Backpackers Still Travelling

Date: 19 June 2009

While many in the tourism sector are struggling to fill beds and seats, owners of backpacker hostels say they have seen numbers holding up well so far despite the global economic downturn.

Mark Wells, YHA Chief Executive, says his network has seen both profit and volume rise slightly so far this year compared with last year. Base Backpackers is reporting a similar trend.

"As a sector, I think we are partially insulated from the economic downturn. Traditionally our market has a passion for travel and activities and that’s not linked directly with their personal wealth or with strong global economies," says Mark Wells.

Though quantifying the number of people who backpack in New Zealand is a challenge, Mark Wells estimates that the backpacker sector sells one-in-ten international bed nights in New Zealand.

And while they may spend less per day than other types of visitors, "they stay longer and spend more on activities and on a general level of essentials. They make quite a generous contribution to the New Zealand tourism industry and to the economy," he says.

Peter Webster, Director of Operations at Base Backpackers, says numbers are holding up as expected for the time of year, and in some places bookings are slightly ahead of expectations.

"The ferocity of the economic downturn meant it was not clear how things would pan out, but so far we are quietly confident about the next few months," he says.

While domestic travel assisted at the start of the year, Mark Webster says he thinks it is the Northern European market which is helping now as graduating students are choosing to travel, rather than look for non-existent jobs.

"There’s also a lot of people who’ve been made redundant overseas and they are an age group which wants to travel, and now they have the money and time to do that," he says.

Daniel Shields, Chair of the New Zealand Backpacker Network, says even before the economic downturn, the sector was seeing an upward trend in the number of babyboomers making a choice to not to spend so much money on accommodation but to do more on their holidays.

"That trend has just been accelerated by the economic downturn as people have become more money conscious."

Other "positives" are cheap airfares out of the UK and US, which seemed to be having a positive effect on numbers out of those markets for the backpacker sector, he says.

Unlike other accommodation, Daniel Shields says backpacker hostels have been able to hold their prices so far.

Tourism New Zealand Regional Manager UK and Europe Gregg Anderson says the feedback from travel sellers is that backpacker and gap year travellers are holding up well from those markets.

"This is a market showing some resilience in the downturn. Whether that’s younger travellers looking at taking a year out while the job market is tight or older travellers who are using their redundancy pay to see the world and stretch their money further, we don’t really know.

"What we do know is that we have seen a definite pick up in interest from gap and backpacker travellers in the UK and that’s a market we are looking to develop," says Gregg Anderson.

> Read more about Tourism New Zealand's work with youth and emerging markets
> Read more about our markets, including the UK and Germany, in the online market guides
> Read more about Tourism New Zealand’s recent activity in Spain

Source: Tourism New Zealand Feature