Finding oneself while discovering others: An existential perspective on volunteer tourism in Thailand

Kontogeorgopoulos, Nick

doi:10.1016/j.annals.2017.04.006

Cited by 84 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…On one hand, volunteer tourists have strong altruistic motives (Mustonen 2008) but on the other hand, an important motivation to embark on these trips is CV building and enhancing career prospect (McGloin and Georgeou 2016). They are interested in experiencing authentic trips (Kontogeorgopoulos 2017) but at the same time they participate in mass commodification of tourism (Wearing 2001). They are also in a constant tension between desire to escape everyday life and desire for some level of order and routine (Kontogeorgopoulos 2017).…”

Section: Volunteer Tourismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Volunteer Tourism as a Transformative Experience: A Mixed Methods Empirical Study

Μαγρίζος

Kostopoulos

Powers

2020

Journal of Travel Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In an effort to combine tourism with pro-social giving and personal development, more and more people choose to go abroad on volunteer tourism trips. We explore the potential transformational influence such trips have on travelers, aiming to map the transformation process stages and examine their boundary conditions. In doing so, we follow a mixed methods approach using a qualitative study comprising ethnographically informed in-depth interviews and a quantitative one, by means of a structured questionnaire. Findings indicate that the transformation process volunteer tourists undergo involves three stages related to liminality. We conceptualize the degree of liminality as immersiveness and show how the transformation process is significantly influenced by the degree of authenticity and the immersiveness of volunteer tourists’ experiences, as well as their own perceptions on how societally meaningful their actions were during their trips. Based on our conclusions, we present important implications for academics, managers, and tour operators.

show abstract

Section: Volunteer Tourismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Volunteer Tourism as a Transformative Experience: A Mixed Methods Empirical Study

Μαγρίζος

Kostopoulos

Powers

2020

Journal of Travel Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Because of the different cultural backgrounds and social values, and the motivation of tourism participation promoted by social norms, volunteer travelers are in unstable state on the two-dimensional axis of altruistic motivation and utilitarian motivation, prompting the differences in their measurement of gains and losses, and thus showing different value perception [4,5]. Brown summarizes the perceived value of volunteer tourism, includes interaction with local communities, mindfulness of experience, self-actualization, personal growth and enhancement of family relationships [16]; Broad views the volunteer tourism experience as an important turning point in life and proposes volunteer tourism helps participants to increase self-confidence, knowledge and skills, and enhance self-awareness and cognition of the changes of world [17].…”

Section: Volunteer Tourists' Perceived Valuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…When I enjoy the air conditioning in the office, some people still work in the field in the hot sun although they are 80 years old. "(Ctrip, SF Express, Meizhou) Rapid modernization in China has made it hard for individuals to feel the ego's existence in the city when letting them to accept the changes [5], while the "backward and lagging" others provide them with the opportunity to reflect on life, which not only supply the blank of the continuation of their life, but also provides an opportunity for them to reflection on social development.…”

Section: Self-development Valuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The surveys related to volunteer travel can be divided into conceptual exploration, research on organizational form of volunteer travel, participants' motivation, perceived value and social impact on the region [5,6]. It is the recent trend of volunteer tourism research to explore the motivation and diversity of perceived value by taking participants of volunteer tourism as the object [7,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Chinese Volunteer Touristsr Perceived Value Analysis An Exploration Study Based on Netnographic Method

Sang¹,

Shimei²

2018

Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Culture, Education and Economic Development of Modern Society (ICCESE 2018)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-As a typical post-modern tourism form, volunteer tourism provides multi-value perceptions for volunteer tourists. Using by netnographic research process, grounded on perceived value theory, the present study went deep into Chinese volunteer tourism`s online community, collected Chinese volunteer tourism`s online field data and analyzed in-depth 4 Chinese volunteer tourists` perceived values qualitatively including the social network enhancement and maintenance under the social construction which has been defined as volunteer tourists` perceived social value; the utilitarian value of volunteer tourists based on their rational reflection; personal development and growth value based on volunteer tourists` sense of being and self-reflection, the crosscultural competence enhancement and the deepening of Chinese culture and nation identity; and the sense of continuity of volunteer tourists based on the memory creation. The results contribute to understanding the marketing characters of Chinese volunteer tourism under the context of Chinese cultural change and the market segment of Chinese volunteer tourism.

show abstract

“…Over the past several decades, tourists from high-income countries have increasingly turned to alternative forms of travel that deliver rewarding experiences and promise sustainable development of destinations that [1] link the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [2]. The unique motivation of young travelers (nowadays represented by Generation Y) makes this niche particularly important for the key goals of the global tourism agenda, by which United Nations' organizations, including the UNWTO, support the three-pillar (environmental, socio-cultural, and economic) concept of sustainable tourism [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Volunteer Tourism as a Sustainable Form of Tourism—The Case of Organized Events

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper focuses on volunteer tourism as a sustainable form of tourism relating to the volunteer service at a tourism destination and specific tourism activities. The aim of the paper is to explore volunteer tourism in Slovakia with examples of organized events, especially to search exactly how event's organizers support the development of domestic and inbound volunteer tourism in Slovakia. This paper is based on a sociological survey. We addressed 653 heterogeneous event's organizers in Slovakia. 18% of them participated in the questionnaire survey. The collected data were processed by selected mathematical and statistical methods in SPSS statistics program. As such, we found most events organizers team up with volunteers. Only half of the organizers cooperate with local volunteers, while the second half also support the development of volunteer tourism engaging in voluntourism. In the case of attractive events, the engagement of voluntourists could be more effective. The current situation has resulted from missing information about the management of volunteers but it could be improved through an e-manual for event organizers providing an outline guide for volunteer management.

show abstract

Finding oneself while discovering others: An existential perspective on volunteer tourism in Thailand

Cited by 84 publications

References 63 publications

Volunteer Tourism as a Transformative Experience: A Mixed Methods Empirical Study

Volunteer Tourism as a Transformative Experience: A Mixed Methods Empirical Study

Chinese Volunteer Touristsr Perceived Value Analysis An Exploration Study Based on Netnographic Method

Volunteer Tourism as a Sustainable Form of Tourism—The Case of Organized Events

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About