The economic and social value of youth travel combined with its fast-paced growth and disruptive trendsetting power positions it as a key strategic priority for travel, tourism and international education decision-makers.
Here’s why you can’t afford to ignore it.
The Youth Travel Charter has been developed as a tool to help civil society and governments to prioritise young people as travellers. The Youth Travel Charter makes the case that young travellers are a strategic segment of international travel and tourism and that civil society should invest in this segment known as youth travel.
The Youth Travel Charter highlights the main guiding principles and objectives for international youth travel in simple terms and offers pragmatic recommendations for each. The Youth Travel Charter is intended to be a document that will encourage dialogue and learning among all stakeholders of international youth travel.
GOAL 1
Leverage young people and travel as positive forces for cultural exchange and sustainable development.
(note clauses 2.1 & 2.6 still to be completed – they are work in progress)
Youth travel is a platform for fostering intercultural understanding and mutual respect, which benefits local communities within the destination and young travelers alike. These travelers enrich the social fabric of the destination and in turn the destination leverages youth travel as a form of cultural diplomacy and soft power. It is not surprising then that young people are recognized by the UN as a major force for development and social change. They have the potential to drive sustainable development in the tourism sector. The time has arrived for tourism authorities and destination stakeholders to acknowledge the irrefutable benefits and positive impact that youth travel can have on their destination markets and integrate it into broader strategies and infrastructure investment plans. There are mutual benefits for all parties:
- Add supporting data: quant & verbatims
- importance of promoting youth travel
- social benefits
- positive appreciation of other cultures when they return
- Include Quotes – Obama or others
- As global citizens youth travelers bring many things to a destination and take many other things back home => Intercultural dialogue, awareness, tolerance, respect, understanding, diversity, language, connections, life transformational opportunities
- The beneficial impact on tourism destination employees from exposure to youth travelers (impact on results by diverse teams → diverse teams perform 60% better )
- Both sides get to break down misperceptions and barriers
- They live like locals and learn from the local culture
- They are ambassadors
- Their travel is purposeful:
-
- travel to something vs away from
- multipurpose, multi-destinations
Considerations going forward:
- Prioritise youth tourism within your broader tourism strategy and invest in its ability to future proof your broader tourism approach
- Sensitise and educate local communities on its mutually beneficial impact in full transparency and make it clear what is in it for them
- Encourage BILATERAL exchanges and involve both communities and travelers to be part of designing the product
- Encourage destinations to BE WELCOMING & AND POSITIVE to youth tourism
- Be open minded to all youth travelers due to the deep, entrenched social value to be derived
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Youth travel is a platform for fostering intercultural understanding and mutual respect, which benefits local communities within the destination and young travelers alike. These travelers enrich the social fabric of the destination and in turn the destination leverages youth travel as a form of cultural diplomacy and soft power.
It is not surprising then that young people are recognized by the UN as a major force for development and social change. They have the potential to drive sustainable development in the tourism sector.
The time has arrived for tourism authorities and destination stakeholders to acknowledge the irrefutable benefits and positive impact that youth travel can have on their destination markets and integrate it into broader strategies and infrastructure investment plans.
There are mutual benefits for all parties:
-
Add supporting data: quant & verbatims
-
importance of promoting youth travel
-
social benefits
-
positive appreciation of other cultures when they return
-
Include quotes – Obama or others
-
-
As global citizens youth travelers bring many things to a destination and take many other things back home => Intercultural dialogue, awareness, tolerance, respect, understanding, diversity, language, connections, life transformational opportunities
-
The beneficial impact on tourism destination employees from exposure to youth travelers (impact on results by diverse teams diverse teams => perform 60% better)
-
Both sides get to break down misconceptions and barriers
-
They live like locals and learn from the local culture
-
They are ambassadors
-
Their travel is purposeful:1. travel to something vs away from2. multipurpose, multi-destinations
Considerations going forward:
-
Prioritise youth tourism within your broader tourism strategy and invest in its ability to future proof your broader tourism approach
-
Sensitise and educate local communities on its mutually beneficial impact in full transparency and make it clear what is in it for them
-
Encourage BILATERAL exchanges and involve both communities and travelers to be part of designing the product
-
Encourage destinations to BE WELCOMING & AND POSITIVE to youth tourism
-
Be open minded to all youth travelers due to the deep, entrenched social value to be derived
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GOAL 2
Recognise the present and future economic value of young travellers for destinations and invest in integrated strategy for development.
