The other side of volunteer tourism: how do expedition leaders view their volunteer tourists?

Abstract

Conservation volunteer tourism (or nature conservation expedition)-related organizations can provide a meeting point for both tourists who wish to pay to acquire hands-on nature conservation experience and field-based scientists, who need field assistance and want to share their research project with others. Researchers who take on the role of expedition leaders should be aware of the needs of the volunteer tourists that can be fulfilled through volunteerism. The issue of ensuring continued volunteer tourist commitment and interest during the expedition has been raised by several authors and it appears that the role of expedition leaders is central to the successful execution of the volunteer tourism expedition. This study aims to gain a better understanding of the expedition leader's perceptions of the volunteer tourism experience and investigate their perspective of the expectations of their volunteer tourists. It seeks to understand the expedition leaders' requirements of their volunteers and assess how volunteers perform with regard to those requirements. The results suggest that there may be some differences in perceptions between leaders and volunteer tourists that may affect the success of the expedition.