ABSTRACT
As a movement, in both social as well as geographical space, tourism affords opportunities for new and potentially lifeenhancing social interactions. Whether or not such interaction has an adverse impact upon HIV transmission or more general sexual health depends specifically upon how far it follows ‘safer’ practices which prevent the exchange of body fluids which can transmit HIV. One specific tourist market which has a particular potential for new socio-sexual interaction on holiday is the young (defined for instance from mid-teens to late twenties) and ‘sexually unattached’. Young people comprise one of the fastest-growing components of national and international mobility. According to the World Tourist Organisation, in 1989 there were some 50 million crossings of European frontiers by young people aged 15-24, 80 per cent of whom originated from within Europe itself (Youth Mobility and Health Working Group 1990). If the present proportion of young travellers’ visits is maintained, this 50 million figure will become 78 million by the end of this century. With the democratisation and removal of travel restrictions from Eastern Europe and the growing integration within the European Community, there are strong grounds for predicting that the mobility of Europeans will continue to increase (Youth Mobility and Health Working Group 1990). These trends highlight the importance of addressing the issue of youth mobility in HIV riskreduction strategies.
