Cross-cultural event volunteering: Challenge and intelligence

Globalization and increasing number of international events makes cross-cultural volunteering a popular phenomenon when combined with the greater mobility of people. Focusing on a volunteer's experience at four events in New Zealand and China, this paper aims to explore the challenges and intelligence that encountered at such events. Earley and Ang's cultural intelligence framework is used to explain what contributes to successful cross-cultural volunteering experiences. Drawing upon the autoethnographical data and a critical discourse analysis of volunteer handbooks and emails, the results identified a four-dimensional schema to explain the auto-ethnographical perceptions of what is termed a 'dual' volunteer experience. The analysis suggests that cultural intelligence leads to an enhanced experience, while a lack of intercultural effectiveness leads to challenges. Recommendations for cross-cultural volunteering practice are also presented.     

Justice motivation and place image influences on volunteer tourism: perceptions,responses, and deliberations

In the growing area of alternative tourism, tourist motives have been discussed but there is little consensus about what drives volunteer tourists. This paper explores the salience of justice motivation to the travel decision and deepens this understanding by contextualizing the volunteer tourism decision within the destination place image. Interviews were conducted during a Kenyan expedition. Results show justice motivation theory contributes to the explanation of trip participation as perceived injustices aligned with poorly perceived dimensions of the country’s image.     

On the rim of inspiration: performance of AWF tourism enterprises in Botswana and Rwanda

Community-based natural resource management approaches including joint venture partnerships provide opportunities to achieve biodiversity conservation and associated tourism development. The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) conservation enterprise model aims to improve the quality of life of communities and promote positive local attitudes towards conservation, and has been used to establish conservation lodges. To date, there has been no assessment of the performance of the conservation lodges in relation to this aim. This study used two case study AWF-initiated conservation lodges in Rwanda and Botswana to assess the performance of these conservation enterprises. The study adopted one-on-one structured questionnaire interviews with lodge staff and community residents. Analysis of economic and social performance and attitudes to conservation indicates that rural communities within the vicinity of the conservation lodges are generally benefitting from the existence of the lodges and associated tourism activity although to varying degrees, as well as promoting positive conservation attitudes among the community.     

Contextualizing the complexities of managing alternative tourism at the community-level: A case study of a nordic eco-village

To shed light on the complexities of fostering sustainability through alternative tourism, we explore the managerial contradictions and difficulties that arise as alternative tourism is developed in the name of sustainability at Sólheimar eco-village in Iceland. Following a focused ethnographic approach, we establish that those behind the management of volunteers, students and other guests regularly struggle to coordinate these respective groups in a manner that balances economic objectives with those relating to the environment and social equity. This is because limited human resources and strategic knowledge exist to fulfill all the host community's goals through alternative tourism. The findings reveal the need to conceptualize alternative tourism as a forum for discussion between host and guest over the complexities of generating sustainable development. This highlights the need for knowledge transmission over matters such as conflict resolution, critical reflection and cultural communication associated with the tourist experience at the community.     

Effects of power and individual-level cultural orientation on preferences for volunteer tourism

This study examined whether individual-level cultural orientation and psychological feelings of power interact to influence preference for volunteer or self-indulgent holiday packages. Results from a study involving 466 participants revealed that intentions to purchase a holiday package were greater among those who had been primed to feel powerful, supporting the notion that power increases an individual's tendency to take action. Nevertheless, the holiday packages that powerful participants chose varied as a function of their individual-level cultural orientation. Specifically, when primed to feel powerful, vertical individualists exhibited a distinct preference for a self-indulgent holiday package whereas horizontal collectivists preferred a volunteer holiday package. These findings indicate that preference for volunteer or self-indulgent holidays arises from the confluence of individual-level cultural orientation (which shapes goal meaning) and power (which influences goal pursuit).     

