what is youth tourism

Youth Tourism

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• Harald Pechlaner 3 , 4  

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Youth tourism is one of the most underestimated segments. What originally played only a niche existence is becoming a driver for overall social developments. More than other forms, youth tourism stands for innovation and sustainability in this market. Its preoccupation provides a view into future developments because young guests can be seen as pioneers in the use of new technologies and experiment with new forms of social networking and communication (UNWTO 2011 ). One of its foundations was created in the “First World Tourism Organization’s International Conference on Youth Tourism” in 1991 as next to the call for uniform systems of data gathering and presentation through the UNWTO ; the national tourism organizations were requested to also evaluate the needs of young people and guests systematically (Abdel-Ghaffar et al. 1992 ).

Especially since World War II, there has been an extensive examination of the phenomenon of youth and the corresponding consequences on the consumer side. In...

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Abdel-Ghaffar, A., Handy, M., Jafari, J., Kreul, L., and F. Stivala 1992 Conference Reports: Youth Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 19: 792-795.

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Babin, B., and K. Kim 2001 International Students' Travel Behavior. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 10: 93-106.

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Kjeldgaard, D., and S. Askegaard 2006 The Glocalization of Youth Culture: The Global Youth Segment as Structures of Common Difference. Journal of Consumer Research 33: 231-247.

Lyons, K., Hanley, J., Wearing, S., and J. Neil 2012 Gap Year Volunteer Tourism: Myths of Global Citizenship? Annals of Tourism Research 39: 361-378.

Richards, G., and J. Wilson 2003 Today’s Youth Travellers: Tomorrow’s Global Nomads. New Horizons in Independent Youth and Student Travel. A Report for the International Student Travel Confederation and the Association of Tourism and Leisure Education. Amsterdam: ISTC.

UNWTO 2011 The Power of Youth Travel. http://dtxtq4w60xqpw.cloudfront.net/sites/all/files/pdf/the_power_of_youth_travel.pdf (14 December 2013).

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Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Eichstaett, Germany

Harald Pechlaner

European Academy Bozen/Bolzano, Institute for Regional Development and Location Management, Drususallee/Viale Druso 1, 39100, Bozen/Bolzano, Italy

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School of Hospitality Leadership, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, Wisconsin, USA

Jafar Jafari

School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

Honggen Xiao

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Pechlaner, H. (2014). Youth Tourism. In: Jafari, J., Xiao, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Tourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_540-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_540-1

Received : 10 January 2014

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_540-2

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_540-1

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Understanding millennials’ tourism experience: values and meaning to travel as a key for identifying target clusters for youth (sustainable) tourism

Journal of Tourism Futures

ISSN : 2055-5911

Article publication date: 26 February 2018

Issue publication date: 4 June 2018

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the tourism experience of millennials by connecting their value orientations to the meaning that they give to travel. In doing so, it also aims at discovering profiles of young tourists that can be targeted both now and in the future by tourism organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey based on validated scales reached 423 Dutch millennials. An integrated multidimensional research strategy has been applied where models that reduce the gathered data to fewer components (principal component analyses) were followed by a cluster analysis.

Ten value orientations (Schwartz, 1994) and four travel meanings have been identified. By combining these ten value orientations and four meanings, nine clusters have been identified representing groups of millennial tourists with different needs. For example, while two clusters fit into the popular description of young travellers seeking only unpretentious enjoyment, millennials represented in two other clusters are strongly motivated by self-transcending values, distance themselves from the travel meaning escapism and relaxation and will therefore not positively respond to a merely hedonic travel offer.

Research limitations/implications

Replication of this research is recommended in other national contexts, possibly using a longitudinal approach.

Practical implications

The nine clusters should be approached with a dedicated travel offer. In particular, at least two clusters of millennials may be successfully approached with a sustainable tourism offer.

Originality/value

The combination of value orientations and travel meanings portrays a detailed and realistic picture of the tourism experience looked for by millennials.

Youth tourism

• Market segmentation
• Sustainable tourism
• Meaning to travel

Value orientations

Cavagnaro, E. , Staffieri, S. and Postma, A. (2018), "Understanding millennials’ tourism experience: values and meaning to travel as a key for identifying target clusters for youth (sustainable) tourism", Journal of Tourism Futures , Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 31-42. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-12-2017-0058

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Elena Cavagnaro, Simona Staffieri and Albert Postma

© Elena Cavagnaro, Simona Staffieri and Albert Postma. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

This study aims at better understanding the tourism experience of millennials by connecting their value orientations to the meaning that they give to travel. In doing so, it also aims at discovering profiles of young tourists that can be targeted both now and in the future by tourism organisations.

Young tourists are key for tourism’s future at least for three reasons: the sheer amount on young tourists travelling in the present ( Richards, 2006 ; United Nations World Tourism Organisation and World Youth Student & Educational Travel Confederation (UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2016 ); the fact that their original choices may lead to new attitudes towards tourism by the wider society ( Fermani et al. , 2011 ; Leask et al. , 2013 ) and the anticipation that young tourists will continue to travel in the future (Barton et al. , 2013). This last point is of particular importance form a future perspective because the young generation will move up in the demographic pyramid and take in the future the place that is now occupied by older generations, such as Baby Boomers. Today young generation (the so-called GY, GX and millennial generation) have different needs than their parents or grandparents in general ( Howe and Strauss, 2000 ) and in the context of tourism in particular ( Glover, 2010 ). Consequently, the middle-aged tourist in the 2020s and 2030s will, just like the young tourists of today, have different needs and wants compared to the contemporary middle-aged tourist. To be prepared for the future, the tourism sector has to understand and cater for these changing needs.

Catering for changing needs is an essential but not a sufficient measure to guarantee the future of tourism. It has in fact been stated that tourism will have no future unless it becomes sustainable ( United Nations World Tourism Organisation, 2013 ). In this context, previous studies have shown that young tourists with a specific (i.e. biospheric) value orientation associate travel with being in contact with nature ( Cavagnaro and Staffieri, 2015 ). From a future perspective, this is interesting because biospheric values are the most stable antecedent of sustainable behaviour ( Steg and Vlek, 2009 ). However, the salience to young tourists of different value orientations has not yet been explored. It may therefore be possible that, when contrasted with other value orientations, the biospheric value orientation is revealed to be less relevant to young tourists.

Therefore, as briefly stated above, the study’s purpose is twofold: to describe the value orientations of young tourists and to discover profiles of young tourists that can be targeted both now and in the future by connecting value orientations and meaning given to travel. Values are rather stable determinants of behaviour, thus offering an insight not only in present but also in future choices, while meaning expresses the general connotation that a person gives to travelling. The link between values and consumer choices is a strong one. This is even truer in those cases, such as tourism, where consumer choices are loaded with a significant symbolic reference.

Data were collected in the Netherlands, one of the European countries with the highest tourism participation ( Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, CBS, 2016 ) and the country where not only two of the authors but also the organisation specialized in market research that helped reach a representative sample, TNS Nipo, is located. A total of 423 youngsters answered a survey on values and the meaning they attribute to travelling based on validated scales. To analyse the data, an integrated multidimensional research strategy has been applied where models that reduce the gathered data to fewer components (principal component analyses (PCA)) were followed by a cluster analysis.

The paper is structured as follows. The theoretical and methodological section critically reviews the major theories on which this study is based, and offers insights on how the study was conducted. After this section, the findings are presented and discussed. The paper concludes by pointing at the professional and theoretical implication of the results.

