Hostel Industry Thriving During Economic Crisis

HI Hostels has released some numbers:

The economic downturn is not affecting all businesses. Contrary to many other types of accommodation, youth hostels are becoming increasingly popular. In 2008 Hostelling International noted an all time high on the global hostel booking website www.hihostels.com. The growth was over 14 percent compared to the year before.

• "In 2008, overnight stays worth 22.4 million GBP were booked on hihostels.com."
• "In total, there were close to 1.4 million overnight stays booked on hihostels.com during 2008."
• Biggest increase in bookings for USA, France, Switzerland, Argentina and Belgium.
• "When it comes to individual hostels, 3 Paris hostels are on the top 5 list. Le d'Artagnan is number 1, Clichy number 2 and Jules Ferry number 5."
• "Spain is top of the list of the biggest customer countries followed by France, Germany, USA and England & Wales."
• 7.5 percent even in December

Full article
(published Jan 23, 2009)