The impact of a volunteer tourism experience, in South Africa, on the tourist: The influence of age, gender, project type and length of stay

被引:30
作者
Alexander, Zoe [1 ]
机构
[1] Buckinghamshire New Univ, Sch Travel & Aviat, Fac Design Media & Management, High Wycombe HP11 2JZ, Bucks, England
关键词
International volunteer tourism; Personality traits; Impact; South Africa; Age Gender; Project type; Length of stay;
D O I
10.1016/j.tmp.2012.07.002
中图分类号
F [经济];
学科分类号
02 ;
摘要
This paper explores the influence of age, gender, project type and length of stay on the impacts of a volunteer tourism experience. The impacts measured were changes to volunteers' personality traits. A quasi-experimental study was carried out on volunteer tourists undertaking community, wildlife and conservation projects, in South Africa. These tourists completed a standardised web-based personality inventory (IPIP-NEO) prior to and following their volunteer vacation to measure changes to 15 personality traits. The findings address a number of shortcomings in the volunteer tourism literature by providing statistical evidence of the influence of age, gender, project type and length of stay on the impacts of a volunteer tourism experience, and they broaden our understanding of the limited and contradictory research into these factors. The findings can therefore contribute theoretically; and practically to tourism marketing, and programme design. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:119 / 126
页数:8
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