Gen Y has created a new,more demanding type of young traveller ... and the industry is changing to accommodate them.Credit:Getty Images
You have to take this with a grain of salt,because everyone thinks things were better in the old days. But I heard it enough times and saw enough evidence to think it was probably right.
I spent a season working for a tour company in Europe a few years ago,taking passengers on the classic drunken whirlwind tour of the continent's highlights. I met some amazing people on board those buses,but the lament from the old stagers,the crew who'd been doing my job for years,was always the same:they're not as much fun as they used to be.
The passengers,that is. Back in their day,they'd say,tour passengers were pretty easygoing. If something went wrong,if the driver took a wrong turn or an attraction was closed or the French were on strike or the cook – ahem – tried to serve two-day-old baguettes,the paying passengers would laugh it off as part of the experience.
Squalid no more ... modern hostels,like YHA Sydney Harbour,offer a rooftop deck with views.Credit:Anna Kucera
They'd set up their tents and happily head for the squalid shower blocks. They'd pitch in with the cooking and the washing up with beers in hands and smiles on faces. They were adventurous,and they were willing.
But then Generation Y came along. The generation supposedly spoiled by their parents. The generation with a sense of entitlement. The generation with the guts to complain. And they changed travel.
You could see evidence of it on the tours when I was there. Budget travellers weren't as much fun anymore – they'd complain when things went wrong,they'd expect levels of service and cleanliness that they were very unlikely to find,and – most galling for me,the cook – they'd refuse point-blank to help with camping chores like washing up.
"I paid to have a holiday,"they'd say."Not to do the washing up."
Generation Y has certainly changed the travel industry. You can use organised tours as a case in point. Check out how many super-budget camping tours are offered by companies these days compared to cabin-accommodation or hotel trips. Not many. Passengers want an extra level of comfort now,they want to be looked after a little bit better.