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Volunteer Tourism supporting Sea Turtle Protection: Insights into the Juara Turtle Project, Malaysia
Abstract
This paper aims to evaluate whether volunteer tourism as a sustainable form of tourism can
be combined with sea turtle protection. We discuss opportunities and limits of volunteer tourism
and give insights into motivations and self-assessments of mostly western volunteers
supporting sea turtle protection in Malaysia. Based on a primary qualitative participatory
approach the analysis evaluates positive and negative impacts of volunteer tourism along a
micro scale case study of the privately run sea turtle conservation organisation in Tioman
Island, Malaysia. We show that the organisation depends on volunteer tourism for its successful
operation. Volunteers are an important labour force as they help to extend the range of
conservation efforts. Further, the involvement and education of volunteers and visitors have
immediate positive outcomes for conservation on site, and long-term outcomes in general.
Volunteer-Tourismus als Unterstützung für den Meeresschildkrötenschutz: Einblicke
in das Juara Schildkröten-Projekt, Malaysia
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Aufsatz untersucht den Volunteer-Tourismus als eine nachhaltige Form des Tourismus
und geht der Frage nach, ob dieser zur Förderung des Meeresschildkrötenschutzes beitragen
kann. Wir diskutieren die Chancen und Grenzen des Volunteer-Tourismus und geben Einblicke
in Motive und Selbsteinschätzungen der zumeist westlichen Freiwilligen, die den Meeresschildkrötenschutz
in Malaysia unterstützen. Basierend auf einer vorrangig qualitativen
partizipativen Fallstudie analysiert dieser Aufsatz positive und negative Auswirkungen
des Volunteer-Tourismus in der privat geführten Schutzorganisation für Meeresschildkröten
auf der Insel Tioman, Malaysia. Wir zeigen, dass die Organisation für einen erfolgreichen
Betrieb auf Volunteer-Tourismus angewiesen ist, denn Freiwillige sind wichtige
Arbeitskräfte, um die Schutzbemühungen dauerhaft zu gewährleisten. Es zeigt sich
zudem, dass der Einsatz von Freiwilligen und Besuchern nicht nur unmittelbare positive
Ergebnisse vor Ort bewirkt, sondern auch langfristige Bewusstseinseffekte im Sinne des
Naturschutzes zu erzielen in der Lage ist.
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This paper highlights basic data collected over the first 16 years of a long-term marine turtle conservation project in the Chagar Hutang Turtle Sanctuary (5o 48.778’ N and 103o 0.502’ E) in Malaysia. Green turtles accounted for 98.2% (6947 clutches) of the total nesting observed while hawksbills accounted for the rest (126 clutches). Over 80 % of the clutches deposited have been incubated in-situ, with the production of 387,322 and 8094 live green turtle and hawksbill hatchlings respectively. The 16-year average hatching and emergence success for green turtles and hawksbills were 81 and 78.5%; and 63.6 and 59.6% respectively. A total of 928 green turtles and 17 hawksbills were tagged. Annual average curved carapace length and width of green turtles ranged from 98.9-100.9 and 87.1-89 cm. In hawksbill turtles, these values ranged from 78.8-87.5 and 68.9-74.2 cm. A total of USD345,650 had been raised through public outreach projects over the last 11 years of the 16 year period. It is concluded that marine turtle conservation projects can be self-sustaining and that long-term egg protection is effective in rehabilitating marine turtle populations in decline.
This study adopts an ‘assigned values’ conceptual model to explain the formation of values and behaviours related to sea turtles at an ecotourism project in Brazil. For over 25 years, the Brazilian Sea Turtle Conservation Programme (TAMAR) has used ecotourism to protect sea turtles in the fishing village of Praia do Forte. The village beaches are prime nesting sites for endangered marine turtles, traditionally harvested on a regular basis, despite federal bans. Seventy-seven residents, including 25 TAMAR workers, were interviewed. Results indicate an overall support for TAMAR, turtle conservation, and implementation of ecotourism initiatives. Both TAMAR workers and non-workers were equally likely to support turtle conservation for the economic role that turtles play in the local economy, with variations in perceptions about their intrinsic or ecological values. Changes in use and values are positive indicators that education and economic benefits from ecotourism can generate support for conservation. However, such outcomes are not necessarily a result of greater stewardship but rather of changes in the social, cultural, and economic dynamics of the village. A better understanding of the factors that drive people to support conservation initiatives, both in terms of values and behaviours, are essential if conservation efforts are to succeed.