(Can we project what the opportunity will look like in 2025 or 2030?)
Total global youth travel spend is expected to top USD 400 billion by next year making it larger than the GDP of South Africa or Hong Kong and the same as that of Argentina. It translates into 300 million arrivals per annum, with 23% of all international arrivals on average accounted for by youth. The consistent influx creates jobs, and generates taxes, with 2.5% of jobs created related to youth travel. Clearly this segment has become one of the fastest growing in international tourism, presenting tremendous socio economic boost opportunities for destination markets if well managed.
Leveraging the opportunity means recognizing the direct and indirect economic impact that the segment can bring to the destination and understanding how value is generated on the ground.
As young people are more adventurous, they are inspired and motivated to travel as often as possible, for longer periods of time and have an interest in visiting areas not frequented by traditional tourists. The economic value of youth travel therefor lies in its unique characteristics:
- Longer trips mean up to two thirds more spend on average than most other tourists (>$1000), which can be boosted further by additional parental funding and working while traveling
- Youth travelers are resilient and continue travelling irrespective of economic problems, political unrest, extremist violence or epidemics making them less volatile than the general tourism market
- They spend their money directly with local communities thereby stimulating local economies and local tourism businesses
- As purposeful travelers, they make important contributions to other industries, tending towards working, studying, volunteering or learning languages abroad versus just pure leisure travel
- Young travelers attract other visitors to the destinations they visit. In Australia it was estimated that each young visitor in a higher education course was visited by an average of 1.3 people during their stay generating an additional AUD 1.2 billion per year.
- Youth travelers often return to the places they visited earlier in life making the “lifetime value” they contribute to destinations over the course of their travel career significant.
The economic contribution is the greatest incentive for a destination market to invest in and promote themselves to international youth travelers.
A few high level considerations in the set up and growth of this segment include:
- Collect, review and analyse destination specific data to assess the size of the opportunity, its value and any intelligence and insights that will help formulate the strategy
- Identify the key decision makers at the national level (governmental, civil society & private sector suppliers) and get their support to invest in the necessary infrastructure
- Develop an integrated market level strategy with relevant policies, practices and targets and align all key stakeholders behind their delivery
- The Australian success story below highlights the importance of putting in place a country level strategy with buy in from all key players
Australia Example – growth and impact of Australia youth strategy (do you have written case study?)
A well planned and supported country approach delivers the numbers – as evidenced in Australia where youth makes up for over 40% of all international arrivals, with spend of XXX (can we find this?)
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Total global youth travel spend is expected to top USD 400 billion by next year making it larger than the GDP of South Africa or Hong Kong and the same as that of Argentina. It translates into 300 million arrivals per annum, with 23% of all international arrivals on average accounted for by youth. The consistent influx creates jobs, and generates taxes, with 2.5% of jobs created related to youth travel. Clearly this segment has become one of the fastest growing in international tourism, presenting tremendous socio-economic boost opportunities for destination markets if well managed.
Leveraging the opportunity means recognizing the direct and indirect economic impact that the segment can bring to the destination and understanding how value is generated on the ground.
As young people are more adventurous, they are inspired and motivated to travel as often as possible, for longer periods of time and have an interest in visiting areas not frequented by traditional tourists. The economic value of youth travel therefor lies in its unique characteristics:
-
Longer trips mean up to two thirds more spend on average than most other tourists (>$1000), which can be boosted further by additional parental funding and working while traveling
-
Youth travelers are resilient and continue travelling irrespective of economic problems, political unrest, extremist violence or epidemics making them less volatile than the general tourism market
-
They spend their money directly with local communities thereby stimulating local economies and local tourism businesses
-
As purposeful travelers, they make important contributions to other industries, tending towards working, studying, volunteering or learning languages abroad versus just pure leisure travel
-
Young travelers attract other visitors to the destinations they visit. In Australia it was estimated that each young visitor in a higher education course was visited by an average of 1.3 people during their stay generating an additional AUD 1.2 billion per year.
-
Youth travelers often return to the places they visited earlier in life making the “lifetime value” they contribute to destinations over the course of their travel career significant
The economic contribution is the greatest incentive for a destination market to invest in and promote themselves to international youth travelers.
