A1 Journal article (refereed)
The Carbon Footprint of Volunteer Tourism (2019)

El Geneidy, S., & Baumeister, S. (2019). The Carbon Footprint of Volunteer Tourism. European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 9(2), 15-25. https://doi.org/10.2478/ejthr-2019-0010

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: El Geneidy, Sami; Baumeister, Stefan

Journal or series: European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation

ISSN: 2182-4916

eISSN: 2182-4924

Publication year: 2019

Volume: 9

Issue number: 2

Pages range: 15-25

Publisher: Sciendo; De Gruyter

Publication country: Portugal

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ejthr-2019-0010

Persistent website address: https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/ejthr/ejthr-overview.xml

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/69331

Abstract

Tourism is growing at a fast rate and so is its carbon footprint. Alongside conventional tourism, a new form of tourism, so-called voluntourism, has emerged. The discussion on voluntourism in the existing literature has hereby mainly centred around its positive impacts on the health and education of communities and the local environment in developing countries. Nevertheless, little attention has been drawn to its climate impacts. This study set out to investigate the carbon footprint of voluntourism. The data were collected at a local NGO in India working with voluntourists. Both the carbon footprint of the stay in India and from the round trip by air were taken into consideration. The results showed that while the carbon footprint of voluntourists during their stay is comparable with that of locals, the flight significantly contributes to the carbon footprint of voluntourism. Depending on the distance flown and the length of the stay, the average share of the carbon footprint stemming from the flight can be between 83% and 96%. The paper concludes that faraway destinations and short stays should be avoided; otherwise voluntourism might cause more harm than good. Based on the findings this paper provides recommendations for policymakers and further research.

Keywords: carbon footprint; tourism; volunteers; air transport

Free keywords: volunteering; voluntourism; sustainability

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2020

JUFO rating: 1