This article provides a conceptual discussion regarding the phenomenon in which volunteer activity and tourism are intertwined. First, it is suggested that the phenomenon of volunteering in tourism could be grasped as an expression of the so called “other” postmodern tourism. Second, it is argued that the notion of volunteering in tourism needs to be expanded beyond volunteering guests and include hosts who volunteer in the local tourism industry. Third, it is proposed that in addition to the notion of volunteer tourism as leverage for self-development, volunteers in tourism may also enhance their self-image and utilize their volunteer activity for self-presentation purposes. Fourth, it is argued that nature and results of the host-guest encounter may vary according to the different settings in which the phenomenon of volunteering in tourism occurs.
In many countries volunteers are playing an increasing role in nature conservation. Many factors have lead to this trend including reduced government budgets assigned for conservation and an increased awareness and interest expressed by each country's general population to contribute to environmental health and nature conservation. This paper utilizes descriptions of volunteers' experiences participating in Volunteer for Nature, a volunteer programme operated by Canadian conservation NGOs, which facilitates the participation of Ontario-Residents' in 3 to 17-day working vacations involving habitat restoration and recreation infrastructure projects located in natural environments. This paper describes volunteer attitudes and values regarding nature, as highlighted through the description of their volunteering experiences and their characterization and perceptions of nature. Using a constructivist approach to data collection and analysis, the researchers found that volunteers conceptualized nature in four different ways: ‘nature in crisis,’ ‘nature as it should be,’ ‘nature as outside or something different,’ and ‘nature as nurturing.’ Volunteers' egoistic concerns centred on the self (e.g., my health, my favourite activity, my grandchildren), altruistic concerns centred on other people (society in general, people in my community) and biocentric or ecocentric concerns, centred on living things (e.g., plants, ecosystems, birds, the environment in general). While biocentric concerns were cited as important, they were not ascribed greater value than the egoistic or altruists concerns. The volunteer tourism experience generally failed to change the volunteers' perceptions of nature from an ‘external’ phenomenon to an ‘internal’ one, (i.e., changing treatment of nature as ‘other’ to a more ecocentric approach, which incorporates nature into ‘self’). Implications for generating a pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours amongst citizens are discussed.
There has been a considerable growth in the volunteer vacation concept in the U.S. since around the mid—1980s. The increased demand has been attributed to an increased sense of global awareness among the Baby Boom generation, along with a growing willingness to make a contribution to other societies while on vacation. This study consisted of two parts, the first of which was an identification and description of some of the major organizations in the U.S. providing volunteer vacation opportunities. Next the concept of the mini-mission or ‘mission lite’ was described as a potential means for tour operators to build volunteering into itineraries. An exploratory study was conducted to determine the potential demand for the mission lite concept, which could be instrumental in significantly expanding participation in volunteer vacations in the future. A survey was conducted among a sample of members of the Ambassadair Travel Club, the largest organization of its type in the U.S. The study's results indicated considerable potential demand for adding a volunteer component as part of tire overall vacation experience. Tire activities in which the respondents had the greatest interest in participating on volunteer vacations were arts and crafts, chaperoning orphans, educational activities, building projects, physical fitness activities, and medical assistance. There appeared to be certain characteristics of those who are likely to be more interested in volunteer vacation participation. These included people who volunteer in their home communities, and those with higher levels of education, especially postgraduate degrees. Additionally, those who vacation more frequently and with higher household incomes may be more likely to participate.
Current discourse surrounding ‘pro-poor tourism’, a term emerging out of the writing of UK researchers in the late 1990s, suggests that tourism can effectively work as a tool to alleviate poverty. This proposition is alluring given that tourism is a significant or growing economic sector in most countries with high levels of poverty. Consequently the idea of utilising tourism to eliminate poverty has been embraced by donors, governments, non-governmental organisations, conservation organisations and tourism bodies, including the World Tourism Organisation. Academic views on the relationship between poverty and tourism have however varied widely over the past half century. While in the 1950s tourism was identified as a modernisation strategy that could help newly-independent Third World countries to earn foreign exchange, in the 1970s and 1980s many social scientists argued that poor people and non-Western countries are typically excluded from or disadvantaged by what tourism can offer. It is thus fascinating to see how there has been a concerted push towards a reversal of this thinking in the 1990s, coinciding with the development industry's global focus on poverty alleviation. This paper will detail this evolution of thinking and in doing so, explore theoretical debates on the tourism-poverty nexus.
