Widening the Scope of Evaluating Volunteer Tourism: Beyond impact measurement
- Publisher:
- Routledge
- Publication Type:
- Chapter
- Citation:
- The Routledge Handbook of Volunteering in Events, Sport and Tourism, 2022, pp. 360-372
- Issue Date:
- 2022-01-01
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Volunteer tourism can provide substantial social and economic benefits to host communities but, if poorly planned, it can result in negative consequences. To date, much of the existing academic research has focused on measuring the various impacts on volunteers themselves (e.g., Alexander, 2012; Bailey & Russell, 2010; Matthews, 2008; McBride et al., 2012) and a focus on host communities remains overdue (Griffiths, 2016; Zahra & McGehee, 2013). Measuring the impacts of volunteer tourism on host communities is important to facilitate a more equitable industry; however, it is difficult to quantify certain impacts into universal typologies for several reasons. First, the volunteer tourism industry is diverse. This industry contains heterogeneous organisations that cater to different market segments (Benson, 2015) and require context specific measurements. Indeed, Taplin et al. (2014) suggest that appreciating context is more important than a “methods first approach” (Taplin et al., 2014, p. 882). Supply chains and broader environmental impacts also need to be considered when evaluating volunteer tourism (Eckardt et al., 2020). Second, evaluation measurements are often framed within a Eurocentric development aid model. Such models fail to prioritise the well-being of individuals and communities, and perpetuate and normalise neo- colonial stereotypes of who are ‘the helpers’ and who should be ‘helped’ (Everingham, 2015, 2016; Wearing et al., 2017). Third, measurement of impacts is based upon (and also implies) quantitative outcomes. Such measures obscure the context specific lived experiences and alternative narratives of the local community members involved in volunteer tourism programs and the potential for emergent cross-cultural understanding. Relationship building through participatory action should occur before appropriate evaluation methods are sought (Wearing et al., 2017).
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