Phenomenol Growth and Unprecedented Demand from New Markets confirms youth travel as THE hot sector of the global travel and tourism industry.
Samuel Vetrak, founder and CEO of StudentMarketing, the leading youth travel research and intelligence consultancy, revealed key trends in the youth and student travel market.
Vetrak based his presentation on data collated from over 600 sources, globally to fill out the picture of this burgeoning segment of the global tourism market. Vetrak’s presentation showed huge opportunity for existing and new operators in this sector but he also challenged complacency and called on operators in traditional markets to take note of the huge shifts in the potential source markets of the future. The presentation was followed by a lively panel discussion featuring Industry expert Susan Goldstein moderating Steve Lowy of UMI Hotels and Nick Greenfield of ETOA (European Tour Operators Association) who joined Vetrak on stage.

Key findings from the presentation included: •global youth travel industry is currently worth USD 173 billion per annum and one in five international travellers last year was a young traveller
•the youth travel market is expected to burgeon to 320 billion by 2020
•youth travel outstripped the global music industry and the top twenty premier football clubs last year in terms of global revenue generation
•higher education and volunteering are the biggest growth sectors of the youth travel landscape
•emerging markets are easing visa restrictions and investing in infrastructure whist traditional economies are going through a period of re-evaluation on visa policy
•growth of over 8% in international arrivals in South America, South East Asia
•emerging markets will overtake advanced economies in international arrivals by 2026
www.student-market.com
Samuel Vetrak is the founder and CEO of StudentMarketing, a market research and business development company specializing in the global youth, student and educational travel market.
The company provides comprehensive insight on global student mobility patterns and market trends, and helps organisations to succeed at international youth travel market (strategies, policies, solutions).
Using advanced research techniques and proven methodology, StudentMarketing delivers the deep market intelligence that organizations need to identify the best opportunities, make informed decisions, and to build sound strategies.
Vetrak holds a Masters degree in Philosophy and also studied at the American City University.
Today, Samuel travels extensively presenting at conferences and workshops.