Volunteer Tourism: As Good as It Seems?

DANIEL GUTTENTAG

This research probe piece presents debate on Volunteer tourism (VT) which has been widely praised as an optimal form of tourism that is beneficial for everyone involved. In VT, tourists supposedly are no longer uncaring hedonists, but rather compassionate ambassadors of goodwill, and host communities supposedly are no longer objects of exploitation and commodification, but rather respected equals and grateful recipients of needed assistance. In other words, VT has been positioned as the antithesis of mass tourism and all of the problems frequently associated with it

Keywords: volunteer tourism; research probe.