Volunteer ecotourism has been described as an ‘ideal’ form of decommodified ecotourism that overcomes problems associated with tourism in general, and ecotourism specifically. Using a case study of volunteer ecotourism and sea turtle conservation in Costa Rica, this paper interrogates this ideal. Perceptions of volunteer ecotourism were explored through in-depth interviews with 36 stakeholders, including hosts, NGO staff, government employees, local ‘cabineros’ (families who provide accommodation) and guests (volunteers). Results show that while all stakeholder groups share similarly positive views of volunteer ecotourism, subtle but important differences exist. We analyse these differences in terms of aesthetic, economic, and ethical values, and situate the results in existing theories about the moralisation and decommodification of ecotourism.
Representation of cultural Others in tourism texts is an important concern. Thus far, analyses of mass-mediated tourism representations have focused on promotional materials produced by for-profit agencies or by governments charged with encouraging development through tourism. Lacking have been assessments of materials produced by non-profit brokers with humanitarian missions. This study interrogates the promotional literature of one such agency, Semester at Sea (SAS), to determine whether its representational practices differ from the mainstream. Grounded in postcolonial theory and employing content, semiotic, and discourse analysis, it argues that although SAS embraces a mission of promoting cross-cultural interaction and global citizenship, the program nevertheless continues to (re)produce hegemonic depictions of non-Westerners, asserting a Western superiority ideology by polarizing the West and the Rest into binaries of modern-traditional, technologically advanced-backward, and master -servant and decomplexifying the globalization process by presenting the non-West as exotic, culturally pristine, and filled with happy natives.
Volunteer tourism is an increasingly popular activity in which individuals combine travel with voluntary work. On the whole, existing literature has provided an optimistic view of volunteer tourism, suggesting that it represents a more reciprocal form of tourism and facilitates the development of cross-cultural understanding among participants. However, more recently, it has been argued that if volunteer tourism programmes (VTPs) are not carefully managed, they may lead to cross-cultural misunderstanding and the reinforcement of cultural stereotypes. Through conducting an Appreciative Inquiry into a number of volunteer programmes, this research sought to explore these ideas further and, in particular, identify the role that volunteer tourism sending organisations can play in order to ensure that cross-cultural understanding develops through volunteer tourism. The findings from this research suggest that the development of cross-cultural understanding should be perceived as a goal of volunteer tourism rather than a natural result of sending volunteers overseas. This paper argues that sending organisations can play an important role in facilitating the achievement of this goal through pro-active management prior, during, and after their VTPs.
Volunteer tourism is a rapidly growing form of tourism which has a weak conceptual basis and which is generally defined rather simply in terms of participants’ actions while on holiday, ignoring elements such as reasons for participation, behaviour, and influencing forces. This article argues that an appropriate conceptual base for volunteer tourists is Campbell's ‘Hero's Journey’ and draws analogies between participants in volunteer tourism and the ‘Hero’ in Campbell's writings. The article discusses data on volunteer tourists, which reveals their self-expressed reasons for participating, and their specific situations. The data were collected by field research based on covert participation at an orphanage in Mexico. Volunteers interviewed revealed the traits explaining their participation in volunteer tourism that were similar to the characteristics and driving forces found in the participants on Campbell's ‘Hero's Journey’ and in medieval and classical myths. While participation in volunteer tourism may not match contemporary understanding of heroes and heroic behaviour, there is considerable similarity in reasons given by respondents for participating in the activity, and a conceptual model is developed to illustrate this.
Sea turtles are emerging as one of the most popular icons of the marine environment. Capitalising on their charismatic image, a remarkable variety of stake-holders, including scientists, conservationists, community-based organisations, corporations, and governments, have sought to utilise sea turtles as fl agships. This paper focuses on the Wider Caribbean Region, emphasising small island developing states, and explores the ways, and appropriateness, of using sea turtles as fl agships to motivate people to consider complex contemporary management and policy issues, including those associated with protected areas, fi sheries, multilateral conservation of shared species and seascapes, and tourism.
This paper argues for a shift in tourism research that challenges models which priori-tise commodified tourism experiences over alternative decommodified products. We feel the distinction between commodified and decommodified tourism can be demon-strated using Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) as a case study. Commodifying processes occur when the final outcome is defined as the economic use-value of a product or service. Current directions in tourism research often favour the pursuit of a commodified tourism product in the search for increased efficiency and global profits using research paradigms that narrowly pursue this direction. We argue that the nega-tive impacts of such a trajectory restrict our ability to understand and analyse the tourism experience requiring decommodifying actions in tourism research to move forward; these we feel are best informed by alternative theoretical and philosophical perspectives that include feminism, ecocentrism, community development and post-structuralism. NGOs are used in this paper to provide an example of how the broad-ening of research philosophies allows access to approaches that pursue decommodification in tourism as they move beyond the almost exclusive pursuit of industry profits and place social, cultural and ecological value on local environments and economics.
