Volunteer Tourism as A Factor of Sustainable Development

The article studies the problem of the volunteer tourism development as an important part of the concept of sustainable tourism. Approaches to the assessment of volunteer tourism and sustainable tourism development proposed by various international organizations (UNWTO, the Worldwide Council for Sustainable Tourism, the European Environment Agency, the European Commission) and scientists. The author substantiates the importance of forming the system of the sustainable development of tourism indicators, enriched with the concept of volunteer tourism and the need for continuous monitoring at different levels. It is concluded that volunteer tourism, directly manifested in the context of the development of each country, is considered by a number of international organizations, foreign and domestic researchers as a factor of sustainable tourism development. In the article, the hypothesis of a direct positive relationship between sustainable tourism development and volunteer tourism (volunteer tourists) is verified on the basis of a questionnaire survey of volunteer tourists. The proposed approaches to the assessment of the sustainable tourism development enriched with the concept of volunteer tourism cannot be considered universal, since each country needs its own system.