People from developing countries can offer travel opportunities to tourists and voluntary helpers using 12VisitMe, while travellers can find unusual and exciting holidays or offer their services as volunteers. This may all sound like charity work and perhaps a little dull, but the holidays on offer are extremely tempting. Feedback on the site shows travellers who have enjoyed their trips seeing the orangutangs in Indonesia, a Buddhist monastery in Tibet, and a round trip of Cuba, among other experiences.

Along with these holidays, which provide income for developing countries, the site is an easy way to find opportunities to volunteer: examples including working with animals in Gautemala, helping in orphanages, and working on sustainable tourism and community development in various regions. This website is sure to prove popular and useful to students and others wanting to visit a country by helping the community and wildlife.

At a time when many seem to be tiring of the usual packaged holidays it also offers more interesting ways to get to know the real countries and communities being visited. It’s a well organised site which makes it easy to offer or find holidays, and there’s invaluable advice and feedback on holidays, including best times of year to visit each place.