IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rcitxx/v23y2020i14p1820-1832.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rethinking sustainability in volunteer tourism

Author

Listed:
  • H. Y. Lee
  • J. J. Zhang

Abstract

Volunteer tourism is considered an alternative form of tourism [Wearing, S. (2001). Volunteer tourism: Experiences that make a difference. Cambridge: Cabi Press], which focuses on the possibilities of a more sustainable development. Drawing on research in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia and a fast-growing volunteer tourism destination, this paper challenges some premises of the conventional belief that volunteer tourism is a form of sustainable tourism. Using qualitative interviews with different volunteer tourism stakeholders, this paper examines volunteer tourism practices through the sustainability trinity framework (economy, culture and environment) and also extends the discussion to ethics of care by proposing the sustainability triangular pyramid. In doing so, this paper suggests the input of care can potentially strengthen the three pillars in the sustainability trinity, which might in turn help to build a more resilient future for the individuals and host communities in volunteer tourism as a whole.

Suggested Citation

  • H. Y. Lee & J. J. Zhang, 2020. "Rethinking sustainability in volunteer tourism," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(14), pages 1820-1832, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rcitxx:v:23:y:2020:i:14:p:1820-1832
    DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2019.1653267
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13683500.2019.1653267
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13683500.2019.1653267?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:rcitxx:v:23:y:2020:i:14:p:1820-1832. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/rcit .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.