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The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes toward VolunTourism of students of Humber College, Toronto, Canada, who had engaged in VolunTourism excursions within the context of study abroad programmes or were about to embark on such a programme. The paper attempts to make a connection between altruistic travel motivations and the applicability of VolunTourism experiences on resumes in pursuit of differentiation in the job market.

The sample frame for this paper consisted of two groups of students who, at the time of the study, had participated in a curriculum-based study-abroad programme featuring VolunTourism components in the past five years (post-study) or were confirmed to embark on a trip shortly thereafter (pre-study). The surveys comprised a mixed-method approach. Quantitative and qualitative information was gathered through anonymous online surveys and personal interviews.

The responses obtained in personal interviews reflect the results obtained in the online surveys. Students who sat down for a personal interview were enthusiastic and supportive of VolunTourism. Three-quarters of the interviewees were 25 and younger. None of them had previously participated in study abroad programme, but they did have previous volunteering experience through high school curriculum or personal engagement. Besides their enthusiasm for doing good, students believed VolunTourism to enhance their image and increase their competitive advantage in the job market.

The surveys do not explore the impact of short-term VolunTourism opportunities in general but are focused on specific curriculum-based programmes. The bulk of participants came from the Tourism Management programme, whose familiarity with Niche, Eco and VolunTourism products could potentially have created a bias towards their experience and the usefulness of such excursions with respect to their career aspirations. Participants had travelled to a variety of destinations, influencing the comparability of the impressions.

Commercial tour operators can direct their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts at giving back to its key profit generators, thereby offsetting the negative impacts that such vacation models entail. Students have pointed to the availability of many willing hands that populate the beaches of All-Inclusive Resorts, and it appears that they would happily participate, were pre-organized VolunTourism excursions readily available. The obligation for tour operators is clearly to maintain authenticity and integrity and not to capitalize on this new opportunity for pure revenue generation.

Travellers are obligated to treat VolunTourism opportunities with respect and sincerity, to combat the negative stigma of careless self-gratification and self-promotion attributed to this type of travel. VolunTourists must be vigilant, demand transparency from VolunTourism providers and not fall prey to “green washing” strategies, allowing monies to subtly flow out of destinations and into the pockets of corporations.

This paper explores the complexities surrounding short-term VolunTourism experiences and their impact on students and young professionals. It narrowed in on the co-existence of altruistic motives in serving destination communities, and the expectation of acquiring skills to further expand resume credentials. The paper was inspired by recent market developments, wherein high-end tourism services providers were seen to be offering one-day volunteering excursions to their clientele. The question that presented itself was to investigate if there is an emerging trend towards personal social responsibility, whereby students and young professionals emulate behaviours modelled by industry leaders, and it appears that this is the case.

The aim of this paper is to explore how an international business model was successfully developed to protect the environment, specifically, how the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation (WARF) of Thailand designed its unique eco-voluntourism products.

Primary qualitative data were collected through ethnographic research, involving researcher participation and interviews, with the founder and the management team. Secondary data were also gathered through undergraduate and graduate students' experience with WARF, a television news reporter, and social media data from WARF's eco-voluntourists.

It was found that the business model of WARF evolved through trial-and-error, whereby voluntourism projects were created in collaboration with stakeholders from both public and private sectors. The success of voluntourism lies in ensuring that the experience was rewarding for all stakeholders.

WARF's voluntourism business model has high market potential to be developed cross-continents. The findings are optimistic and encouraging for managers and policy makers, particularly for countries that are endowed with natural resources. Eco-tourism and non-service green businesses also found good ideas from WARF to apply to their operations.

It is extremely challenging to offer a tourism product that could add more value to eco-volunteers who already have high levels of knowledge in ecology. The WARF case demonstrates how extensive stakeholder collaboration makes it possible to create and manage experiences that would be perceived as a rare opportunity for educational eco-tourism.

This paper aims to explore the experiences of international volunteer tourists, or voluntourists, to Botswana. Wildlife conservation, health education and orphanage voluntourists are examined specifically.

Qualitative data were collected through interviews with tourists who had completed or were in the midst of volunteer experiences.

Findings revealed that international voluntourism opportunities in Botswana are challenging to locate and leave volunteers questioning their impact. Some of the difficulties associated with voluntourism in Botswana included the need for volunteers to pay to participate, the concern regarding whether volunteers were depriving locals of employment opportunities, hesitation about the authenticity of the experience and the lack of community ownership.

This paper will be beneficial to industry practitioners as it details the challenges associated with international voluntourism and provides suggestions for ways to attract volunteers, engage them in the process and ensure both the organization and tourist have a positive and useful experience.

The increased interest in international voluntourism is a trend which is unlikely to decelerate in the coming years. This paper advances the knowledge on voluntourism operations in Botswana which may be valuable to tourists, students, academicians, government policymakers and industry practitioners alike.

The purpose of this paper is to test whether volunteer tourism organisations are prepared to learn from feedback on the quality of their responsibility communications, and consider whether analysis and communication of results can influence market improvement.

A purposive sample of five influential website pages of eight volunteer tourism organisations are scored across 19 responsible voluntourism criteria, and compared against the results of two years previously.

The authors report mixed results on how communicating results has encouraged change and industry improvement in responsibility, based on previous research that showed responsibility to be communicated inconsistently at best, potentially greenwashing at worst, across organisations, product types and responsible values.