Theoretical and methodological section

This section highlights the main theories on which the study is based and the method used to gather and analyse data. It is organised in four subsections. The first three critically discuss from a future perspective theories on youth tourism; on tourism experience and travel meaning; and on value orientations. The fourth and last one is dedicated to the research method.

Tourism research has begun to focus relatively late on young travellers in general and in particular on those born between 1980 and 2000, the so-called “Millennial” Generation ( Richards and Wilson, 2004 ; Glover, 2010 ; Pendergast et al. , 2010 ). Youth tourism is defined as all independent trips for periods of less than one year by people aged 16-29 which are motivated, in part or in full, by a desire to experience other cultures, build life experience and/or benefit from formal and informal learning opportunities outside one’s usual environment ( UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2008 ). Currently (2017), the age group in this definition matches the generation of millennials. The millennial generation is, according to most definitions, born between 1980 and 2000. Generation Y (born between 1980-1994) and Generation Z (born between 1994-to date) include the millennial generation (born from the late 1980s onwards). They can all be considered youth travellers and their travel experience can therefore be interpreted building upon literature on youth tourism. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation and World Youth Student & Educational Travel Confederation state that Generation Z comprises about 30 per cent of the world population and counts 29 million international travellers around the world. It also regards Generation Z as millenials on steroids and refers to them as “the-internet-in-its-pocket-generation”, a feature that set them apart from previous generations such as the Baby Boomers and even the a bit older Generation Y who was born and grew up before the internet was widely available ( WYSE, 2016 ).

Notwithstanding an increasing interest in the millennial generation, existing research on youth tourism is relatively underdeveloped ( Richards and Wilson, 2004 ; Staffieri, 2016a ). This is surprising because young tourists have a substantial material and immaterial impact on the present and future of tourism. First, they represent an increasingly significant economic force: in 2015, almost one in four (23 per cent) tourists were aged 16-29; one in three hotel guests were millennial while the total value of international youth tourism is estimated to reach US$400 billion in 2020 – twice the value of 2009 ( UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2016 ). Second, compared to older generations, youngsters are more resilient: they tend to keep visiting destinations that are under socio-political or environmental stress ( UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2016 ). Young tourists tend, third, to skip on travel and accommodation costs to spend more on the destination. Richards (2011) found that on a major trip young people spend on average of US$2,600, which is almost three times more than an average tourist. Millennials, therefore, represent a major economic opportunity in general and for economically and politically fragile regions in particular.

From a socio-cultural perspective, it has been observed that young people are an innovative force and that their choices may lead to new approaches to tourism by the wider society ( Martinengo and Savoja, 1993 ; Fermani et al. , 2011 ; Cavagnaro and Staffieri, 2015 ). Therefore, changes and developments in tourism behaviour can be foreseen by describing the present travel behaviour of millennials ( Leask et al. , 2013 ).

Millennials, though, are not only relevant for their present impact on tourism, they are also the tourists of the future ( Richards and Wilson, 2004 ; UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2008 ; Pendergast et al. , 2010 ). Millennials are depicted as natural travellers: over 60 per cent of them see travel as an important part of their lives, make 4-5 trips per year and are expected to keep looking for tourism experiences also when older ( Ovolo Hotels, 2013 ; Barton et al. , 2013 ). Gradually millennials move upward through the population pyramids replacing the older generation. If the tourism sector wants to prepare for the future by designing future proof products and services, it has to take this generational change into account. The middle-aged tourist in the 2020s and 2030s will, just like the youth tourist of today, have completely different needs, wants and travel behaviour than the contemporary middle-aged tourist.

All these considerations point to the importance of investigating this target group and identifying antecedents of their tourism behaviour, such as values and the meaning they give to a tourism experience.

Tourism experience and meaning to travel

Leisure has been conceptualised as an experience already in the early 1970s while the first academic article on the tourism experience dates from 1996 ( Ritchie and Hudson, 2009 ). The emotional implications of travelling have strengthened the conceptualization of tourism in terms of experience ( Pearce and Lee, 2005 ). When interpreting youth tourism, the conceptualization of tourism as an experience is even more important because young travellers reject standard or homogenised products and look for new solutions, ideas, and emotions or, in one word, new experiences ( UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2008 ; Moisă, 2010 ). This notwithstanding there is still a lack of proper research on how to measure the (youth) tourism experience ( Ritchie and Hudson, 2009 ; Kim et al. , 2012 ).

The tourism experience consists of three main components: the need to travel, the consummation of the experience itself and its evaluation. The need to travel, in its turn, falls apart in two components: meaning given to and motivation to travel ( Staffieri, 2016a ). While the motivation ignites the decision-making process leading to a specific travel experience ( Chang, 2007 ), the meaning given to travel brings to the surface the general needs associated with travelling and is heavily related with the symbolic character of travelling ( Staffieri, 2016a ). Already in 1976, MacCannell argued that analogously to the religious symbolism of primitive people, tourist attractions express what is considered to be of value in modern society. From the sociological perspective adopted by MacCannell and other researchers on tourism after him, it follows that to understand the travel experience one must consider both the individual and the social frame of reference of the traveller. In other words, the way in which a tourist frames his or her experience depends not only from the individual characteristics of the traveller but also from the social structure in which he stems from and the network of interactions that he has established with others ( Blumer, 1969 , Staffieri, 2016b ). The meaning given to travel is such a frame and, being generated through interaction with others, it is recognisable by all individuals who contributed to its development and, when discovered, has therefore a valence that outweighs the individual sphere ( Staffieri, 2016a ).

Previous studies on millennials state that travel means to them novelty: the possibility to evade the quotidian, to try a different lifestyle, to live new experiences, to visit new places and to acquire new knowledge ( UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2016 ). From this perspective, travelling means living an experience of personal development centred on the individual tourist. Yet, considering the reflections above on the collective way meaning is constructed, the youth tourism experience should also be framed with reference to collective symbols recognisable by the traveller’s peer-group ( Staffieri, 2016a ). From this perspective, the meaning given to travel transcends the individual need for novelty and embraces the need to partake in social trends, to socialise with friends and other (local) people, and to be in contact with nature ( Cavagnaro and Staffieri, 2015 ). The self-trascendend nature of meaning is confirmed by studies pointing that the youth traveller travel with a purpose, wants to live like the locals and believes in making a difference in the world ( UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2016 ). Moreover, lately, a shift has occurred from providing experiences to providing an experience that contribute to the quality of life of the traveller. In this respect, the United Nations speak of the leap “from marketing to mattering” ( United Nation Global Compact and Accenture, 2014 ). Concluding, in order to design travel experiences that make a meaningful contribution to the quality of life of the traveller, it is important to understand his/her travel needs, including the meaning given to travel, and his/her core values.

Values are defined as “desirable transsituational goals varying in importance, which serve as a guiding principle in the life of a person or other social entity” ( Schwartz, 1994 , p. 21) and are considered to be rather stable antecedents of behaviour ( Stern et al. , 1995 ).

