Backpackers: The next generation? - Scholarly Commons Home

Backpackers: The next generation?
Abstract
New Zealand has a well-established network of accommodations,
transportation, and visitor activities developed specifically for backpackers.
These tourists account for almost ten percent of the country’s international
visitor expenditure. To date, the majority of backpacker research has focussed on
the traditional market segment of student and youth travellers, though a few
quantitative studies have also researched the needs and preferences of older
travellers using hostels and backpackers’ accommodations. Though more than
50 percent of New Zealand’s international visitors are over age 40, few currently
stay at this type of accommodation.
Using New Zealand as a case study, this thesis explores, qualitatively, the
perspectives of older backpackers: their self-perceptions, their travel
motivations, their needs and expectations in accommodation. In addition, it
examines the points of view of the owners of small, independent backpackers’
accommodations to gain their perspectives on hosting a multi-generational
clientele and on what the implications might be of expanding this market.
Key findings show that older travellers who use backpackers’ accommodations
technically meet all Pearce’s (1990) original definitions of “backpacker” – they
prefer budget accommodations, they are socially interactive, they travel
independently and flexibly, they travel for longer holidays than do most, and
they choose informal and participatory activities. However, these travellers
reject the self-definition of “backpacker”, an impasse that presents a lexical
challenge to both scholars and tourism marketers. The final section addresses
the impacts and implications of “backpacker” nomenclature on baby boomer
travellers, academia, and the backpacker industry at large.
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