The future of budget travel - is the game over for backpackers?

Numerous countries and tourist organisations have been sending out messages that seem to infer that the days of budget travel is over for them - they want big spenders. A while back I wrote a lengthy feature on this, and here are just a couple of pulls from that story.

Nikki Scott, founder of southeastasiabackpackers.com

Budget travellers do seem to suffer from long lingering image problem, which Nikki Scott, the founder of The Backpackers Network platforms (including www.southeastasiabackpaker.com) is somewhat unjust; “Backpackers get a bad press based on the idea that they are tight with their money and spend as little as possible when they travel. This is simply not true.”

Scott feels that they are simply more conscious in their spending choices; “While they do travel on a budget, this just means that they choose carefully where to spend their money.” 

Many follow the mantra of investing in experiences over material luxury; “While they may eschew five-star hotels and luxury restaurants, they are very willing to spend a couple of hundred dollars on adventure activities such as diving, rock climbing, trekking, boat trips, mountain biking etc.” She continues.

Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet

Wheeler weighs up the environmental and social impact differences between budget and luxury travellers; “Do we want tourism to be restricted to people who fly in, fly out, only hang around for a few days and never get beyond the international resorts? Isn’t there a lot to be said for visitors who stay longer, potentially spend more over that longer period, and who additionally spend their money closer to ground level, where it’s more likely to benefit the everyday population, not just the big operators. 

Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures

This apparent accounting is something Poon Tip feels is somewhat misleading; “That money, when funnelled directly down to a small community is everything to those families and communities, helping wealth distribution. I think it’s hard for tourism organisations to fully understand this.” 

G have analysed their own figures, and that of their budget travel clients, and estimate around 93% of every Dollar they receive and spend stays within the destination country.