Student

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Student Youth Travel Cultural Exchange and
International Education Experiment in
International Living 75th Annual Meeting Berlin,
May 03, 2007 David Jones
Director General World Youth Student
Educational (WYSE) Travel Confederationwww.aboutw
ysetc.org
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to build world peace, one person at a time EIL
founding principle
to increase international understanding through
the promotion of travel and educational
opportunities for students and youth
WYSE Travel Confederation mission
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A youth-led global demand for international
experiences

• An important personal ambition for most young
  people
• Students travel for adventure, learning, fun and
  interaction with others
• Student Travel is increasingly accepted and
  supported by family and society as a valuable,
  personal development experience
• A process of self-discovery, they learn more
  about themselves than the countries they visit

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Important to the travel industry

• Youth tourism is the fastest growing sector of
  the travel industry
• 20 of all International travellers
• 168 Million in 2006 (UNWTO)
• High value to the agenda of the tourism
  industry
• Set travel trends
• Contribution to sustainable tourism
• Contribution to poverty alleviation
• Promote responsible travel habits

World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one
less traveled by - and that has made all the
difference
Robert Frost
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Who are they?
Unique Travellers, Unique Value
Self-identified as Not a Tourist
World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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What do they do?
Unique Travellers, Unique Value

• Why do they travel?
• To explore other cultures 83
• Experience excitement 74
• Increase their knowledge 69
• Experienced travellers
• Majority have visited 11 countries or more
• 15 have visited 20 countries or more
• Diverse travel experiences.
• Travel to study, work, volunteer, learn a
  language, adventure, and fun
• Social travellers

New Horizons in Independent Youth and Student
Travel (ISTC and ATLAS, Richards and Wilson,
2003)
World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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The Student Travel Experience Respect and
Responsibility
Socially aware and interested in the cultures
they visit - the experiences of young independent
travellers creates an awareness, cultural
sensitivity and involvement that leads to mutual
education of the traveller and the host
community Interest and interaction with the local
culture creates a personal stake in the heritage,
culture and economic welfare of their host
communities These experiences contribute to
respect and responsibility within travellers
World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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The Value of Student and Youth Travel
Economic contribution to host communities

• Students travel and live close to their host
  communities - thus creating less economic
  leakage, greater financial benefit to their host
  community
• They stay longer and spend more in total
• Backpackers US 6,130
• Mainstream Travellers US 4,000
• Source Tourism Australia
• The student traveller infrastructure is local and
  can be less intrusive to the community
• We must also be aware of the risk of negative
  impact from student traveller enclaves promote
  Responsible travel habits and the UNWTO
  sustainability guidelines

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• The ISTC Responsible Travel Campaign
• Travel 2Explore Travel 2Live Travel 2Respect
  Travel 4Peace
• To put the power of our global brandsbehind a
  message of responsible travel values
• To encourage young people to identifythemselves
  as responsible travellers

World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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• ''More than any other market segment, youth and
  student tourism can pave the way to more
  responsible tourism, helping to achieve a more
  equitable distribution of tourism development on
  a world scale, making it more sustainable and
  contributing to reducing poverty'
• Francesco Frangialli
• Secretary General
• UNWTO

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Travel is fatal to prejudice,bigotry and
narrow-mindedness
Mark Twain
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Government Policy on Student and Youth Travel
The value to Governments and Tourism Authorities
(UNWTO/ISTC survey 2005)

• Youth and Student Travel Theme for the 2005
  World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) annual survey
  of tourism authorities
• To assess Government and tourism authorities
  awareness of youth and student travel
• Response from 135 countries representing all
  major UNWTO regions (42 European)
• Results will be published as an official UNWTO
  publication on the youth travel sector

World Youth Student Educational Travel
Confederation
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Government Policy on Student and Youth Travel
The value to Tourism Authorities and Governments
(UNWTO/ISTC survey 2005)
Less than 40 of countries surveyed

• Have a definition for Youth and Student Travel
• Collect statistics on Youth and Student Travel
• Have specific policy relating to Youth and
  Student Travel

World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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Government Policy on Student and Youth Travel
UNWTO/ISTC survey 2005

• But, the value of youth and student travel is
  recognised by Governments and Tourism
  Authorities
• How important will youth tourism be in the next 5
  years?
• More Important 60 (Europe 55)
• Equally important 30
• Less important 10

