Managing Volunteers In Tourism

Recent years have seen an explosion in research on tourism volunteering. Volunteers are an essential part of tourism, whether they are volunteering in their local museum, at a sporting mega-event, as an airport ambassador, or travelling the global as a volunteer tourist. Managing Volunteers in Tourism reviews the latest research to highlight the key management issues and relate them to the tourism volunteering context. It includes previously under-researched forms of tourism volunteering such as meet-and-greeters, surf life-savers, conservation, festival, and information centre volunteers and volunTourists. The book develops through three distinct sections, the first of which begins by introducing the concept of volunteering and considering the variety of volunteer forms and settings within tourism. The next part picks up the organisational approach and examines volunteer program design and planning, volunteer motivation, recruitment and selection, training and development, reward and retention, and diversity management. The final part consists of ten case studies from leading international researchers and practitioners identifying best practice and key management challenges. Real-life examples and case studies throughout this book provide an in-depth examination of the challenges facing those managing tourism volunteers, making this book indispensible for current and future managers in the tourism industry.

Recent years have seen an explosion in research on tourism volunteering. Volunteers are an essential part of tourism, whether they are volunteering in their local museum, at a sporting mega-event, as an airport ambassador, or travelling the global as a volunteer tourist. Managing Volunteers in Tourism reviews the latest research to highlight the key management issues and relate them to the tourism volunteering context. It includes previously under-researched forms of tourism volunteering such as meet-and-greeters, surf life-savers, conservation, festival, and information centre volunteers and volunTourists. The book develops through three distinct sections, the first of which begins by introducing the concept of volunteering and considering the variety of volunteer forms and settings within tourism. The next part picks up the organisational approach and examines volunteer program design and planning, volunteer motivation, recruitment and selection, training and development, reward and retention, and diversity management. The final part consists of ten case studies from leading international researchers and practitioners identifying best practice and key management challenges. Real-life examples and case studies throughout this book provide an in-depth examination of the challenges facing those managing tourism volunteers, making this book indispensible for current and future managers in the tourism industry.

Volunteers make important contributions across the spectrum of event settings, most visibly at high profile mega events such as the Olympic Games they are volunteers are lauded as ‘Games makers’, ’unsung heroes’ and the like. Less visibly volunteers are the heart and soul of community events and festivals, often undertaking multi-faceted roles from event leadership through to operations and ensuring that these celebrations are made possible in the absence of big budgets and professional event staff. This book is the first to showcase and advance international research into the volunteering experience at events, drawing on the work of key scholars in this field. Events of all sizes benefit from volunteer support but event volunteering research is frequently case study-based and individually these cases make a limited impact. This text brings together cases from around the world, specifically including those that expand theoretical and methodological boundaries. It features mega events like the 2012 Olympics and the 2011 Rugby World Cup, alongside music festivals and sports events. New areas that are examined include the benefits of event volunteering for students, the role of volunteers in social enterprise events and new methodological approaches to researching this phenomenon, specifically ethnographic and cross-national studies. This innovative book acts as a global source of key information for practitioners and researchers, an important text for students of event management and will provide stimulus for further work in this emerging area.

This timely handbook examines the most contemporary, controversial and cutting-edge issues related to the involvement of volunteers in the fields of events, sport and tourism. Split into thematic sections, the primary areas covered include: key disciplinary approaches to understanding volunteerism, international contexts, managing volunteers, the impacts and legacies of volunteering and future trends in these sectors including online and digital volunteering. Commonalities and differences of volunteering in these sectors are drawn out throughout the volume. A diverse range of case studies are examined including the 2007 UEFA Under 21 Championship hosted by Poland, the development of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Vancouver, London and Pyeong Chang Olympic Games, Belgium’s National Day in 2019, the Puffing Billy railway in Australia, as well as many other examples looking at destination services organizations, museums, grassroots associations, corporate events, community events and visitor attractions. Drawing on the academic and practical expertise of over 50 authors from across the globe, the handbook provides an invaluable resource for all those with an interest in volunteering in these sectors, encouraging dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and areas of study in order to advance volunteering research and practice in the fields of events, sport and tourism.

