Santos, Paula MotaCruz, Sandra Filipa Soares da Costa2024-05-202024-05-202020-05-07http://hdl.handle.net/10284/13054The present dissertation addresses a niche of Tourism: Volunteer Tourism. This phenomenon has grown over the last few decades, raising a growing interest worldwide, as more and more people choose to transform their holidays in a more cultural and personal experience, seeking contact with local communities. This fact leads them to look for volunteering outside their country. Thus, the work on display aims to make a brief presentation of volunteer tourism, from its origins to its current characteristics. The advantages and disadvantages of volunteer tourism are also exposed, alerting to the risks of it in local communities. The research aimed to undertake an exploratory study on the expectations, motivations and profile of Portuguese volunteer tourists. In addition, reference is made to the “white savior complex”, with the aim of understanding whether there is a relationship between the so-called “white savior” and Portuguese young people who engage in volunteer tourism. For this, in the first section presents an analysis of existing bibliography on the theme. Subsequently, an exploratory study was carried out with the objective of understanding the Portuguese volunteer tourist's point of view. For the study, 21 Portuguese participants, aged between 18 and 30 years of age, were chosen. They had carried out international volunteering work and responded to a structured interview. After the interviews with young people, three interviews were conducted via Skype with organizations / institutions that promote voluntary tourism: AMI (International Medical Assistance), SEV (European Volunteer Service) and the travel agent, Top Atlântico, so as to analyze the organizations' perspective. Through the interviews and their analysis, it was identified that Portuguese young people who embark on a volunteer tourism experience, although moved by different motivations, it is the personal motivations the ones that most triggered the start to this experience. In addition, common characteristics were found between the concept of “white savior” and the discourse and profile of the respondents, such as being mostly female, and the fact of combining leisure, travel and volunteering and volunteering activities itself.engVolunteerInternational volunteeringVolunteer tourismWhite savior complexCultural experiencesGlobalizationWesternmaster thesis202723500