Islamic pro-poor and volunteer tourism — The impacts on tourists: A case study of Shabake Talayedaran Jihad, Teheran — A research note

• The paper reports findings from exploratory research with Islamic volunteer tourists in Iran.
• The paper appears to be the only one in English considering Islamic volunteer tourists.
• Perceptions of self-improvement as a result of the experience mirror those in western literature.
• However, nuanced differences exist.

For the most part, researchers of pro-poor tourism have focused on the issues of poverty alleviation, and the recipient communities at the visited destination. By comparison relatively little has been said about the effect of travel and the tourist experience on the tourists themselves; a gap this study aims to correct. The present research is based on questionnaires from, and interviews with participants in the Shabake Talayedaran Jihad who were engaged in volunteer tourism in Iran. It was been found that pro-poor volunteer tourism has positive effects on attitudes about poverty, life attitudes, and personal and social skills. Further, based on the interviews, 16 other effect indices have been found which relate to the above classification. This paper contributes to the literature by filling a gap in the English language academic literature that relates to Iranian volunteer movements and its volunteers.