A few high level considerations in the set up and growth of this segment include:
-
Collect, review and analyse destination specific data to assess the size of the opportunity, its value and any intelligence and insights that will help formulate the strategy
-
Identify the key decision makers at the national level (governmental, civil society & private sector suppliers) and get their support to invest in the necessary infrastructure
-
Develop an integrated market level strategy with relevant policies, practices and targets and align all key stakeholders behind their delivery
-
The Australian success story below highlights the importance of putting in place a country level strategy with buy in from all key players
Australia example – growth and impact of Australia youth strategy (do you have written case study?)
A well planned and supported country approach delivers the numbers – as evidenced in Australia where youth makes up for over 40% of all international arrivals, with spend of XXX (can we find this?)
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GOAL 3
Collect and analyse data to gain continuous insights to inform your youth tourism strategy, policies, practices, and products.
Any strong and successful destination strategy rests on solid and robust market data and insights. Understanding the size of the opportunity and its value, who your top source markets are, who your competition is, as well as detailed insights on the needs and expectations of young travelers are all precursors to developing a solid integrated strategy and approach.
Key considerations include:
- Do primary and secondary research to understand your market, your competitors and your customers
- Agree on the parameters to be used in the research together with key stakeholders to ensure their consistency and authority
- Collect relevant data per age group so as to understand the profile, characteristics and interests of young travelers:
- Primary target “18-35”
- secondary ~ younger
- “young at heart”? (was in notes but don’t remember this
- Extract the insights from the data as these will help you create the “story” of why your destination is different
- Use the data to build your strategy and to inform your approach to different stakeholders:
- Governments for the creation of sector strategies, policies, standards, etc
- Private sector as a basis for new and or/improved products
- Investors to highlight the value of the market opportunities
- Tap into global and regional research studies and thought leadership documents available from associations
- Ongoing testing and validating is important to:
- Stay ahead of emerging trends
- Measure growth against objectives
- Support evolving policies and practices
- Tactical adjustments
- Australia is a great example of how investing in research can grow your industry. See the mini case study below
Australia case study
Link to UK study as an example of research and insights to inform strategy – Unlocking the value of youth, students and educational travel
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Any strong and successful destination strategy rests on solid and robust market data and insights. Understanding the size of the opportunity and its value, who your top source markets are, who your competition is, as well as detailed insights on the needs and expectations of young travelers are all precursors to developing a solid integrated strategy and approach.
Key considerations include:
-
Do primary and secondary research to understand your market, your competitors and your customers
-
Agree on the parameters to be used in the research together with key stakeholders to ensure their consistency and authority
-
Collect relevant data per age group so as to understand the profile, characteristics and interests of young travelers:
-
Primary target “18-35”
-
Secondary – younger
-
“Young at heart”?
-
-
Extract the insights from the data as these will help you create the “story” of why your destination is different
-
Use the data to build your strategy and to inform your approach to different stakeholders:
-
Governments for the creation of sector strategies, policies, standards, etc
-
Private sector as a basis for new and or/improved products
-
Investors to highlight the value of the market opportunities
-
-
Tap into global and regional research studies and thought leadership documents available from associations
-
Ongoing testing and validating is important to:
-
Stay ahead of emerging trends
-
Measure growth against objectives
-
Support evolving policies and practices
-
Tactical adjustments
-
-
Australia is a great example of how investing in research can grow your industry. See the mini case study below.
Australia case study: Link to UK study as an example of research and insights to inform strategy – unlocking the value of youth, students and educational travel
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GOAL 4
Accelerate the formation of public-private partnerships that create and align policies, infrastructure, and youth-tailored travel and tourism products.
(Leverage the power of public private partnerships to drive alignment on policy and the creation of destination infrastructure and relevant travel products)
The latest Global Report on The Power of Youth Travel * illustrates via industry specific case studies the power of public – private partnerships and the resulting success stories that can be achieved throughout the industry as a result of knowledge sharing, consensus on policy, joint strategies and transversal collaboration and partnerships.
These partnerships can take multiple forms and involve a variety of stakeholders united by a common goal leveraging relevant skills sets and resources to achieve greater efficiencies, scale and speed to market. Considering the young travelers or local communities as key stakeholders and involving them directly in co-creating and problem solving is equally beneficial and means better buy in and commitment to the end result. Millennials especially expect to be architects of new offerings and curate their own products.
Relevant areas for partnering in the industry include but are not limited to:
- Development of policies, standards and regulations
- Creating a destination and the infrastructure product to support it
- Structures to engage local grassroots communities
- Mapping the main end to end consumer journeys with partners and suppliers that support each stage of the journey
- New more efficient end to end product development opportunities
- Solving product and journey pain points together with the primary target group
Joining associations and attending industry and Traveltech events is an important way to network and identify key players with common interests and goals that may be open to exploring partnership opportunities.