Schwartz (1994) found evidence for a general value system in which 56 values are plotted on two axes, one representing openness to change vs conservatism, and the other representing self-enhancement values (reflecting a concern with a person’s own interest) vs self-transcendence values (reflecting a concern with collective interests). By clustering values, Schwartz individuated ten value types or value orientations (see Table I ). Though Schwartz noticed that respondents failed to see the difference of adjoining value orientations (such as for example hedonism and stimulation), he concluded that they are able to discriminate among these ten value types ( Schwartz, 1994 , p. 32). This is important because, as Schwartz (1994 , p. 23) notices “the pursuit of each type of values have psychological, practical, and social consequences that may conflict or may be compatible with the pursuit of other value types”. For example, from a tourism perspective, people who are strongly motivated by hedonic values will choose a different tourism experience than people motivated by universalism ( Cavagnaro and Staffieri, 2015 ).

The distinction between self-enhancement and self-transcendent values has been widely used to explain pro-environmental beliefs, attitudes and intentions. Self-enhancement values that have been proved to have (mostly a negative) impact on pro-environmental choices are social power, wealth, authority, influence and ambition (these values are in italic in Table I ). This set of value has been labelled as “egoistic” ( Stern and Dietz, 1994 ; De Groot and Steg, 2008 ). It has also been argued that two types of self-transcendent values can be distinguished: altruistic (underlined in Table I ) and biospheric values (underlined and in italic in Table I ). While altruistic values reflect care and concern for other human beings, biospheric values reveal a concern for nature for its own sake, without a direct reference to the welfare of human beings ( Stern and Dietz, 1994 ; De Groot and Steg, 2008 ). Recently ( Steg et al. , 2012 ), hedonic values have been added as a fourth value orientation relevant for explaining sustainable beliefs, attitudes and behaviour. Hedonic values are strongly linked to a leisurely experience such as travelling ( Kim et al. , 2012 ), and are therefore of particular interest when studying a tourism experience. Hedonic values are in bold in Table I .

Research method

In 2014, the European Tourism Futures Institute (ETFI) initiated a large-scale study among youth in the Netherlands. The study was conducted in co-operation with the Academy of International Hospitality Research (AIHR) and TNS Nipo, a Dutch organisation specialized in market research. The Netherlands was chosen not only because it is the country where TNS Nipo, AIHR and the ETFI are located but also because with 82.2 per cent of the population older than 15 years going at least once a year on vacation, it is one of the European countries with the highest tourism participation grade ( CBS, 2016 ). Together these parties designed a computer-assisted web interviewing [1] survey to gather data on youngster values and the meaning they give to travel. Value orientations were measured using a nine-point Likert scale ranging from “opposed to my principles” to “extremely important in my life” ( Schwartz, 1994 ). To the values individuated by Schwartz, three values were added from recent research ( Steg et al. , 2012 ), i.e. specifically two biospheric (protecting the environment and preventing pollution) and one hedonic (gratification for oneself), bringing the total to 59 considered values. Travel meaning was measured using a five-point Likert scale validated by Staffieri (2016a) . The scales’ internal consistency has been verified trough Cronbach’s α . The unidimensionality of the value orientations was verified using four PCA [2] (see Table II ).

An integrated multidimensional research strategy was applied: multivariate analyses (PCA and cluster analysis) were used to reduce the measured items into fewer components and to uncover segments of young travellers that may be targeted with different tourism offers, including a sustainable tourism offer. Cluster analyses are an appropriate statistical technique for sociological research aimed at individuating and describing variations in the target group under scrutiny, in the present case young tourists. In this study, therefore, the cluster analysis starts from the values orientations and the components for travel meaning identified through PCA. To the factor scores obtained via the PCA a non-hierarchical cluster analysis, k-means method, has been applied ( Mac Queen, 1967 ; Spath, 1980 ; Everitt, Landau and Leese, 2001 ), using the statistical software SPSS ( Norusis, 2011 ). The k-means method is a useful tool for the segmentation of consumers ( Zani and Cerioli, 2007 ).

Findings and discussion

A total of 423 questionnaires were received. Respondents’ age ranges between 19 and 31 years, in line with the definition of millennial generation and youth tourism presented above. The sample is equally distributed between men and women. 61.1 per cent of respondents had travelled independently, i.e. without an accompanying family member or other tutor ( UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2008 ). In line with findings from Ovolo Hotels (2013) , on average, respondents visited 4.6 countries.

In line with Schwartz’s 1994 study, ten value orientations have ben found (see Table II ). It is important to notice that for the value orientations, universalism and benevolence, the PCA individuated two components, of which the second one was composed respectively, of two and one value, and explained a low variance, respectively, 11.6 and 11.3. Due to their low explanatory value, these second components are not further considered.

The 19 items measuring travel meaning can be reduced to four components. These have been labelled: personal, inner development; development through interpersonal exchange; socializing and entertainment; and Escapism and relaxation (see Table III , where the order of the items in the table corresponds to their contribution to the new component). The first component includes items that relate to the meaning of travel as an experience of personal development and growth pointed at by the literature such as “I travel to improve physical/mental health” and “I travel to explore a meaningful path of life” ( Staffieri, 2016a ; UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2016 ). The second component ties together items where experiencing new cultures and people is central. This is in line with literature pointing to the symbolic nature of travelling and the social construction of its meaning ( MacCannell, 1976 ; UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2016 ). The third component is formed by items where the social nature of travelling is connected to hedonic experiences, such as diving into the night life of the destination. It reminds that travelling is a hedonic experience ( Kim et al. , 2012 ). In the fourth and last component, travelling has a hedonic flavour, too. Differently from the third component, though, the experience seems more personal, less connected with other people. Friends appear here only as a possible source of tensions that has to be avoided. In short, the four components of meaning found in this study confirm that travelling may take both a social and an individual meaning for youngsters ( UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2008 , 2016), that travel is sought after as a pleasurable endeavour ( Kim et al. , 2012 ) and that having fun with friends and socialising are important needs of young travellers (United Nations World Tourism Organization, and World Youth Student & Educational Travel Confederation, UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2011 ).

Following an integrated multidimensional research strategy, as illustrated above, a cluster analysis was then applied to the value orientations and meaning given to ravel found through PCAs. Cluster analysis started from two groups and gradually increased the number until ten ( Table IV ). A solution with nine groups shows the best goodness of fit ( R 2 =52.7 per cent) and is therefore considered as the most effective synthesis of the phenomenon under study ( Zani and Cerioli, 2007 ).

ANOVA shows that the value orientations benevolence ( R 2 =0.703), conformity ( R 2 =0.696), security ( R 2 =0.672) and self-direction ( R 2 =0.647) have a greater capability to discriminate among the nine clusters than the other six value orientations. For the meaning associated with travel, this role is played by two out of the four meanings: “Development through interpersonal exchange” ( R 2 =0.385) and “Escapism and relaxation” ( R 2 =0.290).

The result of the cluster analysis presented in Table V will be described and discussed in the rest of this section.

Respondents in the first cluster (23 cases) score the meaning “Personal, inner development” higher and the meaning “Escapism and relaxation” lower than the average. Hedonic value orientation is also scored lower, alongside the value orientation benevolence while the value orientation power is strongly represented. It may be concluded that for this group travelling means to work on themselves to acquire recognition (the value orientation power includes items such as social recognition and preserving one’s public image). In line with the United Nation Global Compact and Accenture (2014) study, this group is looking for a meaningful experience that will help them to develop as an individual and strengthen their social position. They will not be attracted by the offer of a merely hedonic experience ( Steg et al. , 2012 ) while, if a sustainable tourism experience is framed as status enhancing, they may choose for it ( Steg et al. , 2014 ).

