Well-meaning volunteer tourism organizations, involving international volunteers in local community and environmental development projects, have been increasingly criticized for increasingly commercialized business models. This conceptual paper reviews important organizational drivers that influence the commercialization of the volunteer tourism sector. It posits a number of predictive measures based upon the internal and external drivers that will determine a volunteer tourism organization's position along a philanthropic-commercial continuum. It achieves this by building on lessons from the broader nonprofit sector, including research in social entrepreneurship. It also suggests topics for further research based upon this literature and current knowledge gaps within volunteer tourism. Further research in this area will assist organizations engaged in, or considering, volunteer tourism to think pragmatically about issues of commercialization within this sector ..

Tourism is inherently dependent on weather and climate, and its sustainability and resilience to adverse weather and climate impacts is greatly enhanced by providing tailored climate services to tourism sector stakeholders. Climate services need to integrate standard weather forecasts, with early warning systems, seasonal forecasts, and long-term projections of climatic changes in order to meet the information needs of the sector. While a growing number of studies address the potential climate change impacts on tourism, little is known about how the tourism sector accesses, uses, and analyses the available weather and climate information. This research presents findings from an exploratory study on weather and climate information-seeking behavior of 15 private and public tourism sector stakeholders in the Republic of Fiji. The results show a variety of weather and climate information-seeking paths in use, which differ depending on levels of professional responsibility, weather and climate literacy, and information and digital competency. Those with high weather information literacy access a broader variety of sources. Hence, their interpretation does not focus only on their own location, but “weather” is seen as a broad spatial phenomenon that might or might not result in adverse effects in their location. Understanding diverse weather and climate information-seeking paths can aid in better targeting climate and adaptation services across different stakeholder groups. Especially in the context of small island developing states (SIDS), the integration of traditional, local, and scientific knowledge as information sources is likely to provide a more useful and context-specific basis for climate adaptation planning within the sector.

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Ecotourism is viewed as a suitable context for disseminating knowledge about nature and promoting environmental values among tourists. However, few studies have drawn attention to the educational impact of ecotourism on young children. Moreover, environmental education in ecotourism tends to be framed by anthropocentric premises in which nature is viewed as detached from human domains and dependent on human protection. Considering this gap, this study aims to explore how play in ecotourism sites supports children to learn not only "about", but also "with" nature. To that end, we draw upon the theoretical concept of play-based learning and focus on ecotourism activities in Queensland, Australia. The empirical data consist of semistructured interviews with professionals in the fields of ecotourism, conservation and education. The study contributes to the field of ecotourism and the Anthropocene discussion by stressing the role of early childhood education in promoting a sound relationship between nature and humanity.

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