The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities

The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities

Nailah Newsome

Loyola University New Orleans

Volunteering, defined by the United Nations as a set of behaviours which are undertaken

willingly for no financial remuneration and which benefit society rather than the individual

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 The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities
undertaking the activity (United Nations, 2001), is traditionally associated with social activism.

However, over the past twenty years, volunteer projects have gained great popularity as a facet of

the travel industry (Coghlan & Gooch, 2011; Wearing, 2013). This combination of international

exploration and community service, often referred to as voluntourism, is formally defined by

Stephen Wearing as tourists who, for various reasons, volunteer in an organized way to

undertake holidays that might involve aiding or alleviating the material poverty of some groups

in society (Wearing, 2001). A 2008 study estimates that over 1.6 million people worldwide have

engaged volunteer travel annually (Wearing, 2013). Volunteer tourist operations have capitalized

on the increasing popularity of this phenomena by developing a number of projects varying in

size, location, participant characteristics, and organizational purpose (Wearing, 2001). An

average excursion consists of a group of inexperienced young adults travelling to impoverished

communities of third-world countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America for a week or two. On

these trips, volunteers balance their time between completing a simple community service

project (such shoddily constructing a basic building, or repainting walls) and recreational leisure

activities outside of the impoverished community. These volunteers participate in such programs

with the notion that voluntourism is a mutually beneficial experience, as it will contribute not

only to their personal growth but also to the environments in which they participate.

Looking at the principles of volunteer travel, there is no question that it is a beneficial

activity for those involved in the volunteer side. Volunteers embark on an exotic vacation and are

rewarded with a number of post-trip benefits, from an expanded resume to a heightened sense of

social awareness. Meanwhile, the expensive price tags of such excursions are clearly of great use

to the organizations that arrange them. There is a lack of insight, however, on how the host

communities are affected by the affair. Upon comparing the concept of volunteer tourism to the

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 The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities
definition of volunteering, it is easy to view voluntourism as inherently contradictory. If the

volunteers undertake volunteer travel projects with self-serving, personal goals, then can their

efforts be considered genuine volunteering (a benefit to society rather than to the individual

undertaking the activity)? The purpose of my project is to research volunteer tourism from the

perspective of the communities being serviced. I hope to compare the pre-service expectations

and post-service sentiments of the host community to those of the volunteers, and to analyze how

the community is affected (both long and short term) by volunteer efforts.

Literature Review

Despite the fact that interest and participation is rapidly growing, voluntourism is still a

relatively new concept with a limited body of existing literature. This existing literature upholds

voluntourism as an ideal activity with little negative impact (Wearing, 2013), and places a heavy

focus on the volunteer- on his motivations, expectations, and personal benefits (Brown 2001;

Cheung, Michel & Miller, 2010; Eyler & Giles, 2001; Tomazos & Butler, 2010;)- with little

attention given to the host community. While it is important to have a solid understanding of the

volunteers, as Gray and Campbell (2007) state, they represent only one half of the story. The

paucity of research on the communities and people that the volunteers are serving proves that

this is an element of the topic that needs to be more thoroughly addressed.

The organizations that coordinate volunteer travel trips are a significant motivation

behind the abundance of volunteer-oriented research. As voluntourism increases in popularity

within travellers, so has the market and commodification of the excursions- nearly 700 volunteer

tourism programs are estimated to be available to individuals worldwide (Gray & Campbell,

2007; Proyrungroi, 2014). There are a plethora of NGOs that support the development of

voluntourism, and are the main providers of volunteer travel experiences. Volunteers are valuable

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 The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities
to these organizations as they provide much needed labor and financial support for the

organizations respective civil aid projects (Gray and Campbell, 2007), so it is not surprising that

these organizations conduct, and take advantage of, research on the volunteer.

These organizations want to know all about the volunteer so they can develop volunteer

trips focused on the motivations and expectations of the traveller. For example, the organization

Planeterra conducted research on voluntourism with an explicitly stated purpose: to examine

current and prospective voluntourists attitudes and perceptions of voluntourism so Planeterra

can enhance and differentiate its products and services in an increasingly competitive

marketplace (Cheung, Michel, & Miller, 2010). Research such as this, studies conducted by

NGOs offering volunteer travel packages, and research published in travel and tourism based

journals, highlight how the commodification of volunteer travel has led to organizations basing

the development of their projects on the fancies of the volunteers, as opposed to those of the host

community.

Though there there is a lack of literature regarding those being helped, the existing work

regarding the volunteer can be useful for my research. This existing research provides a solid

understanding of volunteer travellers, which allows for a better analysis of their impact on host

communities. The average volunteer traveller is a highly educated and well-travelled young adult

hailing from a prosperous background in North America or Europe (Cheung, Michel, and Miller,

2010). These volunteers opt for volunteer travel instead of conventional travel or long-term

volunteering with an number of motivations. Among other factors, altruism is a significant

motivator. These selfless motivators include the desire to make a difference, to give back to

society, and to engage in a meaningful activity (Proyrungroj 2014; Wearing, 2001).

