This paper examines the challenges of evaluating volunteer tourism and looks towards possibilities for rethinking the ways in which the phenomenon is conceptualised. We reflect on the debates and practices that have emerged since the first theoretical exploration introduced over 15 years ago in a book titled Volunteer tourism: Experiences that make a difference. This review paper commences with a discussion of the criticisms that have been targeted at both research and practice, and reflects on the need to rethink how volunteer tourism is evaluated. We argue that the volunteer tourism industry must respond to criticisms from academics and the media and move towards conscious choices that reframe volunteer tourism away from development aid towards intercultural mutuality and decommodification.

This paper examines the opportunities for Indigenous communities to share cultural knowledge in tourism by increasing the use of digital knowledge-sharing with various technological platforms. The research was conducted with residents of Pine Creek in the Northern Territory (Australia). In-depth semi-structured interviews were held with representatives from both the Wagiman Aboriginal community and non-Aboriginal residents. The findings reveal that by combining both traditional and modern means of sharing knowledges, digital tourism products can empower local Indigenous communities involved in tourism and educate locals and tourists to conserve such knowledges for the long term. However, digital products of local culture can only be sustainable if all stakeholders involved in the tourism product development have an understanding of how to use the platform and have access to knowledge. This paper examines the skill-sets for technological application of knowledge among the Wagiman and non-Aboriginal residents of Pine Creek.

The implementation of inclusive sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the tourism sector must promote opportunities and experiences for people with disabilities. This study explored the tourism experiences of people with disabilities in Indonesia. This phenomenological study reported on data collected through in-depth interviews with participants whose disabilities impact their lived experiences in tourism. Several themes, grounded in lived experiences, emerged from systematic analysis of the data. These include desire for relaxation, unaccommodated needs, inability to travel alone, unheard voices, and lack of empathy and awareness. These findings strengthen theory by conceptualizing the original voices of the tourism experience through past experiences. The results contribute to growing tourism literature on accessible tourism and the sustainable development goals by presenting insights of the tourism experiences of people with disabilities in the Indonesian context and other developing countries. The voices of disability experience in tourism help to improve the understanding of inclusivity as it relates to tourism experiences, and the need to hear the voices of people with disabilities in tourism planning.

The extent to which volunteer tourism can contribute to peace promotion through intercultural exchange and understanding is a central theme in this paper. We present the tensions of situating volunteer tourism within a broader tourism industry that promotes hyper-consumption and homogenous development discourses. As volunteer tourism becomes increasingly commodified and co-opted by a profit-driven industry that perpetuates neoliberal capitalism and neocolonial development, the benefits of volunteer tourism to local communities are questioned. The differences between commodified and decommodified volunteer tourism are highlighted, with the heterogeneity of volunteer tourism through a diverse economies lens considered. Through a case study of a not-for-profit volunteer organisation in Ecuador, we examine volunteer tourism as a force for peace and social justice, outlining how volunteer programs can facilitate encounters that foster mutual understanding and respect for different cultures and knowledge systems. When volunteer tourism operates outside of hyper-consumption and neocolonial development aid models, peace can be (re)centred through intercultural learning and exchange.