Volunteer tourism is a very controversial phenomenon that is one of the most hotly debated topics in tourism research today. It involves untrained, in most cases, individuals travelling across the world to assist in different projects.
One of the most popular types of projects is childcare at orphanages and children refuges. There are certain reports in the media that children are vulnerable, exploited or even rented from their families and placed in such 'care' and kept under conditions that aim to encourage donations from the well-intended volunteers.
After successfully securing a research grant from the Carnegie Trust, Dr Kostas Tomazos (Department of Strategy and Organisation) has just returned from conducting fieldwork in Cambodia as part of a wider project to investigate the dynamics of what is now understood as 'orphan tourism'. This project aims to deconstruct the orphan tourism experience in three stages; the before: Screening process, disclosure and any training provided to participants; the during: Management of the volunteers, how the children are used by the projects, conditions, are the volunteers making a difference and how they feel about the conditions the children live in; the after: What happens after the participation, are the volunteers encouraged to make continuous contributions and what happens to the children once they are older and cannot remain at the orphanage. Dr Tomazos will be presenting his findings at a research seminar on April 29.
Dr Tomazos is also involved in an ESRC seminar series with colleagues from the University of Brighton and the University of Kent aimed at discussing the key dynamics of Volunteer Tourism and the need to articulate a new, improved version of 'Responsible Voluntourism'. The first event was held at the University of Brighton on February 11 with the second seminar being held in Glasgow on March 25. More details are available here.
This concept of 'Responsible Voluntourism' and the opportunities to positively influence this tourism marketplace through SBS accredited e-learning and providing an online 'hub' for information on how to source reputable, ethical volunteer projects was also the basis for a pitch made by Kostas Tomazos and Linda Buchan, Knowledge Exchange Fellow, at a recent Strathclyde 100 event on February 5.