[/et_pb_popup_builder][et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”Read more” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#45b9bc” modal_style=”1″ modal_width=”60″ modal_height=”90″ disabled_on=”on|on|on” _builder_version=”3.20.2″ text_text_color=”#ffffff” text_font_size=”16px” trigger_text_font=”Muli|600|||||||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” background_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0)” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px” disabled=”on”]
(Leverage the power of public private partnerships to drive alignment on policy and the creation of destination infrastructure and relevant travel products)
The latest Global Report on The Power of Youth Travel * illustrates via industry specific case studies the power of public – private partnerships and the resulting success stories that can be achieved throughout the industry as a result of knowledge sharing, consensus on policy, joint strategies and transversal collaboration and partnerships.
These partnerships can take multiple forms and involve a variety of stakeholders united by a common goal leveraging relevant skills sets and resources to achieve greater efficiencies, scale and speed to market. Considering the young travelers or local communities as key stakeholders and involving them directly in co-creating and problem solving is equally beneficial and means better buy in and commitment to the end result. Millennials especially expect to be architects of new offerings and curate their own products.
Relevant areas for partnering in the industry include but are not limited to:
-
Development of policies, standards and regulations
-
Creating a destination and the infrastructure product to support it
-
Structures to engage local grassroots communities
-
Mapping the main end to end consumer journeys with partners and suppliers that support each stage of the journey
-
New more efficient end to end product development opportunities
-
Solving product and journey pain points together with the primary target group
Joining associations and attending industry and Traveltech events is an important way to network and identify key players with common interests and goals that may be open to exploring partnership opportunities.
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GOAL 5
Remove discriminatory entry barriers and promote youth-friendly policies, products and programmes for young travellers from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.
STILL TO BE COMPLETED
(Encourage/support diverse socio- economic travelers via youth friendly policies, products and programs and the removal of discriminatory entry barriers => positive wording)
Make your destination more accessible by removing discriminatory barriers and encouraging …..)
Non-discrimination on grounds of age, race, disability, religion, gender, sexual orientation etc
- Youth travel and tourism should be accessible to all
- ‘Accessibility’ of destinations
- Overcoming barriers to accessibility be they financial, educational, regulation or discriminatory
- Availability and awareness of grants is sketchy
- Encourage diversity of products at different price points
- Policies supporting diverse tourist population
- Data points on diverse destinations more successful ?
- Destination disabled entrepreneurs creating niche experience for similarly disabled and others
- Creating schemes to address financial accessibility
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STILL TO BE COMPLETED
(Encourage/support diverse socio- economic travelers via youth friendly policies, products and programs and the removal of discriminatory entry barriers => positive wording)
Make your destination more accessible by removing discriminatory barriers and encouraging …..)
Non-discrimination on grounds of age, race, disability, religion, gender, sexual orientation etc
-
Youth travel and tourism should be accessible to all
-
‘Accessibility’ of destinations
-
Overcoming barriers to accessibility be they financial, educational, regulation or discriminatory
-
Availability and awareness of grants is sketchy
-
Encourage diversity of products at different price points
-
Policies supporting diverse tourist population
-
Data points on diverse destinations more successful ?
-
Destination disabled entrepreneurs creating niche experience for similarly disabled and others
-
Creating schemes to address financial accessibility
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GOAL 6
Promote international mobility for young people through specialised visas that place cultural exchange at their core and which are aligned with broader tourism, trade, and migration policies.
The growth of youth travel has been an important indicator of increased global mobility for people in the developed (and developing?) world and the trend is set to continue. Youth student and educational travel in particular is becoming increasingly competitive as a result, with ever growing number of destinations opening up and offering innovative and hybrid propositions.
Certain leading destinations have made their value proposition much more compelling and youth friendly by creating structured programmes easing visa policies and entry requirements and introducing simpler digital application processes. This generally only happens once a destination recognizes the economic and social benefits that youth tourism brings and enables more flexible policies that facilitate cross border passage.
A well thought through approach can move youth visas and mobility from being a pain point to a powerful enabler without immigration risks.
Consider the following:
- Take a longer term strategic approach to visas and mobility as this will be a key enabler in supporting your overall youth tourism objectives
- Look for longer term sustainable agreements as part of your tourism policy
- Recognise the importance of reciprocity in bilaterals
- Consider policies to increase work rights and post- study work
- Create an array of visa programmes that match student travel purposes (e.g. volunteer, post study work, short term educational, etc.)
