Inovação e Turismo Voluntário

Uma experiência aceite por todos

Abstract

Voluntary tourism is an innovation and is one of the fastest growing tourism niche markets. We now see a desire to “invest” in order to do good. This form of travel, that combines traditional leisure activities with organized volunteering opportunities, has not been explored a lot, and few know of its existence. The aim of this article is thus to study the reasons, motivations and the main causes that lead people to do this type of tourism. We have performed a survey with a convenience sample, which obtained 300 responses. In accordance with the data from the survey we see a desire to do humanitarian work. However, the preference of the respondents to go abroad, instead of staying in Portugal, may not be possible, as the price people are willing to pay does not coincide with their destination preference. We thus conclude that there should be a greater communication about this type of activity whereby people could, within their budgets, do voluntary tourism in Portugal, thus helping their country to solve social and humanitarian problems – as these are to be found worldwide, whether the country is developed or still developing.