The Ethics of Voluntourism

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The Ethics of Voluntourism Abstract In recent years, a growing number of western tourists are abstaining from typical vacations and instead volunteering in underdeveloped countries across Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Often tour companies or volunteer organizations, sell volunteer programs for a couple thousand dollars to prospective volunteers to help build schools, teach, orphanage and wildlife conservation work. This type of volunteer vacation has been coined by experts as “voluntourism” and much like many other forms of travel, there are concerns over its ethics. Drawing from my experience, as a volunteer tourist in Ukunda, Kenya, and more significantly on research gathered from numerous academic journals and news agency sources, this paper will discuss the impacts of “voluntourism”. There are many ethical concerns “voluntourism”, to begin I will discuss how western volunteers are often perceived as embodying a new type of colonial or imperialistic influence, armed with superior knowledge, flown in to assist the “backward” poor to teach what is best. Second, volunteer tourism has become big business, offering a product that makes a difference, but while at the same time commoditizing the local community, and the people or wildlife that are supposed to be helped. Third, I discuss who is actually benefiting from volunteer tourists and if it is an ethical model of development. Finally I discuss views from the other side of the aisle, the benefits of volunteer tourism and the positive growth of the “voluntourist” as a global citizen and the industry as a platform for inter-cultural exchange. Annotated Bibliography * Coren, Nathalie, and Tim Grey. "Commodification of Volunteer Tourism: a Comparative Study of Volunteer Tourists in Vietnam and in Thailand.” International Journal of Tourism Research. 14.3 (2012): 222-234. According to the
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