The student traveller is the pioneer of the shift from cultural tourism to relational tourism, according to the 2017 study of youth travel by WYSE Travel Confederation. Young people no longer just ‘visit’ places, but increasingly interact with the local community, relating and contributing towards it.

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According to the report, because students use travel to “discover themselves while understanding others”, they seek out more authentic, local experiences. This dynamic is at the base of relational tourism, and holiday-goers feeding into the surrounding community both socially and economically, often through volunteering too.

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For example, Maddy Grace Stewart, an English student at University of Exeter, instead of just going on holiday to Columbia, stayed for a month whilst working for a fair-trade coffee. She lived with a local family, which helped her learn both the language and authentic Columbian culture: “It was very far from being a holiday, but it gave me such a respect and better knowledge of local culture,” she says, adding that she feels all travel experiences should fulfil us personally, rather than just be an opportunity relax.

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More than 70% of millennials state that “travel is an important part of who I am as a person”, and over 80% of them say that they know the best way to learn about a place is to live like the locals do, according to the Millennial Travel 2016 AirBnB survey.

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“It’s like making a temporary home within the culture they’ve chosen to experience,” according to a report by Student Universe, a travel booking site for students. Sam Willan, their marketing strategist, explains: “Students now look for an experience that can change them on the inside, forever. Something that they can learn from, and then go home and cherish.”