Backpackers: The next generation? - Scholarly Commons Home
Backpackers: The next generation? - Scholarly Commons Home
Backpackers: The next generation? - Scholarly Commons Home
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<strong>Backpackers</strong>: <strong>The</strong> <strong>next</strong> <strong>generation</strong>?<br />
quantitative responses of backpackers in both large and small backpackers’<br />
facilities across the country. <strong>The</strong> New Zealand Tourism Research Institute<br />
(NZTRI) has undertaken ongoing studies reviewing the usage and perceptions<br />
of the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) by both members and non-members<br />
(Hyde, Buch, Tinh, Markward, & Milne, 2008; NZTRI, 2005; NZTRI, 2007).<br />
However, research that focuses solely on small, privately owned, backpackers’<br />
accommodations and their guests is lacking. Most of these businesses fall within<br />
New Zealand’s definition of small tourism enterprises (STEs) with five or less<br />
full-time employees (Ministry of Economic Development (MED), 2007). For<br />
instance, BBH Ltd. (BBH: Budget <strong>Backpackers</strong> Hostels NZ), the largest private<br />
sector network, has over 370 member properties whose operations average less<br />
than 30 beds each. Page (Page, Forer, & Lawton, 1999) suggests that there is a<br />
paucity of research on STEs in this country. This thesis seeks to add to that<br />
limited body of knowledge by contributing some insights into small<br />
backpackers’ accommodations’ facilities, their services, and the people who use<br />
them.<br />
Researcher context<br />
Several scholars are calling for “greater levels of transparency in tourism<br />
research, with researchers being more open about their personal biography [sic]<br />
and their experiences in the field, and how these two interact and evolve over<br />
time” (Phillimore, 2004, p. 186). This is due to the notion that qualitative research<br />
is intrinsically and extrinsically influenced by the researcher(s) involved with<br />
data collection and analysis. Hall (2004, p. 153) suggests that academic research,<br />
including theses, should include a “value statement” declaring how one’s<br />
personal experiences may have influenced the choice of topic, research collection<br />
and analysis.<br />
My choice of thesis topic was affected by who I am and what I have experienced<br />
to date in my own life. I travelled as a hitch-hiker and hosteller in New Zealand<br />
and Australasia in the early 1980s, before “backpacking” was a much-used term.<br />
Hostels at that time were mostly cold and unwelcoming, with gender-segregated<br />
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