Young travellers play a vital role in world tourism and have shed their budget image.
That is the view of Dick Porter, chairman the British Education Travel Association (Beta), who said young travellers are not deserving of the 'budget' label.
Addressing MPs and travel industry figures at the House of Lords Mr Porter said: "Forget the budget image, today's young travellers stay longer and spend more overall than mainstream tourists, with the average spend per trip increasing by 40 per cent in just five years."
He added that youth travel is "arguably the fastest growing part of the tourism industry".
According to the Office of National Statistics, in 2006 visitors to the UK to study spent an average of £1,742 per visit, and stayed longer, compared with just £527 for business travellers, £470 for general holiday visitors
Beta works with a network of more than 3,000 education, youth and
student travel organisations to promote tourism and knowledge through travel.
