Today’s International Youth Day which gives an opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young peoples’ voices, actions and initiatives, as well as their meaningful, universal and equitable engagement.
Let me share some stats and figures to showcase the youth potential in tourism and arts.
In Kenya’s tourism, most of the domestic tourism players are youth led who have been a key driver of growth of the industry and some wholly rely on local tourists and serve them with dignity and affordably. If you’re looking to switch careers or start a business, the majority of the tourism workforce worldwide is female — 54 percent of people employed in tourism are women compared to 39 per cent in the broader economy. Youth travel has become one of the fastest growing segments of international tourism, representing more than 23% of the over one billion tourists travelling internationally each year. 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. WYSE research indicates that around 60% of youth travel budgets are spent in the destination which is great for sustainable tourism. A clear trend in the youth travel market has been a shift from leisure travel towards purpose-driven travel, such as work and study abroad, volunteer travel and language learning travel.
Young people attract other visitors to the destinations that they visit by adding ‘buzz’ to destinations, attracting other visitors and businesses which brings me to the power of film too. turnup.travel/new was featured on the season finale of What’s Good Africa — Kenya Edition which was commissioned by P Diddy’s REVOLT TV, a voice of the culture across platforms engaging millennial and Gen Z audiences attracting over 50 million young people on digital, TV and video on demand platforms. The WGS crew has been filming a travel show around Kenya and it premieres globally today. In Africa, the program is also airing on NTV Kenya, in Tanzania (via Azam TV), and Uganda (via DSTV).
Youths are no longer the leaders of tomorrow but the drivers of today’s economy, shifting the culture forward and the future of your business in tourism. Watch some behind the scenes to get the gist of it.