The concept of a recognizable cycle in the evolution of tourist areas uses a basics curve to illustrate their changing popularity. Specific stages in the evolutionary sequence are described, and a range of possible future trends. The implications of using this model in the planning and management of tourist resources are discussed in the light of a continuing decline in the environmental quality and, hence, the attractiveness of many tourist areas. - Author
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.
Worldwide, green turtle Chelonia mydas populations have declined and the species is classified as globally endangered. Tortuguero, Costa Rica, hosts the largest remaining green turtle rookery in the Atlantic basin. Tortuguero green turtles have been hunted since pre-Columbian times. Monitoring and conservation of the green turtle population began in 1955. The long-term efforts provide an excellent opportunity to evaluate the success of sea turtle conservation action and policies. Nest counts conducted 1971–2003 were analyzed to: (1) determine the nesting trend, (2) estimate rookery size and (3) identify events and policy decisions influencing the trend. A nonparametric regression model indicates a 417% increase in nesting over the study period. Rookery size was defined as the mean number of nests 1999–2003 and estimated at 104,411 nests year−1, corresponding to 17,402–37,290 nesting females year−1. A comparison with 34 index populations verifies Tortuguero as one of the two largest green turtle rookeries worldwide. Events and policy decisions in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama that comprise the main nesting, feeding and mating grounds for the Tortuguero population are likely to have had the greatest influence on green turtle survivorship. Conservation efforts and policies catalyzing increased hatchling production and decreased adult and juvenile mortality since 1963 have contributed to the positive nesting trend. The trend demonstrates that long-term conservation efforts can reverse nesting declines and offers hope that adequate management can result in recuperation of endangered sea turtle species.
"Sea turtle populations have suffered worldwide declines, and their recovery largely depends upon our managing the effects of expanding human populations. One of these effects is light pollution--the presence of detrimental artificial light in the environment. Of the many ecological disturbances caused by human beings, light pollution on nesting beaches in detrimental to sea turtles because it alters critical nocturnal behaviors namely, how sea turtles choose nesting sites, how they return to the sea after nesting and how hatchlings find the sea after emerging from their nests."
As charismatic mega-fauna, sea turtles attract many volunteers to conservation programs. This article examines the ways in which volunteers value sea turtles, in the specific context of volunteers working with the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, at Tortuguero, Costa Rica. The complexity of volunteer values is explored using a qualitative approach. In-depth interviews with 31 volunteers were conducted in July of 1999 and 2000. Interviews probed, among other things, interest in sea turtles and their conservation, motives for participating, and the most gratifying parts of their volunteer experience. Results show that volunteers hold multiple and complex values for sea turtles, but particular values dominate. Results have implications for understanding human-environment relations and the emerging study of volunteer tourism. There are also management implications for volunteer programs hoping to attract participants.
This book provides an overview of the phenomenon of volunteer tourism, its sources and its development as a concept; and focuses on the potential positive social and environmental benefits of volunteer tourism, and the prerequisites for a successful experience. Chapter 2 examines alternative tourism experiences and how tourists themselves construct them, then conceptualizes the concept of volunteer tourism within those boundaries of alternative tourism and, subsequently, mass tourism. Chapter 3 examines one of the 60 environmental projects undertaken by Youth Challenge International (YCI) between 1991 and 1995, which provides a microsocial context for the examination of the Santa Elena Rainforest Reserve experience of YCI participants. Chapter 4 presents the data obtained from the in-depth interviews with participants from Australia, over the 3 years of the Costa Rica project. Chapter 5 examines the elements of ecotourism, volunteerism and serious leisure in conjunction with the themes that emerged from the participant's definitions of the experience and links them to related information in the interviews and the literature. Chapter 6 focuses on the centrality of the natural environment. Chapter 7 explores how volunteer tourism experiences actually contribute to the development of self, framing the experience in the very words of the participants. Chapter 8 examines the growing convergence of aims between local communities and the tourism sector. Chapter 9 argues that the alternative tourism experiences should not be reduced to a dialogic model of impossible realities related to dialectal materialism. Instead, its understanding should be grounded in human interactions and the concrete social reality in which it takes place.
