Volunteer Vacations - Tourism and Economic Impact

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Travelling with a Purpose: Understanding the Motives and Benefits ofVolunteer VacationersSally Brown aa Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

To cite this Article Brown, Sally(2005) 'Travelling with a Purpose: Understanding the Motives and Benefits of VolunteerVacationers', Current Issues in Tourism, 8: 6, 479 496

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Travelling with a Purpose: Understandingthe Motives and Benefits of Volunteer

VacationersSally Brown

Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University,

Indianapolis, Indiana 46231, USA

With the growing trend of volunteer vacations, research has been warranted in regardto understanding the motivational factors of individuals who participate in suchendeavors. With this understanding, the goal is to increase these travel offerings in theindustry, which will bring better understanding between cultures. This study exam-

ines different travel motivation factors for someone who chooses to use part of theirvacation participating in volunteer or humanitarian activities. Considering that mis-sion often has connotations of a religious purpose, the phrase travelling with apurpose brings on even more significance as this concept expands. To understandtravel motivation in general, a variety of scales and theories have been researched.Maslow, Dann, Iso-Ahola, Plog and Pearce are some included in the Literature Review.A qualitative focus group and semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted.The analysis of the data revealed that four main themes for why people traveled with apurpose emerged. Cultural immersion was a strong objective; the desire to give back;the camaraderie that occurs on volunteer vacations; and the fourth theme focused onfamily. Non-verbal communication and bonding occurs at several levels with the localpeople and family members. This is a good example of cultivating peace through tour-

ism.

Keywords: volunteer tourism, travel motivation factors, benefits, impacts

Introduction

The concept of volunteer tourism is a growing trend in the tourism industryand is starting to draw attention from researchers and marketers alike (Wearing,2003). In the United States, for instance, a broad variety of organisations offervolunteer vacations. They vary from tour operators to non-profit organisations.One of the longest published guides to these organisations, Volunteer Vacations,

by Bill McMillon etal., listed only 75 such organisations in its first edition in 1987(Campbell, 1999). In its newest edition, published in 2003, the number of organi-sations increased to 275. These organisations offer a wide spectrum of volunteervacation experiences. Volunteer vacation destinations range from local toregional to global reach. Volunteer vacation costs range from $100 and under to$3000andabove,withprojectlengthfromunderoneweektosixmonthsormore.Whilesummer appears tobe the most predominant travelseason, therearepack-ages and programmes provided in all seasons.

Analysing how an organisation positions itself within the volunteer tourismsector may reveal factors that influence a potential tourists organisational choice.

The organisational types of volunteer vacation experience suppliers are comprisedof a mix of non-profit organisations and for-profit tour operators. Some examples

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are Cross-Cultural Solutions (www.crossculturalsolutions.org), The AmericanHikingSociety (www.americanhiking.org), and Earthwatch (www.earthwatch.org). Types of projects offered for volunteers vary widely and include agricul-ture, archaeology, community development, conservation, construction, education

and teaching, environmental protection and research, technical assistance,historic preservation, medicaland dental,work camps. Thenature of volunteervacation offerings appear to be closely allied with the organisations respectivemissions and mandates. For instance, Ambassadors for Children (AFC), anot-for-profit charitable organisation based in Indianapolis, Indiana, offersglobal volunteer opportunities by providing trip opportunities for hands-oninteraction with disadvantaged childrenof theworld, balancedby opportunitiesfor sightseeing and experiencing the native culture of the destination (www.ambassadorsforchildren.com). AFC has facilitated volunteer activities for passen-gers travelling to destinations like Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic,

Kenya,Haiti, Ecuador, Peru, Alaska,Vietnam,Belize,Guatemala, Native Ameri-canReservations, and other communitiesin need. Habitat forHumanity Interna-tional seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world.Volunteers build houses together in partnership with families in need. GlobalVolunteers offer opportunities that include teaching conversation English,nurturing at-risk infants and children, renovating and painting community

buildings, assisting with healthcare, and natural resource projects. Other organi-sations are geared more towards ecotourism such as Catalina Island Conser-vancy and Wilderness Volunteers, both giving back through stewardship oforganising and promoting volunteer services. The commonalityof the volunteer

vacation suppliers appears to be the singularity of volunteering theme-focusedexperiences that reinforce organisations overall mission.

Despite the growing popularity of volunteer tourism, systematic academicresearch in this field, particularly from the perspectives of the volunteer vacation-ers, is still in its infancy stage. Preliminary research appears to suggest that volun-teer tourism can take two different forms based on participants mindsets: thevolunteer-minded versus the vacation-minded (Brown & Morrison, 2003). Thevolunteer-minded individuals tend to devote most or allof theirvacation time tovolunteer activities at the destination. Volunteerism is the central notion for them.This type of volunteer tourism is often called a mission or service trip. The second

form of volunteer tourism takes on a lighter undertone where the individual islargely vacation-minded, but spends a small portion of the vacationon volunteerwork at the destination. The term VolunTourism refers to this type of tourismexperience where a tour operator offers travellers an opportunity to participate inan optional excursion that has a volunteer component, as well as a culturalexchange with local people. These brief encounters have often proved to be thehighlight of the individuals vacations. This latter form of volunteer tourism hasgainedpopularityamong tourists. While this classificationschemetakes a simplis-tic approach, it provides a baseline for typology development of volunteer tour-ists. While there has been increasing research on volunteerism which sheds

insights on motivational and destination choice factors of the volunteer-minded service trip participants, very little research has been conducted on thevacation-minded volunteer tourists. There is lack of conceptualisation andfundamentalunderstanding ofwhy individualstakepart involunteer work while

