New Zealand tourism on the cheap - the backlash against budget visitors

Friday, 9 February 2018

The rise in freedom camping - about 118,000 visitors a year do it - has sparked debate about the desirability of budget-conscious travellers.

OPINION: The outcry against a couple of 'beg-packing' German visitors attempting to tour the country on the smell of an oily rag suggests Kiwis are growing weary of budget tourists.

Anna Karg and partner Enoch Orious have reportedly not spent a cent in the two weeks since they left Auckland, surviving on trading, dumpster diving and charity.

Enoch Orious and Anna Karg, both 25, received a lot of negative feedback after coverage of their attempt to travel New Zealand without spending money.

You have to admire their ingenuity, but at a time when New Zealand's tourism infrastructure is creaking at the seams, growing the el cheapo end of the market should not be part of our visitor strategy.

It feels like we are seeing more of them - ultra budget travellers who have bought an old car, or a van retro-fitted with a bed and a porta-potty some studiously avoid using.

* Financial freedom of 'van life'

* Authorities ramp up efforts to stamp out freebie labour in the backpacker industry

* The freedom camping goldmine - NZ's 29,500 motorhome owners**

Just how many of these 'van-packers' are roving the country is difficult to quantify.

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment estimates the number doing at least some freedom camping while they are here has more than doubled in the last eight years to 118,436.

While many are model visitors, sticking by the rules and spending up large on activities, others are not.

When they set up on prime public scenic spots, hang out their washing, defecate on the nearest patch of grass, and leave piles of rubbish, the locals understandably get restive.

Happy to see tourists enjoy our country, what grates is the arrogance, the sense of entitlement, and lack of the respect from people intent on saving money by roughing it.

Just as galling is the fact that residents' rates are spent on cleaning up the mess.

According to MBIE , the freedom camping contingent on average stayed 50 days and spend $4839, or about $96 per day.

Visitors who did not camp or backpack stayed on average 19 days and spent $2959, or $155 per day.

The tourism industry made a big noise about becoming more sustainable, protecting the environment, improving infrastructure, and paying fair wages.

So how sustainable is it to encourage the budget visitors who stay longer, putting greater strain on infrastructure and the environment?

Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) argues that backpackers aged 18 to 24 make up an important part of our visitor market.

As well as targeting higher value tourists, and TNZ has also used social media to get Brits and Europeans backpacking in Australia to tack New Zealand onto the end of their itinerary.

The more than 195,000 backpackers heading here annually account for about 10 per cent of total holiday arrivals and spend $904m.

That sort of money is not to be sniffed at.

Their value is that they stay longer (29 days on average) and spend more, are big on adventure activities, and get out into regions shorter stay visitors don't.

It's also argued that down the track, well after this 'rite of passage' has been subsumed by the need to earn a living, these once fancy free young travellers will return to nostalgically visit places they saw in their youth, bringing their families with them.

TNZ profiling of German and UK backpackers found that three quarters of them wanted to spend 40 per cent of their time working to help fund their trip.

Many backpackers do just that - picking fruit, and filling hospitality and tourism jobs Kiwis eschew because of their location, low pay and seasonal nature.

Less obvious is the barter economy where backpackers work unpaid in return for accommodation - it's a tradition backpacker hostels historically relied on heavily to help reduce their labour costs.

But more recently it has spread more widely with motels, B&B's, farms and other clearly commercial enterprises advertising openly on backpacker boards offering accommodation in exchange for working set hours for set periods.

Authorities have since cracked down, insisting that anything done with the expectation of a reward is a 'job', and that these young travellers should be receiving at least minimum wage, which their bed and board is then deducted from.

As a result some hostels have had to employ more staff with written contracts, pay PAYE, and meet the obligations that other businesses already do as a matter of course.

The backpacker industry has reluctantly accepted this new regime, complaining that the inability to casually earn a free bed without the hassle or signing a contract, getting an IRD number and opening a bank account will deter young backpackers from coming here.

But if they can't afford to pay their way, do we want them?

There is huge value is offering young travellers the opportunity to stay in Kiwi homes and sample our culture in return for doing a few odd jobs.

It is something else altogether when tourists work for little or nothing to fund their budget trip, potentially depriving New Zealanders of employment and reducing the tax take.

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* Amanda Cropp writes about the tourism industry for Stuff