Sending Organisations, Volunteer Tourism, Volunteer Tourism Programs 1 INTRODUCTIONAs a global market, volunteer tourism is estimated to generate 1.6 million tourists, contributing between US$1.76 billion and US$2.63 billion (Tourism Research and Marketing Group, 2008) to the global economy. Volunteer tourism may be the perfect tool to combine the modern traveller's leisure needs with the impetus to help others through volunteering.In response to growing demand for volunteer tourism, a substantial body of research has been conducted to gather the perspectives of volunteer tourists and host communities. Much of this research has centred on factors such as volunteer motivations (Brown, 2005;Campbell & Smith, 2006;Lyons & Wearing, 2008b;Söderman & Snead, 2008), impacts of volunteer tourism trips on the participants (Matthews, 2008;Stoddart & Rogerson, 2004), the discovery of the 'self' through volunteer tourism programs (Wearing & Wearing, 2001;Wearing, 2002) and the impacts of these programs on host communities (Andereck, Valentine, Knopf & Vogt, 2005;Guttentag, 2009;McIntosh & Zahra, 2007).A corresponding level of investigation from the sending organisation perspective is currently lacking. Sending organisations play a vit...

A Study on the Effect of Emotional Solidarity on Memorable Tourism Experience and Destination Loyalty in Volunteer Tourism

“…VT is becoming increasingly popular around the world (Conran, 2011; Keese, 2011) with tourists who want to immerse themselves in local culture, establish deeper relationships with local communities, and contribute to community development and nature conservation (Ong et al, 2011; Ooi & Laing, 2010; Sin, 2009). Defined as using free time and income to travel to help others in need (McGehee & Santos, 2005), it is positioned in the range of alternative tourism.…”

NGO Partnerships in Using Ecotourism for Conservation: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…NGOs use different approaches and strategies, with different outcomes, in developed and developing countries respectively [31, 32, 36–47]. Some analysts have argued that NGOs have successfully used ecotourism as a local conservation tool, either by operating tours, influencing the management of protected areas, or raising local awareness [24, 32, 33, 36, 43, 48–53]. Other authors, however, have concluded that NGOs may be driven more by global discourses, such as those related to poverty alleviation, development, conservation, equity, and the role of non-state organisations; and that they may prioritize their own agendas over local communities and conservation needs [54–57].…”

“…Many authors, for example, have suggested that NGOs in developed countries preferentially operate ecotourism enterprises themselves, or form partnerships with government agencies in tourism policy and management for protected areas [24, 40–42, 49, 51–53]. In developing countries, in contrast, ecotourism approaches by NGOs commonly combine nature conservation and poverty alleviation, often in challenging political circumstances.…”

The liquid organization of volunteer tourism: Implications for responsibility

“…Other literature reveals some general assumptions about roles and responsibilities of volunteer tourism actors that infer a particular understanding of the organization. For instance, the literature frequently argues that volunteer tourism organizations are responsible for meeting the diverse needs of stakeholders including volunteer tourists and host communities (Coghlan & Noakes, 2012;Ong et al, 2011;Raymond, 2008a) and that good practice adopted by volunteer tourism organizations is central to maintaining a sustainable and responsible volunteer tourism industry (Wearing & McGehee, 2013a, 2013b. Such attributions of responsibility suggest that these researchers are, at least implicitly, interpreting volunteer tourism organization in terms of fixed and solid structures although these assumptions are not made explicit.…”