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on a vacation trip. What motivates them? What benefits do they derive from thevolunteer experience? What are the highlights of the volunteering experience?How do the volunteer activities influence their overall vacation experience andsatisfaction? As a result, more research is warranted to fully understand this

growing form of volunteer tourism.The focus of this research was on the vacation-minded volunteer vacation-

ers. The purpose of this study was to examine the motives that drive vacationersto participate in some form of volunteer or humanitarian activities while on aleisure vacation trip and the benefits that the volunteer tourists derive from theexperience. This study also sought to broker the link betweenmotivations for thegeneral form of tourism and those for the volunteer vacationing. The outcome ofthis research was expected to contribute to better understanding of the destina-tion choices and tourism experiences sought, thus bearing important implica-tions for organisations that are targeting this particular market segment.

Literature Review

The literature review of this study was intended to provide some contextualbackground for the research. It centred around two key components of volunteervacation: the tourism component and the volunteer component. More specifi-cally, it dealt with the general leisure travel motivations and how they pertain toand interplay with volunteer tourism.

Motivational scales

To understand travel motivation, a variety of scales and theories have beenproposed andempirically testedin tourismliterature.Theimportanceof motiva-tion in tourism is quite obvious. It acts as a trigger that sets off all the eventsinvolved in travel (Parrinello, 2002). Many researchers have used motivationaltheory to try to interpret the motivations of tourists. On the premise that motiva-tions derive from a real or perceived need, it is justifiable to analyse touristchoices of destinations and activities as a consequence of need deficiency (Burns& Holden, 1995). Maslows hierarchy of needs self-actualisation, esteemneeds, love needs, safety needs, and physiological needs forms the basis forfurther development and applications to understand travel behaviour and

demand for tourism (Maslow, 1954, 1970). The decision to visit a destination is acomplex amalgam of needs, motivating an individual to set and prioritise goalsin a belief that achieving these will satisfy the perceived needs. One of the mainreasons for the popularity of Maslows hierarchy of needs is probably its simplic-ity (Hudson, 1999). This hierarchy could be related to the travel industry in thesense that unless individuals have theirphysiological andsafety needs met, theyare less likely to be interested in travelling the world to make a difference.Self-actualisation can, in fact, be considered the end or goal of leisure (Mill &Morrison, 2002). Vacations offer an opportunity to re-evaluate and discovermore about the self, to act out ones self-image as a way of modifying or correct-

ing it. Echoing Maslow, Pearce (1982, 1993) suggested that travel behaviourreflected a hierarchy of five levels of travel motives. The five levels of the TravelCareer Ladder are: relaxation; stimulation; relationship; self-esteem/develop-ment; and fulfillment. As with a career at work, people start at different levels

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and are likely to change levels during their lifetime. Pearce explicitly recognisedthat tourists travel motivation can be self-directed or other-directed; they do notalwaysseekthesametypeoffulfillmentfromtravel,andthatpeoplecandescendas well as ascend on the ladder. To what extent tourists do so from one trip to the

next, or whether this only occurs over longer time periods, is not quite as clear(Oppermann, 2000).

Classifying tourists into different typologies is an approach to linkpsycholog-ical motives to behaviour. The earliest model that forms the basis of tourismtypology theory was established by Stanley Plog (1974). He constructed a cogni-tive-normative model based upon psychographic types. At one end of thecontinuum are psychocentric tourists and at the other end allocentric tourists.The allocentrics are explorers and adventure seekers, who tend to choose remoteand untouched (by tourists) destinations. Middle-centrics are likely to displaycharacteristics of a limited adventurer, but they want home comforts. It is this

group that represents the mass tourist market. Psychocentrics dislike destina-tions that offer unfamiliarity or insecurity. It is suggested that the psychocentricis dominated by safety needs.

Dann (1977) made a significant contribution in suggesting a two-tiered schemeof motivational factors: the push and the pull. The push factors social-psycho-logical motives that drive the desire to travel. The pull factors are external factorsthat affect where a person travels to fulfil the identified needs or desires. Dannsuggested that anomie and ego-enhancement were the basic underlining reasonsfor travel. Crompton (1979) agreed with Danns basic idea of push and pullmotives but went further to identify nine motives for travel. They were:

the escape from a perceived mundane environment; exploration and evaluation of self; relaxation; prestige; regression; enhancement of kinship relationships; facilitation of social interaction; novelty; and education.

He classified the first seven motives as push factors, and the last two as pullfactors. There was no mention of the need for the authenticity of the destination.Mayo and Jarvis (1981) suggested that travel motivations could be divided intofour categories: physical motivations such as rest, cultural motivations such asthe desire for knowledge, interpersonal motivations such as the desire to meetpeople, and status and prestige motivations such as the desire for recognition.

In 1983, Beach and Ragheb developed a model called the LeisureMotivationalScale, which sought to summarise motivators into four components, based onthe work of Maslow. The four types of components were intellectual, social,competence-mastery, and stimulus-avoidance.

