Youth travel defies the recession
SINGAPORE – The WYSE Travel Confederation, a global not-for-profit association for the youth and student travel industry, sees a bright future for the sector, most especially in Asia.
Demand for international education, backpacking adventures and cultural exchange has remained high throughout the recession as more young people continue to travel, study and develop new skills until the economy recovers, WYSE says.
“The social benefits of youth and educational travel – combined with its resilience to the financial crisis – have led national tourism boards throughout South East Asia to focus on the youth sector,” WYSE added.
“The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is promoting 2010 as the year of ‘Youth Travel’ with global branding and promotional efforts focusing on attracting young travellers from all over the world.
“Singapore is another example of Asia’s immense inbound and outbound market opportunities. The Singapore Government has focused on promoting work and study abroad opportunities to improve the language and cultural skills-set of its students.
“The Ministry of Education is busy establishing satellite campuses in cities such as Beijing in order to achieve its goal of sending 50 percent of Singaporean students abroad on educational exchanges.â€
WYSE said Singapore Education has also embarked on a new initiative across western markets aimed at attracting foreign students from Europe, North America, and Oceania interested in Asian business and language courses.
In Thailand, a government campaign will promote Thailand as a regional hub for international education by focusing on attracting foreign students.
The education sector in Thailand is projected to grow at least 10 per cent annually due to the implementation of the government’s new ‘Strong Thailand’ campaign.
Hosting a strategy session last month at the World Youth & Student Travel Conference – the industry’s annual global conference – WYSE Travel Confederation confirmed that 60 percent of tourism boards view youth travel as vital to the future of their industry and anticipate huge growth in this sector over the next five years.
Over the next year, the confederation will host a series of events to promote youth and student travel throughout Asia.
Beijing will be host city for the World Youth & Student Travel Conference in 2010.
Ian Jarrett
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