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Canosa, A. & K. E. van Doore (forthcoming 2022), ‘Orphanage Tourism’ in D. Buhalis (ed.),
Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton,
MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN: 9781800377479
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/nlm-book/9781800377479/b-9781800377479-
Contents.xml
Orphanage Tourism
Orphanage tourism refers to the practice of volunteering or visiting with children in residential
care facilities usually located in less developed countries in the Global South. Orphanage
tourism stems from the desire for more meaningful and ethical holiday experiences, and
wanting to give back to the host communities that one visits. Orphanage tourism is a subsector
of volunteer tourism or ‘voluntourism’ which refers to travelling overseas to ‘do good’ in other
communities. Voluntourism is ‘a type of tourism where tourists pay to participate, often in
development or conservation projects’ (Guiney & Mostafanezhad, 2015, p. 133). A belief in
the transformative benefits of volunteering is the main motivation to engage in voluntourism,
and this is amplified when the volunteering activity involves the poor, the vulnerable, and
orphans often located in the Global South (Cheney & Rotabi, 2015).
Tourists who engage in orphanage tourism are predominantly from developed countries in the
Global North and are motivated by a desire to help vulnerable children by volunteering,
visiting, and/or donating money to orphanages. Richter and Norman first described orphan
tourism as individuals travelling to residential care facilities and ‘volunteering for generally
short periods of time as caregivers’ (2010, p. 217). Since then, the definition of orphanage
tourism has evolved to include ‘the donation of money and goods, attending performances, or
volunteering on a short-term basis at orphanages as part of one’s holiday’ (Guiney and
Mostafanezhad, 2015, p. 133). The children and young people who live in these residential care
facilities are the recipients of the care and often affection of voluntourists who engage in
activities such as English classes, sports, games, art, concerts, and performances. These
establishments, which are commonly referred to as ‘orphanages,’ are residential care centres
where children receive full-time care without the involvement of parents or family members.
However, the children are not always ‘orphans’ and, in fact, in the majority of cases, there is
at least one living parent and/or family member who could care for them with support.
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Paradoxically the very desire to do good and engage in what is perceived as a more ethical and
responsible form of travel is contributing to an orphanage industry. Child protection experts
advocate against the practice due to the short-term nature of visiting and volunteering, the
reliance on unskilled volunteers in positions responsible for vulnerable children, and the body
of research on the harms of institutionalisation for children which can lead to documented
negative impacts on children’s safety including abuse, neglect, exploitation and human
trafficking. Research published in The Lancet found that volunteering in orphanages elevated
the risks to resident children by unintentionally adding to the fragmented care that
institutionalised care is often characterized by (Goldman et al., 2020, 611).
Orphanage tourism is a relatively recent phenomenon, with the majority of academic articles
published in the last decade. Much of the scholarly interest in the practice stems from the anti-
orphanage tourism campaigns that have dominated global discourses on orphanages and the
anti-slavery movement, which links orphanage tourism to child trafficking as a demand driver
to populate orphanages, which become attractions for visiting voluntourists (van Doore &
Nhep, 2019). Increasingly, links have been made between orphanage tourism, modern slavery,
the infringement of child rights, and the over-use of institutionalisation as a means of
addressing vulnerability in less developed countries. Media has at times conflated orphanage
tourism with modern slavery; however scholarly research has clarified that orphanage tourism
is not synonymous with modern slavery but can be a driver of demand for acts of modern
slavery such as orphanage trafficking (van Doore & Nhep, 2019, 120). In 2019, the United
Nations General Assembly Resolution on the Rights of the Child focused on Children without
Parental Care called for State Parties to take appropriate measures to both prevent and address
harms related to orphanage volunteering programmes in the context of tourism which could
lead to trafficking and exploitation.
Critical debates in scholarly research highlight that orphanage tourism is an ethically complex
phenomenon. Carpenter (2015), for example, demonstrates through participant observation in
one Cambodian orphanage that although the ‘orphanage boom’ has sparked widespread
concern, the children in the orphanage she observed were ‘faring well.’ The author challenges
the rights-based approach taken by humanitarian interventions and the anti-orphanage
movement, arguing that this is often in stark contrast with local practices and religious beliefs.
On the other hand, research conducted by Guiney across fifty-three orphanages in Cambodia
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found ‘numerous issues of potential harm within orphanage tourism, with the potential for
abuse and corruption especially alarming’ (Guiney, 2015, p. 13).
While orphanage tourism is still popular, particularly among young student travellers, several
awareness campaigns have aimed to educate potential volunteers and visitors on the harms
associated with the practice. Campaigns such as the ‘Children are not Tourist Attractions’ by
Friends International (see Figure 1), the ‘Love you Give’ campaign by the Better Care
Network, and #HelpingNotHelping by Lumos have all contributed to raising awareness of the
potential harms of orphanage tourism. In addition, the ReThink Orphanages Network (formerly
Better Volunteering, Better Care) was established as a global cross-sector coalition working to
prevent family separation and the unnecessary institutionalization of children by shifting the
way countries engage with overseas aid and development, particularly via orphanage tourism.
What is really needed is more research on ethical tourism involving children in order to develop
local and global child-centred responses to keep children safe in tourism destinations and
promote child safe tourism practices (Canosa & Graham, 2016). Many scholars call for
increased child protection in orphanage tourism. Guiney (2015) recommends the formalisation
of sector-wide child protection policies to prevent situations of abuse and exploitation related
to orphanage tourism occurring, and van Doore and Nhep (2019) advocate for criminal
sanctions for people who participate in the exploitation and/or trafficking of children via
orphanage tourism. However, it should be noted that such a focus on criminal sanctions must
be coupled with social welfare reforms addressing child vulnerability to reduce the reliance of
less developed countries in the Global South on institutional care. Whilst some scholars
conducting studies where children express positive experiences of the practice call for a more
balanced approach to orphanage tourism, child protection experts, including UNICEF, are
actively campaigning for an end to the practice.
Keywords: orphanage tourism; voluntourism; children; child safe tourism; child
trafficking; modern slavery
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Figure 1: The ‘Children are not Tourist Attractions’ campaign, reproduced with permission © 2011 -2021
Friends-International/ChildSafe Movement.
References
Canosa, A., & Graham, A. (2016). Ethical tourism research involving children. Annals of Tourism Research, 61,
219-221.
Carpenter, K. (2015). Continuity, complexity and reciprocity in a Cambodian orphanage. Children & Society,
29(2), 85-94.
Cheney, K., & Rotabi, K. S. (2015). Addicted to orphans: How the global orphan industrial complex jeopardizes
local child protection systems. Conflict, Violence and Peace, 1-19.
Goldman, P. et al (2020. Institutionalisation and deinstitutionalisation of children 2: policy and practice
recommendations for global, national, and local actors. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 4(8) 606.
Guiney, T., & Mostafanezhad, M. (2015). The political economy of orphanage tourism in Cambodia. Tourist
Studies, 15(2), 132-155.
Guiney, T. (2015). Orphanage tourism: The need for protection and policy. In C. Freeman, P. Tranter, & T. Skelton
(Eds.) Risk, protection, provision and policy (pp. 1–21). Singapore: Springer Singapore.
Richter, L.M., & Norman, A. (2010). AIDS orphan tourism: A threat to young children in residential care.
Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies 5(3) 217.
van Doore, K., & Nhep, R. (2019). Orphanage Trafficking, Modern Slavery and the Australian Response. Griffith
Journal of Law & Human Dignity, 7(2) 115-138.