With its 66 cases, the second group is the most consistent of the nine clusters individuated. Universalist values are strong in this cluster together with self-direction. This group values, on the one side, the beauty of the natural environment and wishes to see it protected; and on the other side, values creativity, freedom and independence. Differently form the first cluster, this group does not highly value social recognition. In line with their universalist value orientation, the meaning given to travel is “Development through interpersonal exchange”, a meaning that includes alongside getting in contact with local people, the wish to live in contact with nature. Self-transcending values, such as universalism, presuppose the ability to surpass the self and meaningfully connect with other people and nature ( Schwartz, 1994 ). They are therefore intimately linked to altruistic values ( De Groot and Steg, 2008 ). Moreover, people who strongly endorse universalism generally value more positively options that benefit the environment ( Steg et al. , 2014 ). The present study’s results confirms, therefore, Cavagnaro and Staffieri (2015) who found evidence for a core group of young tourists motivated by pro-environmental and pro-social values in their travel choice. To this group, travelling means an opportunity to learn and understand other people’s culture in order to create a better world in an open and unconstrained way. A (sustainable) tourism proposition targeting this group should respect their wish for independency and freedom. It should therefore let them feel in control, and insist more on the beauty of the natural environment and the freedom to experience it than on constraints to its fruition.

Benevolence values are salient to the 48 cases composing the third clusters while the hedonic and stimulation value orientations are less salient to this group. Benevolence values are, together with universalism, self-transcendent values ( Schwartz, 1994 ). The meaning given to travel seems at first sight to be contradicting the preference given to self-transcendent values and the mild aversion towards hedonic ones of this cluster: “Escapism and relaxation” and “Personal, inner development”. In interpreting this result, it may be considered that travelling is a hedonic experience ( Kim et al. , 2012 ) and that therefore the meaning “Escapism and relaxation” is not by definition grounded in a hedonic and a stimulation value orientation. Arguably in line with UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation (2011) , this group needs travelling and the opportunity that it gives to escape from everyday life to give meaning to their own life and the life of others.

The fourth and fifth groups, with respectively 33 and 34 cases, score lower than average on all value orientations. They seem undecided on the guiding principles of their life, and in this indecisiveness, they relate to all value orientations less positively than the other groups. This may reinforce the observation that the millennial generation upholds values that are strongly different from those of older generations ( Howe and Strauss, 2000 ). This indecision, though, may also represent a stage in their development, a step in constructing their own identity. The relative importance of values may in fact change in time ( Steg et al. , 2014 ). Though similar in their uncertainty regarding values, these two clusters differ in the meaning they give to travel: cluster 4 highlights “Development through interpersonal exchange” and cluster 5 “Socializing and entertainment”. Considering that for cluster 5, the most negatively laden value orientations are benevolence and self-direction (where creativity and independence are valued), it may be argued that they travel in order to find unpretentious, standardised entertainment with like-minded existing and new friends. In cluster 4, the most negatively laden value orientation in conformity, including values such as self-discipline and politeness. This cluster may consider travelling an opportunity to meet new people and break with the beaten path without much regard for others.

Cluster 6 (with 56 values the second largest) and 8 (52 cases) show a picture that seems completely the opposite than cluster 4 and 5: all values score above average. Apparently respondents in cluster 6 and 8 are as undecided on the guiding principle of their life as respondents in cluster 4 and 5, yet – instead of distancing themselves from all values – they embrace them all. Not completely unsurprisingly, then, the value orientations that scores relatively higher than the rest in cluster 6 and 8 is conformity, while hedonism scores a bit lower than the rest. In the meaning they give to travel, though, cluster 6 and 8 differ. Cluster 6 resembles cluster 1 and 3, where “Escapism and relaxation” and “Personal, inner development” also scored higher than average. Cluster 1 and 3, though, had clearer views on the value orientations salient to them. It may therefore be argued that also for the young tourists represented by cluster 6, travelling means an opportunity to escape the daily grind and focus on the own development. This time, thought, not in view of some other benefit (such as strengthening the social position, as in cluster 1, or giving meaning to life, such as in cluster 3) but because that is what travelling is supposed to be. Cluster 8 embraces only the meaning “Personal, inner development”. For this group then travelling is not linked to the need to escape everyday life, but means an opportunity for personal development in the broadest sense of the word.

Cluster 7 (48 cases) and 9 (40 cases) are united in their lower than average scores on universalism and tradition and a bit higher than average score on hedonic value orientation. Hedonic values are connected with having pleasure in the present moment ( Steg et al. , 2012 ) and, as it has been stated above, do not bring by definition to consider travel as a mere opportunity to have fun. Cluster 7 and cluster 9, consequently, differ in the meaning given to travel. Cluster 7 opts for “Escapism and relaxation”, and seems to consider travelling an opportunity to escape from the quotidian to celebrate and enjoy life without much consideration for others or the natural environment. For respondents in cluster 9, travelling means “Socializing and entertainment”: they wish to enjoy life without any further consideration, as cluster 7, but wish to include old and new friends in the pleasure that they seek. This is line with literature suggesting that having fun with friends is an important need to young travellers ( UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2011 ). With their marked indifference for universalism values, cluster 7 and 9 are the most difficult to reach with a sustainable tourism offer.

Summing up the analysis conducted above, it can be observed, first, that not all young travellers have a clear view on the guiding principles in their life. Some, such as in cluster 6, seem to embrace them all; others, such as in cluster 4 and 5, seem to reject them all. Whether this result points to the emergence of new values typical for millennials or to a passing phase in their personal development cannot be said on the basis of this study. Longitudinal research is needed to further explore this point.

Second, it is interesting to observe that out of the four cluster of young tourists who seem not to have a clear view on their own values, two favour the meaning “Escapism and relaxation” and/or “Socializing and entertainment”, while the other two favour a meaning connected to development. Here, too, only a longitudinal study may be able to assess whether the different meaning given to travel leads to distinctive experiences that may in turn result in variations in the relative importance given to values by these two groups ( Steg et al. , 2014 ).

Third, looking at the interplay of the value orientations with the meaning given to travel, clusters 6, 7 and 9 present a common pattern: a preference for escapism is connected with hedonic values higher than average and self-transcendent values lower than average. This preference fits with the popular image of young tourists exploited by TV series such as Oh-Oh Cherso: they seek sheer entertainment without consideration for others and nature. This image, though, as the other clusters show, does not fully correspond with the reality of young tourism. The reality, in fact, is much more variegated and complex than so-called reality show wish us to believe. In short, even when considering all value orientations and not only the four directly linked to sustainable choices, the picture drawn in Cavagnaro and Staffieri (2015) is confirmed. Two clusters (2 and 3) present strong self-transcendent values (respectively universalism and benevolence), opening up the possibility to target these millennials with a tailor made sustainable tourism offer.

Finally, the analysis above has also shown that looking either at values or at the meaning to travel is not enough to understand the subtle differences among millennials. Only by combining the two, a tourism offer can be designed properly answering their needs.

Conclusion including research’s limitations, practical implications and originality

Before discussing the originality and practical implications of this study, it is proper to look at its limitations. This study reaches a representative sample of the Dutch young population, but it will need replication in different national contexts before its results can be widely generalised. Moreover, it considers only one of the components constituting the travel experience, i.e. travel meaning. Future studies should consider more components, such as the choice of a destination and the travel evaluation. Finally, to uncover eventual developments, a longitudinal approach is needed.

