Backpackers: The next generation? - Scholarly Commons Home

Backpackers: The next generation?
Guests contend that New Zealand needs to meet the new economic realities.
One, a German sales representative for a large chemical company who is a
frequent visitor to this country, said,
The price [of airfares] to New Zealand has gone up 30-40% in past two
years; this will have significant impact on the types of travellers who can
afford to get here. It made us think twice about flights even this year.
Higher value [private rooms] will be more important as younger
travellers cut New Zealand out because of money (Heinrich).
Another woman commented that,
It’s important to make sure you keep something for independent travellers
of all price brackets. In Europe, 60% of the trips are done by the over 55s.
It’s the gap year and then all the older people. People raising their families
can’t afford it. … Europeans will be coming [to New Zealand] for
significant lengths of time, maybe to visit family, but also to go off and do
their own thing on their own or with a partner. You’ve got to make sure
that’s still viable for them (Louise).
Marketing
The owners interviewed do little marketing for their facilities. Seven of eight
mention “word of mouth” as one of the most significant marketing advantages
they have. Additional marketing mentions were of the BBH guide, and write-
ups in Lonely Planet or The Rough Guide. Two mentioned having a brochure at the
local I-Site (information centre). Only one has a private website for his property.
Four said that they had tried “other types” of advertising, but never been sure of
the return on investment, so they had discontinued those expenses.
Owners were queried on specifics, for instance, “where do guests come from?”;
“how they heard of [your] place?”; “who books ahead?”; “do ensuites fill before
dorms?” Most had a general “feel” for guest demographics, but few specifics.
Most owners showed themselves to be relatively unsophisticated in their
knowledge of business. This corroborates industry-wide findings that operators
show that day-to-day operations take precedence over marketing and long-term
business strategies for STEs (Page, 1999; Shaw, 2004).
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