Youth’s encounter with popular destinations. Leisure, tourism, and education

Abstract

In recent decades, tourism and leisure have become a central aspect in the daily life of Icelanders. Increased leisure time and disposable income, along with changes on the job market, have contributed to a growing emphasis on recreation and leisure, making these activities one of the cornerstones of modern society. Accessibility to tourism and leisure activities varies and depends on the individual’s socioeconomic situation, among other things. In Iceland, little is known about the relationship between socioeconomic factors and tourism and leisure opportunities. Many nations have a long history of social tourism, which refers to subsidized tourism and leisure activities in order to facilitate more equal access to travel for different social groups. The aim of this paper is to shed light on young people’s participation in tourism, with respect to socioeconomic factors. The paper will then address these factors in the context of Icelanders’ domestic travel behaviour, social tourism, and education. The analysis builds on survey data from a 2017–2018 study, titled Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children, in which 6717 children and adolescents responded to a questionnaire regarding their outdoor activities. The paper will focus on the part of the study that looked at travel habits of children aged between 12 and 15 to popular destinations in Iceland.

On the whole, the findings show considerable variation in children’s travel habits with regard to age and residence. These differences are manifested in various ways, but in general a higher number of children in the Southwest (metropolitan areas and vicinity of the capital region) have visited selected destinations and the older the children are the more destinations they will have visited. It is worth keeping in mind that most of these destinations are located in the Southern part of the country. The trajectory is similar for each place, but on average the number of children aged 12 to 15 who claim to have never visited the selected destination ranges from 10–20%. A similar proportion of 12–15-yearolds from the Southwest and from rural areas say they have visited Gullfoss, Geysir and Mývatn, or 70–90%. A much greater difference appears among children in this age group who claim they have been to Þingvellir (30%) and to Þórsmörk (28%). The parents’ socioeconomic situation plays a role in their children’s travel habits. For example, 34% (N=43) of those children who rate their family’s economic position as bad or very bad have never visited Þingvellir, compared to the 21% who rated their family’s economic position as very good or good. The findings also strongly suggest that children whose parents are both immigrants, are much less likely to have visited Þingvellir, Mývatn, Þórsmörk and Jökulsárlón, than children whose parents were both born in Iceland. The findings give rise to questions regarding the different opportunities children have to enjoy tourism and leisure activities and the need to further bolster social tourism in Iceland, as well as its connection to education and the role of the education system. A promising way to surmount the obstacles preventing children from enjoying equal access to tourism and leisure would be for the state to directly support social tourism and to encourage comprehensive collaboration between specialists in the tourism industry and in the schools and leisure centres. In this way, it would be possible to foster empowering and educative experiences, especially since there is a vast reservoir of experience and knowledge within the tourism industry which could be harnessed and utilized to create opportunities for children to learn and develop.

The central findings of the study are that location, economic factors and parents’ background play a role in determining whether children aged between 12 and 15 have visited selected travel destinations in Iceland. These findings correspond to data concerning the travel habits of Icelanders, which show that low-income groups and people who live in rural areas are less likely to travel. The findings point toward needed research and innovation projects in the field of tourism studies, leisure studies and education, such as the following: (1) children’s experiences and views of travel and recreation (2) Icelanders’ travel habits with respect to socioeconomic situation, (3) people’s experience of the importance of tourism for leisure purposes, (4) mapping of social tourism in Iceland and (5) innovation in social tourism in collaboration with the education system.