Tourists prefer to volunteer when they go on
gap year travel holidays, new research has revealed.
From
student travel gappers to career break placements, a study by the Year Out Group revealed a 20 per cent increase in the number of structured placement schemes undertaken by gappers throughout 2007.
Teaching was the top volunteering activity closely followed by health and child care activities.
Chief executive of the not-for-profit organisation, Richard Oliver, claims that volunteering is "overwhelmingly the gap year activity of choice", but warned that research is essential.
"Planning is crucial in order to make the right choice and we encourage all participants to spend time researching the placement that is best suited to them," he said.
More than three quarters of those choosing to go on volunteer placements during their gap year were aged between 18 and 24-years-old, suggesting that students are bucking the trend.
Most believe that volunteering offers great rewards, with 98 per cent of those surveyed rating their experience very favourably.
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