Travel charity needs vacation donations

The Travel Foundation raised a respectable amount of one million pounds for the first time last year, and today has an amount of £5 million annually in its sights.

Roger Heape, the foundation’s president did not want to put a deadline on reaching the target, but said last Tuesday during the Travel Foundation’s yearly general meeting: “Our foundation is a pioneer in the field and we are improving lives in locations and no other organisation is trying to do the same.”

About 88 per cent of the raised money comes from little donations included to holiday costs by travel agencies, resulting in two million contributing holidaymakers last year.

The former First Choice Holidays mainstream division, now belonging to TUI Travel, assisted leading the way by adding an extra 50p donation to the holiday prices.

Roger Heape noted: “Raising one million is a significant landmark. However, we wished that more businesses could support our charity and we must raise our profile. There are many leaders in the travel and leisure industry that we have to persuade large so there still is a lot of work to do.”

The Travel Foundation has financially supported over 50 projects in Tobago, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Kenya, Gambia, Egypt and Brazil since its establishment in 2003.

Chief executive Miss Sue Hurdle explained: “We are looking to react to climate change in environments and go on developing in scale in profile.”

Some ideas for 2009 include increasing the local farmer’s products to accommodation establishments throughout five Caribbean island destinations, along with expanding power-saving and water projects in Morocco and Cyprus.

www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk