Youth tourism

Youth tourism is one of the most underestimated segments. What originally played only a niche existence is becoming a driver for overall social developments. More than other forms, youth tourism stands for innovation and sustainability in this market. Its preoccupation provides a view into future developments because young guests can be seen as pioneers in the use of new technologies and experiment with new forms of social networking and communication (UNWTO 2011). One of its foundations was created in the “First World Tourism Organization’s International Conference on Youth Tourism” in 1991 as next to the call for uniform systems of data gathering and presentation through the UNWTO; the national tourism organizations were requested to also evaluate the needs of young people and guests systematically (Abdel-Ghaffar et al. 1992).

Especially since World War II, there has been an extensive examination of the phenomenon of youth and the corresponding consequences on the consumer side. In...