Youth Hostel Association
| Abbreviation | HI |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1932 |
| Legal status | Charity |
| Purpose | Accommodation for backpackers across the world |
| Location |
|
|
Region served
|
Global |
|
Membership
|
Youth Hostel members |
| Affiliations | YHA (England & Wales), SYHA, YHA Australia, American Youth Hostels, HINI, HI - Canada, An Óige |
| Website | Hostelling International |
Hostelling International (HI), formerly known as International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF), is the federation of more than 70 National Youth Hostel Associations in more than 80 countries which have over 4,000 affiliated hostels around the world. Hostelling International is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation working closely with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNESCO and the World Tourism Organisation UNWTO. HI has also been identified as the sixth largest provider of travel accommodations in the world.
The youth hostel movement began in 1909 when Richard Schirrmann, a German schoolteacher, and Wilhelm Münker, a conservationist, saw the need for overnight accommodation for school groups wanting to experience the countryside. This started with schools being used during the holidays. The first Jugendherberge (youth hostel) opened in Schirrmann's own school, in Altena, Westphalia. In 1912 a permanent hostel in Altena Castle superseded the school-building, and as of 2013[update] a hostel still stands in the castle grounds. Schirrmann founded the nationwide German Youth Hostel Association in 1919.
The movement spread rapidly worldwide, leading to the founding of the International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF) on 20 October 1932 in Amsterdam by representatives from associations in Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Britain, Ireland, France and Belgium. In 1933 Richard Schirrmann became the president, but the German Government forced him to resign by in 1936.
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