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Backpackers: The next generation?
at least 20 to 30% of their guests are over age 40; one owner claims that older
guests equal over 40% of his total.
The owners enjoy the older travellers, with every one believing that the inter-
generational mix is beneficial to all. One man has built this part of his client base
intentionally.
Why? Because we live here. We like to sleep at night. The older group is a
lot more easier [sic] to manage (108).
In response to a maturing market, six of eight owners have directly modified or
renovated their properties to attract a more sophisticated, more demanding
clientele (the remaining two bought into businesses already providing private
rooms). Additions of private rooms with ensuites, or conversions of large dorms
into either smaller “shares” or private rooms, are most common. All have begun
offering internet services as well.
This research appears to confirm findings that small businesses are innovative
and able to respond quickly to market demand (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2000; Poon,
1993). In addition, it supports the suggestion that “customer satisfaction was
more widely used than profit as an indicator of business success” (TRREC,
2007b, p. 13).
Owners were asked whether the higher value of the New Zealand dollar had
any effect on their business. Only one commented that he thought it had.
In the ‘90s, American and English came in and had money to burn.
Skydives and so on - money just flowing out of peoples’ pockets. Then the
next year the dollar got dearer and people started going to South America
or Southeast Asia. New Zealand got the name of being the Switzerland of
the South Pacific. Dear, very dear (106).
It should be noted that this interviewee was not the first to use “Switzerland of
the South Pacific”; it appears in articles in the New Zealand Herald as early as
2001, and specifically in reference to tourism – and backpacking – in 2006
(DaCruz, 2006).
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