Contact: Tara Schickedanz, 561-313-3931, tas713@ufl.edu; Cathy Keen, UF News Desk, 352-392-0186, newsdesk@ufl.edu

GAINESVILLE, Fla., August 13 /Standard Newswire/ -- Many convention-goers are volunteering for public service rather than demanding prompt four-star service for themselves, a new University of Florida study finds.

Instead of taking in the sights or lounging at the pool on those afternoons off from meetings and seminars, conventioneers increasingly see the trips as opportunities to help out at a children's hospital, paint rooms in a homeless shelter or even clean up after a hurricane, said Tara Schickedanz, who did the research for her master's thesis in tourism, recreation and sports management at UF.

"Voluntourism, the practice of volunteering while traveling, is a cheap, cool concept that has something for everyone - baby boomers who want to make a difference, corporations striving to be more socially responsible and convention planners struggling with budget constraints as travel prices continue to climb," she said.

The roots of voluntourism date back at least to the 1960s with the inception of the Volunteer Service Organization and proliferation of church mission work, more extreme forms where attendees actually lived in the host community, Schickedanz said. In its newest version, voluntourism is being incorporated into the multimillion dollar convention industry. Schickedanz's study is believed to be the first of its kind to look at meeting professionals' intent to include these activities in their meetings and conventions.

Meeting professionals have found it more difficult to arrange conventions and out-of-town gatherings with the rising costs of hotel rooms, airline tickets and gas, at a time when attendees expect a greater array of activities to choose from in their spare time, she said.

Other research finds that about three-quarters of associations report holding major conventions at least once a year, with half the visitors to these out-of-town events staying for three or more days at a time, Schickedanz said. Attendees expect various activities to be available in their free time, such as playing golf or traveling to nearby spas or theme parks, but these tend to be expensive, she said.

"This leaves meeting professionals with a major dilemma: how to create budget-friendly, yet memorable educational and fun experiences for tourists who attend these events," she said. "Voluntourism is capturing their attention as a solution."

Schickedanz collected names of meeting professionals from the Tallahassee Society of Association Executives, as well as Teramedia Corp., a private database firm in Orlando, for her research. Of the 100 meeting professionals responding to her online survey, 43 percent said they would include voluntourism activities in future convention plans.

Nearly 45 percent said they had participated in voluntourism activities while attending a convention. "The more a meeting professional was personally familiar with voluntourism, the more likely they were to want to incorporate it into an upcoming convention," she said.

Baby boomers are acquiring more experience with voluntourism and are much of the impetus behind its upswing, as a result of their sheer size in population and extensive travel experience, said Lori Pennington-Gray, a professor in UF's department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management who supervised Schickedanz's research.

"That generation has seen and been to a lot of places -- it's kind of a case of 'been there, done that' -- so they're looking for new and exciting things," Pennington-Gray said. "Voluntourism gives them the opportunity to get involved in a community and give back rather than just lying on the beach."

Many baby boomers would like to include volunteering in their day-to-day lives, but their schedules are so full that it becomes a natural vacation option, Schickedanz said.

Pennington-Gray said she believes Generation Xers also would be receptive to voluntourism because they have a reputation for interest in adventure and extreme tourism.

Also boding well for the future of voluntourism is corporations' growing concern for social responsibility, Schickendanz said. With companies wanting to create positive publicity, voluntourism is an excellent public relations prospect, while associations, many of which are nonprofit, are well-suited to goodwill activities with their strong community ties, she said.

At its annual meeting in Seattle in January, members of the Professional Convention Management Association painted rooms in a homeless shelter and volunteered at a food bank, Schickedanz said. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons has chosen to build a playground in every community that it has hosted its annual meeting since 2000, she said.