Notwithstanding these limitations, the study makes an original contribution to the literature on millennials and tourism. To the authors’ knowledge, the connection between Schwartz’s value orientations on one side and the meaning as a component of the travel experience on the other side has not been attempted earlier. Thanks to this connection, moreover, the present study offers a more sophisticated image of millennial travellers than previous ones. In short, it shows that, notwithstanding all shared characteristics that distinguish them from previous generations, millennials are not a homogeneous tourist group. To better understand the elusive differences among millennials, future studies are needed. These studies may, for example, consider gender or origin differences. Future studies are recommended to follow an integrated approach such as the one chosen for this study.

The main practical implications of the study’s results are linked to the refined image that it has revealed of millennials. Tourism organisations in general and destination management organisations in particular should take notice that the millennial target group is not homogenous. To satisfy millennial tourists in the present and future, tourism organisations should consider the different values that they uphold and the different meanings that they give to travel. Specifically, this study has been able to confirm that there is a consistent group of millennials (here represented by cluster 2 and 3) that are pointedly motivated by self-transcending values and that look to the travel experience as an opportunity to learn and understand other people’s culture in order to create a better world for themselves and others. This group is open to a sustainable tourism offer and represents an opportunity for the tourism industry to grow without jeopardising its own future ( UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation, 2008 ).

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Clusters of young people: the number of cases and Final Cluster Centres processed from sampled data

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Acknowledgements

In 2014, the European Tourism Futures Institute (ETFI) initiated a large-scale study among youth in the Netherlands. The study was conducted in co-operation with the Academy of International Hospitality Research (AIHR) and TNS Nipo, a Dutch organisation specialized in market research.

Corresponding author

About the authors.

Elena Cavagnaro is a Professor at the Academy of International Hospitality Research, Stenden Hotel Management School, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.

Simona Staffieri is based at the Italian National Institute of Statistics, Rome, Italy.

Albert Postma is a Professor of Applied Sciences at the European Tourism Futures Institute, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.

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What Is a Youth Tourism?

By Anna Duncan

Youth tourism is a form of travel that involves young people, typically between the ages of 18 and 30. It is a rapidly growing sector of the tourism industry, with more and more young people traveling for leisure, education, work, or volunteer opportunities. In this article, we will explore what youth tourism is all about, its benefits and challenges, and some tips for making the most out of your youth travel experiences.

What Is Youth Tourism?

Youth tourism refers to a range of travel activities that are undertaken by young people. These activities can include backpacking trips, gap years, language courses abroad, volunteering programs, cultural exchanges or visits to music festivals or other events.

The Benefits of Youth Tourism

There are many benefits to be gained from participating in youth tourism. For one thing, it provides an opportunity for young people to broaden their horizons and gain new perspectives on the world around them. Traveling can help foster personal growth and build self-confidence.

Another benefit is that it can help young people develop new skills and gain valuable work experience. Many youth travel programs offer opportunities for internships or volunteer work that can help build a resume for future employment.

Moreover, youth tourism can also have a positive impact on local communities by supporting local economies and promoting cultural exchange.

The Challenges of Youth Tourism

While there are many benefits to youth tourism, there are also some challenges that young travelers may face while on the road. One common challenge is dealing with culture shock or homesickness when traveling to unfamiliar places.

Another challenge can be staying safe while traveling in areas that may be less developed or have higher levels of crime than one’s home country. It’s important for young travelers to research their destinations thoroughly before leaving home and take appropriate safety precautions while abroad.

Budgeting can also be a challenge for some young travelers who may be on a tight budget. However, with proper planning and research, it is possible to travel on a budget without sacrificing quality experiences.

Tips for Making the Most of Your Youth Travel Experiences

If you’re planning a trip as a young traveler, here are some tips to help you get the most out of your experience:

• Do your research and plan ahead
• Travel light and pack smart
• Stay flexible and open-minded
• Keep a journal or blog to document your experiences
• Make an effort to meet new people and engage with local cultures
• Take advantage of opportunities for learning and personal growth
• Stay safe by following common sense safety practices and being aware of local laws and customs

8 Related Question Answers Found

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The YOUTH Guide to Travel

TRAVEL A TOP PRIORITY FOR JOY-SEEKING GEN Z

Our Global Youth Culture Uncovered report this year found, amid a macro landscape of uncertainty, fear, anxiety and instability , core common truths in how youth audiences all over the world were coping. In short, this is through the pursuit of everyday, simple and fun moments of joy . When we look at the key areas where young people are seeking joy, we see travel and moments of discovery topping their priorities for 2023 and beyond. It’s not hard to see why; after nearly 3 years of curtailed movement and missed personal & group milestones, Gen Z’s youthful and instinctual need for adventure, exploration and cultural immersion has helped shape how they want to spend their time now and next. We see this perspective emerge in many parts of life and decision-making - with that burning desire for travel and discovery influencing career choices , university plans, budgeting, socialising and entertainment plans.

TRAVEL AND PURPOSE: IMMEDIATE NEEDS VS. ASPIRATION

Travel plays an important part in helping younger people express their personal values ; seen as an essential way to meet new people, experience romance and learn about other cultures. However, news of the hottest global temperatures recorded this summer has prompted soul-searching for travellers of all ages. There is a growing aspiration among many types of travellers to intentionally take a lighter approach to adventure - with younger travellers aspiring to make more sustainable choices by avoiding overcrowded tourism hotspots and opting for more conscious transport plans .

There’s a tension between the urgent need to have fun , let loose and forget about the world’s problems - while also aspiring to make more sustainable decisions and being confronted with the impacts of climate breakdown and injustice while travelling. To address this we see younger travellers look to balance their choices - take their trip to Ibiza but keep other travel choices to more local destinations; reducing air travel over the course of a years travel choices; opting for slower methods of travel where time is not pressing - travelling to festivals, gigs and weddings by ferry or train over the course of several days instead of speedy flights.

THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL

With new outlooks and behaviours, comes the emergence of new norms and future-trends. Here are some key travel insights we found across The Love Network:

Less Planning, More Spontaneity: The old pandemic cycle of planning and broken plans has left its mark on the younger traveller. With more flexible working environments , hybrid and remote-first jobs, we’ve seen a shift to more spontaneous planning preferences (although there’s always one mega planner in the Whatsapp group!). Apps like SRPRS allow prospective travellers to choose essential criteria (like excluding cities, sustainable-only operators or sleeping in luxury) and leave the rest up to the app to decide. With a few key items in their travel bag, many younger people travel light - essentials are few, but include phones, Revolut/Monzo access, and mobile device chargers. With tight budgets, younger travellers want to make the most out of what they have, and save cash to spend on physical, tangible moments to make new memories.

“When I am travelling, I mean all I really need is my phone…💯” Donna, 28, The Love Network

“I always bring my diary so I don’t forget any of the memories I’m making…” Niamh, 25, The Love Network

Passion-first destinations: With Youth passions for learning and meeting new people, travel is considered the perfect way to expand horizons and the friendship circle. Preferring to choose destinations based on opportunities to engage with local culture we see a trend away from the ‘typical’ tourist routes and instead seeking out places rooted in passions (i.e. making the trip to South Korea for eSports championship finals, or to Japan for the Formula1.) Key personal values also transcend both life at home and when travelling; if you’re into fitness, then your gym gear is probably coming with you. If you’re a sustainable advocate, that may be key to your choices. Skincare lovers decant and bring their expensive SPF products with them as optimal sun-protection now becomes a non-negotiable.

