Hostelling International

Federation of national youth hostel associations Hostelling InternationalAbbreviationHIFormation1932Legal statusCharityLocationBell Yard, London, UK Region servedGlobalMembersYouth Hostel membersAffiliationsYHASYHAYHA AustraliaHI USAHINIHI – CanadaIYHAWebsitehihostels.com Hostelling Int'l, Washington D.C. Hostelling International (HI) is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation working with UNESCO and the World Tourism Organisation UNWTO. Formerly known as the International Youth Hostel Federation, Hostelling International has 60 member associations operating over 2,650 hostels around the world. Origins of the International Youth Hostel Federation Richard Schirrmann, a German schoolteacher, opened the first youth hostel on 1 June 1912 in Altena Castle, in northwest Germany, with the goal of providing affordable accommodation to youth travelling the country. More hostels were opened in Germany throughout the 1910s, and Schirrmann founded the German Youth Hostel Association in 1919. Other countries in Europe adopted this concept, which led to the founding of the International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF) in October 1932 in Amsterdam by representatives from Switzerland, Cze