The most recent motivational theories are founded on very complex interac-tive models, which are based on personal and situational factors (Graumann,1981; Schmalt, 1996). Behaviours are increasingly associated with life satisfac-tion, or perceived quality of life (Kernan & Unger, 1987). Kernan and Domzal



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(2001) believe that people express who/what they are, to themselves and toothers, by engaging in actionleisure activities. Swarbrooke and Horner (2003)

believe the main factors determining an individual tourists motivation are prob-ably: personality, lifestyle, past experience, past life, perceptions and image.

Changes which occur in an individuals life stage may also have an impact ontravel motives. Having a child, an increase or reduction in income, worseninghealth, and changing expectations or experiences as a tourist are circumstancesthat will affect motivation. Swarbrooke and Horner stated that no tourists arelikely to be influenced by just one motivator. They are more likely to be affected

by a number of them at any one time. Bello and Etzel (1985) investigated the roleof novelty in pleasure travel. They argued that people with a low level ofarousal in their daily routines seek a higher level of arousal in their vacation (anovel trip), whereas those people who lead a hectic, fast-paced life with frequentproblems and challenges seek vacations that provide a minimum of stimulation

and/or a familiar environment. Similarly, Wang (2000) emphasised thatholidaymaking is an institution of escape. It is freedom from the modernisedmode of existence that is associated with rigid schedules, deadening routines,and stressful deadlines. People on holiday have entry into an alternative track oftemposandrhythms.Theyhavefreedomtochange.Themotivationtotravelistohave a specific lifestyle separate from the routines of daily life.

Understanding tourism motivation is important. It acts as a trigger that setsoff all the events involved in travel (Parrinello, 2002). In other words, it repre-sents the whys and the wherefores of travel in general, or of a specific choice inparticular. The extensive literature on leisure travel motivation provides a solid

theoretical background and some guidelines forstudying the volunteer vacationphenomenon in this general tourism motivational context.

Volunteering and volunteer vacations

Volunteering has been a buzzword for some time for many socially orientedindividuals both in the US and throughout the world. According to the USBureau of Labor Statistics, 63.8 million people volunteered from September 2002to September 2003, an almost 7% increase from the previous year. Women aremore likely than men tovolunteer,and individuals between the ages of35and 44years old make up the largest group of volunteers (Kellicker, 2004). Stebbins

defines volunteering as un-coerced help offered either formally or informallywith no or, at most, token pay done for the benefit of both the people and thevolunteer. Similarly, other definitions of volunteering have included the recog-nition that volunteers are those who provide assistance, or unpaid service,usually for the benefit of the community (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1986).Others emphasise the characteristics of the action perceived as freely chosen,without financial gain and generally aimed at helping others (Stebbins, 1982,1992; Van Til, 1979).

In terms of the volunteering process, the American model, proposed byLeopold (2000) starts with what is needed and then recruits volunteers to do the

work. In Europe there is a membership tradition where everything starts withthemembers.Itisuptothememberstodecidewhattodo.Regardless,volunteer-inghasbeen viewed as beneficial to the well-being of the volunteers (Cnaan etal.,1996; Stebbins, 1982; Thoits & Hewitt, 2001). Volunteering gives participants a



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sense of purpose, provokes serious contemplation, encourages concern forothers, provides the opportunity to further an interest, and generates a sense ofdeep personal fulfilment (Stebbins & Graham, 2004). Stebbins (1992)suggests thatvolunteering bears durable benefits for the volunteer such as self-actualisation,

self-enrichment, recreation or renewal of self, feelings of accomplishment,enhancement of self-image, self-expression, social interaction and belongingness.Thoits and Hewitt (2001) empirically examine how volunteering affects six differ-ent dimensions of well being: levels of happiness; life satisfaction; self-esteem;sense of control over life; physical health; and depression. Their research revealsthat people who are in better physical and mental health are more likely to volun-teer, and conversely that volunteer work is good for both mental and physicalhealth.People ofallageswho volunteerarehappierandexperience betterphysicalhealth and less depression. Broad (2003) suggested that volunteers were moreopen to positive attitude changes when exposed to a different culture, which may

explain why volunteers frequently reported becoming more broad-minded,content, and relaxed, and less selfish and psychocentric as outcomes of volunteer-ing, along with a changed way of looking at the world.

Stebbins (1982, 1992, 2004) has conducted some pioneering work in concep-tualising volunteerism in the context of leisure. There continues to be muchresearch in regardto serious leisure volunteers andtheirmotivation to volunteeras wellas the fulfilment theyderive from theirdiverse pursuits.Stebbins believesthat the motivational reasons and socioeconomic conditions vary vastly withdifferent demographic categories of people taking up volunteering. Each cate-gory is rather differently motivated, but the twin motives of altruism and

self-interest arecommonto all categories. In his consideration of seriousleisure,Stebbins points out that it is an important part of peoples lives in its relation topersonal fulfilment, identity enhancement and self-expression (1982).

