Backpacker Tourism “booming” Down Under

by Kraig Becker on

While the travel and tourism market in general is suffering, thanks to the international economic crisis, Australian newspaper The Age is reporting that that country has seen a steep increase in backpacker tourism in recent months. In fact, visas from the U.K. and Germany alone are up more than twenty percent. Deeply discounted airfares are helping to spur the budget travel trend as well it seems.

The article says that young people who have lost their job are electing to travel abroad, many of them deciding to head Down Under for their extended holiday. Others, looking for a budget vacation, are also heading to Australia, taking advantage of good deals, but watching their money while in country as well.

It seems things are not completely rosy for the Australian tourism market however. Overall, the industry is way down already, and the number of visitors to the country is expected to drop by more than 250,000 people, costing the economy over $1 billion.

Still, the Minister of Tourism, Martin Ferguson, is bullish on the future, and will tell more than 300 tourism representatives that this week when the Australian Tourism Export Council or ATEC, meets to discuss their concerns. Ferguson will tell them that the outlook for next year is far better than 2009, but the government is encouraging Australians to stay home, and spend their holiday locally, and they’re giving them stimulus checks to help the process. So far, that seems to be working.

As usual, these awful economic conditions mean bargains and cheap travel for those who do have the money and are willing to go. You may never be able to visit Australia for so little money again.

Are you turning into a traveling stereotype? Find out here.

by Aaron Hotfelder on

I’m halfway through cooking a dinner of Ramen Noodles at my three-dollar-a-night hostel in Mexico, and suddenly it dawns on me: I haven’t showered in two days, I have ten pesos in my pocket, and I slept in a cave last night. God dammit, I thought, I’m turning into a traveling stereotype.

To help you avoid the same dark path, I’ve composed a “Field Guide” to traveling stereotypes. If any of the following descriptions start to sound a little too familiar, put down your plate of Ramen Noodles and run. I said, Run, dammit!

The Frugal Backpacker

Description: You’re eager to see the world, even if you don’t exactly have the funds to pay for it. In fact, a person takes a leak with more forethought than you gave to your financial situation before this trip. You barely scraped together enough cash to fly standby to your destination, and your tentative plan is to return in the hull of a cargo ship. Your budget is roughly $2.50 per day, including approximately $0 for gifts for friends and family. Thirty percent of your body is composed of Ramen Noodles.

Aesthetic: Ebenezer Scrooge meets A Map for Saturday

  • Turn-ons: Free refills, haggling over miniscule amounts of money, sleeping in bus stations, raiding wishing wells (I’ve heard)
  • Turn-offs: Shampoo, any accomodation ending in the word “hotel” rather than “hostel”
  • Won’t go near: An ATM

The Business Traveler

Description: You travel with the joyless efficiency of someone who’s spent far too much time drinking overpriced cocktails in airport restaurants with names like “Blue Skye Bar and Grille”. You can visit a Panda Express at any airport in the world and order “the usual.” When taking your seat in a crowded airplane, you clog the aisle for several minutes while folding your sport jacket like you’re in the color guard at Arlington National Cemetery.

  • Aesthetic: Steve Forbes meets immaculate luggage
  • Turn-ons: USA Today, expense accounts, looking snazzy
  • Turn-offs: Crying babies, the middle seat
  • Won’t go near: Coach

The Over-the-Hill Backpacker

Description: Your grandchildren set up a travel blog for you before you left six months ago. It still says “Under construction. Come back soon!” You love sleeping in hostels but don’t understand why the kids have to turn their damn music up so loud.

You wake up before most of your fellow backpackers go to bed. You’re heartened by other backpackers who frequently tell you, “I hope I’m still doing this when I’m your age.” You inspire travelers pretty much wherever you go.

  • Aesthetic: Lonely Planet meets Centrum Silver
  • Turn-ons: Bran cereal, getting up early, bringing all your medication with you for the next six months
  • Turn-offs: Updating your blog, Florida retirement communities, loud damn music
  • Won’t go near: ‘Nam, Korea

The Luxury Traveler

Description: You’re still vexed by the fact that you can’t find ice cubes in Europe. As noted in The Onion, you frequently tell people that you “love Brazil” despite the fact that you’ve only seen two square miles of it. You stay away from street food because you’re certain it will give you some combination of AIDS and leprosy. Your main concern before a trip is what kind of rental car you’re going to get. You still have a travel agent for some reason.

  • Aesthetic: Conde Nast Traveler meets Samantha Brown
  • Turn-ons: Conspicuous consumption, bell hops, a detailed itinerary, blowing your children’s inheritance
  • Turn-offs: Hostels, street food, people who don’t speak English
  • Won’t go near: India, except Goa

Backpackers learn how to steal Australian travel

by Tom Johansmeyer on

It’s really pretty simple. Foreign backpackers go to Australia. For several weeks, they’ll wander the country, get drunk and … I don’t know … go to the opera. When the trip’s over, these visitors file fake income claims, which get them thousands of dollars in tax refunds – despite not having actually worked (and thus not having paid any taxes).

Through word of mouth, and probably a few blog posts, word has spread, and it’s really kicking Aussie authorities in the wallet. And, the government is powerless. By the time they catch up with fraudsters, there usually isn’t much money left. Off course, the amounts are known to be too small for the Australian Tax Office to pursue them overseas.

But, this is illegal. Of the hundreds of thousands of backpackers who visited Australia last year, 44 were prosecuted successfully. Knowing my luck, I would have been one of them.

Thai prostitute refuses sexual encounter with American backpacker; “He too dirty,” she says

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Backpackers have never had a reputation as being especially finicky about their appearance or cleanliness. But things may have reached a new low in downtown Bangkok yesterday when a Thai prostitute named Chanhira Thanarat refused a sexual encounter with American backpacker Brad Thompson because he was “too dirty.”

“He never shower,” Thanarat said of the 19-year-old Thompson. “He think he can love me with bad smell. He never wash Bob Marley shirt. I find different man!”

Thompson doesn’t deny that it had been “weeks, maybe months” since he had last washed his favorite t-shirt, a green short-sleeve displaying the face of legendary reggae musician Bob Marley. “Still,” Thompson said, “I don’t think it smells that bad.” Thompson proceeded to reach into his backpack and pull out a shirt whose smell can only be compared to an unholy mixture of body odor, feet, and death.

Asked when he last took a shower, Thompson paused for several seconds before asking, “You mean, with soap?”

China Closes Tibet To Travelers

by Kraig Becker on

Earlier this week China once again took steps to close off the borders of Tibet once again, as the region prepares for a new round of tensions as we approach the 50th anniversary of the exile of the Dalai Lama. The move mirrors similar steps that were taken last year, when protests by Buddhist monks turned violent.

British newspaper The Telegraph is reporting in this story published a few days back that tourist operators in Tibet have been told to cancel all upcoming trips for the foreseeable future, and most expect that it will be some time before normal travel resumes.

Tibet is a popular tourist spot with the backpacker and adventure travel crowd. Its proximity to the Himalaya and its Buddhist culture have long held an allure with visitors from the West, with many making the journey to see the ancient temples and to visit the famous Everest base camp on the North Side of the mountain. As such, tourism has become the most important aspect of the Tibetan economy, employing thousands of people, either directly or indirectly, but for a second year in a row, it looks as if those people will be scrambling to find another way to make a living during what is traditionally one of their busiest times of the year.

The travel restrictions on Tibet aren’t limited to just the tourists however, as foreign journalists have also been denied access. Many had hoped to come to cover the anniversary events, but now have been denied as well. It looks like for now, Tibet is once again closed off to the world.