Volunteer Tourism and Intercultural Sensitivity: The Role of Interaction with Host Communities

This research introduced the concept of intercultural sensitivity to investigate the relationships between the context of volunteer tourism and the change in intercultural sensitivity, empirically assessing the supposition that volunteer tourism facilitates cross-cultural understanding. As a theoretical backdrop, the study utilized Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) postulating that one’s journey towards greater intercultural sensitivity consists of six consecutive stages along the enthnocentrism–ethnorelativism continuum. Canonical correlation analysis of the survey data revealed that quality of interaction with the host community was the most significant predictor of change in intercultural sensitivity. Additionally, this study demonstrated that volunteer tourism is linked to positive and negative changes in intercultural sensitivity and therefore has the potential to simultaneously promote and inhibit cross-cultural understanding.     

Childhood studies and orphanage tourism in Cambodia

Interacting with children is one of the most popular activities among volunteer tourists, yet volunteer tourism research rarely is informed by insights from childhood studies. This paper shows how a greater understanding of the socially constructed nature of many assumptions about children and childhood, as well as a more accurate understanding of child development processes, can deepen understanding of the phenomenon widely referred to as orphanage tourism. Issues to be addressed include the definition and delineation of orphanage tourism, motivations for and consequences of orphanage tourism, and the anti-orphanage tourism campaign. Main points will be illustrated with excerpts from a content analysis of volunteers’ testimonials, blogs and other online sources.     

Volunteer tourism,development and education in a postcolonial world: conceiving global connections beyond aid

This paper contributes to the public and academic debate on the appropriateness of young Westerners’ participation in projects of volunteer tourism conducted in developing countries. Ethnographic research was carried out in the context of an Australian program that organizes short-term group placements for university students in countries like Vietnam, Mexico and Fiji. The results illustrate that such projects can produce similar benefits to other educational initiatives of international volunteering and service (IVS) in terms of global engagement, career development, intercultural competence and psychological support. However, for these projects to avoid public critiques and negative outcomes, they need to harmonize personal and institutional expectations with real volunteer capacities. Thus, until IVS programs in the university context distance themselves from a development aid discourse, they will potentially fall under the umbrella of “neo-colonialism”. The research provides a model of impact analysis and raises challenging questions for universities or similar organizations involved with short-term group placements of volunteer tourism.     

Working towards sincere encounters in volunteer tourism: an ethnographic examination of key management issues at a Nordic eco-village

This article explores host–guest dynamics at Sólheimar eco-village, Iceland to contribute to the conceptualization of transformative learning in volunteer tourism. At the eco-village, the host and volunteers come together to share similar goals and meaningful experiences. This interaction gets complicated, however: the eco-village exists within the global capitalist system and must operate using market norms. The idealist and educational expectations of the volunteers often clash with the practical short-term goals of the community: there are also cultural and experiential differences between the parties. This clash is used to discuss the importance of sincerity in volunteer tourism at the eco-village. Data were collected through fieldwork, primarily including participant observations and interviews, to help interpret the patterns of behaviors and perceptions of both parties in relation to the aim. Ultimately, the experience that binds host and guests cannot solely be about learning to do things alternatively and sustainably; it requires sincerity, using Taylor's 2001 sincerity concept, to tackle the difficulties in working alternatively and sustainably to attain this experience. It is argued that transformative learning during the volunteer experience in alternative spaces should be conceptualized to include the promotion of sincere encounters, and adjusted to concern both the host and its guests.     

The Impact of Diversity Seeking and Volunteer Orientation on Desire for Alternative Spring Break Programs

ABSTRACT

In this study of volunteer tourism, the values affecting participants' perceptions of and attitudes toward an alternative spring break program are compared to the values affecting their perceptions of and attitudes toward their previous and ideal spring breaks. Results show that the values of fun and rewarding are associated with different preferences that are affected by participants'levels of the individual difference factors Volunteer Orientation (Mowen &; Sujan, 2005 Mowen, J. C. and Sujan, H. 2005. Volunteer behavior: A hierarchical model approach for investigating its trait and functional motive antecedents. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(2): 170–182. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Diversity Seeking (Brumbaugh &; Grier, 2009 Brumbaugh, A. M. and Grier, S. A. 2009. Diversity seeking: Scale development and validation [Working paper], Charleston, SC: College of Charleston.  [Google Scholar]). Results suggest that these individual difference factors are fruitful variables for segmentation in the volunteer tourism industry. Implications for marketing programs are discussed.     

