Travel philanthropy: A multifaceted 'exchange economy'

Scarth, Amy; Novelli, Marina

Abstract

Travelling with a purpose and ‘helping’ the ‘suffering’ is a growing practice within the important, but under-researched travel philanthropy phenomenon. Systems theory and critical realism informed this qualitative study exploring multiple travel philanthropy contexts in rural tourism destinations in three Sub-Saharan African destinations (Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia). This paper contributes new theoretical and conceptual understandings of the travel philanthropy phenomenon as a multifaceted and evolving exchange economy, a system characterised by a dynamic set of stakeholders’ roles and functions. Five key system perspectives are introduced outlining different purposes shaping the system. It contributes new critical understandings on why the exchange economy system exists for different actors and advances the science of open systems research applications in the travel and tourism domain.

Citation

Scarth, A., & Novelli, M. (2024). Travel philanthropy: A multifaceted 'exchange economy'. Annals of Tourism Research, 106, Article 103750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2024.103750

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 30, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Mar 12, 2024
• Publication Date: May 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jun 27, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 13, 2026
• Journal: Annals of Tourism Research
• Print ISSN: 0160-7383
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-7722
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 106
• Article Number: 103750
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2024.103750
• Keywords: Travel philanthropy, Exchange economy, System perspectives, Stakeholders' purposes, Sustainable development
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/36571970
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738324000276?via%3Dihub