Since volunteering in many cases involves some form of travel, the phenome-non has been examined closely in the context of tourism. The term volunteertourism refers to tourists who volunteer in an organised way to undertake holi-days that involve aiding or alleviating the material poverty of some groups insociety, the restoration of certain environments, or research into aspects ofsociety or environment (Wearing, 2001). Volunteer tourism has also beenviewed as a form of alternative tourism or ecotourism emphasising the sustain-

able, responsible and educational undertone of the activity (Moskowitz, 1995;Wearing, 2001). Wheelan (1991), for instance, suggested that ecotourists repre-sent a potential army of recruits with free time and money to spend on sustain-able development efforts. Further, volunteer tourism experience has beenviewed as a contextual platform for the intertwining interactions among theecotourism element, the volunteer element, and the serious leisure element(Stebbins, 1982, 1992; Wearing, 2001).

Travelling overseas as a volunteer appears to have begun around 1915(Beigbeder, 1991; Clark, 1978; Darby, 1994; Gillette, 1968). Although most of theliterature in this field has focusedon profiling the volunteeringtourist ( Brown &

Morrison, 2003; Wearing, 2003), there hasbeenincreasing interest in understand-ing vacation volunteers motives and the benefits derived. Exploratory researchon volunteer vacationers suggests that their motivations appear to be similar tolong-term volunteers, but the relative value of various factors can differ, with



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self-actualisation being very important for short-term volunteers (Gazley, 2001).Brown and Morrison (2003) propose that a volunteer vacation helps heal corpo-rate burnout by providing the individual with a sense of accomplishmentoutside the workplace. The role of peace appeared to be another discussed

benefit. And, according to Bud Philbrook (pers comm), president and CEO ofGlobal Volunteers, volunteer service engenders hope and friendship, both ofwhichare crucial to waging peace: The more people volunteer allover the worldand make friends with local people, the more peaceful the world will be.

However, alongside service trips or mission trips, where the primarypurpose of the trip is volunteering and individuals spend the majority of the tripparticipating in volunteer work at the destination, there is also a lighter form ofvolunteer vacation that is gaining popularity. Here, the main purpose of the tripremains largelyas a leisurely vacation, but the tourists also spend a smallcompo-nent of their leisure time on volunteer work at the destination. This form of

volunteer vacation, although not a new practice, has gained increasing popular-ity.Ratherthantakingupatripjustforvolunteerwork,thesegroupsofindividu-als join leisure-orientedvacation packages that providea volunteering componentas part of the itinerary.

Tourism theories and research have ranged from micro-social-psychologicalexplanations to macro-social explorations concerning the globalisation of touristvenues. Given the rise of volunteer tourism, tourism practitioners have begun tostrategically incorporate volunteering activities into their product planning.Some market-sensitive travel companies are offering leisure tour packages withoptional excursions that allow tourists to participate in volunteer work.However, empirical research for this type of volunteer vacation is very limited.Many questions remain to be answered. For instance, what motivates vacation-ers to spend part of their vacation working at the destination? Are their motiva-tions similar to the service trip or mission trip volunteers? What benefits dovacationers derive from participating in volunteer activities? And what are thehighlights of the volunteer experience? Does the volunteer experience enhancethe overall vacation experience? This research, therefore, was aimed at furtherexploration of these important issues.

Study Objectives

The objectives of this study were threefold. They were to discover:

(1) What are the motivational push factors that drive some leisure tourists toseek volunteer experience during their leisure trip? To what extent do thesemotives differ or coincide with the general tourism motives?

(2) What are the perceived benefits that vacation tourists derive from partici-pating in volunteering activities at the destination? To be more specific,what are the immediate impacts participacting has on the overall vacation

satisfaction? To what extent does it transcend the temporal boundary andexert long-term influence on the individuals?

(3) What are the highlights of the vacation experience with a volunteeringcomponent?



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This research utilised members of the Ambassador Travel Club (ATC, based inIndiana) as a case base for exploring the above study objectives. Given the factthat ATCs members are fairly representative of US volunteervacationers, it washoped that the results of this study could be of some general value.

Methods

This research adopted focus group and in-depth personal interviewapproaches, instead of a more quantitative approach such as structured surveys.The researchers believe this is an area of investigation that is at its exploratorystage. There are no proven measurements or theories for researching this partic-ular phenomenon. In addition, unlike traditional quantitative research, focusgroup andin-depth personal interviews arecentrally concernedwith understand-ing attitudes rather than measuring them. In an academic sense, the goal ofa focus

group or personal interview is also to gain access to more inclusive sets of feel-ings and emotions that a structured instrument could not capture. Theseresearch methods are more direct, sensitive, and interactive in nature in assess-ing attitudes, motivations and opinions. Thus, it was believed that qualitativeresearch methods would facilitate better in-depth understanding of motiva-tional factors of volunteer vacationers instead of merely obtaining the distantpanoramic view through quantitative channels. It was hoped that that theseapproaches would draw out the motivational factors behind the top of mindopinionswhichiscriticaltounderstandingwhatisdrivingvolunteervacation.

A focus group session was conducted in May 2004. The focus group was

composed of nine people with ages ranging from 40 to 72: four males and fivefemales. All were married. The focus group attendees were from a variety of lifesituations ranging from an engineer, healthcare consultant, and business owner,to a retiree, stay-home mother, and community volunteer. While universityeducation appeared to be the norm for the group, the participants educational

background varied by level from high school education to PhD. The diversity inbackgrounds of the participants was intended to reveal different insights andopinions on thevolunteer tourismissue. A fewcommonalitiesbroughtthegrouptogether. They all had extensive leisure travel experiences. They had a sharedinterest and passion for travel. All had participated in volunteer work whileon a

leisure trip. The volunteer experience ranged from visiting an orphanage andvolunteering at local hospitals to participating in Habitat for Humanity projects.The volunteering experiences occurred during leisure vacation trips but thevolunteering locations varied from domestic destinations such as New Mexicoand Alaska to international destinations such as Guatemala, Cuba, and Brazil.