- Specialised visa programmes allow more diversity in economic benefits to your destination (e.g. spend in destinations, creating jobs, etc)
- Leverage youth travelers to address seasonal labour requirements and shortages
- Align efforts across governmental departments to create a unified approach with common goals and risk assessments (Tourism working with Immigration, Foreign policy, etc.)
- Structured youth visa programmes have very low abscondment rates (can we prove this?)
- Refer below for some best practice examples
Include:
- description of US as best practice , Australia?
- Estonia digital nomad visas as example of innovative and strategic use of visas to take advantage and get ahead of emerging trend
[/et_pb_popup_builder][et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”Read more” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#45b9bc” modal_style=”1″ modal_width=”60″ modal_height=”90″ disabled_on=”on|on|on” _builder_version=”3.20.2″ text_text_color=”#ffffff” text_font_size=”16px” trigger_text_font=”Muli|600|||||||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” background_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0)” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px” disabled=”on”]
The growth of youth travel has been an important indicator of increased global mobility for people in the developed (and developing?) world and the trend is set to continue. Youth student and educational travel in particular is becoming increasingly competitive as a result, with ever growing number of destinations opening up and offering innovative and hybrid propositions.
Certain leading destinations have made their value proposition much more compelling and youth friendly by creating structured programmes easing visa policies and entry requirements and introducing simpler digital application processes. This generally only happens once a destination recognizes the economic and social benefits that youth tourism brings and enables more flexible policies that facilitate cross border passage.
A well thought through approach can move youth visas and mobility from being a pain point to a powerful enabler without immigration risks.
Consider the following:
-
Take a longer term strategic approach to visas and mobility as this will be a key enabler in supporting your overall youth tourism objectives
-
Look for longer term sustainable agreements as part of your tourism policy
-
Recognise the importance of reciprocity in bilaterals
-
Consider policies to increase work rights and post- study work
-
Create an array of visa programmes that match student travel purposes (e.g. volunteer, post study work, short term educational, etc.)
-
Specialised visa programmes allow more diversity in economic benefits to your destination (e.g. spend in destinations, creating jobs, etc)
-
Leverage youth travelers to address seasonal labour requirements and shortages
-
Align efforts across governmental departments to create a unified approach with common goals and risk assessments (Tourism working with Immigration, Foreign policy, etc.)
-
Structured youth visa programmes have very low abscondment rates (can we prove this?)
-
Refer below for some best practice examples
Include:
a) Description of US as best practice, Australia?
b) Estonia digital nomad visas as example of innovative and strategic use of visas to take advantage and get ahead of emerging trend
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GOAL 7
Use environmentally sensitive youth travellers as a catalyst to future proof your destination, aiming for scalable impact policies, standards and products.
(Future proof your destination via environmentally friendly policies, the creation of eco-friendly products from scratch and the impact reduction of existing products)
Concerns about the unfolding climate crisis, especially among young people highlight their growing intolerance to negative environmental impacts. They are increasingly championing environmental protection and have been called upon by the UN system to play a role at both the intergovernmental climate change negotiations level and in their communities.
Considering this context, the industry has no choice but to actively engage with youth on future proofing and committing to eco-friendly policies, standard and products. Whilst players that get this right will lead the way, this is like the topic of security, much more than just a competitive play. It requires industry wide leadership.
Key considerations going forward are:
- “Future proofing” your destination market, including your policies and practices should be at the forefront of your thinking
- Work towards “scaleable impact” initiatives versus superficial changes as ultimately your youth target will choose authentic eco-friendly choices
- Advocate governments to offer products of varying sustainable/environmental impact
- Use youth tourism as an educational catalyst to educate destination communities and supply chain players on environmental impact implications
- Design environmentally sensitive and carbon neutral products from scratch
- Use destination best practice operators to educate youth travelers to take best practices home with them
- Leveraging partnerships and co-creation to move to ‘neutral’ targets
- Consider grants for eco-friendly tourism combined with regulation to a “green standard”
- Set targets as per the Waste neutral hostels in US by 2020 case study below
Include mini case study on waste neutral hostels in the US – educating guests to take best practices home with them
[/et_pb_popup_builder][et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”Read more” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#45b9bc” modal_style=”1″ modal_width=”60″ modal_height=”90″ disabled_on=”on|on|on” _builder_version=”3.20.2″ text_text_color=”#ffffff” text_font_size=”16px” trigger_text_font=”Muli|600|||||||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” background_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0)” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px” disabled=”on”]
(Future proof your destination via environmentally friendly policies, the creation of eco-friendly products from scratch and the impact reduction of existing products)
Concerns about the unfolding climate crisis, especially among young people highlight their growing intolerance to negative environmental impacts. They are increasingly championing environmental protection and have been called upon by the UN system to play a role at both the intergovernmental climate change negotiations level and in their communities.
