BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Explorica, a company creating educational tours that connect students to new cultures, languages and people through travel, today announced results from a comprehensive independent survey that revealed youth educational travel can be linked to higher incomes and full-time employment versus their counterparts. Explorica is releasing these survey results as part of its 2nd annual Educational Travel Week that is currently taking place October 3-7, 2011. Educational Travel Week celebrates the positive benefits of educational travel and provides a forum for travelers to share their personal life-changing stories, as well as participate in travel contests with destination prizes.
Conducted in May of 2011, the survey sample included 600 respondents between the ages of 21 and 69 years old. The participants were divided into two groups, 300 people who had traveled to a country outside the U.S. or Canada on a school sponsored educational tour when they were between 12-18 years old, and 300 people who did not travel abroad on a school sponsored educational tour. The goal of the survey was to quantify how student educational travel enhanced a child’s education, career growth and success, and the survey results confirmed that, as adults, educational travel had significant and positive impact in regards to these important life milestones.
Results showed that students who went on a school sponsored educational tour outside the U.S. or Canada between the ages of 12 and 18 were significantly more likely to:
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Be more educated
- Attain a college degree or post graduate work (67% vs. 34%)
- Maintain a higher college GPA (3.39 vs. 3.30)
- Study abroad in college (29% vs. 13%)
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Be more successful, even in tough economic times
- Employed full-time (61% vs. 40%)
- Report a higher household income ($72,300 vs. $52,200)
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Be more marketable to colleges and employers
- 61% agreed that the tour enhanced their resume when applying for college
- 54% agreed that the tour enhanced their resume when applying for jobs
Additional findings uncovered that those who participated in an educational tour embraced more international travel in their jobs, felt part of a global community and considered themselves good global citizens. Survey results also showed that youth travelers took more international personal trips as adults and paid more per trip than their counterparts. For full survey results, please visit the official Educational Travel Week 2011 site: www.educationaltravelweek.com.
Educational Travel Week, created by Explorica Inc., has garnered the support of world-leading companies in the travel and education industries. We are proud of our distinguished official sponsors: SkyTeam, Air Canada, Best Western, Fragonard Perfume Museum, Holiday Inn Laval Montréal, Jet Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Tourism Ireland, and Vista Higher Learning. Further endorsers include SYTA (Student Youth Travel Association), BETA (British Educational Travel Association) and USTOA (United States Tour Operators Association).
About Explorica, Inc.
Founded in 2000, Explorica Educational Travel creates educational tours that connect students to new cultures, languages and people. Through Explorica's use of exclusive online tools, they help teachers create tours uniquely suited to provide both the best value and the most customized, authentic tour experiences. For more information, call 1.888.310.7120, visit Explorica Educational Travel's Website, join Explorica on Facebook or follow Explorica on Twitter.