Later this summer, Tiago Garcia plans to fly from Bermuda to Belize for a vacation, but instead of staying in a hotel, he's hoping to be hosted by a family of locals who he has never met.

He's a part of the growing worldwide trend of "couch surfing", a form of alternative tourism founded five years ago with over half a million participants in 230 countries worldwide.

Participants sign up online at www.couchsurfing.com, and before they travel, they contact people who live wherever they're planning to go.

Normally it means when they arrive, they immediately have a few friends in the area who become unofficial tour guides, but sometimes, it means a free place to stay and home cooked meals.

"It's a whole different travelling experience," said Mr. Garcia, a student at Brock University. "You don't really get to know a place until you get to know the people."

Since joining the site last March, Mr. Garcia has communicated with people from across the world, sometimes meeting them when they come to the Island to showing them around, and sometimes just helping travellers make their own plans.

This month alone he has made contact with four people who want to visit Bermuda.

"I had a gentleman contact me who was looking for work and was wondering about living conditions on the Island," he said. "I had someone else contact me yesterday wondering if he could rent an apartment for a week."

The couch surfing project began when CouchSurfing International Inc. founder Casey Fenton, who lives in Alaska, bought a cheap ticket to Reykjavik, Iceland, but decided that he didn't want to sit around in a hotel for his entire vacation.

"Not knowing anybody in Reykjavik, he sent a mass e-mail to 1500 local students, and found a number who offered to show him "their Reykjavik".

On June 12, the organisation celebrates its fifth anniversary, now boasting over 570,000 members in over 42,000 cities.

Brad Issler, who lives in St. George's, became a member while planning to travel through Europe.

He had arranged a stop in Spain for "la tomatina", but had discovered all the hotels were booked because of the popular event in which hundreds of people throw tomatoes at each other.

After a friend told him about the site, he was quickly able to find someone willing to host him during the festival.

Since then, Mr. Issler himself has hosted a number of travellers from the US, Canada, and Europe.

"I let a pair of Canadians stay at my place while I was off the Island," he said. "I told a friend to go and introduce himself and take them to the pub, and he wound up falling in love with one of them. Now they're engaged."

According to the site, there are currently around 20 Bermudians involved in couch surfing, with only a few of them offering tourists a place to stay.

"You can travel and not feel obligated to host anyone," said Mr. Garcia. "It's a great way for younger people on a limited budget to travel and not have to worry about funds."

The majority of couch surfers are young, with the average age of members being 26.

As a safety measure, all members of the site are given an approval rating based on their interactions with other members, so people who take advantage of the system are quickly ignored by members in favor of those who already have positive feedback.

This week 12,812 positive experiences were reported on the site. Only 30 negative experiences were reported over the same period.

"It's a very secure site," said Mr. Garcia. "They really promote a sense of camaraderie."

Mr. Garcia is now applying for the position of Bermuda's ambassador on the site, which would make him a representative for the Island and the programme internationally.

Despite the site's growing popularity, Mr. Garcia doesn't think the hotel industry has anything to worry about.

"It won't replace conventional tourism, but it's a great independent experience," he said.