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How many times have you heard someone say that the best time of my life was backpacking Europe, that year I studied in Australia, or the year I was an Au Pair in the states. If you’re like the rest of young people, it’s…
How many times have you heard someone say that the best time of my life was backpacking Europe, that year I studied in Australia, or the year I was an Au Pair in the states. If you’re like the rest of young people, it’s probably pretty often. That’s because one in four travellers belongs to a special niche that falls under the banner of youth, student and educational travel. A group served by an industry that generates billions of dollars annually while providing millions of young people every year with what may be the single most important experience of their lives.
Each year some 450 organisations from more than 65 countries representing this industry’s most important players meet at the World Youth and Student Travel Conference, the signature event of ISTC – the International Student Travel Confederation and FIYTO – the Federation of International Youth Travel Organisations.
Members of these two organisations have agreed to conduct business by strict rules of conduct – an important prerequisite for an industry that serves young people. The standards of these organisations and their members – and the pre-screening of all WYSTC attendees is a key difference that separates this event from other purely commercial trade fairs.
At WYSTC, attendees meet to discuss the ways and means to better serve the industry and community. To facilitate these discussions, they meet in smaller associations specific to their respective industry sectors; work experience; international language travel and more, to determine guidelines for best practice, share industry intelligence and of course, do business with one another. At WYSTC you will find global brands in student travel, educational exchange, national travel boards plus official tourism organisations such as this year’s official hosts Tourism Australia, Tourism Victoria, the City of Melbourne and many others from around the world.
Importantly, what all these different organisations have in common is that they recognise and promote the special identity of youth, student and international educational travel. Realising and accepting the responsibility for serving young people but also keenly aware that their industry is definitely, big business.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