Degrowing tourism: rethinking tourism

Abstract

Concerns with growth have steadily advanced since the Limits to Growth report due particularly to human impacts on the natural environment. Since that time, neoliberal capitalism has become increasingly reliant on growth exacerbating these problems. The destructive outcomes of these strategies has led to a growing interest in degrowth. Analysts are examining how we can create economies that eschew a growth imperative while still supporting human thriving. Tourism as a key facet of capitalism is implicated in these issues and recent concerns with “overtourism” are only one symptom of the problem. This article presents a conceptual consideration of issues of degrowth in tourism. It examines current tensions in international mobility and argues just and sustainable degrowth will require greater attention to equity. This analysis suggests that essential to such an agenda is redefining tourism to focus on the rights of local communities and a rebuilding of the social capacities of tourism. This article argues for the redefinition of tourism in order to place the rights of local communities above the rights of tourists for holidays and the rights of tourism corporates to make profits.     

The 2012 Olympic Ambassadors and sustainable tourism legacy

This paper examines the capacity of the London (2012) Olympic Ambassador volunteer programmes to create a sustainable tourism legacy. It contributes to the literature on event legacies, particularly the role of volunteers promoting tourism in their home destination. Using an exploratory inductive approach, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted, in 2012 and 2013, with managers of all 11 Ambassador volunteer programmes associated with London and the 10 other regional venues that hosted London Olympic and Paralympic Games events. These show that volunteer Ambassadors enhanced tourist experiences during the Games through the Ambassadors’ pride in their home city, enthusiasm and local knowledge. However, although the Ambassador programmes had aspirations to create a sustainable legacy, in the form of a pool of experienced volunteers to support future events and further tourist visits, this was severely constrained by cuts in local government budgets. The Government Olympic Executive provided a coordinating role leading up to the Games, but neither they nor the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games provided practical assistance for legacy development. This was a missed opportunity to channel the enthusiasm of mega-event volunteers into further volunteering to promote tourism.     

Resident perceptions on cross-cultural understanding as an outcome of volunteer tourism programs: the Bahamian Family Island perspective

This paper examines the perceptions toward volunteer tourism from the viewpoint of Bahamian Family Island residents with a specific focus on cross-cultural understanding as an outcome. Cross-cultural understanding reflects the idea that there is a greater opportunity for exchange between tourists and residents as a result of volunteer tourism. Utilizing social exchange theory (SET), this research examines whether residents’ perceived benefits, positive impacts, negative impacts and support for volunteer tourism activities predict their support for cross-cultural understanding. Additionally, this study reveals factors contributing to residents’ motivation to participate in volunteer tourism activities within their community. A mixed-method research design that employed face-to-face interviews and quantitative surveys revealed eight major themes: Community Involvement, Empowerment, Sustainability, Education, Dependency, Neglect of Community Needs, Community Involvement and Communication. Multiple regression analysis results suggest partial support for SET and reveal new predictions for the support for cross-cultural understanding. Implications for volunteer tourism programs, host communities and national tourism organizations are discussed. Future research evaluating the volunteer–host relationship is warranted.     

Territorial tourism planning in Spain: from boosterism to tourism degrowth?

Abstract

Tourism saturation and unsustainability have been studied in urban political ecology. Both of these problems are inseparable from tourism planning and they have resulted in proposed solutions based on growth containment and even degrowth. These types of measures have been applied to varying degrees in mature coastal destinations in Spain since the 1990s, and they are currently being used for the country's main urban destinations due to problems generated by tourism saturation. This study examines the progressive incorporation of these measures in territorial tourism planning in Spain and it points out that the traditional emphasis on urban-tourism growth is declining and that more restrictive policies are now being implemented. This shift is illustrated through the analysis of three innovative territorial tourism planning instruments in Barcelona, the Balearic Islands and the Autonomous Region of Valencia. These ostensibly progressive processes suffer from crippling contradictions due to their inability to directly confront the capitalist accumulation model underlying the tourism growth they address. Consequently, much stronger measures capable of transcending this accumulation model in pursuit of genuine, and fair degrowth without systemic constraints are needed.     