World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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Limited Tourism Authority Attention

• www visiteurope.com
• 47 of visitors to the site are 15-26 yrs. (home
  page poll)
• links to backpacking guide
• And YET
• Out of 34 Member Country Sites Only 6 - Britain,
  Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Austria, Slovenia -
  have information for youth travellers (other than
  hostel listings)
• Visit Britain leads with web presence

World Youth Student Educational Travel
Confederation
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Government Policy on Student and Youth Travel

• The Paradox
• Youth Travel is recognised as important to the
  future of tourism BUT few governments pay
  attention to this market.
• Governments with awareness of this niche market
  have highly developed policies that recognise
  youth and student travel for
• Economic value
• Ambassadors and future travellers
• Travel trend setters
• Education exports
• Generating international understanding

World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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• The gap between the growing potential of
  student and youth tourism and the lack of action
  on the part of many governments shows how much
  scope there is for cooperation between UNWTO and
  the Confederation as an Affiliate Member.
• Francesco Frangialli
• Secretary General
• UNWTO

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Dont tell me how educated you are,tell me how
much youve traveled
Mohammed
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Our Niche industry

• A specialised market niche created by, and for,
  students and youth over 75 years ago
• The most successful niche in the travel industry
• A victim of our own success little recognition
  by governments and tourism bodies.
• WYSE Travel Confederation 560 members in 118
  countries serve over 10 million travellers per
  year

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The WYSE Travel Confederation Challenge
Understanding of the Market Integrated education,
culture and tourism policies Promotion for local
youth travel providers To get the message out
through virtual (web) and real world
networks Education to encourage responsible
travel habits and concern for travel ethics
World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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Australia, a Best Practice example.

• Recognise and understand the market - a billion
  incoming
• niche market
• Integrated tourism, culture, work, visa and
  education policies
• Support for organisations and programmes
• working holiday visas over 100,000/yr, (NZ
  40,000/yr)
• education as an export industry
• international students create 31 visitor days
  each
• NZ increased education visitors by 59 2000
  2005
• Study abroad in Europe increased 34 1998 2002
  (OECD)
• youth industry advisory groups hostels,
  universities, adventure travel operators
• Language study demand to grow to 2.6m places
  by 2020

Richards G, (2005) ISTC/UNWTO study, Tourism
Market Trends 2005 Edition
World Youth Student Educational Travel
Confederation
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Communicate an understanding of the market The
message and the medium
Tourism Websites

• Youth content on tourism websites will create
  links from web 2.0 (youth oriented) web sites
  that creates access to user generated content
• Social Networks
• tagging, wikis, blogs, mash - ups
• (Check out www.statravel.com, www.hostelworld.com
  www.wayn.com, www.traveladvisor.com,
  www.virtualtourism.com)
• Real (non virtual) Networks
• Hostelling International - 4,500 hostels
• WYSE Travel Confederation 350 orgs, 5000
  offices
• International Student Identity card - 4 million
• European Youth Card 3 million

World Youth Student Educational Travel
Confederation
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Other Challenges in 2007

• Meeting the growing demand for International
  Education
• Response to Climate Change
• Promoting Responsible travel and the UNWTO Global
  Code of Ethics
• Continue to build WYSTC as a vital forum for
  industry knowledge sharing, networking and trade
  WYSTC 2007 October 01 05 Istanbul
• Build a global Youth Accommodation sector
  association to unite the diverse sectors of that
  7.5 Billion industry

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The Value of Student and Youth Travel
For many, the most valuable experience of a
lifetime If you have travelled as a young
independent traveller (backpacker, study or work
abroad, exchange student, volunteer work), what
impact has this had on your perception of the
following? Your respect for other
cultures 92 Your career choice 80 Tendency
to travel independently 83 Developing positive
personal values and ethics 82 Responsible
travel habits 78 Your interest in issues of
social justice, poverty, world
peace 73 Your overall lifestyle 72
Travellers Pulse, Lonely Planet 2005
World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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 David JonesDirector General World Youth Student
Educational (WYSE) Travel Confederationwww.abou
twysetc.org Youth and Student Travel Research
Data and Market Intelligence at
www.AboutISTC.org
World Youth Student Educational (WYSE) Travel
Confederation
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I havent been everywhere, but its on my list
Susan Sontag