Hospitality in the scientific production on volunteer tourism

Abstract

Exploratory-descriptive research project, in the form of a document analysis, aimed to understand how hospitality permeates the volunteer tourism scientific production, from the analysis of journal articles published in English language on the international database Scopus from 2000 to 2015. The search terms “volunteer tourism” and “voluntourism” resulted in the initial sample of 149 articles, which was explored according to its publishing aspects, using the content analysis to have the data processed. The production reached its peak in 2014 and most of the publishing was held in England, the United States and Netherlands, with particular reference to the Journal of Sustainable Tourism. From the final sample of 24 articles directly related to hospitality, four analysis categories were defined: experience and hospitality, intercultural exchange and hospitality, motivation and hospitality and impact and hospitality. It was found the presence of hospitality to the understanding of the relationships between the volunteer tourists and the members of the host communities, the exchanges among individuals with different cultural background, the altruism and the personal goals as motivational factors to the practice of volunteer tourism.