Voluntary tourism in the light of international literature overview
Ágota Silló
Abstract
Volunteer tourism is a new social phenomenon that combines volunteering and tourism in a unique way. This phenomenon, which originated in Great Britain in the first half of the 21st century, has developed rapidly and has spread to many countries over the last 15 to 20 years. Australia and the United States of America were the first to join, but now several Asian and African countries are also participating. The rapid growth and transnational nature of volunteer tourism has also attracted the interest of the academic world, creating a new field of research that is both interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary. In particular, researchers have sought to grasp and explain the concept of volunteer tourism, which has highlighted the fact that it is a social phenomenon with multiple meanings. The most common terms are voluntourism, international volunteering or volunteering for development. Subsequently, research has been conducted on a number of topics, the most popular of which are: studies on the motivations of volunteer tourists before they set off, research into the organisations that run volunteer tourism, and surveys on the positive and negative effects of volunteer tourism. However, these studies are characterised by a mosaic of 'theorising'/explanations, and a number of debates have emerged among researchers: e.g. egoistic vs. altruistic motivations, volunteer vs. tourist, positive impacts vs. negative impacts, commercial vs. non-commercial activities. In conclusion, there are still many research opportunities in the field of volunteer tourism, as there are still many aspects that need to be explored in depth: for example, the relationship between volunteer tourism and social media; the relationship between volunteer tourism, community well-being and living standards; the impact of volunteer tourism on civil society.
Keywords: voluntary tourism, voluntourism, subtourist motivations, egoistic motivations, effects