voluntourist

English

WOTD – 15 February 2016

Etymology

Blend of volunteer +‎ tourist.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /vɒlənˈtʊəɹɪst/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /vɑlənˈtʊəɹɪst/
• Hyphenation: vo‧lun‧tour‧ist

Noun

voluntourist (plural voluntourists)

1. A tourist who takes part in voluntourism. [from 20th C.]
   • 2014 April 21, Rafia Zakaria, “The white tourist’s burden”, in Al Jazeera America‎^[1], archived from the original on 14 January 2016:

     As summer looms, many Americans — college students, retirees and others who stand at the cusp of life changes — will make similar choices in search of transformational experiences. An industry exists to make these easier to make: the voluntourism business. A voluntourist is someone like Jack, who wishes to combine exotic vacation travel with volunteer work.

   • 2016 October 7, Rosamund Urwin, Let’s praise the Jungle’s volunteers, in the i, № 1,831, page 18/5:

     I’m not pretending all in the camp are philanthropic angels. On Sunday we saw three “voluntourists”, taking selfies.