Make a difference - explore yourself. An investigation of how volunteer tourists' attitudes, motives and experiences reflect organizations' practices and promotional materials. A case study of Raleigh International and Volunteer Services Overseas.

Abstract

This dissertation aimed for better understanding of volunteer tourism phenomenon and explored the motivations of Raleigh International's and Volunteer Services Overseas' participants as well as examined and compared the two case study organizations' practices and promotional materials. In conducting this study it became apparent that because of the novelty of the topic, volunteer tourism is still under researched, particularly in relation to volunteer tourism within the United Kingdom. The wider theoretical concept of the volunteerism, tourism and motivational assumptions served to define the topic area more precisely. The literature around the subject area was critically analyzed, interpreted and applied to the research- Chapter 2-, what helped the researcher to adopt and evaluate an appropriate research method. The data used in this study was obtained through both qualitative and quantitative research methods to provide an in-depth analysis in to the subject area- Chapter 3. The author selected the participants of the research through snowball sampling and conducted two in-depth interviews and 35 questionnaires. This approached determined participants' attitudes, motivations and experiences gained while volunteering. Additionally, a content analysis of the two case study organizations' websites and brochures gave an insight to practices and promotional materials adopted by Raleigh International and VSO. The research revealed that the main motivation and experience attained by participants of Raleigh International and VSO was 'exploration and evaluation of self, in other words egoistic gain. However, it was found that volunteer tourists' motivations and expectations often depend on their socio-demographic circumstances. The study also demonstrated how the two different NGO's portray and promote themselves in relation to the motives and demographics of their participants.