Orphanage Tourism in Nepal

This book tackles, for the first time, the complex issues surrounding the phenomenon of orphanage tourism, which is a growing and highly lucrative tourism niche in Nepal and several other economically developing countries. The book explores the occurrence of orphanage tourism in Nepal – how it is experienced, understood, sustained, opposed and, crucially, how it shapes the lives of the children involved. Rather than exploring the motives of tourists who engage in volunteering in orphanages while on holiday as so much extant literature does, the book examines the factors that contribute to the emergence of commercial orphanages and the experiences of the children involved. A central concern is to illustrate the inadequate ways in which orphanage tourism is understood, framed and politicised, especially in terms of who is blamed for its prevalence and how various Western entities position themselves as agents of rescue. By examining Nepal’s socioeconomic and geopolitical landscape, as we