Just some of the speakers and presentations during the 4-day event - which brings together over 700 delegates and 400 organizations from the international youth travel industry - include:

- Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Mr. Rifai will officially open the conference.

- David Rowan, Editor of Wired Magazine (UK) - Keynote Address.

- Helena Egan, TripAdvisor – Trends in Online Travel.

- Peter Jordan, UNWTO – Global Tourism Figures/Global Travel Trends.

- Rick Ruth, US State Department – Working with Visa Policies: USA.

- Madeline Townsend, Conservation Volunteers – Volunteers: Feeling Good, Doing Good, or Both?

- Greg Richards, Tourism Research and Marketing – Super Session: The Youth Travel Outlook for 2012.

- Jim Collison, Michigan State University – Social Media Strategies that are Driving Business.

- Rene van Schie, Ministry of Economic Affairs, City of Amsterdam – Using Data to Grow Your Accommodation Business.

These and many more industry experts will be on hand to share their knowledge throughout the conference.

The youth and student travel market accounted for 20 percent of international arrivals in 2010, generating receipts of US$165 billion. Much of this money remains with locally-owned businesses and communities contributing to poverty alleviation and sustainable economic development.

City.Mobi

Also in Spain today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Barcelona.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Barcelona.city.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.