“My must-have travel essentials are headphones, a battery pack and training gear. Chest Monday takes priority, even on holidays 😤” Sean, 25, The Love Network

“I literally don’t leave my front room without sunscreen, there is no way I am going on holiday without high SPF, glasses and coverups!” Ciara, 22, The Love Network

Enjoyment of savvy, simple pleasures: While Gen Z are the most technologically, digitally-connected modern audience in the world, they also are highly aware of the need to unplug meaningfully - especially when travelling for relaxation, or re-connecting to nature and the outdoors. This recognition of the simple, but authentic pleasures to enjoy while travelling means that sometimes the simpler option is best; enjoyment of physical books over Kindle-style devices; bringing their favourite tea with them for the perfect morning refreshment, and planning excursions, outfits and accessories focused on comfort, practicality and ease. Brands like Olend bags have come up as the ideal example of functionality and fun for travel.

“My essentials are my film camera, notebook and sunglasses.” Luke, 26, The Love Network

“You don’t even need a passport to travel this wonderful Isle [at home]!” Andy, 30, The Love Network

BRAND TAKEOUTS

Tap into the travel mindset all year round:

From the normalisation of everyday sun protection to more spontaneous trips and savvy essentials, travel & discovery themes provide an opportunity for brands to explore content in an always-relevant way. Maybe you could bring the summer’s favourite cocktail trends to everyday life back home or consider travel-friendly packaging and options for bringing your products on the road?

Make your brand or product the savvy essential:

We know that younger travellers like to travel as light as possible by packing only ‘essentials’. To be considered an essential, show how your products can be multi-use, and how they tap into passions which power discovery. A great example of this is our work with Barry’s Tea in crafting a new consumption moment for the younger tea drinker on the go!

Explore the tension to develop more sustainable destination-marketing solutions:

Rather than shying away from the tension between real life and sustainable aspiration, we see opportunities to provide solutions which give added value by not forcing audiences to choose between a sustainable lifestyle and enjoying life. We love the recent move by France Tourism to tackle over-tourism in popular areas like Paris, by promoting less well known locations for visitors to travel to across the country.

The Global Youth Tourism Summit (GYTS) is an initiative  to enhance  youth empowerment  in the tourism sector , developed by the  World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism .

Partnership

By becoming a partner of the GYTS, you support the organization of global online and offline events, dedicated exclusively to youth and tourism. You will give voice to the leaders of tomorrow in tourism.

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The Power of Youth Travel

of international arrivals

billion $ in tourism receipts

million travellers

€ average trip spend

of travel budget spent in destination

Who are youth travellers?

Most of the young travellers (15 to 29) of today come from two generational cohorts: generation Y, born between the early 1980s and 2000 and better known as “millennials,” and generation Z, born after 2000. Roughly 50% of millennial and gen Z travellers are travelling for the purpose of holidays, but the other 50% are undertaking experiential travel such as work abroad, language study, higher education, au pairing, and volunteering. These experiential youth travellers generally stay longer and spend more.

To read the full UNWTO Global Report on The Power of Youth Travel, click here.

Youth travel value is high

Research by WYSE Travel Confederation and UNWTO indicated that the total value of the international youth travel market was almost USD 190 billion in 2009. By 2018 that figure had risen to more than USD 333 billion.

Based on UNWTO forecasts for global tourism growth, we can estimate that by 2020 almost 370 million youth travellers will account for a total spend of over USD 400 billion.

Young people are often money poor, but time rich, which means that they can spend longer in a destination than a typical tourist. WYSE Travel Confederation’s New Horizons Survey research in 2017 indicated that young travellers spent an average total of EUR 2,867 on their main trip. This compared with an average of EUR 1,035 per trip for international tourists globally in 2018. Young people often take much longer trips than most other tourists – 52 days was the global average in 2017 – they are often spending more on average.

One secret to leveraging the greater spending power of young travellers is tapping into the resources of their parents (often struggling with the opposite time-money dynamic). The WYSE Travel Confederation New Horizons Survey has shown that just under a quarter of young travellers’ expenditure tends to financed by family and friends. Another secret is for destinations to enable young travellers to work in order to earn additional money during their travels.

The high value of youth travel also lies in the ‘lifetime value’ that young people deliver to destinations over the course of their travel career. Travellers often return to the places they visited earlier in life. In Australia, the 2011 ATB study Backpackers Uncovered indicated that 58% of backpackers would be likely or very likely to return in the next five years.

Youth travellers are resilient

When the going gets tough, the young travel – and keep travelling. Young travellers are relatively intrepid and less likely to be phased by economic problems, political unrest or health epidemics. A WYSE Travel Confederation survey of youth travellers’ opinions on the 2014 Ebola outbreak indicated that this global health scare had little impact on their travel plans. Research by Tourism Australia indicated that two thirds of backpackers visiting the country in 2011 were impacted by the strong Australian dollar, however, overall backpacking trip lengths were not significantly altered.

There is also evidence to suggest that young people are stimulated to take longer trips when the economy is poor; if there are fewer job openings, young people consider taking a gap year or gaining some work experience abroad until the economy picks up again. Young professionals may opt to engage in what has been termed ‘funemployment’ – using redundancy money or savings to refresh their perspective on things until new job opportunities become apparent.

The overall picture is that youth markets tend to be less volatile than the tourism market as a whole. Figures from the WYSE Youth Travel Industry Monitor of 2009 and 2010 indicated that although the youth travel sector was affected by the global financial crisis, it had declined less and recovered faster than mainstream tourism.

Youth travellers spend directly in local communities

Because young people travel for longer periods, they also tend to spend a greater proportion of their total budget in the destination. WYSE research indicates that around 60% of youth travel budgets are spent in the destination. In some cases, the proportion is even higher. Research by Tourism Australia indicates that backpackers spent 68% of their total travel budget in Australia in 2008.

The Millennial Traveller Survey conducted by WYSE Travel Confederation in 2014 showed that the most important motivations for young travellers are to interact with local people (55% rated as important) and experience everyday life in another country (45%). This drive to experience the ‘local’ while travelling brings young travellers closer to local communities and means that they have more direct economic, social and cultural impacts on the communities they visit.

The tendency of young travellers to seek out local suppliers also reduces economic leakage and drives more expenditure towards local businesses. This can have wide ranging positive effects for destinations. For example, Rodrigues and Prideaux (2011) found that backpacker tourism in the Amazon region of Brazil generated significant local employment opportunities, as well as sociocultural benefits and important conservation outcomes, including a reduction in logging thanks to increased tourism income.

Youth travellers are purpose driven

A clear trend in the youth travel market has been a shift from leisure travel towards purpose-drive travel, such as work and study abroad, volunteer travel and language learning travel. These more active, purposeful forms of travel are geared towards personal development, and can also have positive impacts on the destination.

Development Through Volunteering Overseas, a WYSE Travel Confederation study in 2015, indicated that over 80% of young volunteer travellers felt that their host family, host organisation, or friends in the host country had also benefited from their contribution as a volunteer.

Youth travellers make important contributions to other industries

Young people often travel to study or gain work experience. Student travel is now being recognised as an increasingly important economic driver. The mobile and flexible workforce of young travellers is becoming almost irreplaceable in some parts of the world.

