--- More than accommodation
A brief History of Hostelling International
- There had been a need for economic accommodation among the young since the 16the century in Europe.
- The youth hostel movement was start in 1909 by a German schoolteacher Richard Schirrmann.
- 1912 the first real youth hostel opened in the old castle of Altena.
On one of these excursions, on 26 August 1909, the group was caught in a thunderstorm.They finally found shelter in a school building in the Bröl Valley.The headmaster let them use a classroom and a farmer gave them some straw to sleep on andsome milk for their evening meal. The storm raged the whole night. While the boys slept,Schirrmann lay awake. That was when he had an idea…
- The youth hostel movement grew rapidly.
- This all changed on October 20, 1932 when the first international conference was held at a hotel in Amsterdam.
All reports agree that it was a friendly and harmonious meeting, devoted entirely to the practical problems of preparing the way for the development of international youth travel. The conference accepted the following principles:
- Hostels must basically be open to the entire youth of the country and on the most favorable conditions possible;
- young people should pay lower membership and overnight fees than adults;
- young people should also have priority over other guests in the allocation of beds.
There are six chapters in the history of Hostelling International:
- 1909-1934: Origins
- 1935-1945: Shadows of War
- 1946-1965: Rebuilding and Renewal
- 1966-1980: An Explosion of Global Travel
- 1981-2000: Growth and Transformation
- 2001-Present: Tragedy and Renewal
