A request from Laura that might appeal to our well travelled members – can you help?

I am a final year undergraduate student studying joint honours in Events Management and International Tourism Management at the University of Gloucestershire, UK, and I am currently focussing my dissertation on the niche area of voluntourism within the tourism industry. My dissertation researches voluntourism and the possible negative consequences it may have had on host communities since its increase in popularity in recent times. My study aims to provide recommendations to sending organisations on how they can ensure the continued welfare of host communities and environments, as well as educate their voluntourists adequately before departure. Since the proliferation of organisations sending tourists for their own financial gain, as well as tourists regularly going for their own personal pleasure (to satisfy their own emotional needs rather than the needs of the host community), I feel this is an important contemporary issue.

To ensure I receive an adequate response from a wide range of voluntourists, I am researching adequate sources to distribute the questionnaire and I wondered if your members [/readers] would complete the survey? I have made the questionnaire available online through a link that can also be emailed to participants directly. Please find further details here:

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=ezuhyppzkz03hpf412979

If you are able to help in any way it would be greatly appreciated, and I would be more than willing to share my research and findings with you once the study is complete.

Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind Regards

Laura Oultram
University of Gloucestershire