Spotlight on: student travel

Research by youth-travel specialists STA reveals that students like to take three different types of holiday each year. Typically they book a city break, one 'sun and sand' package and a backpacking trip.

Travel is an important part of student culture. For many it's a kind of social yardstick, marking them out on campus as individuals with a passion for adventure, excitement and discovery. It's a popular subject of discussion in union bars and halls of residence.

Conservative estimates from NUSSL, the trading arm of the National Union of Students, say the average student spends £540 a year on travel. With over 1.8 million students in higher education, that makes the student travel sector worth somewhere in the region of £1 billion.

"The student market is massively important to us," says Louise Clark of STA, "and we are one of the biggest investors in student media. We've changed what we offer to meet the needs of students - we're doing clubbing packages now. We have to think more widely because students are so savvy and they have so much choice."

If today's student wants something, they find the money to buy it. Students borrow massively to satisfy peer expectations, and foreign travel is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity. Even those who comfortably survive university often make a claim for the full student loanÉand then spend it on their summer vacation. There is already a generation of graduates paying off three-month holidays in South-East Asia.

As the student demographic has changed - seeing students from wealthy backgrounds dominate - so gap years have gained popularity. One in five students take a gap year nowadays, believing that, among other things, it makes them more broad-minded, confident and ready to meet the challenge of university.

And travel within the UK should not be forgotten. For the larger part of their university lives students stay within a small radius - in some cases within a mile of their university. But they still make numerous trips around the country in a year - visiting family, friends at other universities or special events - for which they rely on public transport. Students are the UK's largest transient demographic, so discount cards and reduced prices have proved attractive incentives.

Students have long been associated with the travel sector. The thirst for global exploration and the basic need for affordable transport around the UK has not waned in over thirty years. In fact it's one of the only things that remains constant in student lifestyles.