Adolescents on a journey: dream or reality?

In a widespread economic crisis such as the one we are currently going through, our study intends to discover whether for teens habitual travel and holiday behavior has changed or been transformed, whether there are differences between children and the other family members, and whether the crisis has become an opportunity to think responsibly about the environment and the waste of available resources. Abstract After some preliminary remarks on adolescents in Italy which can help us interpret their attitudes towards tourism, there follows a presentation of the main results obtained from the field research we recently carried out. What emerged is that travelling and holidays are not only more important for adoles- cents than other forms of consumption, but they are also the activities they have given up least. In fact, they are living in a world where they are still largely protected by their families and where it is still possible for them to dream. There is no single vision of either the period which we are living in, or of the future. However, there is a general lack of sensitivity on the part of the teenagers towards the environment, which they consider less important than their parents and grandparents do. In the same way they are not greatly involved in social issues. And, as regards behavior during a journey or in tourist destinations, the teenagers seem more “inattentive” than the other family members.