Why is youth tourism important for youth mobility?

Youth tourism is one of the fastest growing tourism industries, and we can often see young people with backpacks. But you can still sometimes feel an underestimating attitude towards this type of tourism, although young people stay longer in one destination and thus generate more money. This type of tourism includes all young travellers aged between 15 and 30. Youth tourism influences the integration of different cultures and the recognition of foreign languages and ways of life. Young people choose to travel in order to gain new experience, new skills, people and cultures. The specialty of youth tourism is combining trips with informal learning and socialization of young people. Youth mobility is also working on this topic, which is the spatial movement of young people within or outside of their home country due to voluntary or youth work, for education, professional training, employment and leisure activities. Travel and mobility influence personal and professional development, increase autonomy and accountability, help young people to learn languages and develop other social skills and abilities. This strengthens the ability to communicate with other cultures and solidarity. Mobility also reduces intolerance in all respects.

Youth tourism increases the mobility of young people. Working abroad affects the knowledge of languages and helps the individual in the challenges of the global environment. Tourism gives young people the basis and youth mobility goes deeper. Mobility often acts as an upgrade of tourism. It’s kind of a more in-depth visit to the area that young people get during a tourist visit. Mobility and tourism's common ground is getting to know the languages and foreign cultures, ways of life. Through the mobility and tourism, young traveller receives life references.

When choosing a type of mobility program, young people often also choose a place that they would like to explore as a tourist, as they will certainly have some time for such research during mobility. For places it is therefore important that they also offer something for a young tourist to decide to visit. If he likes the place, he may decide to do some kind of Erasmus project.

Above all, however, it is important that tourism and mobility have greater employment prospects. Young travellers and those with an experience in mobility are more flexible, as they strengthen the ability to change and adapt to the environment, expand their own social networking and intercultural competencies and become more employable. By transferring good practices from different areas and environments (work with young people, environmental campaigns...), they can influence improvements in the home environment.