Zusammenfassung
Volunteer Tourism ist ein Nischenmarkt, der bereits in speziellen Reiseführern Ausdruck gefunden hat. Die Tourismusforschung hingegen hat dieses Phänomen bisher vernachlässigt. Im Rahmen einer explorativen Fallstudie wurde daher 2007/08 der internationale Volunteer- Sektor in Namibia untersucht. 20 Experteninterviews sowie 341 Volunteer-Befragungen wurden durchgeführt. Anhand eines Kriterienkatalogs konnten drei explizite Volunteer-Tourism- Projekte identifiziert werden (Volunteer Tourists n=92). Diese kombinieren Angebotselemente des Single-, Abenteuer-, Natur- und Aktivurlaubs, wobei sich ein unterschiedlicher Kommerzialisierungsgrad zeigt. Die Zielgruppe besteht primär aus jungen Erwachsenen, die ein exotisches Urlaubserlebnis suchen. Im Gegensatz zum altruistischen Grundgedanken des Volunteerings offenbaren sich im Volunteer Tourism vermehrt hedonistische Motive.
Mass tourism has been variously attributed as bad, ugly and abominable. Numerous studies have found that it is responsible for destroying bio-diversity and consume places and cultures. Unbridled tourism development defies checks and controls and eventually leads to self-destruction. Examples of good tourism practices are few and far between; of bad there are many that are responsible for the 'tragedy of the commons'. Tourism is getting inevitable, despite severe deterrents and drawbacks. The process of globalization has further created hiatus particularly between the North and the South, when the former exercises domino affect. Alternative forms of tourism such as ecotourism, responsible tourism, appropriate tourism, self developed community tourism, pro-poor tourism and rural tourism are some of the good practices that are in vogue. These are people-centered, small scale, community lead and with minimum side affects and afford maximum benefits to the host and guest communities with high regard for environment and conservation. One such form that has recently emerged over the Himalayas is Altruistic Tourism. This paper presents a case study of volunteer tourism in practice in far-away Kanda Himalayan community in Uttranchal who have brought a silent revolution in socio-economic transformation of this insular region in the Kumaon Himalayas.
This book includes 15 papers selected from the presentations that were delivered at the 15th World Congress of the International Sociological Association. These papers were prepared for that organization's research committee on international tourism, which took as its overall theme 'the tourist as a metaphor of the social world'. Following the introductory chapter, two contributions (chapters 2 and 3) raise serious fundamental questions about how academics should research (and hence theorize) about tourists. The next two contributions (chapters 4 and 5) provide a critique of conventional tourism wisdom. Chapter 6 suggests that tourism is an intricate and evolving social network with varying degrees of trust that are based on the correlative processes of self-presentation and interpretation. Chapter 7 conceptualizes the tourist and the social world within a paradigm of social facts so that the former becomes a sign of the latter. Chapter 8 sees the tourist as never entirely alone on an uncharted journey, because there are always those who have undertaken it before. Chapter 9 asks the question as to whether or not tourists experience reality. Chapter 10 provides an analogy between tourism and love in all its many phases. Chapter 11 emphasizes that it is necessary to go beyond traditional analyses that focus solely on the 'tourist gaze'. The next two essays (chapters 12 and 13) highlight the fact that not all tourists are identical and hence, by implication, that the tourist as a metaphor of the social world must be understood as a multiple persona figurative of complex reality. The final three contributions (chapters 14-16) present postmodern and futuristic perspectives on tourists. The book has a subject index.
This work explores the increasingly popular phenomenon of volunteer tourism in the Global South, paying particular attention to the governmental rationalities and socio-economic conditions that valorise it as a noble and necessary cultural practice.
This book, with 12 chapters divided into 4 parts, examines critical aspects of contemporary volunteerism, from the perspective of a variety of volunteering contexts. It will appeal to academic researchers and students in disciplines such as leisure, recreation, tourism, management and sociology as well as practitioners in the voluntary sector (including volunteers), national and local government and those organizing special events that depend on voluntary support.
This paper reviews the 30-year evolution of volunteer tourism as phenomenon, industry, and research area, charting changes in the size, breadth, definition, and the perceived positive and negative contributions of the volunteer tourism industry. Discussion then moves on to how research in volunteer tourism has reflected those changes. Studies have focused on the transition from decommodified to commodified volunteer tourism; participant motivation, including the altruism versus self-development discussion; and the paucity of a unified and cohesive theoretical foundation in volunteer tourism. Fresh debates are now emerging that center upon the potential interface of technology and volunteer tourism, including crowd-sourcing for funding, smart phone apps, and GIS; the importance of monitoring and maintaining quality volunteer tourism experiences through certification and/or other indicators; and the role of religion and spirituality in volunteer tourism. These issues, and others, including the role of transformative learning, are addressed in the papers chosen for this special issue on volunteer tourism which are reviewed here. The paper's conclusions include specific recommendations for greater cooperation between researchers and industry to create a more sustainable industry, minimizing its negative impacts while maximizing its potential influence for positive social change, and perhaps becoming the ultimate sustainable form of tourism.
