By Jay Martin

When you have lots of money, a charity will inevitably find out and you will be approached to donate to their cause. Often you get nothing for your good deed, except for that warm feeling that comes with doing something good for others. Travel agencies and non-profits, seeing an opportunity to add value to charities, have begun offering trips and travel packages centred on charitable giving. They have found a segment of the wealthy that is looking for ways to use their money not only to help others, but to help expand the meaning of travel and to make themselves more aware of the world.

This developing trend in the luxury travel market seems to have followed close behind the rising popularity of gap-year "voluntourism". While most charity tourism involves physical labour on a project, organisations that cater to travellers with cash to burn usually only ask that their donors part with their money. The vacation is instead used as an opportunity to show the donors the tangible results of their giving and to encourage and retain their funding, not to get them swinging a hammer.

Although the parents of young voluntourists can spend a lot of money sending their children to see and save the world, the experience rarely comes with air conditioning, clean sheets, and a private chef. Luxury philanthropic travel blends both worlds; the wealthy can experience a new culture and simply pay extra to fund local charitable works, leaving the backbreaking work to their neighbours’ children. Philanthropic travel packages can run as high as 1,000 USD per day or more, depending on whether the donation is built into the price of the trip, and that price tag ensures that the guest is afforded nothing but the best amenities when it comes to their stay.

Exquisite Safaris, based in Pacifica, California, creates personalised philanthropic travel itineraries, and states on its website that its trips "are intended to be a learning experience rather than a service experience." They donate 250 USD per traveller to each humanitarian project visited, on top of what the guest decides to donate. Their mission is to sustain and cultivate wealthy donors by showing them firsthand where and how their money will be spent, which is important to many donors concerned with the number of charitable organisations that waste money or defraud donors.

Although it may seem like a cop out to give money in lieu of hard work, international aid organisations rely on wealthy private philanthropists to keep their projects moving forward. Also, with the image of a wealthy businessperson interrupting their day of pampering to visit an impoverished village, many are quick to claim hypocrisy. But maybe that is exactly what luxury philanthropic travel agencies are hoping for. The increased likelihood of someone donating to a project that they have seen with their own eyes shows that some are eager to refute the image of the luxury traveller as elite and uncaring. And with most of Exquisite Safaris’ African destinations on a 12-month waiting list, it is clear that their strategy is working.

WHO TO CALL:

Exquisite Safaris - Tel: 1(888)434-6205 (toll free within the US), those outside the US can call toll-free via the online service Jajah at http://www.jajah.com/exquisitesafaris.com ; Website: http://www.exquisitesafaris.com.

Travelers' Philanthropy – 1(202)347-9203; Website: http://www.lab00.com/travelers; Email: staff@ecotourismcesd.org.

Photo Credits:

1) Bwindi Orphanage by chrisdrury

2) Sun City by abmiller99

3) Ella checking out the African village by mrowka