Volunteer Tourism
Pictures used in banner:
Pacific Southwest Region USFWS from Sacramento, US, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
VISIONS Service Adventures, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
François Bianco, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
ATLAS Special Interest Group
Volunteer Tourism
The contact persons for this research group are:
Elisa Burrai and Davide Sterchele – Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom
Volunteer Tourism has become an established field of investigation and practice. Over the years, numerous studies have approached it from a multitude of theoretical and methodological angles. These include volunteer tourists’ motivations (Chen and Chen, 2011); power relations between the Global North and the Global South (Bandyopadhyay, 2019); colonialism, exploitation and exclusion /marginalisation of certain groups of society (Bandyopadhyay, 2019; Butcher and Smith, 2015); the roles of different stakeholders (Coghlan, 2008); residents- tourists encounters and the impacts of volunteer tourism on destinations (Burrai et al, 2015). Recent theoretical and empirical approaches to volunteer tourism have showcased how the field, including the challenges and potentials associated to it, can be understood using complex and fruitful lenses applied from a variety of fields such as geography, psychology, anthropology and, most recently, development studies (Mowforth and Munt, 2009; Hollas et al, 2021). This is illustrated by the use of conceptual frameworks such as, among others, assemblage theory (Burrai et al, 2017); equity theory (Burrai et al, 2015); pedagogy of social justice (Henry, 2019); role identities and self-other relationships (Hollas et al., 2021) and collaborative consumption (Dredge and Gymothy, 2015; Everingham et al, 2021). In more recent times, the pandemic COVID-19 has magnified the significance of volunteer tourism as a vantage point for the study of broader societal dynamics, global inequalities and ethical issues. The evolving scenario imposed by the pandemic and by others global crises (such as climate change, poverty, migration) raises new conceptual challenges, such as the paradox of discussing virtual/online volunteering within volunteer tourism despite the lack of physical travel.
In the light of these research and practical progress and challenges, our Special Interest Group aims to:
- Advance theoretical, methodological, and practical knowledges through wide inter-, intra- and multi-disciplinary research.
- Stimulate and support transnational research and collaborations on volunteer tourism.
- (Co-)organise and facilitate relevant meetings and webinars.
- Enable collaborations between academia and the industry as well as other stakeholders.
If you want to contact the SIG coordinator, please fill in the form HERE
If you want to join this SIG, please fill in the form HERE
ATLAS SIG Soundbite 5 – Volunteer Tourism
In the ATLAS SIG Soundbites series the different ATLAS Special Interest Groups tell about their SIG.
Annual review of activities – 2026
Activities in 2025
In 2025, the SIG co-organised a joint special track with the Dark Tourism SIG at the ATLAS Annual Conference in Vila-seca (Tarragona), titled “Understanding Dark Tourism and Volunteer Tourism in Times of Transition.” The track attracted a diverse range of high-quality and thought-provoking abstracts, enabling critical reflection on the evolving nature of volunteer tourism and its intersections with dark tourism. These contributions have opened up important avenues for rethinking the field in innovative and interdisciplinary ways.
Activities in 2026
Looking ahead, we are preparing to host the ATLAS Annual Conference in Leeds in June 2026. We are particularly excited about the abstract submission to our joint special track on Volunteer Tourism and Tourism Mobilities. This thematic focus has the potential to encourage innovative, topical interdisciplinary dialogue and offers significant potential to further develop the conceptual and empirical foundations of volunteer tourism research.
In addition, we plan to convene a SIG member meeting during the conference to reflect on how the group can remain dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to emerging developments. We actively welcome ideas for strengthening collaboration, not only among academics but also with practitioners and industry stakeholders.
On 5 March, the SIG co-hosted an international webinar titled “Consuming Lives, Consuming Places: A Debate on the Shadows of Travel.” The event was organised in collaboration with coordinators from the Heritage Tourism, Dark Tourism, and Orphanage Tourism SIGs. It attracted 138 participants from at least 25 countries and facilitated insightful and critical discussions on the intersections between these fields. The webinar highlighted pressing ethical and moral dilemmas, particularly in a context of global uncertainty and instability, where notions of ethics, solidarity, and education are increasingly contested and redefined. A recording of the session is available in the ATLAS YouTube channel.
Future plans
Moving forward, the SIG aims to expand engagement opportunities beyond the annual ATLAS conference. Planned initiatives include roundtables and informal online gatherings to provide ongoing platforms for dialogue among members. These activities will support the exchange of ideas, foster collaborative research initiatives, and help shape the future direction of the SIG.
We also hope to develop a track for the ATLAS Annual conference in 2027.