Youth hostels

Tuesday's New York Times contained a story entitled "European Cities Pile on Tourist Taxes."  Cities across the continent are developing ways to obtain money from tourists who admire the cities' historical and scenic sights, and may or may not spend much money while so doing.  Of special concern have been the passengers on cruise ships who sleep on board, and come ashore in vast numbers to crowd the streets and irritate both the residents and the more traditional hotel-oriented tourists.

Cities, both in America and abroad, have long charged hotel taxes, which are tacked onto your bill and may or may not be revealed in advance.  But now many cities -- the article mentioned Barcelona, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Dubrovnik -- are imposing or considering visitor taxes on all non-residents who visit the city.  How will the visitor taxes be enforced?  The article didn't discuss that question.  Clearly, visits by cruise ship passengers can be assessed to the ship as passengers disembark.  And hotel guests can be assessed tourist taxes along with the accommodation taxes they already pay.  What about "homeless visitors," the kids who (like me in my youth) slept in a park and hoped to evade police harassment? 

And how about youth hostel guests?

Which brings me to my real topic -- what will these taxes do to the kids who visit Europe on the cheap?  Who in the 1970s were called the "Europe on $10 [or $5] a day" crowd?  The ones who stayed in youth hostels, cooked some of their own breakfasts, did "chores," and moved on -- all for what in, say 1970, would be only a couple of dollars or less a night?

Youth hostels first originated in 1909, but really caught on in the 1930s.  For Americans, hosteling became known -- by those few who traveled to Europe -- not long after the end of World War II.  By the time I first traveled to Europe, as a college student in 1961, hostels were well established internationally, with a branch in the United States.  The American hostel association had few actual hostels, mainly in New England, and existed largely to provide reciprocal privileges in European hostels to American kids.

And it was "kids" who primarily used the hostels.  They were "youth" hostels, after all.  The European hosteling movement promoted hostels as places where German and French young people, rich travelers and poor travelers, young people of all sorts, could rub shoulders, meet, talk, and develop a sense of solidarity.  Early photos show users of hostels as mainly young bicycle riders.  Off-road hiking was less prevalent, and travel by automobile was prohibited, or at least discouraged, by hostel rules.

I obtained my first hostel membership card in 1961.  With three other friends, I had my first hostel experience staying in Interlaken a couple of nights.  We rented bikes and biked around Lake Thun.  It was an exciting and memorable experience -- both the biking and the hosteling.  I spent three weeks between terms traveling solo in England, and found hostels to be easily accessible, full of people my own age, and less intimidating than normal hotels.

In 1970, I traveled for six weeks in Europe, staying almost exclusively in hostels.  In 1961, I had been a bit of an oddity in European hostels.  By 1970, American young people were flooding Europe, and found common ground with European youth with similar social and political ideals.  Traveling alone, as I did in 1970, I would have felt often quite lonely if it hadn't been for the camaraderie among hostel visitors, many of whom were also traveling alone and looking for company.

The new visitor taxes are running about $3 per night.  This sounds minimal, but for a kid bumming around Europe on a tight budget, it could be nearly prohibitive.  But then I wonder whether that type of young tourist still exists.  The prevalence of iPhones makes it easy to avoid our practice fifty years ago of simply arriving in a city and hunting for the nearest hostel (or lining up at the tourist office for assignment to a cheap hotel).  Everyone, I assume, today can find hotels in any price range on-line and reserve them in advance.  

But more to the point, really, is the fact that everyone -- including the kind of college students apt to travel in Europe -- has far more available cash -- or credit card resources -- than we did in 1970.  Everything's different.  I sent frequent post cards home, but was essentially cut off from my family for however long I was traveling.  Kids now can call home, without charge, whenever they feel like it.  And their parents can call them.  Do kids still want the companionship of other kids of all nationalities and social statuses that hostels provided?  Are they still willing to sleep in bunk beds in large dormitories?  (Although some hostels were already beginning to offer smaller rooms for increased prices by 1970 (see inset above).)

A brief survey of articles on-line convinces me that hosteling is still very much alive.  The social advantages derived from group  housing are still appreciated.  In fact, hostels are no longer "youth" hostels, but are sought out by travelers of all ages, young and old, including many who could easily afford a conventional hotel.  Today's more affluent tourists -- of all ages -- can probably afford another three bucks a night in order to help host cities maintain the atmosphere and facilities that attract tourists in the first place.

My fears on behalf of youth hostels probably are merely the nostalgia of an old-timer, looking back on the joys of his youth, when things seemed "different.".  And a reflection of the fact that he himself hasn't taken advantage of the warm hospitality of hostels for too long a time.  Young people change, but their basic needs and desires remain pretty much constant.  

Three cheers for hostels!  And for the kind of people, young and old, who choose to use them.