Global Travel Trends

Aided by a boom in budget airlines, an increase in disposable income, increased visa openness and the advent of the selfie, world tourism is on the rise.

• 1 out of 11 jobs are in the tourism sector
• Tourism contributes to 10% of the World’s GDP
• 25 million people travelled abroad in 1950. This number grew to 1.2 billion in 2015 and is expected to hit 1.8 billion by 2030
• International tourist spent US$ 1260 billion in 2015
• Emerging economies accounted for 30% in 1980, 45% in 2015 and is expected to hit 57% by 2030

These are some pretty big numbers, but how is it related to you? To get an idea of what the broad outlook is in your neck of the woods, please refer to the numbers released by the United Nation World Tourism Organization (attached below).

Youth Travel Trends

• Travellers between the ages of 15 and 29 accounted for 23% of all international travellers in 2015
• In 2014, young travellers spent an average of USD 2160 on their trip compared with an average of USD 1,097 for international tourists as a whole
• Amount spent by youth was US$ 143 billion in 2007 and is expected to hit US$ 400 billion by 2020
• The average length of trips in 2012 was around 58 days.
• Youth travel have also been shown to be resilient to financial and economic crises. In fact, there is data that suggests that young people take longer trips when the economy is poor.
• 32% of these young travellers listed hostels as their preferred stay option during their travels

Young travellers are often money poor but time rich, which means that they can spend longer at a destination as compared to regular travellers.

UNWTO Youth Travel Report

Hostel Trends

Getting a hold of hostel specific numbers is a tricky business because the industry is severly fragmented with independents accounting for over 50% of the entire industry

• More than 70 percent of hostel travelers are millennials, 15 percent of whom have used a hostel in the last 12 months.
• The hostel industry is projected to grow seven to eight percent year-over-year, currently valued at $5.2 billion in bed revenue.
• Emerging markets are seeing the largest expansion in the hostel industry, whereas 4 in 10 hostels in developed markets have been in business for more than 10 years, just 1 in 10 hostels in emerging markets have been around for that long.
• Guests ranked low cost (44 percent), convenient locations (44 percent), high overall value for money (43 percent) and opportunities to meet other travelers (31 percent) as the top reasons to choose hostels.

Additional Reading

• UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2015
• Tripbarometer 2015