Backpackers: The next generation? - Scholarly Commons Home
Backpackers: The next generation? - Scholarly Commons Home
Backpackers: The next generation? - Scholarly Commons Home
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<strong>Backpackers</strong>: <strong>The</strong> <strong>next</strong> <strong>generation</strong>?<br />
at least 20 to 30% of their guests are over age 40; one owner claims that older<br />
guests equal over 40% of his total.<br />
<strong>The</strong> owners enjoy the older travellers, with every one believing that the inter-<br />
<strong>generation</strong>al mix is beneficial to all. One man has built this part of his client base<br />
intentionally.<br />
Why? Because we live here. We like to sleep at night. <strong>The</strong> older group is a<br />
lot more easier [sic] to manage (108).<br />
In response to a maturing market, six of eight owners have directly modified or<br />
renovated their properties to attract a more sophisticated, more demanding<br />
clientele (the remaining two bought into businesses already providing private<br />
rooms). Additions of private rooms with ensuites, or conversions of large dorms<br />
into either smaller “shares” or private rooms, are most common. All have begun<br />
offering internet services as well.<br />
This research appears to confirm findings that small businesses are innovative<br />
and able to respond quickly to market demand (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2000; Poon,<br />
1993). In addition, it supports the suggestion that “customer satisfaction was<br />
more widely used than profit as an indicator of business success” (TRREC,<br />
2007b, p. 13).<br />
Owners were asked whether the higher value of the New Zealand dollar had<br />
any effect on their business. Only one commented that he thought it had.<br />
In the ‘90s, American and English came in and had money to burn.<br />
Skydives and so on - money just flowing out of peoples’ pockets. <strong>The</strong>n the<br />
<strong>next</strong> year the dollar got dearer and people started going to South America<br />
or Southeast Asia. New Zealand got the name of being the Switzerland of<br />
the South Pacific. Dear, very dear (106).<br />
It should be noted that this interviewee was not the first to use “Switzerland of<br />
the South Pacific”; it appears in articles in the New Zealand Herald as early as<br />
2001, and specifically in reference to tourism – and backpacking – in 2006<br />
(DaCruz, 2006).<br />
94