Travelocity Relaunches Travel for Good Grant Program for – Voluntourist- Hopefuls
Charitably-Minded Travelers Invited to Tweet for an Opportunity to Embark on a Volunteer Adventure
ATP- Arab tourism portal-DALLAS,- Travelocity® is not only committed to making it easier for people to follow their travel dreams, but also wants to inspire them to travel for good. While most Travelocity customers travel for vacation or business, an increasing number of people are traveling to make a difference outside of their communities.
To celebrate and encourage this trend known as "voluntourism," Travelocity is announcing that as part of its Travel for Good program, three deserving individuals will receive travel awards to enable their dreams of philanthropic travel. Along with the travel awards, Travelocity will be making a $10,000 donation directly to each of the non-profit organizations identified by the award recipients.
While most Travelocity customers travel for vacation or business, an increasing number of people are traveling to make a difference outside of their communities. To celebrate and encourage this trend known as Voluntourism has become one of the fastest growing areas of travel in the past decade with millions of volunteers a year estimated to be pursuing purpose-driven travel.
In a recent study by Wakefield Research for Travelocity, 63% of Americans are interested in taking a trip that combines an opportunity to volunteer and leisure time. When asked what would prevent people from taking a "voluntourism" trip, 42% said cost is a top reason. This is one of the driving forces behind the relaunch of Travelocity’s Travel for Good program.
"Part of our mission at Travelocity is to inspire people to travel, but what is so exciting about our Travel for Good program is that we get the opportunity to recognize those people who inspire us," said Brad Wilson, vice president and general manager of Travelocity. "Everyone at Travelocity is eager to learn about the amazing journeys that these people wish to take in order to make a difference around the world. The hardest part is going to be choosing just three."
Prior to the official launch of the program, Travelocity invited employees to participate in the Travel for Good campaign. Not surprising, several employees jumped at the chance and many are still away on their voluntour efforts. Along with employee efforts to benefit organizations across the United States, some employees are heading as far as Nicaragua and India to work with local non-profit agencies there.
Applying for a travel award is easy. The Travel for Good program is accepting submissions via Twitter through Sun., Oct. 18 at 11:59 p.m. ET. To apply, interested individuals must follow @Travelocity or @TravelForGood on Twitter and using the hashtag #TravelForGood, share the location and purpose of their trip, the organization with whom they want to volunteer and why they are passionate about that cause. Applications can be submitted in any shareable format, including text, images and video, to best demonstrate the goals of their trip and volunteer efforts.
For more information and full program details, visit the Travel for Good page at www.travelocity.com/travelforgood. Entries can also be submitted directly from this page. Along with the three travel awards, Travelocity will also be awarding $500 to 100 individuals to get them started on saving for their own Travel for Good efforts. All of the travel award recipients will be notified throughout the duration of the campaign.
