Don't be wooed by surf-and-sun gap years

After getting their A-level results this week, more students than ever will take a gap year. But long-established charity Raleigh is getting fewer applications - chief executive, Stacey Adams, says competition has got tougher

The glossy images of beaming rucksack-carrying Brits in sun-kissed locations, with the wind in their hair and lapping turquoise waves say it all – the gap year industry has become big business in the UK.

From selling dreams of solo travel across red sand dunes to conjuring the wanderlust of working in a school surrounded by gaggles of grinning children, the gap year market is one of the fastest growing sectors in the travel industry.

With a slice of a £2.2billion annual spend at stake, it’s no wonder companies are shelling out a fortune on photo shoots, worthy of a Vogue cover, to advertise their jet-setting wares.

So how are charities like Raleigh meant to compete when travel companies are investing so much in marketing?

Developing projects that unskilled volunteers can do and that really make a difference to the community and the environment is tough. Developing countries might need engineers and doctors, but they have lots of labour.

It takes a permanent presence in the country to develop the relationship with local partners to make sure there is a genuine need for every single project done by international volunteers and that the work is sustainable.

The challenge for young people is that so much of this work is behind the scenes and not visible in the glossy brochure, so how can a young person choose volunteering that will genuinely benefit local communities?

Getting behind the marketing hype is never easy but looking at the forums on Gapyear.com or Facebook is a good start. Travellers write honest, undiluted views of people, of what they thought of their experience and the company who took them. If the travel brochure is offering one week surfing and one week in a village, take it as a holiday but not as meaningful travel.

Making a difference, like anything worth doing, isn’t easy. Raleigh sells hard work as well as fun. Expeditions are tough, exhausting, and challenging, promising volunteers a sense of achievement, rather than a pristine suntan.

Participants won’t find themselves propping up beach bars and lying back on swimming pool lilos – water systems, schools and suspension bridges don’t construct themselves, after all, and while this type of gap year is not for everyone – the charity makes no apologies for this.

While the carefully constructed photo shoots splattered across slick brochures show pearly white smiles and shimmering sunsets, snapshots of Raleigh’s participants will show beads of sweat and exhausted grins – a choice of a worthwhile gap year which has inspired 30,000 volunteers from all walks of life.

From Times Online