Call to tap into fast growing youth travel

Tawanda Musarurwa in VICTORIA FALLS
INTERNATIONAL travel by youths is now one of the fastest growing niche markets of the global tourism sector. Global youth travel, which presently represents approximately 190 million of the 1,3 billion international tourists, is expected to reach 300 million annually by 2020, according to United Nations World Tourism Organisation projections.

UNWTO secretary-general Mr Taleb Rifai said Africa could take advantage of the unique characteristics of youth travellers.
“Youth travel is of tremendous importance first of all not only because of the numbers but because of the quality of the visits. Youth travellers do not demand and require very sophisticated and luxurious tourist infrastructure facilities when they travel.

“Their expectations and desires of experiences is considerably different from that of older travellers. Therefore, they are very good travellers and very suitable for destinations such as those in Africa, where it’s the experience that matters to them not the comfort levels of the infrastructure and facilities.

“Contrary to common belief that youth travellers are just backpackers and they do not spend any money; that is not true. Our researchers have proved that because young travellers stay longer they end up spending more money per visit,” he said.

The UNWTO is actively involved in spearheading research on youth travel.
This week the organisation, in conjunction with the Affiliate Member World Youth Student and Educational Travel Confederation, released two reports of the value of Youth Travel – “Youth Travel Matters” (2008) and “The Power of Youth Travel” (2011).

Meanwhile, the 20th UNWTO General Assembly has approved the proposed recommendations on youth travel. The recommendations placed a special focus on the positive impact of young travellers on host communities, destinations and countries, and the need to stimulate youth travel.
Other areas of focus include the importance of identifying key issues to advance the segment, and the necessity of strengthening the link between education and tourism to benefit the youth.