Comments on: Why New Zealand and Australia backpacking will benefit from economy downturn?

By: The Cream Will Rise To The Top | Xebidy Strategic Design

The Cream Will Rise To The Top | Xebidy Strategic Design — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:52:00 +0000

[...] market in the coming 12 plus months and I also am aware that this is a pretty radical swing from my earlier post in which I professed that New Zealand and Australia would be winners from the recession – but my [...]

By: alan

alan — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:34:07 +0000

I don’t know how all these backpackers’ daddies are going to be able to afford to pay for the air tickets, visa gurantee deposit, and all the other associated costs involved with getting their offspring off on their gap year jolly. If the UK and Irish economies are in decline, where is all this money to subsidise backpacking for all the middle class kids supposed to come from?

By: Brett Claxton

Brett Claxton — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:52:49 +0000

I tend to agree also. After 20 years doing the same stuff on the same street, I still remain the eternal optimist. Yeah, it’s all good. Despite the numbers not being that splendid this year, my chin is still up. Great people these Backpackers, our trade/commodity. Just love ‘em. SARS, 9/11 and all the other turmoil didn’t prevent them from adventuring, and I don’t think this current economical maelstrom shall either.
Glad I don’t have to go to work today and sell spanners…
Now, I am off to KFC to lick other peoples fingers for lunch. ( yes, it has been a hard year )
Baa.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:15:22 +0000

Yeah, sounds good to me. I’m in!

My husband and I are currently in New Zealand during our new backpacking lifestyle. We have been working at a Pub on Great Barrier Island for the last 2 weeks. We are heading to the South Island soon. Feel free to offer us any adventure or backpacking advice, at http://www.nomadbackpackers.com

In addition, I recently posted about what we have learned. A woman named Gillian had emailed me some questions. Feel free to add comments on what you have learned in order to assist other aspiring backpackers.

By: Sallie Gregory

Sallie Gregory — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:26:36 +0000

Great article.
I was speaking to several members of the Irish contingent at the Sydney Backpacker Expo over the weekend and they advised their Minister has weighed in on the Economic decline in Ireland and rise in unemployment by telling the Irish youth to take a year backpacking in Australia to work there!
Sounds like a great idea for a Tourism Australia campaign.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:36:50 +0000

Great article, we have noticed a different type of backpacker coming to our international backpackers hostel in David Panama..one that usually stays in 3-4 star hotels and are now hosteling, and they love it! Lets face it for $8 USD a night you get a bed a pool a bar and garden and hammocks free breakfast and more and you get to meet really interesting travelers that gather at the pool and swap travel stories! http://www.bambuhostel.com check

By: Dan Roberts

Dan Roberts — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:44:43 +0000

I don’t think “mainstream” tourism operators can just adjust to take advantage of the backpacking dollar. In many cases they do not have the cost infrastructure to be able to offer a high enough quality product at a low enough price. What then ends up happening is they offer a substandard product – the backpacker word of mouth quickly slams it – and they find themselves in a worse case than previously.

Offering backpacker “experiences” is definitely a skill. In this post I talked about “What to look for in a Backpacking Tour Operator”: http://travelgeneration.com/blog/2008/10/what-you-should-look-for-in-choosing-how-to-travel-a-country/