1. EDRD4010: Tourism Planning in the Less Developed World
Orphanage Tourism
Position Paper
Anna Sabrina Ahmad Sopian (0810047)
2-26-2016

2. Orphanage Tourism was born with the best intention in mind. The way it is being
promoted to prospective visitors often includes how “rewarding” and “life changing” the
experience will be for volunteers and how they can make a difference in the life of children in
need (Pitrelli, 2012). The narrative about the poor and abandoned children who finally receives
the love and affection needed from volunteers with big hearts is often told repeatedly in
traditional and social media (Holmberg, 2014). What often is missing in this narration however is
the controversy around the usage of orphanages as a tourism product for visiting volunteer
tourists, also known as Orphanage Tourism (OT). This paper seeks to define and analyse
relationships between stakeholders of OT, how tourism may be perpetuating the
commodification of orphanages and propose possible solutions in discouraging OT among
volunteer tourists.
Definition of Stakeholders in Orphanage Tourism
Orphan/Local Children
According to UNICEF (2015), the definition of ‘orphan’ may vary depending on
geopolitical setting. In many industrialised country, a child must have lost both parents to quality
as an orphan but in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, an orphan is a
child who has lost one or both parents (UNICEF, 2015). This difference was made due to the
AIDS pandemic in mid-1990 that have led to the death of millions of parents at those later
countries (ibid). As of 2015, UNICEF reported over 132 million orphans but only 13 million
have lost both parents and vast majority of orphans live with surviving family member (ibid).
However, in certain countries like Cambodia, there seems to be an increasing trend of
local children being sent to residential care or also known as orphanages. This is supported by
UNICEF’s (n.d.) claim that 75% of the children in Cambodian orphanages are not actually
orphans. Instead, children from families that are living in poverty are sent to orphanages with the
belief that they will help feed and educate their children thus alleviating their financial burden
(Stark, 2016). UNICEF (n.d.) supported this by showing the increase in number of children in
orphanages, from 6,254 in 2005 to 11,945 in 2010. This then led to increase in number of
orphanage facilities as well, with a growth from 154 in 2005 to 269 in 2010 (Appendix 1)

3. (UNICEF, n.d.). Therefore this contradicts outsider’s perception that all children living in
orphanages are actual orphans.
Local Community
The term local community is defined by a group of people who constitute a community at
local levels (Manetsi, n.d.). In this paper, it refers to local stakeholders within a country that is
directly impacted from OT. This group of stakeholders often consist of poverty stricken families
who seek services from orphanages for their children to help alleviate their burden. For example,
many poor families in Nepal were tricked into sending their orphanages with the promise of
education only to find their children were being used to generate donations (Pattisson, 2014).
Volunteer Tourists
Many recent literature reviews emphasise on volunteering as an action perceived as freely
chosen, without financial gain and generally aimed at helping others (Brown, 2005). Thus
volunteer tourists is then defined as “tourists who, for various reasons, volunteer in an organised
way to undertake holidays that might involve aiding or alleviating material poverty of some
groups in society, the restoration of certain environment or research into aspects of society and
environment” (Wearing, 2001). In the context of orphanage tourism, volunteer tourists are
people who “travel to residential care facilities (eg: orphanages) to volunteer for generally short
periods of time as caregivers” (Richter and Norman, 2010).
The mixture of vacation and volunteering among volunteer tourists may affect the time
that they have to volunteer. A study on Sylvan’s classification of volunteer tourists concept
where volunteers are classified into ‘Shallow’, ‘Intermediate’, and ‘Deep’ according to different
factors, such as duration of participation, qualification of participants, and levels of contribution
to locals, can affect their depth of participation in volunteering (Appendix 2) (Novelli, 2005). In
OT’s context, the depth of volunteers may demonstrate impact on children at orphanages.
Orphanage Institution
Orphanage is another term for residential care that has been defined by UNICEF (n.d.) as
“group living arrangements for children without primary caregivers or biological parents are
unable to care for them. It is meant to provide orphans with basic needs of shelter, food, clothing
and education”. Orphanages, especially in Cambodia, are mainly funded by overseas donors

4. (ibid). While it is still a requirement to register orphanages, some are not registered under the
same ministry leading to problems of confusion in regulation (ibid).
Stakeholders: Controversy of Relationship between Stakeholders
Orphan and Orphanage
Placing children in orphanages should be the last resort for orphans. UNICEF (n.d.)
discussed how living in orphanages may prevent healthy social, physical, intellectual and
emotional development which may affect children in their later adult life. Often times, children
also suffer from delays in speech, brain development and physical growth as well as having
higher exposure to disease, clinical personality disorders and emotional insecurity (ibid).
Orphanages are also often linked to adoption institutions. In Cambodia, there are cases of
brokers buying and selling children from desperate parents to international agencies (Guiney and
Mostafanezhad, 2015). For example, the owners of Seattle International Adoptions, Inc., an
organisation responsible for the adoption of Angelina Jolie’s child, was charged in 2003 and
2004 for their role in fraudulent adoptions (ibid). In some occurrences, orphanages are also found
to send children to the streets to give flyers and make their children dance every night to raise
funds (Guiney and Mostafanezhad, 2015). This can be seen as a form of child labour and
exploitation which is against the UN Convention on the Rights of children.
Orphan and Volunteer Tourists
In terms of the depth of work that volunteer does, majority of volunteer tourists often lack
qualifications or skills in connecting with children at an orphanage. An example of this was
described by an aid worker who reported seeing volunteers doing unnecessary work such as
teaching Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes to children that have recited it hundreds of times
before (Pitrelli, 2012). Despite many volunteers reporting experiences like this makes them feel
good, there is very little evidence that it help change the lives of children in orphanages.
Additionally, the ever changing stream of short term volunteers that leave shortly after
making connections with children are also found to leave significant negative emotional impact.
Behaviours that were consistently observed among children are indiscriminate friendliness and
excessive need for attention shown by often clinging to caregivers, even those encountered for

