The money will fund an initial five-year programme that will change the lives of thousands of children and young adults in the country.
Townsley opened his first travel shop in 1970 which eventually grew into Gold Medal, which he sold to Thomas Cook in 2009.
He founded the Kentown Wizard Foundation in his native Blackpool in 2015 to distribute his reported £100 million fortune to charity.
His latest pledge will support London-based Operation Smile, which provides free surgery for children in developing countries suffering a variety of facial deformities.
Its Malawi programme launched its first mission late last month and will embark on its second on August 31.
Over the next 12 months, it will provide surgery for nearly 1,000 youngsters with more than 60 medical volunteers staffing each mission.
The programme will also provide nutritional support and education and training initiatives to help medics in Malawi create sustainable cleft care in the country.
Cleft patients often struggle to eat and speak and can find themselves stigmatised.
The charity is aiming to conduct five missions a year, targeting 2,400 patients.
“I’m very happy Operation Smile are able to use my money in such an effective way,” said Townsley. “The eradication of cleft conditions in Malawi will have a profound effect on so many lives, both now and in the future.”