The paper applies sustainability marketing literature to explain the changes in responsibility communication performance using an innovative tool to benchmark and audit responsibility in online marketing content and providing insight into how best practice marketing necessitates responsible operations. This paper considers whether and how, when presented with evidence, organisations choose to improve for a more responsible voluntourism offer.

The paper is original in providing a practical, industry-informed analysis of the reasons why volunteer operators communicate in the way they do, and the ability to influence their communications to be more reliable, in the context of increased criticism for shallow volunteering. This experiment allows industry associations and lobby groups to influence industry practice based on the evidence that improved communications are possible when specific, tailored advice is provided.

The purpose of this paper is to consider critical improvements that need to be made to the volunteer tourism industry with regard to risks to both service users and volunteers. Following an exploration of why these issues are so hard to resolve, recommendations are made for next steps forward.

The paper uses a case example of the project from which the author is a Director: Supporting Kids In Peru and draws on her additional practice experience as a child protection social worker.

The paper provides a summary of observations to encourage and support practice improvements within the volunteer tourism industry to better safeguard both volunteers and vulnerable people they may be working with.

A number of clear recommendations are made, including sharing information, improving communication and setting minimum standards, to improve the overall professionalism of the industry.

The paper provides an insightful practitioner perspective to an aspect of the tourism industry that bridges directly into social services, something which it has had little time to prepare for and has seen dramatic growth in the past few years.

This study aims to examine the development of a social enterprise in China’s tourism industry by analyzing the coevolution of the social entrepreneur and the social system.

Purposeful sampling was used to select 1kg.org as a single-case study. Semistructured in-depth interviews of three informants were conducted to obtain organization-specific insights. Interview data were analyzed following structuration theory. Secondary data and interviews of other social entrepreneurs and experts were used to support the findings. Research findings were validated using triangulation and member-checking methods.

Because of the institutional environment, most nonprofit organizations in China do not have resource independence and clear legal identity. Meanwhile, social enterprise has emerged as a new organizational form with the objective of creating social value through profitable business operations.

Social enterprise is still in its infancy in China, particularly in the tourism field. This study reveals an innovative and sustainable model for nonprofit organizations in China facing institutional challenges and competitive funding environments. It provides recommendations to policymakers for improving mechanisms to increase social services through social enterprises.

This study proposes a new conceptual framework for studying social entrepreneurship by adapting structuration theory to address contemporary social and business issues.

Marketing and brand management examples used in classes usually revolve around publicly traded corporations. Students are expected to learn how to deal with branding problems that can arise in new types of organizations as family businesses.

The case study discusses a brand identity and brand management problem facing the Founder of Habiba Community, Maged El Said. Habiba Community is an initiative focusing on sustainability and giving back to community. Many foundations were established under Habiba Community, such as its beach lodge, organic farm and learning center. The beach lodge and organic farm were more familiar to tourists and visitors than the other established foundations. The organic farm produced many organic products sold nationally and internationally. The founder was now faced with the challenge of whether to create one brand identity for Habiba Community as a whole or to go for separate brand identities for each of its foundations.

This case study is developed for students of the bachelor level in marketing and design studies. The case difficulty is regarded as intermediate as it includes new trends and ideas from the field of marketing and branding (as eco-branding and family business branding) and new trends in the tourism service industry (as voluntourism). Courses in which this case study can be used are integrated marketing communication, corporate identity, services marketing and brand management under marketing and graphic design studies. The case study is not designed for earlier courses in marketing and design, as students need to have basic knowledge in marketing and branding beforehand.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 8: Marketing

The purpose of this paper is to summarise the contributions made in this theme issue and draw conclusions about the issue’s key question “Why and how should the international volunteer tourism experience be improved?”, thereby providing a theme issue conclusion.

This paper summarises and critically reviews the seven articles that have contributed to the theme issue.

International volunteer tourism is a growing phenomenon that has received much criticism in the last decade and whilst there are a number of mechanisms to improve the quality of this sector as yet, there is little evidence to support any conclusion that there is wide-scale success in achieving best practice in quality assurance within the sector.

This theme issue explores international volunteer tourism from a range of contributors, academics, a practitioner and a travel writer, who have engaged with a range of stakeholders to offer different perspectives. The theme issue as a whole offers the reader an opportunity to engage in a unique and wide-ranging discourse on quality and international volunteer tourism.

This paper aims to introduce the theme issue question “why and how should the international volunteer tourism experience be improved?”.

An Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded Festival of Social Science event entitled “Pursuing Quality in International Volunteering” was held at the University of Brighton in November 2013. This event brought together academics and practitioners in a successful debate, but it was also recognised that this was the first step on a long journey. The articles in this theme issue are drawn both from attendees at the ESRC event and from the wider international volunteer tourism network of academics and practitioners.

This paper introduces the key stakeholders of international volunteer tourism and the extent to which their voices are prominent (or not) in respect of the issues of achieving quality. Further, the paper highlights a number of quality mechanisms that are offered as solutions to the challenges that currently beleaguer international volunteer tourism.

Whilst not all the key stakeholder voices are represented in this theme issue, the discussions and implications that are drawn out are of importance to all stakeholder groups.

This is the first time a journal issue has focused on the challenges of achieving quality in respect of international volunteer tourism.