Save it to cherish: the rise of wildlife voluntourism with Generation Z

Understanding why Generation Z (Gen Z) volunteer for wildlife projects is essential for planning and implementing strategies that take advantage of the increasingly valuable expertise and resources that volunteers bring to conservation programmes. Hence, this chapter is essential to providing a holistic image of the key drivers that influence Gen Z voluntourists’ attitudes and perceptions. A qualitative method including 26 semi-structured interviews was chosen to understand the depth of the subject in its entirety. To gather sufficient and diverse perspectives on the topic, interviews with Gen Z voluntourism (VT) participants, Gen Z VT non-participants, and VT operators (VTOs) were conducted. Results confirm that the main motivation of the voluntourists was the programme of wildlife conservation of endangered animal species, prospective voluntourists share the dominant narrative of willingness to be close to nature and the desire to contribute to local communities, and both groups elect Africa as their travel destination. This study offers an original perspective on Gen Z’s motivations regarding two groups the voluntourists and prospective volunteers and contributes to the VT literature by providing unexplored insights on wildlife conservation programmes.