Locating the tourist in volunteer tourism

Since the mid-2000s, volunteer tourism has been an increasingly popular topic of academic inquiry, yet most volunteer tourists are unfamiliar with the concept. Drawing on ethnographic research between 2008 and 2010 in Chiang Mai, Thailand among three non-profit, non-governmental organisations that use volunteer tourism as a social and economic development strategy, this research highlights several key points regarding the semantics of volunteer tourism and its implications for the industry. It was found that none of the 40 volunteer tourists interviewed used ‘volunteer tourism’ as a key word search, only one was familiar with the concept and most rejected the ‘tourist’ label. This research furthers our understanding of the complex nature of how volunteer tourism is defined and desired by contemporary tourists as well as how different organisations and sub-sectors may challenge tourist typologies. Additionally, this research highlights the potential implications of the increased commercialisation of volunteering in the tourism industry, as the long-term image of the industry may be threatened by for-profit, commercial enterprises. Ultimately, despite the diversification of tourist products and markets, all tourist-related typologies continue to connote a certain level of superficiality among some groups that can undermine claims of authenticity by the volunteer tourism industry.