Internet promotional material and conservation volunteer tourist motivations: A case study of selecting organizations and projects

Grimm, Kerry E.; Needham, Mark D.

doi:10.1016/j.tmp.2011.12.007

Cited by 43 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The ineffectiveness of volunteering (Brown and Hall, 2008) and the limited importance of the impact of the volunteering trip on the host community in the search attributes (Grimm and Needham, 2012) would justify toning down the aid language in marketing for the majority of operators, in favour of communicating that volunteering fosters international understanding (Palacios, 2010;Raymond and Hall, 2008). This would leave space for VT pioneers to signal credibly with less background noise.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Website layout (i.e. ease of navigation) and appearance (professional look) and content (photographs, testimonials, and information) influenced volunteers' company choices (Grimm and Needham, 2012). Having reviewed whether responsibility claims may have only limited impact on consumer decision making, we now explore some of the industry responses to making such claims by outlining how hedonistic messages prevail, which explains why responsibility signalling has a low bond.…”

Section: Industry Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ensuring an appropriate match between volunteer skills and destination needs, conducting a needs assessment, ensuring volunteers behave appropriately…) (Kotler and Zaltman, 1971;Weeden, 2002). Grimm and Needham (2012) found that the environmental concepts and buzzwords that were particularly important to volunteer decision making -as volunteers searched for projects and explanations of what was important to them -included "sustainability," "conservation," "reforestation," and "community development." These volunteers felt impressed by the density of buzzwords used in the marketing materials, but there was little evidence of these volunteers searching for evidence of how the volunteer project went about achieving their claims.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Volunteer tourism, greenwashing and understanding responsible marketing using market signalling theory

Smith

Font

2014

Journal of Sustainable Tourism

125

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Voluntee r tourism has been heavily criticise d for its negative conse quence s on destinations and voluntee rs, often the dire ct result of unrealistic demand -led marke ting and lack of conside ration for the environmental and social costs of host communities. While some industry participants have responded through adhe rence to best practice, little information or support is available about how to responsibly market voluntee r tourism . This research uses an online content analysis based on the Inte rnational Voluntourism Guide lines for Commercial Ope rators to unde rstand the use of responsibility as a marke t signalling tool. Five influential web pages of eight organisations are scored across 19 re sponsibility crite ria and compared against the organisation's le gal status, product type and price .We find that responsibility is not used for marke t signalling; prefe re nce is give n to communicating what is easy, and not wha t is important. The status of the organisation is no guarantee of responsible practice, and price and responsibility communications display an inve rse relationship. We conclude voluntee r tourism ope rators are ove rpositioning and communicating responsibility inconsistently, which highlights greenwashing, requiring at least industry-wide codes of practice, and at be st, regulation. This pape r refle cts on its methodological limitations, and on its practical achievements in e ncouraging change within some of the organisations examined. Victoria Smith is a graduate from the MSc Responsible Tourism Management at LeedsMetropolitan University. Dr Xavier Font is Reader at the International Centre for Research in Events, Tourism andHospitality at Leeds Metropolitan University. His research focuses on understanding reasons for pro-sustainability behaviour and market based mechanisms to encourage s ustainable production and consumption. IntroductionVolunteer tourism (VT) is a hybrid concept, bringing together international volunteering and tourism, "the practice of individuals going on a working holiday, volunteering their labour for worthy causes" (Tomazos, 2009a:196). VT is often promoted as a way to experience authenticity within the context of an alternative tourism beneficial to destinations, leading to expectations of a responsible tourism ethos. The purpose is often "aiding or alleviating the material poverty of some groups in society; the restoration of certain specific environments or research into aspects of society or environment" (Wearing, 2007:1) alongside touristic activities. However, as VT grows in popularity, the true value and costs with regard to the triple bottom line are being called into question (Goodwin, 2011;Wearing, 2001).VT organisations have come under criticism for being overly profit-driven, overpromising benefits, harming destinations and creating customer dissatisfaction (Benson and Henderson, 2011;Crossley, 2012;Simpson, 2004;Tomazos and Cooper, 2012). In this issue of this journal, Taplin, Dredge and Scherrer (2014) outline a monitoring and evalua...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Industry Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Volunteer tourism, greenwashing and understanding responsible marketing using market signalling theory

