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Backpackers: The next generation?
backpackers who chimed in voluntarily, instead emphasised how enjoyable the
multi-generational ambience was.
People here are older, more mature, actually interested in what you really
have to say. I really like that (Spanish man, 30).
Yes there are older people, but they aren’t my mother or father, so what do
I care? I can talk to them, one adult to another, and get different points of
view (German woman, 24).
Interviews with the owners of backpackers’ accommodations strengthened this
finding. In response to questions about the impacts of having older guests
present, the backpackers’ accommodation hosts confirmed the multi-
generational camaraderie, insisting that everyone “gets along famously”. As one
man put it,
All the older backpackers here are young. They’re ALL young (105b).
Two additional data insights were collected that were not part of the research
scope of this thesis, but are presented here as having potential marketing
implications. Several hosts expressed resistance to long term stay guests
(typically those on work holiday visas who take up residence at backpackers for
weeks or months). Only one of the accommodations’ owners interviewed
allowed long term stays, contending that, especially off-season, these working
guests helped subsidise operations when beds would be otherwise empty.
All other owners stressed that they would not accept long stays, for the reasons
noted by an earlier Australian study: the long-stay working backpackers
“tended to form cliques and be less willing to engage in the expected
conversation rituals with new arrivals” (Murphy, 2001, p. 64). Three hosts in the
current research also cited examples of long stay guests becoming resentful and
proprietary of “my space”, “my chair” or “my favourite cup”.
Insights into hosts’ perceptions of New Zealanders as guests were also gained.
The Cave et al. (2007, p. 336) study suggests that “a significant portion of
backpacker accommodation is used by domestic New Zealanders”. New
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