Hostelling International (HI), formerly known as International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF), is a grouping of more than seventy National Youth Hostel Associations in over eighty countries, with over 4,000 affiliated hostels around the world. Hostelling International is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation working with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

and the World Tourism Organisation

UNWTO The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations specialized agency entrusted with the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. UNWTO is the leading internat ...

Origins of youth hostelling and the IYHF

The youth hostel movement began in 1909 when Richard Schirrmann, a German schoolteacher, and Wilhelm Münker, a conservationist, saw a need for overnight accommodation for school groups wanting to experience the countryside. They started with schools being used during the holidays, and the first ' (youth hostel) was opened in Schirrmann's own school, in

Altena Altena (; Westphalian: ''Altenoa'') is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, in the northern stre ...

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

. In 1912, a hostel in Altena Castle superseded the school building, and a hostel still stands in the castle grounds. Schirrmann thus founded the nationwide

German Youth Hostel Association The German Youth Hostel Association (german: Deutsches Jugendherbergswerk) or DJH is a not-for-profit, registered association ('' eingetragener Verein''). It was founded in 1919 to create an organized network of affordable and safe accommodation ...

in 1919. The movement spread worldwide, leading to the founding of the International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF) in October 1932 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

by representatives from associations in Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Britain, Ireland, France, and Belgium. In 1933, Richard Schirrmann became the president, but the

German Government The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...

forced him to resign in 1936. Youth hostels originally differed in setup from other modern hostels, although the growing popularity of

backpacking Backpacking may refer to: * Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel * Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness * Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...

culture forced them to adapt so as not to lose customers, most notably abandoning the idea of chores in all but a few of their locations.

Modern organisation

Seventy-one National Youth Hostel Associations are members of Hostelling International, with over 4,000 hostels worldwide. Based in

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

, near London, the organisation provides services for travellers and coordinates the national organisations. It also facilitates

youth work Youth work is community support activity aimed at older children and adolescents. Depending upon the culture and the community, different services and institutions may exist for this purpose. In the United Kingdom youth work is the process of cre ...

and international and cross-cultural understanding in conjunction with

. Hostelling International celebrated its eightieth anniversary in 2012, with the first International Conference being held in the YMCA hotel in Amsterdam in 1932. Eleven National Associations were present at the conference, and an agreement was reached on a standard international pattern for membership cards and on minimum standards for the equipment and supervision of youth hostels. Since 1946, the HI network has recorded over 1.6 billion overnights. Though the parent organization has charity status in the UK, not all member organizations have charity or nonprofit status. Hostelling International Canada lost a legal battle for charity status in 2008, and the YHA in England and Wales considered becoming a commercial company during a 2005 consultation, partially in response to increased competition from independent for-profit hostels. With nearly four million members, HI is one of the world’s largest youth membership organisations and is the only global network of youth hostel associations.

References

Citations

Sources

* Coburn, Oliver. ''Youth Hostel Story''. London: National Council of Social Service, 1950. * Grassl, Anton and Heath, Graham. ''The Magic Triangle: a short history of the world youth hostel movement''. .l. International Youth Hostel Federation, 1982. * Heath, Graham. ''Richard Schirrmann, the first youth hosteller''. Copenhagen : International Youth Hostel Federation, 1962.

External links