Innovations in Volunteer Tourism A Case Study of Fundraising

Innovations in Volunteer Tourism: A Case Study of Fundraising Adventure Tours By Kevin D. Lyons, EdD The University of Newcastle Australia Background  Decommodification through NGO-based volunteer tourism programs • “For NGOs tourism is not just an „industry‟ or activity undertaken for a „holiday‟ away from home - instead they look to practice a form of tourism with the intention of effecting new and positive attitudes, values and actions in the tourist and the host community” (Wearing et al., 2003, p. 4).  Overlooks the economic viability/sustainability of NGOs • • • Need for volunteers Need for diverse income sources Maintenance of awareness and educational focus  New forms of NGO-driven Tourism calls into question the decommodified agenda that Alternative Tourism proponents champion. Historical and cultural trends  NGOs core business of service and aid balanced with • The rise of leisure-based events and fundraising • Traditional long-term volunteer base diminishing • Rise of short term international volunteering Volunteer Tourism Changing meanings of volunteer tourism and volunteering • Beyond altruism - Volunteer tourist motivation literature (e.g. Broad, 2003; Halpenny & Caissie, 2003; Simpson, 2004; Wearing 2001; Wearing & Deane, 2003) career enhancing, social desirability, normative behaviour. Broader definitional base encompasses a wide range of activities (Lyons, 2003) including those that detach the volunteer from the recipient (Mautner, 2006) such as: • • Online Volunteers • Fundraising adventure tours Fundraising adventures- Characteristics (Mautner 2006) • Also referred to as Charity Challenge • Organised directly by Charitable organisations (NGOs) or indirectly through Commercial Travel agencies. • Involve personal activity and a substantial investment of time on the part of the participant, • Donations do not come from the participant, but from members of his or her social networks. • Destinations almost exclusively in developing nations • Involves physical exertion that commands public admiration and makes people loosen their purse strings • Vary in terms of length of time • Varying amount raised and % used to fund trip • Informal inclusion of volunteer involvement whilst traveling (hands on, presentations and observations) • Typically adventure activity focused (climbing, trekking, cycling). Findings and limitations of Mautner’s study KEY FINDINGS  Private benefits dominates altruistic motives  Highlights the centrality of the Tourist Gaze  Defensively justified  Participants engagement with recipient communities was perfunctory. “. . .apart from the strenuous cycling (a physical effort which, unlike hands-on volunteering, does not directly contribute to getting a job done in the community concerned), they remain very much in the role of distanced philanthropists who donate money and then go to see the difference their money could make” (Mautner, 2006, p. 12). LIMITATIONS    Does not fully consider the notion of detached volunteering where voluntary service spatially and temporally separates from recipient community No examination of the voluntary activity (fundraising) itself and reconciling its detachment Focus upon discourses that emerged on websites of charitable organisations Do fundraising adventures fit within Volunteer Tourism?  “Volunteer tourism is conceptualised as a form of „alternative tourism‟ that views the tourist destination as an interactive space where tourists become creative, interacting volunteers who engage in behaviours that are mutually beneficial to host communities, the cultural and social environment of those communities, and the individual volunteer tourist who takes home an experience which impacts on the self in some way. Volunteer tourism has begun to be recognised as a positive and sustainable alternative form of tourism to consumptive forms of mass tourism which continue to dominate the global tourism industry” (Wearing, 2001, p.5). • • • Does a volunteer tourist need to volunteer while touring? What does detaching volunteering from touring do to the experience? How does this affect the processes of decommodification? Purpose of this study  explore whether the act of fundraising as an act of volunteering, conducted prior to participating in an adventure tour, enabled participants to experience the decommodified frame that has been heralded as the hallmark of volunteer tourism or whether this separation undermines this process. Methodological Notes  Multi-phased research project  Weblog analysis as a form of secondary/retrospective analysis • • • • • • • Advantages and Disadvantages • • • Pilot examination of Participant Weblogs (this presentation) Interviews with NGO representatives Fieldworkobservations Interviews and surveys with larger sample of participants and recipient and host community members  OxFam Challenge Case Since 2001 Groups of 30 