Motivations of international volunteer tourists working with elephants inThailand

• Raweewan Proyrungroj ^[1]
  1. [1] Woosong University

     Woosong University

     Corea del Sur

     
• Localización: Tourism recreation research, ISSN 0250-8281, Vol. 48, Nº. 3, 2023, págs. 432-448
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This study examines the motivations of Western volunteer tourists at ElephantsWorld,Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. An interpretive paradigm utilizing a qualitative researchapproach was adopted. The informants included 24 volunteer participants. Data were collectedthrough a combination of semi-structured interviews and participant observation, and wereanalysed by thematic analysis. Thefindings of the research identify six main motivations: (i) tohave close interactions with elephants; (ii) to gain in-depth understanding of local culture; (iii)to have new experiences; (iv) to relax; (v) a good match between the project/objective of thehost organization and the tourists’needs and conditions; and (vi) the image and attractivenessof Thailand. These six motivations represent the co-existence of altruistic and self-interestedmotivations and their roles in influencing the decisions of animal-related volunteer tourists.They also indicate that while some volunteer respondents were driven by motivational factorsrelated to the protection and well-being of the elephants (which is the objective of thevolunteer tourism project), others were motivated by other, more self-interested factors thatwere not related to the main objective of the project at all.