Managing Volunteers in Tourism

Recent years have seen an explosion in research on tourism volunteering. Volunteers are an essential part of tourism, whether they are volunteering in their local museum, at a sporting mega-event, as an airport ambassador, or travelling the global as a volunteer tourist.

Managing Volunteers in Tourism reviews the latest research to highlight the key management issues and relate them to the tourism volunteering context. It includes previously under-researched forms of tourism volunteering such as meet-and-greeters, surf life-savers, conservation, festival, and information centre volunteers and volunTourists.

The book develops through three distinct sections:

Part A begins by introducing the concept of volunteering and considering the variety of volunteer forms and settings within tourism.

Part B picks up the organisational approach and examines volunteer program design and planning, volunteer motivation, recruitment and selection, training and development, reward and retention, and diversity management.

Part C consists of ten case studies from leading international researchers and practitioners identifying best practice and key management challenges.

Real-life examples and case studies throughout this book provide an in-depth examination of the challenges facing those managing tourism volunteers, making this book indispensible for current and future managers in the tourism industry.

Kirsten Holmes completed her PhD on museum volunteers at the University of Leeds and has since lectured in leisure and tourism at the Universities of Sheffield and Surrey in the UK. She is currently a research fellow at Curtin University, Western Australia.

Karen Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She completed her PhD on the management of volunteers in literary heritage attractions at Nottingham Trent University, UK, and has published on volunteer management in tourism and event organisations.

* The first text to present an overview of voluntary activity across the broad spectrum of the tourism industry, looking at volunteer work in museums, cultural festivals, sports events, national parks and many more..
* Packed with international case studies highlighting best practice on how to manage volunteers.
* Looks at the future of volunteering including the economic, social and policy issues involved.