Tea heritage tourism: evidence from Sri Lanka

Within the context of heritage tourism this article examines the supply components for the tea-related tourism in the tea-producing country of Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon. The tourism context in Sri Lanka is assessed and despite impediments to tourism development some evidence is provided of an early stage of development of tea heritage tourism in the country. The benefits of this form of tourism to the Sri Lankan tea economy are explored and barriers and threats to its development are reviewed. This is mainly based on qualitative field studies of tea accommodations, tea factory access and tea centre operations in the tea-producing hill country of Sri Lanka. From this investigation of the tea-related tourism in Sri Lanka, themes for further research on the demand for this type of tourism are identified.     

Health care and tourism: Evidence from Singapore

This research note analyses the role of the health care sector in international tourism and the impact of international tourism on the state of health care in Singapore. The results suggest that there is a long-run unidirectional causality from health care to international tourism. The effect of health care on international tourism is positive. However, in the short-run, the results also indicate that there is no causality between these two variables. It is concluded that the current efforts of the Singaporean government to establish Singapore as a leading medical hub will attract more inbound tourists in the long-run.     

In pursuit of a more just international tourism: the concept of trading tourism rights

Research on sustainable tourism mainly focuses on incoming tourism, and destination perspectives and impacts, and less on the focus of this paper – outgoing tourism. In this context, direct and personal access to tourism represents an equal right to all world citizens. Because this right has not been exercised equally, the world is divided into two parts, excess and deprived, tourism citizens and their nation-states. This paper proposes a more just tourism system to balance the rights of tourists to travel, with the right to development, equal tourism participation, and consumption of world resources. It draws on theories from Nozick and Rawls on rights and justice to ground our model, backed by the work of other writers including Hultsman, Higgins-Desbiolles, Jamal, and Camargo. It expands the definition of just tourism to activate tourism's potential to become a developmental force in the existing socio-economic global order. This potential is realised through the use of market-based economic instruments for the implementation of a just tourism system. It suggests how to create financial flows towards third world states for their development and modernisation, using the concept of tradable tourism certificates, a concept tested in emissions control, population, and land use planning.     

Motivations and perceived value of volunteer tourists from Hong Kong

This study examines the motivational factors and perceived value of Hong Kong volunteer tourists. The results of a focus group and in-depth interviews reveal five main motives for travelers to partake in volunteer trips: cultural immersion and interaction with the local people; desire to give back and show love and concern; a shared experience with family members and an educational opportunity for children; religious involvement; and escape from everyday life. The perceived value of these volunteer travelers includes personal growth and development, relationship enhancement, and change in perspective on life. The factors influencing their future decision to participate in volunteer tourism include time, financial ability, safety and health issues, arrangements and scale of the tour, and reputation of the organizer.     

Prosocial behaviour in volunteer tourism

This paper applies Self-Categorisation Theory to examine issues of role ambiguity and the balance between prosocial behaviour and personal benefits in volunteer tourism. Using interviews with returned volunteer tourists, the cognitive processing of their experiences was analysed; particularly the processes of individuation uncovered through “I” statements, and depersonalisation, through impersonal “you” statements. Results revealed that “I” statements described the tourist experience and personal benefits of volunteering, whilst impersonal “you” statements described the volunteering experience. Furthermore, as the theory predicts, the depersonalisation process (impersonal “you” statements) co-occurred with prosocial behaviour (co-operation, altruism, empathy, and shared norms). The findings suggest new and promising communication-based methods to better understand tourists’ self-assigned roles and prosocial behaviours.