The early history tells us that human beings were nomadic in search of food and shelter. With the passage of time, human settled down into cities, town and villages. They started indulging in trade, commerce and other professions but their desire to roam about survived and resulted in travel for pleasure. In 20th Century this new experience becomes the largest industry. The global growth rate of tourism is 23% higher as compared to other economic work. There are more than 230 million people who are employed in this industry all over the world. The tourism industry generates more than 3.80 trillion revenue each year from richest nations of the world.

The youth hostel movement was found by German School teacher Mr. Richard Schermann who used to take his pupils on walking trips. It was during one of such trip; he got stuck in a storm. They could not get any shelter around. They saw a school where they found shelter in a class room. It is at this point that he developed the idea that schools could be used to provide accommodation to visiting students throughout Germany . Mr. Scherman was successful in establishing the world's first Youth Hostel in an old castle. Thus his movement grew and by 1917 there were 17 hostels established in Germany . In 1919, German Youth Hostel Association was founded. By 1932, 2124 hostels were established. Subsequently, the Youth movement spread throughout the world. In 1924, the Association was established in Switzerland , Poland 1926, England in 1930 and NewZeland in 1932. Now there are 5300 hostels in 70 Countries of world with 3.5 Million members.

In Indo-Pak subcontinent, youth hostelling started with the formation of a youth hostel group by Mr. W Cowley, ICS, and the then provincial Youth Organizer of the pre-independence Punjab . The first youth hostel was setup at Tara Devi near Simla in 1945.

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