Considering this context, the industry has no choice but to actively engage with youth on future proofing and committing to eco-friendly policies, standard and products. Whilst players that get this right will lead the way, this is like the topic of security, much more than just a competitive play. It requires industry wide leadership.
Key considerations going forward are:
-
“Future proofing” your destination market, including your policies and practices should be at the forefront of your thinking
-
Work towards “scaleable impact” initiatives versus superficial changes as ultimately your youth target will choose authentic eco-friendly choices
-
Advocate governments to offer products of varying sustainable/environmental impact
-
Use youth tourism as an educational catalyst to educate destination communities and supply chain players on environmental impact implications
-
Design environmentally sensitive and carbon neutral products from scratch
-
Use destination best practice operators to educate youth travelers to take best practices home with them
-
Leveraging partnerships and co-creation to move to ‘neutral’ targets
-
Consider grants for eco-friendly tourism combined with regulation to a “green standard”
-
Set targets as per the Waste neutral hostels in US by 2020 case study below
Include mini case study on waste neutral hostels in the US – educating guests to take best practices home with them.
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GOAL 8
Champion responsible and sustainable business practices across the supply chain and educate young people to consciously make respectful choices as they interact with the host destination.
Responsible and sustainable tourism is about fostering a positive economic, social, and environmental impact on host destinations.
At the macro level sustainability involves the creation and support by stakeholders and political leaders of community wide programs that encourage the ongoing practice of tourism. These can include the fair redistribution of profits, stimulating employment, education and alleviating poverty. In parallel at the micro level responsible and ethical tourism involves championing mutual respect in the way in visitors, residents, and small businesses interact with a destination.
The following considerations are important in starting the responsibility journey:
- Encouraging local providers to insist on responsible products and supply chain and on supporting local economies, communities and their artisanal traditions
- The end to end evaluation and audit of the supply chain
- Agreeing, implementing and then monitoring the effectiveness of policies and practices encouraging responsible behavior
- Ensure the ethical sourcing of products, staff etc.
- Use technology and partnerships to deliver against ‘responsible’ experience (e.g.online and pre-booking)
- Consult other stakeholders like associations, agencies on ethical and responsible practices
- Source industry best practices and learn from other industry best in class players
- Fact check source of data and information
- Educate young travelers, the early adopters of ‘local’ on consciously making positive and responsible choices in interacting with the host destination
“Traveling responsibly and following responsible business practices means consciously choosing to foster a positive interaction between the tourist industry and the host destination”
Links and best practices if relevant – Link on defn @ “sustainable tourism.net
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Responsible and sustainable tourism is about fostering a positive economic, social, and environmental impact on host destinations.
At the macro level sustainability involves the creation and support by stakeholders and political leaders of community wide programs that encourage the ongoing practice of tourism. These can include the fair redistribution of profits, stimulating employment, education and alleviating poverty. In parallel at the micro level responsible and ethical tourism involves championing mutual respect in the way in visitors, residents, and small businesses interact with a destination.
The following considerations are important in starting the responsibility journey:
-
Encouraging local providers to insist on responsible products and supply chain and on supporting local economies, communities and their artisan traditions
-
The end to end evaluation and audit of the supply chain
-
Agreeing, implementing and then monitoring the effectiveness of policies and practices encouraging responsible behavior
-
Ensure the ethical sourcing of products, staff etc.
-
Use technology and partnerships to deliver against ‘responsible’ experience (e.g.online and pre-booking)
-
Consult other stakeholders like associations, agencies on ethical and responsible practices
-
Source industry best practices and learn from other industry best in class players
-
Fact check source of data and information
-
Educate young travelers, the early adopters of ‘local’ on consciously making positive and responsible choices in interacting with the host destination
“Traveling responsibly and following responsible business practices means consciously choosing to foster a positive interaction between the tourist industry and the host destination”
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GOAL 9
Respect and protect the human rights of destination communities, tourism industry employees and youth travellers as per obligations under international human rights laws and conventions.
