The language stay market - Italy

1.1 Definition and presentation

Language trips are experiences that people, especially teenagers, have ina foreign country withthe purpose of making improvementsor deepen their knowledge of a foreign language,through the tool of cultural immersion. The latter, in fact, along with dedicated language lessons, is able to stimulate greater learning ability. This is an experience that is known to take place during the summer months. During the experience, people can choose from different forms of accommodation, the most popular of which turn out to be staying with a host family and student residences.

In 2019, the global language travel market was worth $8.8 billion and is, to this day, a highly fragmented market given the high variety of choices offered to consumers.

In 2019, respecting the growth trend recorded in previous years as well, a total of 110,000 Italian teenagers undertook a language trip, the vast majority of whom chose an English-speaking country as their destination: in fact, it turns out that England, Northern Ireland and Malta are the favorite destinations for young Italians, with growing interest in French and Spanish cities as well. As for overseas destinations, on the other hand, the most successful countries are the United States or Australia.

The major operators active in the Italian market are dedicated private agencies, associations or public organizations. Among those with the highest level of recognition are "EF," a company founded in 1965 and operating internationally, and L'Associazione Intercultura, an ONLUS founded in 1955 and present in 159 Italian cities.

An emerging trend within the language travel market is certainly that relating to the increase in the variety of choice of destinations that can be reached. Indeed, many agencies and organizations have recently decided to invest significantly in Asian destinations. Among all those that have attracted the most attention from operators are India, Indonesia, Japan and China.