TRADITIONAL YOUTH MOBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY IN TRAVEL

<p dir="ltr">Rapid technological advancement and concurrent societal changes are impacting virtually all aspects of life including leisure and work mobility (Sheldon et al., 2008). Not surprisingly most tourism research is concerned with the related changes and how to best adapt both supply and demand to a rapidly evolving world. In contrast, comparably little attention is paid to the mobility practices that are resilient to the seismic changes experienced over the last decades and continue to celebrate values and practices which have changed little over the last century. Although non-leisure driven youth mobility traditions used to exist in many Western countries such as the United States, the UK, and Australia (Adler, 1985; Webb & Webb, 1920; West, 2001) few have survived to the present day. One notable exception is the Central European tradition of Wanderschaft, also known as Walz, a form of mobility for crafts people that is organized and supported by guilds. Because the Walz is for young people during the important transitional life stage between adolescents and adulthood it is closely related to van Gennep’s (1960) Rites of Passage. The tradition is driven by the notion that contact with both nature and other people is core to people’s development and that travel broadens not only the mind and the soul. Many of the rules and practices that underlie this tradition date back to medieval times and have changed little over the last two hundred years. Specifically, the Wandergesellens’ motivations for choosing such an unconventional and tradition-laden approach to ‘work and travel’ will be examined with a view to developing an understanding of the tradition’s appeal to today’s young people and for learnings to be crystalised for tourism researchers and practitioners particularly in the context of sustainable and regenerative tourism.</p>