With the terrible weather meaning that getting away to the sun is very much on people's minds, a new scheme that's being supported by a local travel firm is attracting attention through an innovative link between holidays and charity fundraising.

Passport Travel Services, a travel agent based in Armitage, has joined the scheme, called Travel2Give, whereby travellers can use their holiday booking to support local charities, at no additional cost.

The scheme has been voted 'Travel Innovation of the Year 2009' by the travel industry, in recognition of its exciting new approach to charity fundraising. It works by travel agents giving a small proportion of any holiday booked through them to a nominated charity, with matching donations from a growing list of tour operators - although it has been running in Scotland for a few years, Passport Travel Services is the first English agent to sign up to the new concept.

Travel agents in the programme work with their local charities, so the team at Passport Travel Services are already busy raising money for St Giles Hospice in Lichfield and Katherine House Hospice in Stafford and are also looking to help other local charities that need a fundraising boost.

With an average of £50.00 of the price of the average holiday that is booked through the scheme going direct to fundraising, the overall aim is for Travel2Give to be generating £1 million per annum for its associated charities by 2012.

"Travel2Give is a fantastic idea and we're delighted to be involved," says Tracy Beer, Director at Passport Travel Services. "It's been a tough time recently for charities as the economic climate means that there is far less money to spread around, but now people don't have to decide between donating or going on holiday, they can do both - it's a win win situation for holiday makers!"