Package tourists will soon be asked to pay a levy designed to raise millions of pounds for sustainable tourism initiatives worldwide.
The voluntary contribution - anything from 5p to 50p - will be phased in at the end of this year. This will allow the big four travel companies - First Choice, My Travel, Thomas Cook and Thomson - time to include it in their brochures.
The move follows the formation last week of the Travel Foundation, a charity created to protect tourist-heavy areas from environmental and social damage.
There are more than 40 founder members including the Foreign Office and the big tour operators - a line-up that gives it the potential to raise funds from 90 per cent of UK outbound holidays.
Noel Josephides, managing director of Sunvil Holidays and a foundation trustee, said: 'In my 30 years in the business I regard this as the travel industry's biggest achievement.'
Initiatives will operate mainly in areas affected by mass-market tourism and suggestions for future projects are being welcomed by the foundation (see below for contact details).
Two, in Cyprus and the Gambia, are already under way. The Cyprus project involved creating an excursion for holidaymakers to villages in rural Cyprus that have lost many young locals to tourism jobs on the coast - putting desperately needed money back into the community.
In the Gambia, food-safety courses have been arranged for fruit-juice sellers on the beach. Hotels there have in the past discouraged tourists from buying from them due to hygiene standards.
The foundation will also draw up best-practice guidelines for the industry, and monitor firms' behaviour. Tricia Barnett, director of Tourism Concern, is on the board of trustees to ensure that projects are beneficial to local populations.
After an initial contribution from the Government and participating travel companies, money will be raised largely from travellers.
First Choice will ask for a voluntary 10p per adult and 5p per child on booking forms. Thomas Cook intends to ask customers for a donation, but is not sure how much.
Thomson will make an annual donation, while MyTravel is undecided how to top up funding. Sunvil is donating 50p per booking itself and will invite customers to add a further 50p.
Keith Betton, head of corporate affairs at the Association of British Travel Agents, said: 'I think the majority of people will pay, as they will recognise it's good to put something back into the communities they visit.
'This is different from the controversial eco-tax in the Balearics, which was scrapped earlier this year, because it is being organised by people who understand tourism and the environment rather than by politicians. With this new scheme, the fees are at a level where you won't even notice them, but if you don't want to pay you don't have to.'
It is estimated that in a few years the foundation should be raising more than £2 million each year.
The impetus for the foundation came when Tony Blair asked industry chiefs to brief him on their environmental efforts prior to the Johannesburg summit on Sustainable Development last September. They had very little to say - an embarrassment that sparked them into action.
Useful contacts
The Travel Foundation (0117 927 3049)