The focus group participants were asked to share their thoughts. The discus-sion centred around three issues:

(1) Why would an individual become involved with using part of his or hervacation for volunteering activities? What are his or her motivations?

(2) What are the highlights of the volunteer experience?(3) Whatarethe benefitsand impactsof the vacation volunteeringexperiences?

In order to separate motivational factors from beneficial factorsresulting fromvolunteer vacation experience, we conducted a second focus group session that



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was made up of three males and three females who were first-time participantsof volunteer vacation. This focus group was conducted in June 2004, before theindividuals departed for their first volunteer vacation trip. Both focus groupsessions were video and audio-taped. Transcripts were made by a graduate

research assistant who was also present at both focus group sessions.Following the focus group sessions, the researchers conducted 10 in-depth

personal interviews with individualswho had participated in volunteerwork onavacation trip. The interview sessions lasted approximately 30 minutes each andwere audio-taped and subsequently transcribed. The purposes of supplementingthe focus group sessions with in-depth interviews were three fold: (1) it was feltthat in-depth personal interview allows more time and space for personal reflec-tion on the part of the interviewee; (2) it was logistically flexible to include andcapture the viewpoints of the younger individuals that felt underrepresented inthe focus group sessions; and (3) employing a multi-method approach (focus

group plus in-depth personal interview), researchers could cross-validate thethemes and patterns of the findings from the focus group sessions. Based on thereviewof literature in volunteerism andvolunteer tourism, as well as the results ofthe focus group session, the personal interviews took on a semi-structured formatwith a list of 15 open and semi-open questions that centred on motivationalfactors and impacts of volunteer vacation. All 25 study subjects were members ofAmbassador Travel Club, the largest travel club in the US, and were recruited toparticipate in the study on a voluntary basis.

The researchers considered different approaches for the text data analysis.Text analysis software tools such as CATPAC were initially considered.

However, the researchers felt that the computer-aided, more quantifyingapproach does not seem to handle well the complexity of language context, thedynamics of the group interaction and the richness of relationships revealed inthe text data. As a result, a decision was made to use the more traditionalapproach of content analysis. Both researchers analysed the transcripts simulta-neously but independently. The results were later compared and compiledtogether. This effort, while more time consuming, resulted in a more consistentinterpretation of the text data and increased the reliability of the study.

Results

The motivator: Why volunteer while on vacation?

Using the multi-method approach, four major motivational themes appear totake shape concerningwhy individualsvolunteer whileon a leisure trip: culturalimmersion, giving back, seeking camaraderie and seeking educational and

bonding opportunities.

Cultural immersionWhen asked, Why volunteer while on vacation? it was found that being able

to physically and emotionally immerse oneself in the local culture and commu-

nity is a strong motivational factor. It was a common sentiment from the researchsubjects thatparticipating in volunteerwork provided the travellers with invalu-able opportunities to immerse themselves in a local culture to a degree thatwould not be possible without the first-hand interaction with the local people



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andcommunity through volunteer work. These volunteering experiencesenabletravellers to experience and learn beyond the typical tourism platform, whereone is surrounded by staged settings typified by beautiful beaches and fancyresorts, to see the people as they really are, their lives and their living environ-

ment. It appeared that volunteer travellers tended to attach strong value toseeking and experiencing authenticity of a place. They also demonstrated theirinsatiable curiosity about other people and places and their belief that workingand interacting with the local people and communities leads to opportunities to

become immersed in local culture and connect with the local people in a moreprofound way. As a result, long-term relationships and friendships were built

between the hosts and the visitors as testified by the participants:

Im a doer, you know. I like to do stuff for people and it gave me a chance todothat.Andalso,youknow,asotherpeoplesaid,toreallygetimmersedintothe community and I think when you work with people you really can seethe real aspects of the population there much more so than, you know, in ahotel lobby. And so on even if you are friendly and outgoing and so on, you

justdontget to reallyknowwhat peoples lives are like and this gaveus suchan opportunity to do that and get acquainted and make relationships.

Giving back and making a differenceThe second motivational theme that emerged was the desire to give back and

reachouttothelessprivileged.Manyparticipantsfeltthattheydowellinlifeandwanted to give back. Spending time to help people in need is a good way to justdo that. A trip with a purpose is appealing to participants because it offers them

a chance to help with the less fortunate insteadof pure self-enjoyment. It appearsindividuals who are seeking a purpose-driven life as put by one of the focusgroup participants, are drawn to the notion that volunteer vacation serves as ameans to give back to society.

So I decided to do it because I do well in life and I like to give back. I enjoydoing that kind of work and so I think my main reason was its time to startgiving back again.

My daughter and I went. My husband and I have been lucky enough totravela lot, and I just got to thinking that its really nice togo justand lay onthe beach and have people wait on you and I really enjoy it, dont get mewrong. And we also enjoyed immersing yourself in the culture throughtaking bicycle trips but it just seemed to be kind of selfish, so I thoughtmaybe it would be nice to be a little unselfish.