In 2014 the Australian overseas student industry contributed AUD 17 billion in export income to the Australian economy, according to Australian Education International (AEI). This is a 17.3% increase on calendar year 2012 (AUD 14.5 billion). International education activity contributed an estimated AUD 15 billion to Australia’s economy in 2013 – a 3.8% increase over 2012, but still shy of the previous high of AUD 16.1 billion in 2010 (ICEF Monitor, 2014).

UK international students are estimated to generate around GBP 17.5 billion for the UK economy, and support almost 22,000 full time equivalent jobs outside higher education. Around GBP 4.5 billion is spent directly with universities themselves. The education market is expected to grow in future as well, with the British Council estimating that the total number of students enrolling in higher education worldwide, including those studying in their home country, will increase by 21 million between 2011 and 2020 from 178 million to 199 million- with continued growth in emerging markets (HM Government, 2013). Global demographic change and rising incomes in developing countries are likely to increase the number of internationally mobile students.

In the USA, the 886,052 international students and their families at universities and colleges supported 340,000 jobs and contributed USD 26.8 billion to the American economy during the 2013-2014 academic year (NAFSA, 2014). This represented a 8.5% increase in job support and creation and a nearly 12% increase in economic contribution compared with the previous academic year.

Arguably, the money that educational institutions earn from international students makes a valuable contribution to the educational system as a whole, allowing the host country to support facilities that it would often not be able to afford otherwise (NAFSA, 2014).

In addition to spending money which supports employment in tourism and other industries, young travellers often work themselves while travelling. The number of working holidaymakers (WHMs) has increased significantly in recent years to key destinations such as Australia and New Zealand.

In Australia working holiday visas (WHVs) grew from 185,480 in 2010-11 to 214,644 in 2011-12 to 249,231 in 2012-13, an increase of over a third in three years. This has sparked a national debate about the costs and benefits of working holidays, which are feared will take jobs from locals. Such fears have prompted the federal government to raise the tax rate for working visitors in Australia. The measure will take effect from July 2016 and is expected to generate AUD 540 million in revenue by 2019.

Tan and Lester (2012) found that every 100 working holidaymakers created five net full time jobs in Australia, confirming earlier research (2008) showing that WHMs generated a total of 28,000 jobs- 8,000 more jobs than the jobs they themselves occupied. The jobs that working holidaymakers take are often difficult to fill with the local workforce, particularly in rural areas. Research on WHMs currently being undertaken by Dr. Jeff Jarvis in Melbourne indicates that respondents stayed an average of 326 days in Australia, spending just over AUD 90 per day on average with hostels, restaurants/cafes and supermarkets being the primary beneficiaries. Jarvis commented:

“This confirms that attracting WHMs to base themselves in a particular urban destination brings with it significant economic benefits. The older WHMs are spending significantly more per visit than those under 25. In addition, they act as triggers to stimulate additional VFR visitation in the same way as international students. They also play a role as brand ambassadors for Australia.”

Furthermore, in the globalising economy, the attraction of talent is increasingly being seen as a key factor in economic competitiveness. Destinations that enable youth travel attract the talent of young professionals, introducing young people to places they may want to re-locate to and contribute to developing work-related skills. WHM research in 2015 indicated that 59% saw working overseas as beneficial for their personal development and 52% saw working overseas as beneficial for their career.

Youth travellers attract others to destinations

Young people attract other visitors to the destinations that they visit. In Australia, for example, it was estimated that each young visitor taking a course in higher education was visited by an average of 1.3 people during their stay, generating an additional AUD 1.2 billion for the Australian economy each year. Dr. Jeff Jarvis’ research in 2015 indicated that 47% of respondents generated visits from friends and relatives and 79% would advise their friends to come on a WHM visa to Australia.

Young people also add atmosphere and ‘buzz’ to destinations, attracting other visitors and businesses. This effect has been recognised in many cities across the world and there are growing numbers of projects to relocate university facilities in city centres to act as hubs for cultural and creative activities. The provision of student accommodation is often also an important feature of such schemes.

2025 Honda Odyssey Debuts: The Unofficial Vehicle Of Youth Travel Sports Gets An Updated Uniform

• The 2025 Honda Odyssey offers new styling, technology upgrades, and standard leather seats on all trims for a starting price of $43,315.
• The minivan is perfect for families on the go, offering features like wireless Apple CarPlay, USB-C plugs, and rear entertainment screens.
• While the new model may be slightly pricier, the upgrades like blacked-out trim, built-in navigation, and premium audio make it worth it.

While over the past two decades the various flavors of SUV and crossover have dominated the sales charts and become the de facto family vehicle, anyone who has kids involved in seriously competitive youth activities knows that the minivan is the way to go. Trust us: if you pull into the parking lot of a reasonably-priced chain hotel on a weekend and see three or more of the new 2025 Honda Odyssey, be sure to make alternative breakfast plans because the continental breakfast buffet will certainly be out of waffle batter long before you shuffle down for your free coffee.

New Styling Front And Rear; New Tech Inside

Let’s be honest. It’s not all that easy to get super excited about a minivan. It’s a large utility vehicle meant to haul either lots of people or lots of cargo, often both at the same time. But they have their place, and they are often the ideal vehicle for families who often need to log a lot of miles on the weekends. Mechanically, the 2 025 Honda Odyssey is basically the same van which debuted in 2018, but it’s been refreshed with new front and rear fascias. Honda notes that the rear bumper trim includes the same vertical reflectors that were found on the Acura NSX . That’s about as exciting as it gets.

Inside, a new nine-inch central touchscreen is faster and more responsive than before, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto standard. Wireless phone charging is standard, and the all-important USB-C plugs are scattered throughout the cabin. The available 12.8-inch rear seat entertainment screen has further been updated, and an HDMI plug is now located inside the center console to attach streaming devices to that screen.

Standard Leather On All Trims

One thing to be noted is that the entry price of the 2025 Honda Odyssey is up a little over three thousand dollars from the 2024 model, as the base EX trim has been eliminated. The entry model now is an EX-L, which means every new Odyssey will be fitted with leather seats. After the $1395 destination charge, the 2025 Honda Odyssey EX-L starts at $43,315. For those not in the habit of hauling multiple tykes around all weekend long, the move to an all-leather lineup might seem extreme, but this dad knows all too well that it’s much easier to wipe up spills of Gatorade and other sticky things from leather versus cloth.

Step up to the Odyssey Sport-L for blacked-out trim, including black wheels and smoked taillights, for $44,465. The black leather seats get red contrast stitching, and the interior sees red contrast accent lighting for those late night raves at the ballpark. Stepping up to the Touring trim for $48,005 delivered nets built-in satellite navigation, Honda’s CabinWatch interior rear-seat camera for parents to monitor what’s going on in the back rows, and a large 12.8-inch rear entertainment screen. And the top 2025 Honda Odyssey Elite, at $52,275 delivered, gives the front row ventilated seats, a heated steering wheel, a premium audio system, and hands-free power rear tailgate.

The 2025 Honda Odyssey will arrive in dealerships starting tomorrow, July 23rd.

Source: Honda

UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

• Middle East

The Power of Youth Travel

The second in the series of reports looking at specific areas of the tourism sector, The Power of Youth Travel features commentary from specialists, UNWTO Affiliate Members and other selected organizations on the importance of Youth Travel for economic development, global development and young travellers themselves.

