We strive

• to promote quality-oriented, socially responsible and environmentally sound tourism for young people and families
• to focus on human relations
• to live up to the idea of partner-oriented thinking at all levels
• to strengthen our image and standing as the most important tourist organisation for young people and families

• to achieve appropriate business results in order to ensure the ongoing existence of our organisation

We bear a special responsibility towards our guests, since travel is of extreme emotional and material importance to them and is associated with a special need to feel confident, safe and secure. We wish to respond to the many and diverse expectations of our guests in a creative way. We treat our guests as people who have a zest for life and are enthusiastic, interested, contact-loving and ready to take the natural environment and their fellow travellers into consideration. We wish to respond to such qualities and promote such attitudes.

We are aware that all the employees of our organisation, which is based on personal performance and relationships, play a vital role and we make correspondingly high demands on them. We pursue a progressive employee policy, especially with regard to management style, working conditions, social security, equal opportunities, personal responsibility and career advancement.

We strive to build true partnerships with all persons, enterprises and institutions that are important to us. We consider close personal relationships and the mutual setting-out of fair conditions to be especially meaningful. We seek active co-operation with all of the key tourist organisations both at home and abroad. We promote both inter- and intra-organisational co-operation.

We are a politically and religiously neutral organisation and as such active in all areas of the country. We are aware that the local population and the natural environment in the areas in which we operate are crucially important both to us and to our guests. We wish to take the interests of the local population into account as much as possible, to respect their independence and culture, and to make every effort to minimise our impact on the environment. We operate environmentally friendly youth hostels and leisure activities that are geared to the protection of the countryside.

Our main aim is the maintenance of value-for-money services.Nevertheless, In spite of that, we wish to respond to increasing quality requirements. We wish to offer a demand-conscious, innovative programme of services for our guests which is attractive and offers real alternatives when compared to other forms of accommodation – in other words: to cultivate simplicity. We attach particular importance to transparent structures, personal management of our hostels and a pleasant atmosphere.

We stick strongly to the principle that performance is the best form of advertising. Nevertheless, we wish to conduct active marketing – marketing that is not loud or aggressive, but has its own style and soul. The information we provide should always be honest, believable and clear.

We wish to communicate our aims and convictions at all times and to keep the general public up to date about developments in our field of activities. We wish to maintain close personal relationships with the authorities, with both public and private institutions and with the media, to stand up for improvements in the most important basic conditions and to support meaningful leisure activity options.

We wish to consciously promote innovative thought and action at all levels within our organisation, since future opportunities in our fast-moving world can only be seized through new ideas. We support practice-oriented, critical research into tourism and view it as an important vehicle for information allowing us to formulate an integrated and forward-looking policy for the association.

In spite of our idealistic aims, we aim for commercial activities that maximise our commercial viability and thereby ensure the continued existence of our enterprise. We strive therefore to generate sufficient revenue, to maintain adequate liquidity, to build reserves and to foster a sound capital structure. For major investments such as new construction and renovation projects, however, we are reliant upon financial support from the public purse.