Seeking camaraderieA third motivational themeattests to the camaraderie that is sought on volun-

teer vacations.Forwell-travelledindividuals, these trips bring together themostenjoyable groups, according to half of the study subjects. Meeting and interact-ing with people from the same travel group who share common interests and

values appear to be major motives behind volunteer vacation. Many interview-ees andfocus group members concurred that travelling with people with similarminds and making friends certainly added value and enjoyment to the overallleisure trip experience. Working with fellow group members in the volunteer



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portion of a trip is invariably delightful. It helped building friendships andbonds that last a life time, as one participant put it. Another summarised hisperspective as follows:

And you know you are working side by side with a lot of good people. Italso shows other cultures that Americans are willing to give in a physicalway, in terms of getting down and dirty. Folks from Guatemala were taken

back by the fact we were working. I think it is just another way of makingourselves ambassadors for the good people in our society.

Seeking camaraderie appeared to be a sentiment voiced by the majority of thefirst focus group as a stronger motivator for volunteer vacations. However,consideringthefirst focus group participants were composed of individuals whohad various levels of prior volunteer vacation experiences, the researchers wereconcerned that seekingcamaraderiecouldbe attributedmore to a benefit factor

thana motivational factor. That is, would individualsactually choosevolunteervacation because they anticipate building new friendships or was it a benefitrealised in retrospect resulting from the vacation volunteer experience? Theresearchers conducted a second focus group with six individuals prior to theirfirst volunteer vacation. The second focus group appeared to confirm thatmeeting with and having a good time with people of similar interests was one ofthe motivational aspects that they were looking forward to. As one participantput it: It is about blending good hard work and volunteering with some funactivities wrapped around it and know that therewill be some pretty neat peopledoing the same thing.

Seeking educational and bonding opportunities for childrenThe volunteervacationers appear to be also motivated by the educationaland

family-bonding opportunities that volunteer vacation experience presents. Inthe case where volunteer vacationers travelled with their children, informantsagreed that the volunteerexperience was an opportunity forthem to imparttheirvalue system to their children. They believed that the volunteer experience theyshared with their children can teach children that there are people in the worldwho are less fortunate, that there is broad diversity in the world, and that mate-rial items should be of minimal importance. Informants also believe that the

volunteer experience helps teach children the value of giving, an importantcomponent in life. It is apparent that participating in volunteer work with chil-dren while on vacation is perceived as having an educational component for theyounger generation as testified by one participant:

Well, in conjunction with the fatherdaughter bonding quality time tospend with my daughter, the thing that appealed about Ambassadors forChildren for me was that many of our children live in a privileged worldcompared to the rest of the world. And I wanted my daughter to under-stand the environment, the social issues, the lack of any kind of parentingthat some of these children are exposed to, just to give her a better under-

standing of the world outside, of course, the sheltered environment thatmany of us live in. And Ambassadors for Children sort of fit that bill. It wassomething that I could actively participate in instead of serving on acommittee. That attracted me to Ambassadors for Children initially and



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now it is that I can have hands-on experience with the children and sharethose experiences with my family also.

Another related, but distinct, motivational factor is seeking better bondingopportunitieswithchildren. Volunteering together withchildren appears to be avery good interacting context for parents and their children and/or grandchil-dren.Formanyintervieweesandfocusgroupmembers,itisveryimportanttobeable to spend quality time with lovedones,especially children or grandchildren,and taking a volunteer vacation together appears to enable them to achieve thatgoal.A volunteerexperience builds a special shared experience with children, asechoed by one father:

Initially I became involved with Ambassadors for Children because Im afatherand I havedaughters.And there weresomanythingsI could dowithmy son athletically. I coached sports. Im involved obviously in games and

things with my son all the time. But for a father sometimes there are limitshow he can interact with his daughters. So I wanted to look at somethingmy daughter and I could do together other than going to the mall or goingshopping or going to the beach. So I looked into Ambassadors for Childrenand thats how I initially got involved in it.

The benefits and impact of volunteer vacations

It appears to be consensual among all participants that the volunteer compo-nentof the vacation became, infact, the highlight of the total vacation experience:

This personal interaction with the family, and theirobvious appreciation ofhaving a home and having people that they didnt know willing to helpthem that made the whole experience.

I think again that the self-fulfillment and the memories you bring back ofwhat happened between you and the people that you met to me arewonderful. And you think of travel and the beautiful sites youve seen, butthe kids faces are the most beautiful.

I think the vacation was fun! I just think it (the volunteer experience) wasanother element to bring to it that was even neater. It just gave you a little

more culture and that puts you in direct touch with the people and thathelps you talk to them a little more. It was a lot of fun.