Two week duration Commercial Travel Service Visit to recipient communities with optional/variable opportunities to volunteer in situ Oxfam Challenge (2005-2007) Purposive sampling of 25 Weblogs • 12 men/13 women • Ages 24 to 40 (8 unknown) • Blogs pre/during/post event • • Findings – Four related key themes (confirms some of Mautner’s findings)     The Tourist gaze and hedonic pleasures Effort Metaphors Rationalised justifications Temporal and Spatial Variability and balance Tourist Gaze and hedonic physical pleasures  Otherness and authentic experiences • • • It was wonderful to walk over, hands in prayer position, and ask for a photo with them. This road took us through quiet isolated villages where locals lined the road cheering and waving, amused and amazed by this group of Lycra-clad people. Day five was the highlight of the trip for me and many others . . . Dusty full of potholes, puddles rocks and hazards. Adjusting to the heat was difficulty for most . . . Many had heatstroke . . . But we soldiered on. . .  Centrality of the physical act of riding • Effort Metaphor Indirect and Symbolic  Every time I reached a big hill I would tell myself that this was nothing compared to the daily physical challenges some of the local people faced just trying to get water.  I figure that 500 kilometres of riding was worth it. If I had not done this I would not have raised twelve thousand dollars and the projects I had seen put in place, would be just that little bit further behind. Effort Metaphor Direct  We were able to help out for one day in one of the Villages where Oxfam funds we raised was being used. I am a teacher and so I went to the School and helped out with one of the classes. I taught a couple of songs and gave the teacher a bit of a break!  I loved the opportunity to spend that day helping some of the local men. They had just finished putting a new roof on a community hall that will be used as a church, and health clinic. We were able to help out. We loaded a truck with some of the old roof. It was the sort of job that I would normally hate to do, but it was interesting it was such a nice change to being on bicycle seat. Rationalised Justifications    The funds we raised were being used by Oxfam to encourage the development of local industries. So I did not feel guilty about buying 5 scarves . . . We met some other riders who were on a regular tour. I would have felt a lot more uncomfortable visiting these places had I not been involved in raising the money. I know that some of the money I raised was spent on getting me here. But I am OK with that. I put in a lot of hours fundraising. Temporal/Spatial variability and balance Before  It was a great way to get involved. I had never done fundraising. By the time the trip had arrived I was amazed at how much I got out of the fundraising. The trip was a nice reward for the work I had put in.  Pleading and begging for people to give me money was worth it. I could see how even one thousand dollars could go a long way to helping a village getting some basic services like a solar powered hot water. During  We were able to help out for one day in one of the Villages where Oxfam funds we raised was being used. I am a teacher and so I went to the School and helped out with one of the classes. I taught a couple of songs and gave the teacher a bit of a break! I might not have been making huge difference to Cambodia, but I think that teacher appreciated it. After  I look back on the challenge and see that the fundraising itself was in many just as valuable to me as the Cycling. If had only raised the money and not gone on the trip it would not have been as meaningful . . . I got to see how the money I had raised was being used. If I had just gone the trip and not raised the money, I would have felt like an intruder. This was the perfect balance. Definitional Ambiguities: Are they volunteer tourists or packaged tourists in disguise?  Compartmentalising of experience • Pre-trip emphasis on fundraising – altruism is • • strong – shift toward physical adventure During trip – Tourist Gaze, altruism moves to background, service focus only emerged when actually observing or participating in funded projects. Post trip – Re-emergence of more altruistic value (collective memory and recollection theory) but balanced Tentative conclusions   Meets the broad definitions of volunteer tourism but appears far more compartmentalised detaching volunteering from touring Emphasis upon conscious rationalisation  Compartmentalised behaviours suggest that this form of volunteer tourism is not so clearly decommodified behaviour Further Research    Typological broad-based survey research – differences between volunteer tourists and fundraising adventure tourists (psychographic and demographic differences) NGOs relationship with commercial providers – policy, power and ethics issues How are fundraising challenge tours viewed by host communities