UNWTO estimates that around 20% of the 940 million international tourists travelling the world in 2010 were young people . With outbound travel from the world’s emerging economies being boosted by new, affluent travellers and the age bracket for youth travel expanding across the world, this is increasingly a consumer group to take seriously.

Among the subjects covered in The Power of Youth Travel, you can discover:

• How young travellers are helping to shake up the traditional tourism value chain
• Why youth travel is set to expand in the developed world despite an ageing population
• What type of cooperation is needed for destinations to cater best for younger visitors, with best-practice examples of what’s worked
• How destinations can benefit from building long-lasting relationships with young travellers
• What are the best methods of communicating directly with young consumers in emerging economies
• How individuals benefit from seeing the world from a young age

The report was produced in collaboration with the World Youth Student and Educational Travel Confederation (WYSETC), a UNWTO Affiliate Member and has been distributed to all UNWTO full and Affiliate Members in advance of the 19th UNWTO General Assembly.

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This Is Literally Your Brain on Drugs

A small new study shows reactions in the brain in people who were given psilocybin in a controlled setting.

By Andrew Jacobs

If you had to come up with a groovy visualization of the human brain on psychedelic drugs, it might look something like this.

The image, as it happens, comes from dozens of brain scans produced by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who gave psilocybin, the compound in “magic mushrooms,” to participants in a study before sending them into a functional M.R.I. scanner.

The kaleidoscopic whirl of colors they recorded is essentially a heat map of brain changes, with the red, orange and yellow hues reflecting a significant departure from normal activity patterns. The blues and greens reflect normal brain activity that occurs in the so-called functional networks, the neural communication pathways that connect different regions of the brain.

The scans, published Wednesday in the journal Nature , offer a rare glimpse into the wild neural storm associated with mind-altering drugs. Researchers say they could provide a potential road map for understanding how psychedelic compounds like psilocybin, LSD and MDMA can lead to lasting relief from depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders.

“Psilocybin, in contrast to any other drug we’ve tested, has this massive effect on the whole brain that was pretty unexpected,” said Dr. Nico Dosenbach, a professor of neurology at Washington University and a senior author of the study. “It was quite shocking when we saw the effect size.”

The study included seven healthy adults who were given either a single dose of psilocybin or a placebo in the form of methylphenidate, the generic version of the amphetamine Ritalin. Each participant underwent a total of 18 brain scans, taken before, during and after the initial dosing.

Four participants returned six months later for an additional psilocybin session.

Although the scans of those given methylphenidate showed acute changes in brain activity patterns, the neural disruption among those who took psilocybin was three times greater, the study found.

Much of that disruption occurred in parts of the brain involved in introspective thinking, like daydreaming and remembering. Those areas help individuals define their sense of self.

Perhaps more surprising were the scans taken days and weeks later. They showed that the brains of those who took psilocybin had largely returned to normal, but there remained a small and significant change suggesting that the drug’s effects remained long after psilocybin had left the individual’s body.

Dr. Jan Ramaekers, a professor of psychopharmacology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands who was not involved in the study, said the scans showing that the drug had lingering effects correlated with anecdotal evidence suggesting that the benefits of some psychedelic therapies were not permanent. “Treatments with psilocybin, even though they are effective, don’t last forever,” he said. “At some point, they need to be done again.”

Dr. Joshua Siegel, a neuroscientist and lead author of the study, said psilocybin appeared to disrupt the brain’s default mode network, an interconnected set of areas ordinarily active when the brain is not focused on anything in particular. By contrast, the default mode network remained stable in the participants who received the methylphenidate.

“The activity in these networks became much more disorganized, and boundaries between the networks essentially evaporated,” Dr. Siegel said.

He used the analogy of the synchronized stadium wave to explain the phenomenon. In normal day-to-day activity, millions of neurons work in synchrony but when a psychedelic like psilocybin washes over the brain, those neurons start firing off in a chaotic fusillade. “It’s like having thousands of stadium fans randomly raise their hands,” he said.

Ceyda Sayali, a cognitive neuroscientist at the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University who was not involved with the study, said she was struck by the images that showed a marked change when participants on psilocybin were asked to answer simple questions that forced them to focus on what was happening around them. The requests, known in the field as grounding, can briefly draw participants out of their psychedelic reverie.

In this case, the sudden jolt of reality was reflected in scans that showed a brief calming of brain activity. “This is something that has never been shown before,” she said.

Dr. Siegel said the scrambled brain activity was most likely a driver of neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to form new ways of thinking and a hallmark of how psychedelic medicine can help patients break destructive thought patterns. “It almost makes you a different person, so to speak,” he said.

The study, he and others say, lends weight to the notion that the psychedelic experience — the intense visualizations, the distortions of time and space, and the detachment from self — is an essential part of the therapeutic process. While such a hypothesis might seem self-evident, it is not universally accepted among psychedelic researchers, some of whom are working to develop new compounds that provide the benefits of psychedelic drugs without the disorienting effects.

Dr. Siegel said he thought the results might also serve to counter a theory promoted by some researchers that places an outsize role on the placebo effect, given that a significant percentage of participants in psychedelic studies traditionally report improvements to their mental health despite the fact that they did not receive a psychoactive drug.

“Being able to show a neurobiological mechanism that says, hey, this is actually affecting the brain, gives more meat to the argument that this not just placebo effect,” he said. “It shows that these drugs are creating lasting change to the brain.”

Andrew Jacobs is a Times reporter focused on how healthcare policy, politics and corporate interests affect people’s lives. More about Andrew Jacobs

Advances in Psychedelic Therapy

Psychedelics — though mostly still illegal — have surged in popularity in recent years as alternative treatments for mental health..

An F.D.A. panel rejected the use of MDMA-assisted therapy  for post-traumatic stress disorder, highlighting the unparalleled regulatory challenges of a novel therapy using the drug.

The F.D.A. is weighing whether to approve the use of MDMA , also known as Ecstasy, for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Here’s what to know .

After decades of demonization and criminalization, psychedelic drugs are on the cusp of entering mainstream psychiatry , with U.S. combat veterans leading the lobbying effort .

New research is stirring interest in ibogaine , a powerful psychedelic made from the root of a shrub that is native to Central Africa, as a treatment for opioid addiction .

Psychoactive mushrooms, legal in Oregon  but still illegal under federal law, are gaining popularity as therapy tools .

Ketamine has become increasingly popular as a therapy for treatment-resistant depression . But the misuse of the anesthetic drug has spurred F.D.A. warnings .

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What to know

• YRBS helps us understand many health-related topics affecting American youth, including mental health.
• The data provides the best picture of what is going on with adolescent health at all levels: national, state, and local.
• YRBS can make a real difference to youth in your community.

Why we need YRBS

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) collects data from students in grades 9—12 on key health behaviors and experiences that contribute to the leading causes of death and illness during both adolescence and adulthood.

YRBS results help:

• monitor changes over time.
• identify emerging issues.
• plan and evaluate programs to support the health of youth.

YRBS data are used by:

• health departments,
• doctors, and
• community organizations.

How YRBS helps youth‎

Why it is important.

Districts, schools, and students are randomly selected and cannot be replaced; each school's participation is critical to ensure results are representative of youth nationwide.

The YRBS gives students an opportunity to share their voice, anonymously and voluntarily.

Participation‎

Youth risk behavior surveillance system (yrbss).

YRBSS is the largest public health surveillance system in the U.S, monitoring multiple health-related behaviors among high school students.