'It's all about education' A case study on international youth's development of intercultural competence through volunteer tourism

Volunteer tourism (also called Voluntourism) is a form of travel that combines leisure activities and short volunteering projects. It consists of travelling in less developed countries, generally requires the payment of a fee to companies that organize them, and no professional experience is needed to carry out the work. Although it was created to be 'mutually beneficial' it seems to be focused primarily on the experience of those who participate rather than the true sense of altruism underlying volunteering, having also consequences on the local communities. Therefore, a lot of criticism has been made about this service, with studies stating that, if not carried out with the right approach and mindset, voluntourism could do 'more harm than good'. From the point of view of those who participate, it is fair to wonder what effects this specific type of volunteering has on a personal/relational level, especially on intercultural competence. According to Deardorff (2006) Intercultural competence is the ability to communicate and behave effectively and appropriately during an intercultural encounter. In order to be able to do this, it is necessary to develop attitudes (e.g., respect, curiosity, open-mindedness): in a globalized world such as the one in which we live, it has become necessary to acquire and reinforce these skills. This thesis therefore intends first to analyse the concepts of volunteer tourism and intercultural competence and then to investigate, through a qualitative research on 10 international young volunteers, how their personal experiences affected (or not) the development of intercultural competence. For the assessment of the latter, extracts from semi structured interviews have been analysed in relation to the concepts of culture, positioning and conflict, and their applications in the field of psychological studies. Both theory on this subject and participants' perceptions were examined to get a fuller and deeper insight into the research, allowing the ultimate research question to be answered: Can participants develop intercultural competence through volunteer tourism?