As with the environment, youth today are intolerant to negative human rights impacts – they are “informed consumers” on the topic. They believe in the innate equality and defense of all human beings as the rule and will consciously choose not to go to certain places or participate in certain activities based on a lack of sustainable practices.
A human rights approach to youth tourism is therefore not a nice to have but a business necessity. It requires all stakeholders fulfilling their responsibility to respect and support human rights by:
- Recognizing the multiple human rights impacts and issues associated with youth tourism
- Incorporating human rights within core business policies and practices and also calling out the protection of human rights for the economically poor and socially vulnerable
- Undertaking an end to end supply chain due diligence review
- Reducing risks of activities harming the human rights of destination communities, tourism industry staff and youth travelers
- Paying particular attention to:
- any form of exploitation of youth workers and volunteers
- exploitation of children/youth by youth volunteers and working travelers
- Introducing a remediation process to address areas of potential risk and engaging directly and transparently with affected communities
Case study/best practice & Important links:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights
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As with the environment, youth today are intolerant to negative human rights impacts – they are “informed consumers” on the topic. They believe in the innate equality and defense of all human beings as the rule and will consciously choose not to go to certain places or participate in certain activities based on a lack of sustainable practices.
A human rights approach to youth tourism is therefore not a nice to have but a business necessity. It requires all stakeholders fulfilling their responsibility to respect and support human rights by:
-
Recognizing the multiple human rights impacts and issues associated with youth tourism
-
Incorporating human rights within core business policies and practices and also calling out the protection of human rights for the economically poor and socially vulnerable
-
Undertaking an end to end supply chain due diligence review
-
Reducing risks of activities harming the human rights of destination communities, tourism industry staff and youth travelers
-
Paying particular attention to:
a) any form of exploitation of youth workers and volunteers
b) exploitation of children/ youth by youth volunteers and working travellers -
Introducing a remediation process to address areas of potential risk and engaging directly and transparently with affected communities
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GOAL 10
Prioritise traveller safety mechanisms, and their regular review, for the entire travel journey from design and marketing to in-destination procedures and practices.
(Ensure appropriate safety and protection requirements are built into the product end to end)
The safety and wellbeing of young travelers must be considered as a prerequisite to all players in the industry. There is a duty of extra care towards this more vulnerable group.
The responsibility of taking care and keeping them safe falls on all players in the supply chain. Starting from product developers who must be considering safety and wellbeing as core components of the design, right through to destination authorities who need to create the policies, systems and structures needed to ensure travelers are kept safe. Responsibilities and recommendations include:
- Implementing policies, practices and where necessary regulations ensuring safety and protection of young tourists (e.g. relevant travel insurance mandatory/highly recommended)
- Mapping the traveler journey end-to-end and identifying possible safety risk points which can then be addressed in the product design
- Leveraging technology and its real time engagement aspect (e.g. safety alerts, chatbots, crisis management, educational/safety advice soundbites “just in time”, location tracking, etc.) can assist in mitigating against new and constantly evolving risks.
- Addressing “preparedness” of the traveler before departure:
- The appropriate travel insurance
- Clear information about the journey, culture in destination and what to expect
- Training on existing & new dangers
- Alignment between key departments in destination (e.g. Department of Tourism, National Tourism Authority, Safety & Security, Health, Home Affairs & on the ground operators) ensuring everyday safety and responsiveness to when things can and do go wrong.
- Regular reviews of safety mechanisms in response to new and evolving risks
- Traveler safety should be an area for industry collaboration (versus competition) and lends itself well to joint innovation efforts by public private partnerships.
- Ensure a common mindset across all players – “working together to prepare & protect”
Include any relevant best practice product /case study plus links e.g. to traveler safety tips sites
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(Ensure appropriate safety and protection requirements are built into the product end to end)
The safety and wellbeing of young travelers must be considered as a prerequisite to all players in the industry. There is a duty of extra care towards this more vulnerable group.
The responsibility of taking care and keeping them safe falls on all players in the supply chain. Starting from product developers who must be considering safety and wellbeing as core components of the design, right through to destination authorities who need to create the policies, systems and structures needed to ensure travelers are kept safe. Responsibilities and recommendations include:
-
Implementing policies, practices and where necessary regulations ensuring safety and protection of young tourists (e.g. relevant travel insurance mandatory/highly recommended)
-
Mapping the traveler journey end-to-end and identifying possible safety risk points which can then be addressed in the product design
-
Leveraging technology and its real time engagement aspect (e.g. safety alerts, chatbots, crisis management, educational/safety advice soundbites “just in time”, location tracking, etc.) can assist in mitigating against new and constantly evolving risks.
