Holidaymakers are supporting the Travel Foundation, a new charity that is trying to help manage the travel industry more sustainably.

Since the charity’s launch in November 2003, more than three-quarters of holidaymakers who booked a winter or summer holiday with UK operator First Choice have agreed to pay a voluntary donation to the charity.

The Travel Foundation is aiming to raise £1 million a year by 2006, which it says it will spend on projects that help tourism make a positive contribution to holiday destinations.

First Choice is asking its customers to donate 10 pence per adult, and 5 pence per child per holiday booking. Other UK operators, including The Adventure Company (formerly Travelbag Adventures) and Hidden Greece, will soon be providing similar fundraising schemes. Sunvil Holidays is already asking its customers to match its own donation of 50 pence per booking.

The Travel Foundation has already supported sustainable tourism projects in The Gambia and in Cyprus, where all the main tour operators are now offering excursions to the less well-known rural areas to help contribute to the livelihoods of local people. It plans to support similar tourism-related projects in other popular holiday destinations, including Mexico and Tobago, to help tourism make a greater contribution to the local people, environment and economy.

Further information, see thetravelfoundation.org.uk or telephone 0117 9273049.

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