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 The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities
Though these selfless reasons are influential factors for motivating a volunteer, many

studies have reported that the main motivation is not simply altruism, but often a personal

reason. Existing literature has documented self-serving motivations such as: cultural and

language immersion, travel and adventure, self-discovery, develop knowledge, educational and

career development, create personal relationships, to gain new experiences, and religious-related

motivations (Brown, 2005; Cheung, Michel, & Miller, 2010; Proyrungroj, 2014; Wearing, 2001).

Volunteers embark on volunteer travel excursions with an abundance of motivations,

which become expectations for their trips outcome. Tozamos and Butler (2012) explored

volunteers motivations and expectations before a volunteer trip to a Mexican orphanage in close

proximity to a popular tourist destination, along with their daily choices while on the trip. The

volunteers had ample leisure opportunity, as there was no obligation or pressure to carry out their

service tasks. Volunteers were faced with the difficulty of having to balance their time between

volunteering and leisure in a way that adequately fulfilled their number of varying expectations.

This balance issue is a result of the complicated premise of volunteer tourism: it is a combination

of both alternative travel and community service, two very different concepts (Tozamos &

Butler, 2012). This issue not only negatively affects the volunteers, but the host community as

well. When a volunteer is faced with obstacles that contradict their expectations of a pleasant trip

(illness, language/cultural barrier, lack of skill), they can simply choose not to participate, and

neglect the community for hedonistic activities.

Though all of a volunteers expectations of their voluntourism may not be met by the end

of their excursion, research has shown that volunteer travel has a deep and lasting positive

impact on the volunteer. Mcintosh and Zahra (2007) argue that volunteer travel can even be

considered cathartic for the volunteer, claiming that it has the potential to change a participants

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 The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities
perceptions about society, self-identity, values, and their everyday lives. Their research shows

that the interactions that wealthy volunteers have with impoverished, often suffering locals

provoke never-before-experienced emotions of grief and empathy. Their experiences of radically

different conditions of living leads volunteers to reflect on their own lives (Simpson, 2004). After

realizing the true scope of their privilege, volunteers leave their trips with a new perspective,

feeling their experience to have been life changing (Mcintosh and Zahra, 2007).

In the few studies that have focused on the host communities, a few potential positive

impacts of volunteer travel have been observed. Volunteer tourism has the potential to improve

host living conditions, and boost career opportunities by training locals (Wearing, 2001). The

local economy can benefit from volunteering, with project organizers buying products from local

manufacturers, and volunteers buying souvenirs and other products from local vendors (Clifton

and Benson, 2006).

Despite the nature of voluntourism, and volunteers intent of helping out and making a

difference, a great deal of potential and actualized negative impacts are highlighted in literature.

Guttentag (2009) challenges its proposed economic benefits by arguing that volunteer tourism

may in fact negatively impact labor demand, as volunteers often rob locals of potential

employment by performing jobs that locals could have had. Because the volunteers themselves

are in charge of project execution, a danger of volunteer tourism is that the volunteer may begin

to view himself as the expert in the situation, thus reducing the local communities self-

sufficiency (Wearing, 2001). Local dependence on volunteers is dangerous: generally the only

requirements for participation on a service trip are a desire to help out and a large sum of money,

leading to a lack of skill within the group (Guttentag, 2009). This lack of skill often results in

shoddy-constructed projects that impede community development, and require locals to come

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 The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities
back and repair after the volunteers leave. According to Simpson (2004), volunteer tourism

ignores the root causes of poverty and inequality by propagating simplicity: participation and

good intention are considered good enough to volunteer, and the use of unskilled labor is

validated as a solution.

Within existing literature, it is generally accepted that volunteer travel has a host of

benefits for the volunteer. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it has left me with a concern

for the host communities. This generalization reaffirms my perception of volunteer travel to be a

fundamentally contradictory concept. The emphasis of research on the volunteer reflects how the

voluntourism industry places a greater focus on its customers- the volunteers- instead of on

those in need. The purpose of my research is explore my concern that volunteer travel may not

be mutually beneficial. My work will add to existing literature by gathering more information on

the effects of volunteer travel on the host community and its citizens.

Choice of Method

In order to get a thorough sentiment of a community affected by volunteer tourism, I have

chosen to utilize a mixed methods for of research. I will conduct ethnographic observation with

field notes, in addition to conducting two different focus groups composed of local community

members. The community I will be researching is a small community in Haiti, a third-world

caribbean island. Though Haiti is a popular spot for volunteer travel, this specific community

that I will observe will be one that has not experienced the aid of short-term volunteer travellers.

I have chosen a community new to this experience, so all of the information I gather from

community members will be uninfluenced by prior experience.

