Foreign Hostelling Organisations

These beginnings gave rise to the organisation that is Hostelling International, which looks over HI hostels and organises a number of activities around the world. It includes national HI organisations, which are non-profit and aren’t politically engaged. The HI family consists of 80 national organisations, which spread the vision and objectives of Hostelling International through their hostels and numerous activities. There are more than 4000 HI hostels around the world and their main objective is to become places of peace and understanding, something that is particularly evident in the global Sleep for Peace campaign. These hostels also encourage young people to travel and promote sustainable tourism.

National organisations cooperate with one another and subsequently help travellers get the best experience possible. They also take part in a number of projects. One of such projects is the HI Connect that allows the organisations to exchange volunteers. This means that these volunteers get to work in a hostel abroad and consequently acquire new skills and experience. In general, volunteers are an important part of these national organisations, which help Hostelling International accomplish its mission. The organisations also exchange cultures of their countries. An interesting project was carried out in 2019 that involved the organisations exchanging culture boxes that were full of items representing the main features of their countries.

Just like the world, the organisations are quite diverse as well. Some are small, others large. It depends on the country. You can read the articles below to discover stories of the larger and more active national organisations of Hostelling International. To begin, we’ve compiled a few general information about each organisation as well as its history and current activities. We also present the most interesting HI hostels, especially those that are sustainable. Of course, there are also a few discounts in each country, and the articles include the ones on interesting guided tours as well as hundreds other adventures. These articles act as brief travel guides for selected national organisations and landmarks in their countries.