Hub hostel enjoying a boom of its own

Low cost allows more people to visit Boston

The thousands of people who pass through the hostel on Hemenway Street each year come from about 85 countries and speak dozens of languages.

These travelers do not have much in common except a study conducted by Suffolk University that found Hostelling International-Boston's 32,800 guests last year pumped about $12.5 million into the local economy. One in three of those guests, the study shows, couldn't have afforded to visit Boston if they didn't have the hostel option.

Boston visitors increasingly are choosing hostels over hotels - Americans being squeezed on all sides by rising travel, fuel, and food costs, a slowing economy, and a weak job market and international travelers taking advantage of favorable exchange rates and the Hub's proximity to Canada.

"Massachusetts has had a strong summer tourism season," Betsy Wall, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism said in a statement. "That's largely due to two factors: International visitation is up, and visitation from within the US is up, too."

Since 1995, the Boston hostel has seen a 60 percent increase in beds rented out, on par with the growth of Hostelling International's locations nationwide, according to executives. Business in Boston is so good, the hostel is planning to expand its number of beds more than 80 percent, from 205 to 375.

Hostel leaders say that as traffic has increased, so has the ratio of younger guests from outside the United States. About 65 percent of the hostel's 32,000 guests last year were international visitors.

"It is the gateway to Boston for tens of thousands of people," said Deborah Ruhe, the hostel's executive director.

At $31 a night, the Boston hostel is a more affordable - albeit less private - option. Each floor of the hostel has a common area with couches, bulletin boards, and faux fireplaces. Rooms typically have six beds, and the first floor is a popular spot, being equipped with wireless Internet, a small computer lab, and kitchen.

"It's the cheapest available choice, and it's comfortable," said Andrea Chiovenda, 37, who sat on the hostel's front steps using his laptop while he waited for the next available bed. "It's quiet, it's clean, it's reliable."

Yesterday, the Ducasse sisters, Marie-Laure, 22, and Bérénice, 20, from France, who played cards in the dining room, said they would have cut Boston out of their trip if they didn't find the option.

"We can't stay in hotels," said Marie-Laure Ducasse, who just completed an engineering internship in Connecticut and is traveling the Northeast with her sister before heading home to France. "It's too expensive for us."

Jonnelle Marte can be reached at jmarte@globe.com.