The rapid expansion and commercialisation of the volunteer tourism sector and the potential for negative impacts on host communities have put the sector under increasing scrutiny. Monitoring and evaluation are key aspects of sustainable tourism planning and management, and play important roles in the project planning and implementation cycles of volunteer tourism organisations and destination managements. However, they can be both value-laden and politically charged, making an understanding of context, purpose and various approaches to monitoring and evaluation important. Drawing from evaluation and critical management studies, this conceptual paper reviews the literature, presenting an analytical framework aimed at improving the quality of monitoring and evaluation. The paper is positioned within the adaptancy platform and focuses on qualitative, critical approaches to evaluation. The framework highlights the important influence of context (the issue the volunteer tourism programme is addressing, the nature of the intervention, the setting, the evaluation context and the decision-making context), and identifies four dimensions of volunteer tourism (stakeholders, organisations, markets and programmes) which may influence monitoring and evaluation practices. The analytical framework presented is useful for practitioners developing monitoring and evaluation processes, and for researchers interested in empirical studies which seek to evaluate monitoring and evaluation practices.
In recent decades there has been a boom in international volunteer tourism, mainly in the form of the growth of gap-year companies offering placements, linked to conservation and community well-being goals. This paper makes two points: firstly, it argues that the growth of volunteer tourism is in part a product of the politics of the current period—the decline of grand narratives and the growth of ‘life political’ alternative forms of agency. Hence volunteer tourism, motivated by the impulse to ‘make a difference’, tells us something about the way in which development issues are being conceived of by idealistic young people who comprise the majority of volunteer tourists. Secondly, the paper takes issue with the view that today's volunteer tourists are part of a tradition of colonialism and neo-colonialism that projects western conceptions of modernization onto the Third World societies to the detriment of the latter. Rather, it is argued that the politics behind volunteer tourism is better characterized as a rejection of modernization as development in favour of a post-development influenced approach.
This article explores the impact of volunteer tourism on the international tourist engaging in volunteer work in South Africa. A mixed method is adopted in this research. A quasi-experimental study is used to measure the impact of engaging in volunteer tourism, on volunteer's personality traits, using the standardized web-based IPIP-NEO personality inventory. A control group was used to enhance the validity of the scientific method. Thereafter, interviews were carried out on the participants to discover the causes, and the consequences, of their personality trait changes.
The green turtle (Chelonia mydas) population that nests at Tortuguero, Costa Rica, is the largest in the Atlantic by at least an order of magnitude. Surveys to monitor the nesting activity on the northern 18 km of the 36-km beach were initiated in 1971 and extended to the entire beach in 1986. From the survey data, we estimated the total number of nesting emergences on the northern 18 km for each year from 1971 through 1996. Evaluation of the trend in nesting emergences indicated a relatively consistent increase from 1971 to the mid-1980s, constant or perhaps decreasing nesting during the late 1980s, and then resumption of an upward trend in the 1990s. Evaluation of trends in sea turtle nesting populations requires many years of data because of the large degree of annual variation in nesting numbers. The trends reported in this study must be evaluated with caution for several reasons. First, if the mean number of nests deposited by each female each year (clutch frequency) varies significantly among years, changes in the number of nesting emergences among years could reflect changes in the number of nesting females, clutch frequency, or both. Second, we only assessed the trend in one segment of the population (mature females), which may or may not represent the trend of the entire green turtle population and which, because of late maturity, may not reflect changes in juvenile mortality for many years. Third, survey frequency, and thus confidence in annual estimates, varied among years. The upward population trend must be assessed from the perspective of the catastrophic decline that the Caribbean green turtle populations have experienced since the arrival of Europeans. If careful management is continued in Costa Rica and adopted throughout the region, the collapse of the Caribbean green turtle populations—which seemed imminent in the 1950s—can be avoided.
This study examines the impact of volunteer tourism on host communities utilising a community capitals perspective. A research design that includes focus groups, interviews and website analysis targets a cluster of communities that have hosted NGO run volunteer tourism programs in the Philippines for over twenty years. Flora’s (2004) community capitals framework is applied to delineate a broad spectrum of impacts resulting from volunteer tourism. This framework accounts for political, built, natural, financial, human, cultural, and social (bridging and bonding) capitals. The data provides strong evidence that, in this case, volunteer tourists exert bridging social capital that in turn impacts every form of community capital. The study also reveals two additional forms of capital: welfare and personal.
