Volunteering holidays 'increasingly popular'

Although most people want to spend their holiday lapping-up the sun and visiting some of the globes biggest and best cities, many young people are choosing to volunteer their time to helping good causes when they're abroad.

"Holidays to parts of Africa, South America and Asia are proving popular with young volunteers", leading insurance provider, Be Wiser Insuance has asserted.

Places such as Ghana, China and Mexico are among the most visited destinations by people looking to offer their services to humanitarian causes, with many visiting schools and local communities to help out.

With a rise in the popularity of gap years, many young people are heading abroad before and just after university to help those less-fortunate and to improve their CV's.

"People looking for a change of career, along with graduates, gap year students and the retired, are among the types of people looking to offer their services", said one spokesperson.

There has been a huge rise in the number of people that have taken the plunge and decided go off and do some volunteering, everyone has their own reasons for doing so. Many of the older volunteers have had successful careers and have retired, and they want to do something worthwhile with their time.

"Those that choose to give up their own time for these projects are very noble indeed" said one expert.

Other countries which are seeing an increase in numbers of these sorts of travellers include Costa Rica, Argentina, Senegal, India and Peru.

People can offer to work in a number of areas at their destination, including teaching English and getting involved in management and design projects.

Be Wiser Insurance have also urged those looking to undertake volunteer work abroad to check their travel insurance policies before they leave. Due to the nature of their trip, they may require to take out other policy add ons to ensure that they have fully comprehensive cover if the worst was to happen.