Youth hostels in Westphalia-Lippe: growth despite challenges!
Youth hostels in Westphalia-Lippe: growth despite challenges!
The German Youth Hostelbergs (DJH) recently published the number of overnight stays for 2024 in the Westfalen-Lippe region. These show a gratifying development with a total of 630,393 nights in 28 youth hostels, which corresponds to an increase of 1.7 percent compared to the previous year. This enabled 10,536 new overnight stays, in particular through the growth in leisure groups, which recorded an increase of 18 percent. With 41 percent, however, school classes remain the largest group of guest, while families with an increase of 3.3 percent and around 120,000 overnight stays form the third strongest group. The increased comfort in the youth hostels contributes significantly to this development.
Despite the positive overall numbers, there are also negative developments, especially in the Sauerland. Nine youth hostels in this region had to accept a decline of 3.8 percent. Despite a large number of nature and experience educational programs that are offered. An example of a success story is the Bilstein Castle in the Olpe district, which can look forward to an increase of 4.7 percent and at the same time celebrates its 800th anniversary. On the contrary, the Biggesee youth hostel stands in the Olper district of Stade, which fell from 27,288 to 25,673 overnight stays. The decline is due to extensive modernizations and a late start of the season.
challenges in the Sauerland
A particularly striking decline was found in Winterberg, where the number of overnight stays dropped by around 20 percent. This was done despite a good demand and a high recommendation rate of 4.9 out of 5 points. The main cause of this decline is seen in the shortage of skilled workers. House manager Maria Batke shows that not all booking requests could be accepted due to insufficient personnel resources. In addition, the snow situation was not always optimal during the winter season, even if the situation has now been a bit relaxed.
the DJH in context
The DJH was able to record a successful financial year last year 2023. Almost 9.3 million overnight stays were registered, which rose by more than 8 percent compared to 2022. Part of this success is due to the increase in the number of members, which amounts to around 2.4 million. The association has accepted the challenge of taking care of people who are weak with income who particularly suffer in times of inflation and price increases.
The planned events for 2024 are particularly interesting. In August, a multilateral youth encounter entitled "IOU Respect: Building a Culture of Peace" will take place in Berlin and Warnemünde and funded by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs. The World Hallows' World Conference will also be organized in 2024 from September 25th to 28th in Berlin, where representatives from over 60 countries will come together. The DJH also promotes international programs to reduce prejudices and promote tolerance.The plans for the future include not only the increase in the number of overnight stays, but also the improvement of the offer in the youth hostels. The youth hostels in Rhineland-Palatinate and in Saarland, which recorded a total of 971,180 overnight stays in 2024, show the potential that is in this type of accommodation. Further projects for modernizing and expanding the youth hostel offer are already being planned, with a focus on sustainability and energy-efficient measures.
In summary, it can be said that the youth hostels in Germany are on course despite regional differences and challenges in order to assert themselves as an important part of the leisure and tourism sector. Both the DJH and local facilities continuously work to optimize the offer and to meet your guests' needs.For more information and details on the developments in the youth hostel, visit the links to the reports of the Siegener Zeitung href = "https://www.jugendherberge.de/ueber-uns/hvb-jahrensberichte/"> Deutsche Jugendherbergswerks and the Blog of the youth hostel .
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