The valorisation of cross-cultural understanding and promotion of an ethic of global citizenship are at the forefront of the recent development and proliferation of international ‘gap year’ travel programs and policies. Governments and industry alike promote gap year travel uncritically as a guaranteed pathway to the development of inclusive ideologies associated with global citizenship. In this paper we examine how the neoliberalist context in which gap year travel programs have proliferated does little to promote tolerance. We then consider the recent growth of ‘volunteer tourism’ as an alternative gap year youth travel experience and explore how the implied resistance to self-serving neoliberalist values that it engenders can become coopted by neoliberalism.
With the growing trend of volunteer vacations, research has been warranted in regard to understanding the motivational factors of individuals who participate in such endeavors. With this understanding, the goal is to increase these travel offerings in the industry, which will bring better understanding between cultures. This study examines different travel motivation factors for someone who chooses to use part of their vacation participating in volunteer or humanitarian activities. Considering that ‘mission’ often has connotations of a religious purpose, the phrase ‘travelling with a purpose’ brings on even more significance as this concept expands. To understand travel motivation in general, a variety of scales and theories have been researched. Maslow, Dann, Iso-Ahola, Plog and Pearce are some included in the Literature Review. A qualitative focus group and semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted. The analysis of the data revealed that four main themes for why people traveled with a purpose emerged. Cultural immersion was a strong objective; the desire to give back; the camaraderie that occurs on volunteer vacations; and the fourth theme focused on family. Non-verbal communication and bonding occurs at several levels with the local people and family members. This is a good example of cultivating peace through tourism.
If “pro-poor tourism” (PPT) is about changing the distribution of benefits from tourism in favour of poor people, it is not the same as ecotourism or community-based tourism, nor is it limited to these niches. In the area of the Greater Mekong Sub-region, six developing countries where ethnic minority peoples are poor have actively promoted ethnic tourism, initiated from local to international levels, since 1998. The research questions are: (1) Can ethnic tourism in the Mekong Region actually be made pro-poor? (2) What are the success and failure factors? This paper aims to examine whether PPT can be applied to differing policy approaches – top-down, intermediate and bottom-up – on ethnic communities. The research results show that PPT initiatives can involve non-government organizations in reducing poverty through volunteer tourism activities. The research findings suggest that ethical issues for PPT need to be addressed in order for pro-poor initiatives to succeed. The way tourism businesses do their business with ethnic communities needs to be reassessed and regulated with an inbuilt poverty reduction/community development programme. This paper affirms that the principles of pro-poor tourism must be sensitively and efficiently implemented – and not comprise no-more-than-convenient marketing rhetoric for top-down exploitative economic “development” of poor marginalized people.
The author argues that the fundamental problem of tourism, as a global phenomenon, is the sheer volume involved. Unless attempts to solve the ravages of tourism address this central issue of volume, then claims that there are answers to the problems of tourism are not only wrong but can be invidiously and dangerously misleading.
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.
Volunteer tourism (VT) has recently been proposed as an alternative to ecotourism to link tourism and nature conservation. It is believed that VT represents an emerging tourism sector for vacationers who want to make a difference during their holidays. This investigation questions this belief using potential tourists' perceptions of volunteer tourism organisations.Through a multiple sorting procedure, respondents interpreted the promotional material of volunteer tourism organisations to describe this form of tourism and differentiate between organisations. The results suggested that respondents distinguish between organisations offering a volunteering experience and a holiday experience.Furthermore, the respondent's level of familiarity with expedition activities was important, as respondents with a high level of familiarity seek different benefits from their experience. The study suggests that volunteer tourism is a diverse sector, with different emphases on holiday and volunteering elements. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This research tested a theoretical model drawing on components of social psychological (self-efficacy) and resource-mobilization (networks) theories to explain changes in social movement participation among Earthwatch expedition volunteers. It was hypothesized that involvement in an Earthwatch trip increases self-efficacy and facilitates the development of new networks, influencing volunteers' participation in social movement organizations. Results from pre- and post-trip survey suggest that as a consequence of the networks established during an expedition, participation in an expedition had a significantly positive effect on social movement activities. Changes in self-efficacy were not found to have any significant effect.RésuméLe tourisme alternatif et les mouvements sociaux. La présente recherche a testé un modèle théorique qui utilise des éléments des théories de la psychologie sociale (autoefficacité) et la mobilisation des ressources (réseaux) afin d'expliquer des changements dans la participation aux mouvements sociaux de la part des bénévoles de l'organisation écologique Earthwatch Expeditions. On est parti de l'hypothèse que la participation à un voyage Earthwatch augmenterait l'autoefficacité et faciliterait le développement de nouveaux réseaux, ce qui aurait un effet sur la participation de ces bénévoles aux organisations du genre mouvement social. Les résultats d'une enquête menée avant et après un voyage suggèrent que, comme résultat des réseaux qu'on avait établis pendant l'expédition, la participation à une expédition avait un effet positif considérable sur les activités de mouvement social. On a trouvé que les changements dans l'autoefficacité n'avaient pas d'effet significatif.
