Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Anthropology, c2012
Motivation and socio-cultural sustainability of voluntourism
Abstract
dc:description.abstractVolunteer tourism (voluntourism) has been described as an alternative form of tourism to mass tourism. It has been suggested that understanding the motivations of voluntourists might lead to a better understanding of the socio-cultural dimension of voluntourism sustainability. The aim of this thesis is to identify the key motives of voluntourists and how these motives affect the socio-cultural sustainability of a society. Virtual ethnography, observation, and semi-structured interviews were employed in order to collect the research data from Eden Valley – a Canadian First Nation reserve, Global Citizen Network (GCN) – a voluntourism organiser, and voluntourists who took part in previous volunteering trips. The study found that authenticity, cultural concerns, the search for unique experience, helping the ‘other’, and self-healing are the key motives that drive travellers to participate in voluntourism projects. The data collected show that voluntourism has a greater positive socio-cultural impact on targeted communities than mass-tourism.
Degree
thesis:*- Grantor dc:publisher
- Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Anthropology, c2012
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2012
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Alomari, Thabit
- Advisor dc:contributor.supervisor
-
- Newberry, Janice C.
Subjects
dc:subject × 3Rights
- Language dc:language.iso
- en_CA
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Identifier
- hdl:10133/3295