For a unique experiance abroad!

Tourism is ever stronger economic field, which increases the social welfare, encourages regional development and helps preserving cultural and natural heritage. Lately we notice an increasing number of young travellers, who are market and capital wise very efficient. The conclusions of FIYTO (Federation of International Youth Travel Organisations) from 2005 each fourth international traveller is younger than 30 years. Young travellers spend more money on their travels as other groups of travellers. And it found out that the youth gives importance to local products, made by locals.

Youth tourism is super 

Youth tourism is one of many kinds of tourism, which has a target group of young people between 15 and 29 years of age (because of “prolonging youth” even to 35 years), who critically and independently decide on the choice of destination, way of travel and spending the money. The speciality of youth tourism is combining tourist activities with informal education and socialization of youth. It’ important to create tourist culture and encourage recognising different world cultures, languages and create tolerance between people from different ends of the world. The office of Republic of Slovenia for youth is trying, to offer youth to satisfy their curiosity, creativity and need to educate and recognise the world, spiritual and body development and satisfy itself outside institutionalized forms of life and work, like travel, holidays and trips. Youth tourism is a narrow combination of upbringing, education, socialization, culture, sport and tourism. EU is trying and will keep on trying to support development of youth tourism, and with us we have the Popotniško združenje Slovenije (Hostling International Slovenia).

 

HI Slovenia is the heir of former organization with roots back in 1892, when in Ljubljana the founded Ferijalno društvo »Sava«. The society was made with the purpose to present the diversity of Slovenia to students or youth. Later it developed around united regions or countries in Jugoslavia and changed the name to Imperialni savez Jugoslavije. In 1920 the first almanac with a list of boarding, where owners of membership cards of their traveling society could get price worthy or even free loggings. The youth could sleep in a barn and in exchange for help on the farm, they would get a breakfast. So the youth could travel around the homeland over 100 years ago. Popotniško združenje Slovenije, as we know it today, exists since the year 2000. From 2002 the Popotniško združenje Slovenije (PZS) became a full member of the International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF).

The mission of HI Slovenia is the development of the network of youth boarding, educating employees in youth boarding, promotion of Slovenia in the world, introducing the youth about mobility, organizing travels for youth and preparing programs that include knowing the country with the support of youth boarding. Igor Jurišič, the alpha and omega of Slovenian youth travel, president of Popotniško združenje Slovenije, likes to remember the beginnings and successes that happened in the 14 years of working. At the beginning of works the network included 6 hostels: hostel in Bled, which was open the whole year around, two school dormitories in Ljubljana and one in Maribor, an apartment village on Pohorje and a dorm in Koper. “When we began our mission, we started with a weak network, so we decided to spared the network of hostels around Slovenia, so Slovenia could – in all seasons –and in all places accept youth travellers from Slovenian and abroad Then we started searching the offerers of beddings that fulfilled the criteria to enter our network. Through years we’ve woven a broad network and have over 45 hostels today that work all around Slovenia.« Most hostels that belong to the HI network, has beside running a hostel an additional activity, mostly it’s a youth centre or dormitory. Jurišič reminds us that hostels in smaller places in Slovenia wouldn’t succeed without extra activities, as it is the thing that allows for bigger success. The hostel works under the same roof as the school dormitory or youth centre, and can offer guests/users many common rooms, lecture rooms, technical support, dining room and a kitchen, so in such a hostel you can organize, let’s say “ a conference on the key.” At Ljubno ob Savinji a hostel opened in a famous guesthouse and is a great additional activity to the first tourist offer. A bit different story comes from Debeli Rtič, where a hostel is a part of the youth summer resort. Gusts who sleep there are entitled to a high standard of board, and the payment is used to enrich the humanitarian activities. 

The word originates from English and means a logging, but still hasn’t find its way to Slovenian vocabulary. Not just in the dictionary, but also in the legislation, where the word is poorly defined and doesn’t set the criteria who can open a hostel and what criteria it has to meet. This is not a problem we face in Slovenia alone, but it’s like this all around the world. That is why the efforts of the world wide network IYHF is all the more important. IYHF sets strict standards for youth lodgings, which everybody who wants to enter the network must fulfil. Anja Žepič, the secretary of PZS, points out that the main factor in making a hostel friendly, is based on the human approach and we talk about a friendly attitude towards guests, safety, privacy and hygiene. HI Slovenia raised the standards to a higher level, with a desire that tourists in Slovenian hostels het as high a quality as possible. That is why they made a categorization of hostels, which encourages the offerers of hostels to do more than just offer a bed. HI Slovenia representatives give the example of Postojna, where a hostel had a lower category. Two months ago it was refurbished and incorporated all the criteria, important for a good and quality hostel and got a higher quality mark. »This is an important indicator for us, as we see how offeres get to realize that category isn’t just a number, but also means the quality of stay for the guests.«

On the booking portal a young traveller can find a night’s stay at Bled for 7 EUR. Jurišič thinks critically: »What can you expect from such a guest except to buy food at low price markets. He won’t sit down for a cup of coffee at the lake, won’t buy the Blejska rezina, and won’t take to boat ride to the island?« With such bedding offers you are destroying tourism on the long range, either in Bled, Slovenia, or anywhere. »If this doesn’t change by law, we will have big problems in tourism in the future. Hostel in Bled, part of our network, is more expensive, but there’s a tested quality backing the price. « The booking portal offers 1418 lodgings for Slovenia alone. But often this means that there are people, who just want to make profit with badly kept apartments. So a tourist, surprised to find a cheap stay in Ljubljana, happens to find himself in a big flat of and old building in Ljubljana, sharing the shower and bathroom with other people. It’s up to us, to think and set priorities on what to spend our money.

If you want a week of laying in the sun by the sea, go to a hotel. If you prefer an adventure travel without planning ahead, want to meet new friends from all parts of the world and get a unique experience, welcome to a hostel. That’s the main difference between a hotel and a hostel: in a hotel, there is no connectivity among tourists. You get a key to a room and don’t care who’s in the room next door, and neither does he about you. A hostel is different, you meet people from other places there and exchange advice, talk with a beer in hand in evenings. And the most interesting, each hostel writes its own story. In Ljubljana hostel you can eat breakfast in the former vault of the bank, in Celje you can sleep in a hostel themed after Celje legends, in Bohinj or Bovec you cannot avoid adrenalin sports. It’s like that abroad as well. In Sweden you can sleep in a jail, or on a boat, even in a real live jumbo jet plane, converted into a hostel. In Canada you can sleep in once luxurious rail carts, made into hostel rooms or in a natural resort. So next time you check the offers, think about what you get for the price.