Short-term volunteer tourism: An opportunity for the environment or an ethical pitfall?

• Autor(a) principal: Mertens, Catherine Marie Sophie Ellen
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/26232
• topic: Volunteer tourism; Ética -- Ethics; Motivations; Opportunities for development; Domestic tourism; Turismo voluntário; Motivação; Oportunidades de desenvolvimento; Turismo doméstico

Volunteer tourism has been extensively studied by academics, as well as NGOs and tour operators hoping to make a profit, but the specific topic of short-term volunteer tourism is scarce in the literature. This research aims to fill that gap by analysing the issues surrounding shortterm voluntourism, as well as the opportunities it may present for the tourism industry, the volunteering industry, and conservation. Focusing on environmental voluntourism, it discusses its motivations, opportunities and ethics from the point of view of the volunteers. The research is based on semi-structured interviews with ten subjects, all of which will have been on at least one volunteer experience, most on environmental projects, but also social and educational experiences. Findings show that short-term volunteer tourism provides the industry with countless opportunities for growth, by diversifying and increasing their product to include a newfound group of volunteers. Results show that creating short-term projects would allow people who are no longer students and 'gappers' to volunteer during their limited holidays, by including the projects into their pre-existing holidays, or by volunteering domestically or in neighbouring countries, rather than travelling to the 'global South', as is the norm today. There are many ethical concerns surrounding volunteer tourism, such as commodification and exploitation of the environment, volunteers and local communities, perceived 'neo-colonialism', the spectacle of saving and more. However, the industry presents a vital opportunity for conservation efforts to increase their reach through volunteering.