Inside the Möbius strip: Exploring the lived experiences of a business war volunteer tourist in Ukraine

Tourist experiences are profoundly shaped by contexts of war and armed conflict. This study examines business war volunteer tourism – a newly conceptualized form of travel involving business leaders who journey to conflict-affected regions delivering humanitarian aid and services. Employing interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore the business war volunteer tourist experience, three macro-level themes emerged: (1) the “whys ” – carrying a deep sense of responsibility and care, (2) the internal – harnessing core values and reconstructing contextual realities, and (3) the external – exercising agency within crisis environments. These themes are synthesized through a Möbius strip metaphor, illustrating the seamless interplay between internal and external experiences, bound by the enduring weight of care and responsibility. The findings contribute to tourism literature by demonstrating the distinct and generative contributions of business war volunteer tourism and highlighting how the relational and emotional complexities of such travel are anchored in interconnections of past, present, and future.