Travel Web sites tout volunteer vacations

Travel-booking Web sites are starting to offer information, assistance, and even discounts and grants for volunteer vacations.

Travelocity.com now provides information about "voluntourism" through organizations like Earthwatch, Cross-Cultural Solutions, Globe Aware and Take Pride in America. The Web site is also awarding $5,000 grants for volunteer vacations through its "Travel for Good" program.

CheapTickets.com also has a volunteer vacations link, volunteer.cheaptickets.com, in conjunction with the United Way of America. You can use the link to search and book volunteer vacations around the country. Additionally, the Web site is offering group travel discounts for organizations such as churches, schools and other nonprofits planning a trip to volunteer somewhere. To qualify, you must need hotel rooms and flights for 10 people or more, and your group must be a qualified nonprofit with 501c3 tax-exempt status.

Hostelworld.com highlights hostels around the world that connect guests to volunteering opportunities. Visitors at the Skyway Guesthouse in Siem Reap, Cambodia (lodging from $6 per night), can work with local orphans. The Hostel Hoff, in Moshi, Tanzania (from $13 a night), can arrange for visitors to help out in local schools. At the Backpack and Africa Travel Centre in Cape Town, South Africa (from $12.50 a night), visitors can volunteer at children's soccer camps in local townships.

- Associated Press