The independent variables in this research will include: the duration of volunteers visits,

quality of volunteer work, short-term and long-term impacts of volunteers on the community,

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 The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities
and community members relationships with the volunteers. The dependent variable of this

project is whether the relationship shared between the volunteers and the community is

beneficial for the host community and its individuals.

Observation and Analysis

The first part of my research will be a focus group comprised of anonymous individuals

of varying demographics from the host community. This focus group will be conducted at least a

month before a volunteer travel organization begins to send groups of travellers to volunteer. The

questions asked will gauge individuals of their initial sentiments and expectations regarding

groups of short-term volunteer travellers entering their community. I have chosen to utilize focus

groups as opposed to one-on-one interviews, as the purpose of my research is to analyze the

sentiment of the community as a whole, as opposed to single individuals. Also, focus groups

allow for a more natural conversational flow of ideas and opinions from community members. I

do not have a planned set of questions for either of the focus groups. Instead, I will give the

group vague prompts regarding their expectations of volunteer tourism, and expect the natural

flow of the conversation to allow individuals use the examples and thoughts of their peers to

build on their own opinions.

The next step of my research will be to analyze the process of a volunteer project from

start to finish. I will closely observe both the volunteers and the hosts during this process, while

taking extensive field notes. I plan on thoroughly documenting the actions of the volunteers, their

interactions with the locals, and the locals reactions of these actions. As volunteer travel

organizations often have multiple volunteer groups cycling through the same community

annually, I plan on documenting this process over the course of two different groups of

volunteers.

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 The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities
The final portion of my research will be conducting another focus group, at least a year

after the last volunteer group has finished. It does not particularly matter whether or not this

second focus group is comprised of the same individuals- as I have previously stated, the purpose

of the focus group is to combine the opinions of a number of different individuals in order to

surmise one general conclusion. As with the first focus group, instead of a structured set of

questions, I will ask the group members to elaborate and converse on various prompts. These

prompts will be written based on both the responses given in the first focus group, and on my

findings will doing field observation. For example, I will inform the members of the focus group

of an expectation they held, compare it to an action I observed during the volunteer process, and

then ask the focus group whether they felt said action affirmed their expectations. I plan on

conducting this second focus group at least a year after the volunteers have left in order to

prompt the focus group on what long-term effects they feel voluntourism has left on their

community.

After my research is complete, I will transcribe and code both my field notes and the

dialogue of the focus groups, and enter them into SPSS. By organizing my research into different

codes, I will be able to better analyze my findings in order to make conclusions. I plan on doing

two sets of focus groups, as opposed to asking all of the questions after the process, to ensure

that sentiments about prior expectations are genuine.

Conclusion

Volunteering is naturally thought to be a wholeheartedly altruistic process. Because of

this, volunteer tourism may potentially be an overall negative experience for those being helped,

as the volunteers are expecting personal gains from the experience. My research will study the

effects that short-term volunteer travellers have on the host community and its individuals, by

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observing the entire process of a volunteer project from start to finish. This research will add to

existing voluntourism literature, as there is very limited information regarding this process from

the perspective of the host community. I will be analyzing my research to determine if this

concept truly can be considered beneficial for the local community. By providing insights on the

host organizations perception on volunteer tourism, this research can potentially assist volunteer

sending organizations to understand the hosts they seek to aid.

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 The Effects of Volunteer Travel on Host Communities

Bibliography

Cheung, Stephen, Merriah Michel, and Dan Miller. 2010. Voluntourism: Give a Little Gain a

Lot. Georgian College Research Analyst Program.

Clifton, Julian and Angela Benson. 2006. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 14(3): 238-254.

Coghlan, Alexandra and Margaret Gooch. 2011. Applying a Transformative Learning

Framework to Volunteer Tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 19(6): 713-728.

Eyler, Janet S., Dwight E. Giles, Christine M. Stenson, and Charlene J. Gray. 2001. At a

Glance: What We Know about the Effects of Service-Learning on College Students,

Faculty, Institutions and Communities, 1993-2000: Third Edition. Vanderbilt University.

Gray, Noella J. and Lisa M. Campbell. 2007. A Decommodified Experience? Exploring

Aesthetic, Economic and Ethical Values for Volunteer Ecotourism in Costa Rica.

Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 15(5): 463-482.

Simpson, Kate. 2004. Doing development: the Gap Year, Volunteer-Tourists and a Popular

Practice of Development. Journal of International Development. 16(5): 681-692.

Tozamos, Kostas and Richard Butler. 2012. Volunteer Tourists in the Field: A Question of

Balance? Tourism Management. 33: 177-187.

Wearing, Stephen. 2001. Volunteer Tourism: Experiences That Make a Difference. London:

CABI Publishing.

Wearing, Stephen and Nancy Gard McGehee. 2013. Volunteer Tourism: A review. Progress in

Tourism Management. 38: 120-130.

Zahra, Anne and Alison J. McIntosh. 2007. Volunteer Tourism: Evidence of Cathartic Tourist

Experiences Tourism Recreation Research. 32(1): 115-119.

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