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Backpackers: The next generation?
who book some, though not all, accommodations or transportation in advance,
whether online or through an agent.
Despite the differences defining these travellers, they typify Poon’s (1993, p. 114)
“new tourists … consumers who are flexible, independent, and experienced
travellers, whose values and lifestyles are different from the mass tourists”.
“New tourists” are the primary marketing interest of Tourism NZ: a market it
terms Interactive Travellers. Hallmarks of these individuals are that they seek out
new experiences, consume a wide range of products and services, plan and book
their holidays directly with the suppliers, are sociable and like to learn (Ministry
of Tourism (MOT), 2007).
Backpackers are one subset of the genus proximus of FITs (Hamilton, 1988; Hyde
& Lawson, 2003). They are often travellers with their own itineraries, who drive
themselves or use public transport, stay in a variety of accommodations, have
few pre-planned or pre-purchased trip features. They visit for longer but with
lower daily expenditures, and “tend to visit many different parts of the country
off the main tourist track” (Hamilton, 1988, p. 307). Newlands (2004) confirms
this, stating that many of his backpacker respondents used a combination of the
Youth Hostel Association (YHA) and /or backpackers’ accommodations, stayed
with friends and relatives, and camped. Less than 10% of his respondents also
used self-catering motels, guest houses, and bed and breakfasts.
Backpackers are broadly defined by the Ministry of Tourism as “travellers who
spend at least 30 percent of their visit to New Zealand staying in backpacker
/hostel type accommodations” (MOT, 2005). While academics refer to older
backpackers as those over 30 years of age, the Ministry considers backpackers as
older above age 35, a distinction that makes some direct statistical comparisons
more difficult.
The limitations of nomenclature
Are backpackers drifters or wanderers? Adventurers or explorers? Are independent
travellers FITs or SITs, and are they all Interactive Travellers? When are FITs
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