The youth hostels in MV are happy to have more guests again. After the corona pandemic, children and young people want to get out again. Because of inflation, sufficient help for low-income people is important.
Rostock (dpa/mv) - The youth hostels in the north-east, which have been badly hit by the corona pandemic, have recently had a better year. "The stabilization after the Corona crisis is also noticeable for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania," said Miriam Gedrose from the regional association of the German Youth Hostel Association (DJH) of the German Press Agency.
In 2022, there were 281,350 overnight stays. This is only 12 percent below the pre-Corona year 2019 and not around 60 percent in the red like in 2020 and 2021. At that time, according to Gedrose, the youth travel market had basically collapsed. The stabilization trend is now also continuing for 2023. 82 percent of the overnight stays expected for the year have already been booked.
"It also shows us that our target group, especially school classes and youth groups, have a great need to travel again," said Gedrose. The reason is a need to catch up. But there would also be high burdens for children and young people. As an example, she cited the isolation during the corona pandemic, but also the threat of poverty due to the recent increase in costs. The youth hostels are also asked to cushion these hardships.
However, increasing youth poverty could also lead to the question: "Can everyone who wants to travel also?" If individual parents can no longer pay for such trips and their children deregister, trips would also be canceled quickly, said Gedrose.
School trips are already subsidized in the north-east, for example for housing benefit recipients. However, it is becoming apparent that the group of those entitled to receive is growing. It should therefore be checked whether corresponding aid packages need to be increased. Youth associations that organize trips also need enough money. Gedrose warned of a situation of social injustice in which children affected by poverty "lose out again".
The DJH operates twelve accommodations in the northeast. According to Gedroses, these are usually booked long-term, "since our core target groups are school classes and youth groups who book well in advance". For the current year, however, there are already groups that are getting smaller - i.e. canceling some of the booked places. "But on a large scale it's actually not like that yet."
