The TTG@WTM Analysis
Fledgling market C
The word “youth” might well scare off some travel companies, but this is a huge and fast-growing sector of the market. Rob Gill explores how today’s Capture Your Youth session at WTM London showcases how to attract these often demanding customers
apturing bookings from the “youth” market has often been a challenge for much of the mainstream
travel industry, with the sector tending to be dominated by specialist brands and tour operators.
Part of the problem is perhaps the sheer breadth and diversity of the market – covering not just youth tourism but also student and educational trips – which may be discouraging some companies from seriously targeting the sector. Then there’s the thorny issue of the best way to communicate with younger age groups in a world of social media influencers, native advertising and viral videos. But there is also no doubt about the enormous size of the global youth market, with more than 285 million young people travelling last year for the purposes of tourism, studying or working, according to the British Educational Travel Association (Beta).
Helping the wider travel industry to tap into this vast market is the key goal of the Capture Your Youth session at WTM London today, which is being held for the second consecutive year by Beta. Emma English, executive director of Beta, says: “The range of this market is huge – from educational trips where people will sit in a classroom to international students who are studying abroad and those going to university for three years, to
Huge potential
Young travellers are keen to share their experiences on social media
One issue when talking about the youth market is how to define it in the first place. A decade or more ago, youth tourism could probably be loosely categorised as being for those in the 16-24 or 18-30 age brackets, but that seems to have changed.
“It’s pretty much everything from age 11 upwards,” explains English. “When we started 15 years ago, the youth market was for 16- to 24-year-olds but now that’s changed to a point where it’s more about attitude than specific ages or demographics.
“Socal media is now the primary source of news and travel inspiration for
young people” Sally Cope, Tourism Australia
“It also covers those people who take career breaks. So now it’s seen as being for people up to 35. The age bracket is enormous, and there are so many different segments of activity.”
The parameters of youth travel have become so extended that it covers a wide age spread, including elements of generation X (those born between the mid-1960s and early 1980s), plus generation Y, also known as millennials (born from the mid-1980s to late-1990s) and generation Z (born from 2000 onwards). However you choose to measure the
volunteering in Africa, or even just a short trip to learn some English. “The travel industry’s focus doesn’t seem to have been on the youth market. It has huge untapped potential – they are the future business travellers and future family travellers. That’s the message we will be communicating at WTM.” English adds that while last year’s WTM London session on youth travel was “scene-setting” by demonstrating the size and potential of the market, this year’s presentations will feature a range of specialist travel companies, including Topdeck, STA Travel and Hostelworld – plus Tourism Australia and youth marketing agency Hype Collective, who will be talking about some of their latest campaigns and market insights.
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