IMPORTANCE OF YOUTH TOURISM The economic value of youth travel lies in the unique character of the market. Young people are more adventurous, are looking to make contact with other people and discover new cultures, and they want to develop their own knowledge. Because young people are often driven to travel more, for longer periods of time and they often visit areas not frequented by traditional tourists, they can be of particular value to destinations around the world. A number of key observations can be made about the value of youth travel: 1) Youth Travel is high value Research by UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation indicates that the international youth travel market generated US$ 165 billion in 2010. Young people themselves are often money poor but time rich, which means they spend longer in the destination than other tourists. The last WYSE Travel Confederation New Horizons survey indicated that young travellers spent a total of US$2,600 on their main trip, compared with an average of US$950 per trip for international tourists as a whole. Because young people often take much longer trips than most other tourists, they end up spending more. Young travellers visiting Australia for a stay of six months or more spent an average of AU$21,228 in the country in 2009. This compares with an average international visitor spend of AU$3,313 per trip. One secret to this greater spending power is being able to tap into the resources of their (often time poor but money rich) parents and the ability to work to earn additional money during their travels. For example a survey by Global Gossip in April 2009 indicated that 36% of young travellers were funded at least in part by their family. The idea of parents paying for travel is now being extended into commercial gap year and volunteer travel products, and extending into the work experience market. An example of this is the extensive press coverage in the US and UK this year about the growing number of parents willing to pay upwards of US$ 9,000 to secure work placements for their children. The high value of youth travel also lies in the ‘lifetime value’ that young people deliver to destinations through their travel career. They often return to the places they have visited in later life. In Australia, for example, research has indicated that 54% of young travellers return there. 2) Youth marKeTs are resilienT When the going gets tough, the young keep travelling. The recent economic crisis has underlined again that young travellers are relatively intrepid, and are unlikely to be phased by economic problems, political unrest or epidemics (WYSE Travel Confederation, Industry Review no.1: Youth and student travel market 2011). In fact, there is even anecdotal evidence to suggest that young people may be stimulated to take more long trips when the economy is poor – if there are fewer job openings, many young people consider taking a gap year or gaining some work experience until the economy picks up again. #SAYTTHSG
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 09:59:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015