Theories of social movements were used to explore possible changes in networks and consciousness-raising among participants in volunteer tourism. Focus group research targeted three US based organizations: Mobility International, WorldPULSE, and The American Jewish World Service. Findings indicate that participation in volunteer tourism had a positive effect on both intended post-trip social movement activities and support for activism. Implications are discussed in the context of the need for coordinating organizations to provide opportunities for the establishment of network ties and/or consciousness-raising experiences both during and after the volunteer tourism experience.RésuméChangement social, discours et tourisme de bénévolat. Des théories des mouvements sociaux ont été utilisées pour explorer des changements éventuels dans les réseaux et la sensibilisation parmi des participants au tourisme de bénévolat. La recherche de groupes de discussion a ciblé trois organisations basées aux Etats-Unis: Mobility International, WorldPULSE et l’American Jewish World Service. Les résultats indiquent que la participation au tourisme de bénévolat avait un effet un effet positif sur les activités prévues pour après le voyage avec le mouvement social en question et sur le soutien pour l’activisme. On discute des implications dans le contexte du besoin de coordonner les organisations afin de fournir des occasions pour l’établissement de liens de réseau et/ou des expériences de sensibilisation pendant et après l’expérience de tourisme de bénévolat.
Altruism is commonly associated with volunteer tourism as a motivational force for participants and a key factor in their on-site experiences. In this paper we seek a better understanding of the term altruism, and how it applies to the volunteer tourism sector. By applying altruism models that include outcomes of helping defined as both instrumental and ultimate goals, we review the volunteer tourism literature to look for egoistic and altruistic goals. Specifically, we examine volunteer tourists' motivations as well as experiences and benefits as outlined in 43 academic papers. The results suggest that, while volunteer tourists may behave in an altruistic manner, personal benefits derived from the experience by and large dominate the experience. It would appear that volunteer tourism represents a form of social egoism, which depending on the management of the volunteer tourists, and the goals and implementation of the projects goals, will indeed benefit local environments and communities. To move the debate forward, we suggest that the market forces as applied to the volunteer tourism sector may be examined, and other terms such as Eudaimonia be used to explain the pluralistic motivations, desires, and. roles of volunteer tourists. Yes Yes
Over the last ten years the gap year has become a popular and publicly recognized phenomenon. One of the most visible forms of this phenomenon has been the emergence of 'third world' volunteer-tourism programmes, which seek to combine the hedonism of tourism with the altruism of development work. Such programmes make the practice of international development doable, knowable and accessible to young travellers. This paper seeks to critique the construction of this public face of development, while also asking, from a pedagogical perspective, what travelling participants learn about 'the others' they encounter on, and through, such programmes. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Beyond the beach patrol; an evaluation of volunteer motivation for sea turtle conservation in Florida
- Bianca Bradford
- Marissa
Bradford, Bianca Marissa (2003): Beyond the beach patrol; an evaluation of volunteer motivation for sea turtle conservation in Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Volunteering for sea turtels? Characteristics and motives of volunteers working with the Caribbean Conservation Corporation in Tortuguero
- Lisa M Campell
- Christy Smith
Campell, Lisa M. and Christy Smith (2005): Volunteering for sea turtels? Characteristics and
motives of volunteers working with the Caribbean Conservation Corporation in Tortuguero, Costa Rica, in: Maritime Studies, vol. 3., no. 4, pp. 169-194.
Manual of Best Practices for Safeguarding Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST)
- Ga-Young Choi
- Karen L Eckert
Choi, Ga-Young and Karen L. Eckert (2009): Manual of Best Practices for Safeguarding Sea Turtle
Nesting Beaches (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST)), Technical
Report No. 9, Ballwin, Missouri.