Research questions
There is a great deal of anecdotal evidence that volunteer tourism is advantageous to local communities, but to date no empirical research has been published. Volunteer tourism, if developed, promoted and implemented in a way that maximizes the experience for the volunteers while preserving the dignity and culture of its beneficiaries, can potentially contribute enormously to the host region, particularly to the most economically distressed areas. In many ways, this form of tourism has the potential to create the ultimate form of sustainable tourism – one which contributes to the economic health of a community through a combination of limited resource consumption (if volunteer tourism programs are designed so that volunteers stay in locally owned and operated accommodation, use public transportation and limit their use of water and other scarce resources) and the injection of money into a community in ways that limit leakages (eat locally grown and prepared foods, frequent locally owned and operated restaurants and accommodations, purchase local arts and crafts).
Not only can economic and social benefits be reaped, but also there is great potential for both hosts and volunteers to walk away from a volunteer tourism experience with a better understanding of each other. Before this can occur, however, a better understanding of the perceptions and attitudes of residents must be cultivated. In an effort to approach the subject in a logical manner, the following research questions have been formulated and are depircted in Figure 1:
What, if any, demographics predict perceived negative and positive impacts of volunteer tourism?
How does the extent to which a person benefits personally from volunteer tourism predict perceived negative impacts of volunteer tourism, positive impacts of volunteer tourism and general support for additional volunteer tourism?
Which of the above variables, if any, contribute to support for volunteer tourism planning?
Which of the above variables, if any, contribute to support for specific volunteer tourism activities?