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

• Main Authors: Þorsteinsson, Jakob Frímann, Jóhannesson, Gunnar Þór, Jónasson, Jón Torfi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2022
• Subjects: children and adolescents; destinations; social tourism; leisure; education; börn og unglingar; áfangastaðir; félagsleg ferðamennska; tómstundir; menntun; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3475

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 ...