WHATEVER the reason, a growing number of tourists - from college students on spring break to jet-setting luxury travellers to retiring baby boomers - are trading in vacations for volunteering.

In the latest example of the growth of 'voluntourism' United Way, one of the United States' oldest and largest community service organisations, and CheapTickets.com unveiled a website on March 7 to link travellers with volunteer work.

'You always had some college kids who go with their church ministry and they build roofs somewhere, but now it's really something where the industry has taken notice,' said Ms Cathy Keefe, spokesman for the Travel Industry Association of America. 'It's come a long way from the idea that it's all crunchy granola people.'

Recent surveys by the Internet travel company Orbitz, competitor Travelocity and the travel industry group all show increasing interest in volunteer vacations.

Neither United Way nor CheapTickets will make money from the venture. It's mostly a way to link tourists with United Way's 1,300 local chapters by logging on to CheapTickets.com, said Mr Randy Punley, its director of corporate partnerships.

After travellers choose their destinations, they can go to the site (volunteer.cheaptickets.com) to target their volunteer work by social issues, including homelessness, domestic violence and drug abuse.

Tourists wouldn't usually flock to United Way in search of vacation opportunities but the demand is there, Mr Punley said.

He adds: 'We're going to where they're at. We're on MTV, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube.'

The strategy is working. And it's not just young idealists helping out. Career-minded business folk are looking for ways to balance their lives - and their posh trips.

Mr Richard Degnan, a senior executive for Williams-Sonoma Inc, took a four-week jaunt to Africa last year. On his trip, he visited four countries and took two high-priced safaris. He also spent two days at three orphanages where he played with children and dropped off suitcases full of clothes. It just didn't seem right, he said, to go to Africa and not do any volunteer work.

'I know this is going to sound a bit silly but to be honest, I think it's because of people like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie,' said Mr Degnan, 40, of San Francisco. 'They've glamorised it.'

The orphanages were not what he expected. They were clean and the kids seemed happy and well cared for. But the children were still needy.

'They all craved physical attention - especially little kids want to be held, picked up. There's just not enough people to give them enough attention,' he said.

Ms Melissa Thornley, 35, spent her Christmas break in Honduras building houses for the poor.

'I was doing physical work but in a way, it was relaxing,' said Ms Thornley, managing director for a film-editing company in Chicago.

She booked her trip through i-to-i.com, a British company that allows tourists to book specific volunteer travel. Among the choices: panda conservation in China, coaching baseball in the Dominican Republic or saving sea turtles in Costa Rica.

Although i-to-i.com has been around since 1994, North American bookings increased more than 300 per cent between 2002 and 2005. Last year, the company arranged 5,000 volunteer vacations worldwide, spokesman Amy Kaplan said.

'Vacation travel is all about recharging our batteries,' said Mr Randy Wagner, chief marketing officer for Orbitz Worldwide, which owns CheapTickets.

'The traditional way is to go to the beach, recharge and you feel great. Now people are telling us that they feel just as great when they give back.'

LAT-WP