Youth travellers are choosing competitor destinations over the UK due to their friendly visa policies and work opportunities, according to BETA.

The movement of under-35's to the UK for education boosted the British economy by as much as £18.1bn in 2017, according to new statics released by BETA.

The UK secretary of state for arts, heritage and tourism, Michael Ellis, has said that the importance of the British youth travel sector should be more widely recognised.

Youth and student travellers coming to the UK contribute £22.3bn to the country’s economy, however, with average growth of 4.7% over the last five years, the sector is not keeping pace with the country’s overall tourism market.

Kingswood has scooped the award for Best Educational Product at the British Youth Travel Awards for its well constructed active learning programmes.

Oxford Royale Academy was named the institution with the best educational product in the UK for its suite of courses giving teenagers a taster of courses popular at university level, in this year’s BETA British Youth Travel Awards.

The BETA Parliamentary Reception this week saw stakeholders rally members to continue to work towards growing and unifying the sector, citing its commercial output and the moral dimension of building British values.

The 7th annual British Youth Travel Awards recognised excellence among companies and organisations in the youth travel industry to, from and within the UK. Awards were given in categories including Best Accommodation, Best Educational Product and Best Use of Social Media at the event hosted by English gold medalist Sophie Hosking.