cultures, environments and to come away in some way enriched. Both involve the self of the tourist. One adopts a pessimistic view, suggesting that there is no escape (Cohen & Taylor, 1992; Rojek, 1993) and the other moves to an optimistic outlook in which everyone will benefit from the tourist experience (Pearce & Caltabiano, 1983; Brown, 1992; Wearing et al., 2008); others, such as MacCannell (1992), attempt to balance the two views.
MacCannell, for example, sees the touristic movement of peoples both to and from the Western world as an opportunity to form hybrid cultures, a precondition for inventing and creating subjectivities that resist cultural constraints. He claims that the neo-nomads of tourism in the postmodern era cross cultural boundaries not as invaders, but as imaginative travellers who benefit from displaced self-understanding and the freedom to go beyond the limits that frontiers present. The ‘true heroes’ of tourism, he claims, are those who know that ‘their future will be made of dialogue with their fellow travellers and those they meet along the way’ (1992: 4). On the other hand, he debunks the traveller who seeks escape through tourism while demanding the comforts of home, at an exaggerated and luxurious level. ‘This’, he says, ‘is an overturned nomadic consciousness in which the ultimate goal of travel is to set up sedentary housekeeping in the entire world, to displace the local peoples, or at least to subordinate them in the enterprise, to make them the “household” staff of global capitalists’ (MacCannell, 1992: 5). This form of ingesting the ‘other’ into the self — and subsequently eliminating it — is termed contemporary cannibalism: where the tourist consumes and destroys the culture of the host peoples in developing countries. Far from enlarging the self, he sees this form of tourism as supplying the energy for ‘autoeroticism, narcissism, economic conservatism, egoism, and absolute group unity or fascism’ (1992: 66). The tourist self, in this view, remains rigid or static and turned in on her/himself — shrinking, rather than expanding, or, in Craib’s terms (1998), closing down psychic space where the self of the host person is devalued and diminished.
This book seeks to pursue another direction. Building on Kelly’s (1996: 45) work on leisure, where he proclaims that ‘this relative freedom makes possible the investment of self that leads to the fullest development of ourselves, the richest expression of who we want to become, and the deepest experience of fulfilment’, the volunteer tourist seeks to discover the type of life experiences that best suits their needs. In undertaking this, they launch themselves into a journey of personal discovery. The volunteer tourist experience offers an opportunity to examine the potential of travel to change self, in the belief that these experiences would be of a more permanent nature than the average guided, packaged holiday that lasts 2 or 3 weeks (Kottler, 1997: 103). Craik and Cohen have given mention to the phrase ‘modern day pilgrims’, which propounds the idea that during the process of searching for something else, one may be better able to identify with self. The reasons for this could relate to the fact that as a result of travelling for a longer period of time, people come out of holiday mode and begin to accept things as being normal and respond accordingly (Hansel, 1993: 97). As the volunteer tourist learns and interacts more with the people and the culture of the place in which he or she is living, the surrounding environment becomes more familiar and so they naturally absorb, integrate and adopt elements of that environment. Being able to accept and deal with one’s environment is an important element in the development of self and it can be through volunteer tourism experiences that an individual must learn to rely on him or herself.
Seeking out the new and unfamiliar, and going beyond our daily concept of self is an essential step in the development of self. Such ‘rites of passage’ (Withey, 1997: 3) see that each individual is tested through arduous, and sometimes painful, ordeals (Craik, 1986: 24). Tourism can be considered an excellent example of such a test, as many situations encountered whilst embarking on touristic activities can be fraught with problems — problems often borne out of ignorance for one’s surroundings (Montuori & Fahim, 2004). However, a number of tourists ‘actually pay to be put in uncomfortable and dangerous situations’ (Craik, 1986: 25) so they can feel a sense of achievement and reward once it is over.
Despite such suggestions, volunteer tourist experiences do not necessarily have to be dangerous in order to be beneficial. Darby (1994) and Wearing (1998) both suggest that an examination of travel experiences such as volunteer tourism endured by people during the stage of late adolescence can provide a clearer understanding of how an individual goes about developing their sense of self. A common element of late adolescence seems to be that each person needs to feel independent and be able to handle any difficulties that they encounter without the aid of others. As Darby (1994: 131) has suggested in relation to YCI volunteer tourist participants: ‘breaking away from previous social groups and perceptions … gave the participants a chance to review their self; the relation to other people; and their goals and aspirations for the future’. Therefore, it may be argued that separation from ‘the familiar’ can provide an excellent opportunity for an individual to seek new challenges and expand or reconfirm their identity.
Evidence suggests that a high percentage of participants are between the ages of 18 and 25 (Lyons & Wearing, 2008a; Andereck et al., 2012). This is an important consideration, as this is a period when young adults are solidifying their identities and beliefs. The experience of being away from their familiar culture as a volunteer tourist is imperative in the sense that one is able to begin focusing on what they, as an individual, desire in their lives independent of their peers and parents or other reference groups (Hattie, 1992: 18). Hewitt (1979: 74) maintains that each person is assigned a character both by others and by themselves (whereby they are expected to act in a particular way in all circumstances). However, one may feel trapped or stifled by the boundaries of this character and force them to seek out a new environment. Iso-Ahola et al. (1994: 53) makes a valid point:
Given the essence of perceived freedom to leisure and the positive relationship between perceived freedom and perceived control, much of leisure has to do with exercise of personal control over one’s behaviour and environment … leisure develops self-determination personality and thereby helps buffer against stressful life events.
This freedom and resulting self-determination (Iso-Ahola, 1994: 53) may have the effect of providing an individual with the opportunity to develop their sense of self. Through being largely in control, not feeling pressured to act in any specific manner, taking ‘time out’ from normal daily life and adopting different roles, volunteer tourists may become more aware of what they are seeking and be better equipped to deal with the challenges they face when they return home (Kottler, 1997: 29).
These studies reinforce the belief that tourism does, in fact, improve the mind and overall character of its participants. Tourism, as it is known today, is thought to include certain elements of pilgrimage (Mustonen, 2005; Devereux & Carnegie, 2006). This implies that through the travel experience, a person can hope to discover things about the world around them and their particular place within it. Through the self-testing element of tourism, people gain knowledge and confidence about themselves, their abilities/limitations (Darby, 1994) and possibly an insight into the direction that they feel their lives should take.
Analyses of tourist destinations as image in tourist advertising and tourist research assumes that each individual’s experience of the tourist destination will be similar (Echtner & Ritchie, 1991; Gartner, 1993; Cohen, 1995; Bramwell & Rawding, 1996; Palou Rubio, 2006; van Gorp & Béneker, 2007). There is, however, a significant body of research that indicates that such a conceptualization is, in fact, counterproductive (Rowe & Stevenson, 1994; Dann, 1995). Thus, this book seeks to explore the possibility of a more useful conceptualization of the tourist: that is, as someone who is influenced by the subjective meanings impressed upon them, constructed in interaction with the space and people that form the destination site. It is the experience of the interaction in this specific space that affects the socially constructed self who travels between specifically bounded spatio-temporal coordinates; this is the core of the volunteer tourist’s experience. Therefore, the alternative tourist as a wanderer seeking simply to repudiate established tourism experiences (Cohen, 1995: 13) is critiqued as still failing to incorporate or recognize