Volunteer Tourism is one of the major growth areas in contemporary tourism, where tourists for various reasons seek alternative goodwill experiences and activities. To meet this demand there has been a surge in volunteer programmes offered in range of destinations organized by a variety of charities and tour operators which is predicted to continue to grow in the future. Volunteer Tourism provides an in-depth analysis of the complex issues associated with traditional and contemporary volunteer tourism. Reflecting the growth in this phenomenon, this book provides a cohesive collection of chapters written from a range of international expert scholars and researchers. The theoretically rich, practically applied and empirically grounded contributions are based on current and diverse research in the area. This groundbreaking volume explores topics which have not been addressed in the literature before, such as the impact on host communities, introducing new areas and ideas to the field. The diverse range of themes are identified and addressed, including volunteer tourism and sustainability to, uniquely, the examination of volunteer tourism stakeholders – volunteers themselves, the host-to-guest exchange, and the organizations – and management of volunteers. These themes are examined in a range of international case studies, demonstrating the wide range of issues associated with volunteer tourism. This volume is a timely addition offering an innovative approach to the area. Volunteer Tourism will be of interest to both students and researchers interested in tourism, leisure and development, as well as non-academics, practitioners, NGOs government officials at all levels.

One of the leading texts in the field, Tourism Management is the ideal introduction to the fundamentals of tourism as you study for a degree, diploma or single module in the subject. It is written in an engaging style that assumes no prior knowledge of tourism and builds up your understanding as you progress through this wide ranging global review of the principles of managing tourism. It traces the evolution and future development of tourism and the challenges facing tourism managers in this fast growing sector of the world economy. This book is highly illustrated with diagrams and colour images, and contains short case studies of contemporary themes of interest, as well as new data and statistics. This fifth edition has been revised and updated to include: new content on: sports, festivals and event tourism, social media impacts on tourism and the effects of the global economic downturn on tourism, as well as emerging themes in tourism such as slow travel, dark tourism, volunteer tourism and medical tourism updated case studies on BRIC markets and new case studies from the Middle East and Asia enhanced tourism and sustainable development coverage, which runs throughout the book as a major theme, highlighting the challenge of climate change and future tourism growth transport section with more international perspectives from China and South America an updated companion website with: additional case studies, quizzes, PPTs, further reading, web reading and video links, and longer reflective case study per chapter to aid both teaching and learning.

One of the leading texts in the field, Tourism Management is the ideal introduction to the fundamentals of tourism as you study for a degree, diploma or single module in the subject. It is written in an engaging style that assumes no prior knowledge of tourism and builds up your understanding as you progress through this wide ranging global review of the principles of managing tourism. It traces the evolution and future development of tourism and the challenges facing tourism managers in this fast growing sector of the world economy. This book is highly illustrated with diagrams and colour images, and contains short case studies of contemporary themes of interest, as well as new data and statistics.

Volunteer Tourism is one of the major growth areas in contemporary tourism, where tourists for various reasons seek alternative goodwill experiences and activities. To meet this demand there has been a surge in volunteer programmes offered in range of destinations organized by a variety of charities and tour operators which is predicted to continue to grow in the future. Volunteer Tourism provides an in-depth analysis of the complex issues associated with traditional and contemporary volunteer tourism. Reflecting the growth in this phenomenon, this book provides a cohesive collection of chapters written from a range of international expert scholars and researchers. The theoretically rich, practically applied and empirically grounded contributions are based on current and diverse research in the area. This groundbreaking volume explores topics which have not been addressed in the literature before, such as the impact on host communities, introducing new areas and ideas to the field. The diverse range of themes are identified and addressed, including volunteer tourism and sustainability to, uniquely, the examination of volunteer tourism stakeholders – volunteers themselves, the host-to-guest exchange, and the organizations – and management of volunteers. These themes are examined in a range of international case studies, demonstrating the wide range of issues associated with volunteer tourism. This volume is a timely addition offering an innovative approach to the area. Volunteer Tourism will be of interest to both students and researchers interested in tourism, leisure and development, as well as non-academics, practitioners, NGOs government officials at all levels.

"The fast growing phenomenon of volunteer tourism encompasses a diverse range of activities, from conserving environments to working with host communities to alleviate poverty. However, understanding the complex relationship between volunteering and tourism requires a wide analytical framework. Theoretical and empirical case studies from leading researchers in the field explore the experiences of the volunteer tourist and the power relationships between volunteers and host communities and commercial, non-commercial and government entities involved in developing and supporting volunteer tourism. Providing an insight into how volunteer tourism is growing and developing, this volume will be essential to those interested in sustainable tourism and community and social development as well as commercial operators, non-government organizations and volunteer management organizations." --Book Jacket.