I think theres a great number of people who are looking for new experi-ences. In other words you can only lay on the beach so many times, you canonlystayinnicehotelsomanytimesandalthoughthatsgoodanditsgoodto get away I think people many people are looking for new experiencesand heres an opportunity for you to travel to have a vacation experienceand at the same time take a small time out of that vacation experience anddo something that is meaningful, and do something that last in your

memory and do something that makes a difference.The volunteering component of the leisure vacation seems to have become a

vacation experience enhancer in multiple ways. First, meeting and interactingwith people with shared interests from the same travel group has added value to



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the overall leisure trip experience. It was brought out repeatedly that partici-pants genuinely enjoyed the interaction and group dynamics of their travelcompanies. This type of travel companionship and interaction appears toenhance the enjoyment of the overall leisure trip. Second, volunteer vacationers

discovered that material needs were of minimal importance and the little thingsthat happen such as the exchange of love, care, curiosity, understanding, andappreciation were the highlights of their trips. Third, in a broader sense, thevolunteer vacationers became the ambassadors for their own country. Thehelping and commitment appeared to provide a window for internationalcommunities to understand the American people, projectingthe friendly, gener-ous and helpful American image as was attested by one informant.

. . . But I always want the children to know and understand that were fromthe US, that we represent American people that were being Americaninterest there . . . People have done things for them that they didnt have todo. Theyve taken their time their money and their energy to help thesepeople. And maybe some day that will make a difference. Maybe instead ofsomeone having bad thoughts about the US they can remember there werepeoplethatcamehereformeandhelpedmefromadentalstandpoint,froma medical standpoint, from a clothing standpoint, or whatever, and maybetheywonthavesuchanegativebiastowardstheUSlikesomanypeopledothese days.

When asked whether there were any enduring benefits or impacts from theirvolunteer vacation experiences, the study participants also agree that the impact

permeates beyond the vacation trip itself. A sense of self fulfilment and personalgrowth are among the most mentioned enduring effects:

You go thinking you are going to help people makes their lives better. Butyou end up getting far more out of it than you put in. It is a real blessing.

I dont know how to put it into words but it went above and beyond myexpectations I guess. What I expected to get out of it and how it still affectsme today three years later and my friend that went with me how itschanged her life dramatically its just one of those things that blows meaway when I look back it was just a beginning point for what I can seemyself doing in the future and for her as well.

Another common sentiment is that the shared volunteering experienceappeared to have an enduring effect on enhancing family relationships.

Well its helped me to in some ways to communicate with my children thatthe life that they have is a very privileged life and a lot of people dont haveeven the percentage of opportunity or life that theyre able to enjoy. I dontthink children get that by seeing it on television, I think children have tohave a personal relationship with particularly young children have to have

personal experiences to help you communicate with them.The one thing that I do notice is we have a lot of stuff around the house.Weve collected bits and pieces. But stuff that weve gotten on these tripshasfairlyprominentlocationsandallofittendstosay,ah...thatwasaneat



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experience. They are reminders. Theres a Guatemalan embroidery here,and a Cuban picture there, and a picture from Brazil.

Its a great shared experiences when you get back to, you know, talk aboutit. When we talked and shared pictures with friends and so on to rememberthe,youknowevenifwedidntalwaysdothesamething.Wewerethereatthe same time and saw a lot of the same things and met a lot of the samepeople and had very much the same feelings. Thats a neat thing to shareand compare.

Many informants also emphasised the realisation of the stark differences inmaterial life: how privileged we are versus them. The transcending effect isespecially apparent among the younger informants. In the individual in-depthinterview sessions with individuals in their teens and early 20s, informantsagreed that the volunteering experience went beyond their expectations for the

trip, and impacted their lives in a profound way. For instance, several interview-ees said that their future career choices would be influenced as a result of theirvolunteering experiences.

It challenged me. It opened my eyes to other parts of the world. My passionfor children and missionary work has grown. My friend who went with meis now in Uganda on a mission! It just brings you back that basic humanitywitheverythingelsestrippedaway,wearejustthesameandthatisexcitingand encouraging. I see them in Gods eyes. Were all the same. We have thesame needs, the same wants, the same desires and same fears. They want

family just as much as I do.

Discussions and Conclusion

Using qualitative focus group and personal interview approaches, this studyexamined the motivational and benefit factors of volunteer tourism from theperspectives ofvacationers who spenda small proportion of their trip volunteer-ing at the destination. More specifically, we sought to understand what theunderlying psychological factors are and whether they are similar to or differentfrom two phenomena: (1) volunteerism those of pure missionary or servicetrips where individuals devote the entire or the majority of their time to volun-

teer work, and (2) mainstream tourism where individuals travel for pure leisurepurposes. The goal of the research was to broker the linkages between volunteervacation motives,mainstreamtourismmotives, andvolunteerism travelmotives.

The findings of this research appear to suggest some similarities as wellas differences between the volunteer-minded travellers and the vacation-minded travellers. The motivations of the volunteer vacationers appear to beconforming to some degree to volunteering motives in general in such aspects aspersonal fulfilment, identity enhancement and self-expression (Stebbins,1982, 1992, 2004), promoting peace (Philbrook, pers comm) and culturalexchange(Broad, 2003). However, this study also revealed factors that appear to

be specific to the phenomenon of volunteer vacationing. For instance, volunteervacationers appear to attach high values to the opportunities for educating chil-dren and bonding with family members.Seeking camaraderie also appears to bea strong sentiment that is reflected in both motivational and benefit discussions



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among the participants. Further, volunteer vacationers seem to be driven bysenseofadventureanddesiresforexplorationandnovelty,thatarenotaspromi-nent with the more serious volunteer travellers. Borrowing Plogs (1974) theori-sation, the volunteer vacationers can also be labelled as allocentrics explorers

and adventure seekers, who tend to choose remote and untouched destinations.While both groups have demonstrated certain altruistic motives, the notion ofaltruism for the volunteer vacationers is much less apparent. Using anethnographic case study approach, Broad (2003) examined the relationship

between volunteers, their volunteering experiences and the outcomes that even-tuated. Broads study subjects were serious volunteers in Phuket, Thailand. Hisstudy found that just under two-thirds of volunteers were motivated by analtruistic desire to help, although other motives similar to the volunteer vaca-tioners were also present such as workingwith like-minded people, ora desire todevelop personality as a result of volunteering. Interestingly, serious volunteers

also indicated that their volunteering was at least partly motivated by a desire totravel and a chance to experience a new culture.

