Asian Youth Tourism: Contemporary Trends, Cases and Issues

Youth travel is one of the fastest growing travel markets with longer stay and therefore, higher spend. However, existing studies have mainly focused on Western youth travellers. Only a handful of studies have considered the travel experiences of Asian youths, and the findings of these studies suggest that the travel motivation, preference and behaviour of Asian youth travellers are different from Western youths. In response to the emerging youth market in Asia, this edited volume sets out to deepen existing knowledge of Asian youth travellers. This introductory chapter provides a cursory literature review of youth tourism studies to identify the research gaps and potential avenues for scholars who are interested in researching Asian youth travellers, an increasingly vital subfield of tourism studies.