Developing the image of the “Young Tourist”: Details from Swiss festivals

This paper seeks to increase knowledge of young tourism by presenting the findings of an empirical study of younger tourists attending cultural festivals in Switzerland. Although often neglected by academic research, the young tourism market is nonetheless important in size, furthermore, young tourists are often the trendsetters who establish and build the attractiveness of tourist destinations (Horak and Weber, 2000) The study provides data and analysis on the consumer behaviour of younger tourists, particularly regarding their choice of accommodation, eating out, travel and entertainment. The findings confirms Carr's (1998) view of a separate yet heterogeneous market, different from that of older tourists, yet in some cases sharing certain similarities. As in earlier studies of youth culture, the study finds an emphasis among young tourists on leisure activities and the importance of information — particularly from the Internet. Similarity with more traditional tourists was shown by the high importance given to cleanliness in accommodation and the provision of individual bathroom facilities. Young tourists were also found to be extremely loyal to a particular country, with a very high possibility of repeat business. Given increasing longevity and affluence, this could translate into a high “lifetime‐value of the client,” possibly lasting over half a century.