Solving labor problems and building capacity in sustainable agriculture through volunteer tourism

William Terry

Annals of Tourism Research, 2014, vol. 49, issue C, 94-107

Abstract: This research evaluates the value of volunteer tourism as it has been applied in the Carolinas through the organization Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF-USA). Its recent growth is attributable to the rise of both the sustainable foods movement and volunteer tourism. Focusing on the experience of farmers, results suggest that despite some caveats there are both social and economic benefits associated with this particular form of tourism, especially in dealing with labor shortages. It is suggested that the WWOOF model may be useful in other forms of volunteer tourism, but that its benefits are socially and spatially contingent, particularly in that WWOOF is embedded in a larger social movement that serves to create a force of willing laborers.

Keywords: WWOOF; Volunteer tourism; Sustainable agriculture; Labor; Agritourism; Social movements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738314001091
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:49:y:2014:i:c:p:94-107

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2014.09.001

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of Tourism Research is currently edited by John Tribe

More articles in Annals of Tourism Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().