In the countries of the European Union social tourism is associated with customers that do not have enough income to be able to pay for high-quality tourist services. This category of citizens needs certain social privileges and includes, first of all, large families, orphan children, pupils of orphanages and boarding schools, students and working youth, pensioners, disabled and low-income citizens.

The World Tourism Organization has defined affordable tourism as a goal that the society should strive for in order to support citizen with low income in their right to recreation.

Ensuring affordability of tourist services for everybody, including large families, young and elderly people requires development and performance of a number of measures that include the definition of the national policy of social tourism, adoption of specific legislative and statutory acts, creation of a social infrastructure, development of systems and mechanisms of supporting citizen with low income, training of social tourism workers, including its organizers, informational activities etc. Hundreds of millions of people around the world are able to travel thanks to social tourism. Any tourist organization (association, cooperative, beneficial society, fund, federation, non-profit organization etc) which has clearly outlined its social objectives and the aim to provide affordable tourist services to as many people as possible can be considered to be a part of the social tourism movement.