This study also revealedsome intriguing patternsof the interplay betweenthegeneral leisure travel motivation and motivational factorsunderliningvolunteervacation. It appears that the motivational factors for volunteer vacation inter-twine with multiple layers of general leisure vacation motivation. While volun-teer vacationers demonstrate that there is a definite notion of self-actualisationand authenticity, the highest level of needs as per Maslows hierarchy of needstheory, the volunteer vacationers appear to also be strongly motivated by

lower-level factors such as love and social needs as well as learning needs.Another interesting observation is that the volunteer vacation motivationalfactors appear to follow the directional argument about self- and others-directedmotivations, as proposed by Pearce (1982) in his travel career ladder model.Thisinvestigation showedthat themotivational factorswere largelydriven fromtwo different aspects: self-directed acquaint, learn, feel better, self-actualise;other-directed help, connect, understand. The benefits resulting from the volun-teer vacation experience also seem to align with the directional argument. Theycan be grouped as self-enhancement (such as becoming a better person) andother-enhancement (such as imparting values on children).

This study also adds a new dimension to this post-modern tourism phenome-non and is in line with trends that mass tourism is in more of a spiritual searchand a desire for travel opportunities that increase the sense of place. While theincreasingly popular ecotourism experiences emphasise the notion of learning,environmental obligation and social responsibility, which breaks away from themass commodified tourism products, volunteer vacations present an altruistictheme in which participants can make a difference and help others. What is thesignificance of spending only a small proportion of time volunteering during aholiday? The volunteer vacation purports an infusion of an ideological diver-gence from the market-driven priorities of mass tourism. This divergence,

however unintentional, seems to converge well with the societal needs of thefast-paced, stress-driven contemporary world. Individuals are in fact increas-ingly using tourism, especially experiences with a strong spiritual notion, as ameans of improving their home life, rather than merely escaping from it. This



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could explain the rapid growth of volunteer vacation as a travel phenomenon inrecent years.

The benefits derived from the volunteer vacation appear to be temporary orenduring in nature. Temporary or immediate benefits could be having a higher

level of satisfaction with the overall leisure trip as a result of the volunteeringexperience. The enduring benefit effects centre around the developments of bothself and others, as well as social relationship enhancement. The social interac-tions pertaining to the volunteer vacation domain appear to enhance relation-ships in a multifaceted manner:

(1) Interacting with people from the destination community promotes mutualunderstanding and appreciation and friendship.

(2) Interacting with travel group members with similar interests and valuespromotes friendship and peer bonding.

(3) Interacting with family members, such as spouse and children, promoteshealthier family relationships and tighter bonding.

This research contributes to the tourism literature by brokering the linkagesbetween the volunteering, volunteer vacationing, mass tourism vacationingand motivation to travel. The volunteer vacation phenomenon appears to

bridge the altruistic motives of volunteering with the general commodifiedtourism experiences. In this regard, the outcome of this research also bearssome practical implications for the tourism industry practitioners. Volunteervacation seems to provide a new avenue for tourism satisfaction. As demon-strated in this research, this concept brings about a higher level of trip satisfac-tion for the participants. We are identifying a new and unique market segmentthat is neither a pure leisure trip nor a pure volunteer experience. Imple-mentingthisconceptwillcreateauthenticculturalexperiencesunlikeanyotherin the industry. This philosophy and practice of volunteer tourism can belinked to the mainstream tourism with its focus on market priorities. Theoutcome of this hybridised approach in the global marketplace of tourism canpotentially generate new market dynamics and promises while enabling everytraveller to be an ambassador for peace.

The authors acknowledge that while this research presents an interestingsnapshot of the emerging volunteer vacation phenomenon, the generalisabilityof the research outcome is limited, as it is based on a small sample from oneorganisation with qualitative methodologies such as focus groups and personalinterviews. Substantially more researchis needed in this area to better attempt tounderstandthedimensionalities of themotivational andbenefit factorsof volun-teer tourism and the interplay of mass tourism motives and volunteer motives.To achieve this goal and increase internal and external validities of the researchfindings, more stringent measurement scales will be developed based on thequalitative analyses and extensive literature review. Quantitative approaches

based on structured measurements and more inclusive or representativesamples should be adopted. Nonetheless, this research serves as an excellent

baseline for more statistically rigorous follow-up research which should producebroader inferences in this specialised field of tourism studies.



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Correspondence

Any correspondence should be directed to Sally Brown, Purdue University,Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 7337 W. WashingtonStreet, Indianapolis, Indiana 46231, USA ([email protected]).

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