5. the first time moments before (Richter and Norman, 2010). It is possible for children to develop
emotional disorders through repeated disruptions in their attachment to different caregivers.
Role of Tourism: Controversy of Tourism Involvement in Orphanages
It is rather intriguing as to why people are willing to pay to travel and work without
monetary compensation instead of relaxing or going sightseeing. The explanation to this can be
linked to Trauer and Ryan’s (2005) discussion of how today’s tourists seek ‘authentic’
experience that are emotionally profound and beyond the “normal” tourist’s package. This
demand for intimate experience may result to why tourism operators starts offering orphanage
tourism to fulfil this need.
Guiney and Mostafanezhad (2015) defines OT as “the donation of money and goods,
attending performances or volunteering on a short-term basis at orphanages as a part of one’s
holiday”. It is important to notice the theme of ‘exchange’, where tourists would offer monetary,
goods or services in exchange for experience, could lead to commodification of orphanages. This
is controversial because the main purpose of orphanage is to meet the needs of shelter, food,
clothing and education for children without primary caregivers, not a place for tourist’s attraction
(UNICEF, n.d.).
The growth of OT is also linked with volunteer tourism or voluntourism. There has been
an increasing trend that shows how orphanage volunteering is becoming a growing interest
within voluntourism (Guiney and Mostafanezhad, 2015). The economic value of the
voluntourism industry is worth $173 billion annually (Hartman et al, 2014). Considering this,
orphanages may face the dilemma of balancing their original philanthropic goals with
commercialisation models to gain money and remain financially viable. This however does not
necessarily benefit intended recipients in the orphanages as there are often reported corruptions
amongst the staff members. For example, a former volunteer at an orphanage had described a
foreigner who visited the center and handed $7000 cash to a director without receipt and no
intention to follow up on the use of money (Guiney and Mostafanezhad, 2015). Therefore it may
be prevalent that orphanages are set up to attract tourist’s dollars instead of actually helping
children in need.

6. OT has also been discussed as a drive factor for child trafficking and child sex tourism.
UNICEF (n.d.) mentioned the vulnerability of children due to the fact that staff and volunteers
seldom undergo appropriate background checks before being hired to work with children. Many
orphanages also offer walk-ins services for tourists who would like to take children out for a trips
(Ljungblom, 2015). This further increase the possibility of sexual or emotional abuse on children
as though they are items that tourists can access easily during vacation.
Proposed Solution
Albeit having good intentions, volunteers are often unaware that they may be
exacerbating problems of OT. To help prevent this, there has been an increase in anti-orphanage
commodification movements. An example of this is the 2011 Friends International campaign,
‘Children are not tourist attractions’ which seeks to raise tourists’ awareness of the dangers and
impacts of OT them (Guiney and Mostafanezhad, 2015). Volunteer must be encouraged to
research for reputable organisations that are legally registered (Pitrelli, 2012). This can be done
by asking local NGOs for places that have strict policies in allowing volunteers’ access such as
asking for resume, references for police checks. Additionally, volunteers must also sign on for a
long-term project on placements that are supervised and is within their skills of qualification
(Pitrelli, 2012). By knowing what skills are needed by an orphanage there are higher possibility
for effectiveness as to the effort that goes into helping the children in need.
On the tourism industry level, it is important to end all unethical orphanage voluntourism
packages offered by tour agencies. Instead, industry should help expose the dangers of OT and
invest in volunteer projects that are long term and oriented towards tourists’ service-learning.
Government should also regulate orphanages more strictly to ensure the credibility of each
organisation. In a whole, orphanage is not the best resolution for abandoned children. Therefore
efforts in programs that support reintegration of children in family or community-based care
should be encouraged.
Conclusion
Orphanages are meant to be a safe place for children in need and not a tourist attraction.
It is important that tourists are aware of how their good intention may not necessarily benefit
those they are trying to help, or even worse, support the very industry that harm these children.

7. That is why it is important for stakeholders to work together and mitigate the impact of their
actions to eliminate commodified orphanage tourism.
Appendix
Appendix 1: Trend of Number of Residential Care Facilities in Cambodia
Source:
UNICEF. (n.d.). Residential Care in Cambodia. Retrieved on 23rd February 2016. Retrieved from
http://www.unicef.org/cambodia/Fact_sheet_-_residential_care_Cambodia.pdf

8. Appendix 2: A conceptual framework for volunteer tourists
Shallow Volunteer
Tourists
Intermediate
Volunteer Tourists
DeepVolunteer
Tourists
Importance of
Destination
The destination is
important in the
decision making
Focuses on both the
project and the
destination
More attention is
given to the project
than the destination
Duration of
Participation
Short-term, typically
less than 4 weeks in
duration
Medium-term,
typically less than 6
months in duration
Medium to long-
term, 6 months or
intensive shorter term
projects
Focus of
Experience:
Altruistic vs Self
Interest
Self-Interest motives
are more important
than altruistic ones
Self-interest motives
are similar
importance to
altruistic ones
Altruistic motives are
more important than
self interest
Skills/Qualification
of Participants
Offer minimal skills
or qualification
May offer generic
skills
May offer some
technical/professional
skills and experience
or time
Active/Passive
Participation
Tend to be more
passive in nature
Mixture of passive
and active
participation
Tends to be more
active in nature
Level of
Contribution to
Locals
Minimal direct
contribution to local
area
Moderate direct
contribution to local
area
High level of
contribution to local
area
Source:
Novelli, M. (2005). Niche Tourism: Contemporary Issues, Trends and Cases. Elsevier
Publishing.

9. Bibliography
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