Youth hostels in Schleswig-Holstein: summer demand is exploding!

Youth hostels in Schleswig-Holstein: summer demand is exploding!

The youth hostels in Schleswig-Holstein will also see brisk demand in 2024. According to current figures, the youth hostels in the region have registered around 771,000 overnight stays. This represents a decrease of 1.59 percent compared to 2022 and 2023, but this does not stop the association from looking to the future with optimism. A good fifth of the guests come from Schleswig-Holstein itself, while the total number of overnight stays in the youth hostels in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and northern Lower Saxony is over a million jugendherberge.de.

Demand is particularly high on the coast and on the islands, especially during the summer holidays. As NDR reports, most places in the youth hostels are now almost fully booked. The List-Mövenberg youth hostel on Sylt is one of the largest facilities with almost 400 beds and is very popular, not only with school classes, but also with older visitors who travel on weekends.

Decline in guests and number of members

The proportion of guests who come from school trips and group trips makes up around 76 percent. Other guests include families and individual travelers. According to the information from jugendherberge.de Almost 48 percent of overnight stays were attributable to school classes and university groups, followed by over 18 percent by families. Around 860,000 overnight stays have already been pre-booked for 2025, which raises hopes of reaching the one million overnight stay mark if booking behavior remains stable.

The managing director of the DJH regional association Nordmark e.V., Stefan Wehrheim, expressed himself positively about the developments last year, despite a decline in overnight stays of 2.3 percent. At the end of 2024, the association had almost 178,000 members, which underlines the continued popularity and relevance of youth hostels.

Pricing and access to hostels

The overnight prices in the youth hostels on Sylt start at around 40 euros per night, although booking full board is possible from around 50 euros. In order to cover costs, the youth hostels are not allowed to make a profit. Membership in the German Youth Hostel Association (DJH) is a prerequisite for this, with contributions of 7 euros per year for those under 26 and 22.50 euros for everyone else. Hostels face challenges, particularly with regard to the decline in school and group travel, which is compounded by the need for support options for low-income families.

The new chairman of the regional association, Thies Grothe, who succeeded Angela Braasch-Eggert in June 2024, is urgently calling for political support for the maintenance and renovation of the facilities. Access to public funding for school trips and holiday camps should also be improved in order to ensure that the youth hostels remain attractive.