Smith

Font

2014

Journal of Sustainable Tourism

125

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“…Satisfaction levels of tourists have been linked to their motivations for the trip, as well as their expectations. Limited research has explored expectations of voluntourists excepting Grimm and Needham's (2012) research in regard to how promotional material influenced volunteers' expectations and Smith and Font (2014: 958) who quantitatively demonstrated the need for financial transparency deciphering between donations and costs associated for a volunteer tourism trip. Lastly, Andereck et al (2012) found potential voluntourists' lack knowledge regarding choosing the right voluntourism organization in line with their expectations, including a keenness to interact with the local community and appreciating the difference in physical or emotional demands.…”

Section: Volunteer Tourism Criticismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the expectations and satisfaction derived from volunteer tourism experiences

Boluk

Kline

Stroobach

2016

Tourism and Hospitality Research

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The aim of this paper was to examine the satisfaction of voluntourists derived from various aspects of their trip. Framed within the Existence, Relatedness and Growth Theory, the paper examines volunteers' motivations, expectations and satisfaction based on their financial and time investment volunteering with Volunteer Eco Students Abroad (VESA), the intereactions they had on the trip, and the extent to which travellers felt as though they contributed to community goals. In 2012, the researchers carried out in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 16 Canadian voluntourists following their time in St. Lucia, South Africa. A thematic analysis was used to interpret the data, resulting in three themes: 'Evaluating Investment', 'Contribution to Community' and 'Opportunities and Reaffirmations'; sub-themes were matched with aspects of Existence, Relatedness and Growth Theory. Findings elicited several levels of expectations of voluntourists revealed through their feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. On the lowest level, voluntourists expect adequate food and water whilst volunteering. Informants highlighted the various ways they raised fund for the trip, and this impacted their level of accountability for contributing to the community. Volunteers also expect volunteer organizations to be transparent regarding the use of funds and expressed dissatisfaction when this did not occur. Volunteers anticipated a feeling of connection between the hosts and themselves and were frustrated if they felt more time could have been allotted to working with community residents. Lastly, informants expected the experience to provide an opportunity for self-learning and professional development and overall were satisfied with this element of the trip.

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“…Seeing that NGOs play an important role in tourists' satisfaction, they should be able to create a channel to directly contact tourists (Grimm and Needham, 2012). Uriely et al (2003) stated that Volunteer Tourism should not only attend to communities but should also stress tourism activities which give tourists authentic experiences and make them feel a responsibility to each tourist attraction place.…”

Section: Volunteer Tourism Management By Non-governmental Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring non-governmental organisations (NGOs) management in the authenticity of volunteer tourism: Evidence from the Northeastern Region of Thailand

Chusakul¹,

Kovathanakul²,

Esichaikul³

2016

J. Hosp. Manage. Tourism

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Volunteer tourism is viewed by most people as exploitation in the form of social assistance, and events are held to attract tourists' attention; because of this authentic experiences for tourists have been lost. The objective of this research is to study the context of Volunteer Tourism management by nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in the northeastern region of Thailand. This research, however, objects to these previous beliefs owing to the extent of involvement of the NGOs. They have operated closer to the communities and focused on the value that tourists obtain, rather than taking advantage of the benefits that can result from volunteer activities. Tourism management is based on authenticity. A volunteer tourism program -stemming from the communities' needs, builds up a relationships with them by providing tourists with real information therefore, tourists have a freedom to travel. These steps help make the work of NGOs easier, as "frontage creation" fades away gradually. New perceptions of tourism, seamlessly adding value to communities and meaningful experiences for tourists have thus been created.

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Internet promotional material and conservation volunteer tourist motivations: A case study of selecting organizations and projects

Cited by 43 publications

References 59 publications

Volunteer tourism, greenwashing and understanding responsible marketing using market signalling theory

Volunteer tourism, greenwashing and understanding responsible marketing using market signalling theory

Exploring the expectations and satisfaction derived from volunteer tourism experiences

Exploring non-governmental organisations (NGOs) management in the authenticity of volunteer tourism: Evidence from the Northeastern Region of Thailand

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