-
Addressing ¨preparedness¨ of the traveller before departure:
a) The appropriate travel insurance
b) Clear information about the journey, culture in-destination and what to expect
c) Training on existing and new dangers
-
Alignment between key departments in destination (e.g. Department of Tourism, National Tourism Authority, Safety & Security, Health, Home Affairs & on the ground operators) ensuring everyday safety and responsiveness to when things can and do go wrong.
-
Regular reviews of safety mechanisms in response to new and evolving risks
-
Traveler safety should be an area for industry collaboration (versus competition) and lends itself well to joint innovation efforts by public private partnerships
-
Ensure a common mindset across all players – “working together to prepare & protect”
Include any relevant best practice product/ case study plus links e.g. to traveller safety tip sites
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GOAL 11
Engage technology with consideration for ethics and consumer co-creation to secure digital relevance, operational efficiency, seamless omni-channel experiences.
(Ethical and responsible use of data and respect for privacy….struggling to fit it in this heading & found co- creation fits better here. E could consider adding data privacy and digital security with the safety one and making it a safety & security clause )
Millennials are redefining the consumer story across industries, including travel. They create their own experiences when what is offered does not meet their needs and expectations – starting from the exploration of products online all the way through to posting reviews on their return.
Current Traveltech trends in the form of: customization via advanced real time data and predictive analytics, virtual and augmented reality, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of virtual assistants and chat bots, recognition technology, the internet of things (iOT) and robotics are all contributing towards the redefinition and disruption of travel in the name of greater convenience and frictionless experiences – and its these young consumers that are leading the way. Co-creating with them is the best way to future proof and stay relevant long term.
While being very digitally savvy and immersed in technology, millennials are the generation that is most trusting of institutions to safeguard their personal data. Even though they are aware of online security risks they are less concerned about them, placing an important responsibility on the youth travel industry as a whole to educate and guide them in this respect.
Going forward key consideration should be given to:
- Mapping existing and new potential consumer journeys together with young millennials and so involving them in new product design directly – “built for them – by them”
- Traditional youth travel businesses and startups collaborating strategically to leverage new technology platforms and address industry pain points and opportunities (e.g. real time education, safety, risk and crisis management, and data privacy)
- Establishing clear policies on data security and privacy:
- aligned with GDPR or using GDPR as a benchmark outside the EU.
- committing to the ethical and responsible use of data
- with particular attention to children’s data and the required rules on parental/guardian consent
- Actively educating young travelers on the importance of GDPR and data privacy
Include any relevant case studies/best practices and appropriate links
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(Ethical and responsible use of data and respect for privacy….struggling to fit it in this heading & found co- creation fits better here. E could consider adding data privacy and digital security with the safety one and making it a safety & security clause)
Millennials are redefining the consumer story across industries, including travel. They create their own experiences when what is offered does not meet their needs and expectations – starting from the exploration of products online all the way through to posting reviews on their return.
Current Traveltech trends in the form of: customization via advanced real time data and predictive analytics, virtual and augmented reality, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of virtual assistants and chat bots, recognition technology, the internet of things (iOT) and robotics are all contributing towards the redefinition and disruption of travel in the name of greater convenience and frictionless experiences – and its these young consumers that are leading the way. Co-creating with them is the best way to future proof and stay relevant long term.
While being very digitally savvy and immersed in technology, millennials are the generation that is most trusting of institutions to safeguard their personal data. Even though they are aware of online security risks they are less concerned about them, placing an important responsibility on the youth travel industry as a whole to educate and guide them in this respect.
Going forward key consideration should be given to:
-
Mapping existing and new potential consumer journeys together with young millennials and so involving them in new product design directly – “built for them – by them”
-
Traditional youth travel businesses and startups collaborating strategically to leverage new technology platforms and address industry pain points and opportunities (e.g. real time education, safety, risk and crisis management, and data privacy)
-
Establishing clear policies on data security and privacy:
a) aligned with GDPR or using GDPR as a benchmark outside the EU
b) committing to the ethical and responsible use of data
c) with particular attention to children’s data and the required rules on parental/ guardian consent
-
Actively educating young travellers on the importance of GDPR and data privacy
Include any relevant case studies/ best practices and appropriate links
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