Behaving altruistically

The present work explores the values underpinning altruistic behaviour, focusing on altruistic actions whereas the chapter on behaving badly was directed more towards acts of egoism and their management. The purpose of this chapter is to examine how tourism has viewed the idea of altruistic behaviour. Carlson and Zaki (2018, p. 36) suggest that: “When people help others, they often benefit themselves as well. Do these benefits disqualify prosocial acts from being truly altruistic?” We contend this debate is key to understanding behaviours in tourism related to altruism, suggesting the area that best exemplifies this is ‘volunteer tourism’ (e.g. Wearing, 2001, 2004). An enduring discourse around volunteer tourism focuses on the altruistic principles that underpin it, despite much evidence to the contrary that such roots may not be operating (Mustonen, 2006; McGehee, 2014). This emphasis on principles can be seen in the work of a range of authors, who highlight that the foundation of volunteer tourism is indeed altruism (Wearing, 2001; Wearing & McGehee, 2013; Paraskevaidis & Andriotis, 2017).