The Challenge of Covid-19 for Youth Travel

Authors

Abstract

This paper analyses the effects of the first seven months of the Covid-19 pandemic on youth travel. Surveys of youth travel businesses between March and September 2020 showed youth tourism businesses were severely impacted, with a 26% drop in business volume in Quarter 1 of 2020 falling to -70% by May 2020. Business prospects for the year 2020 were dire and more than 80% of businesses expected their business prospects to get worse over the coming year. The effects of the pandemic were felt in all world regions and across almost all industry sectors. Youth travel businesses adopted a range of tactical and strategic measures in response to the crisis, including changing terms and conditions, increased marketing, creating partnerships and shifting business online. As youth travel depends on social interaction there are major challenges for the industry in future, but also a number of potential opportunities, such as the growth in domestic travel and the rise of digital nomads.

 Keywords: Coronavirus / Covid-19; Crisis; Business impacts; Youth travel; digital nomads.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Greg Richards, Breda University of Applied Sciences and Professor of Leisure Studies, Tilburg University

Greg Richards, PhD Geography, UCL 1982, BSc Geography UCL 1979; Professor of Placemaking and Events, Breda University of Applied Sciences and Professor of Leisure Studies, Tilburg University; https://independent.academia.edu/gregrichards; Richards.g@buas.nl.

Wendy Morrill, WYSE Travel Confederation

Wendy Morrill, MA Sociology/New School for Social Research (2001). BA Sociology & Women’s Studies/University of New Hampshire (1999); WYSE Travel Confederation; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0688-4823; wendy.morrill@wysetc.org

Downloads

Published

2021-01-31

How to Cite

Richards, G. ., & Morrill, W. (2021). The Challenge of Covid-19 for Youth Travel. Anais Brasileiros De Estudos Turísticos - ABET, 11. Retrieved from https://periodicos.ufjf.br/index.php/abet/article/view/33299

Issue

ABET, Vol. 11, Single Issue (2021): Current Topics in Tourism and Thematic Section: “Tourism in times of COVID-19”

Section

Thematic Section “Tourism in times of COVID-19”

License

This journal provides immediate open access to its content, following the principle that providing free scientific knowledge to the public provides greater democratization of world knowledge.    

Authors must agree to the following terms relating to copyrights:

(a) Authors keep all copyright and grant the to the journal the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License that allowing job sharing with recognition of authorship of the work and initial publication in this journal.

(b) Authors are allowed to assume additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g. publish in institutional repository or book chapter), with recognition of authorship and initial publication in this magazine.

(c) Authors are allowed and are encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on your personal page) since they do not do this before or during the editorial process, as this can generate productive interchange, as well as increase the impact and citation of work aired. (See Effect of Free Access).