I went along to the annual Adventure & Backpacker Industry Conference (ABIC) at Sydney’s Maritime Museum last Thursday. A one day event this year, the theme of the conference was “So where the bloody hell are we?” Delegates converged from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Ireland and South Africa to hear from keynote speakers and industry leaders about the current state of the industry (locally and globally), the opportunities and challenges ahead.

By the end of the day it was clear that the outlook for the adventure & backpacker industry in Australia was looking pretty good. Fantastic products, experienced operators, improvements to the WHM (Working Holiday Maker) Scheme, low cost airlines, a strong economy, a pro-active supportive government and an inbound market set to double in the next 10-12 years.

Questions were raised around sustainability, how to cope with an ageing industry, labour shortages, the internet and new emerging markets and competition. However, practical recommendations managed to keep the conference upbeat and everyone excited about the industry’s future.

Delegates were encouraged to really know their markets, understand the habits and trends of Generation Y, make use of the marketing and resource tools (research and statistics) available to the industry, embrace change, be willing to adapt, pass on knowledge, learn new skills, look out for new opportunities and work more closely together.

One segment that helped put things in perspective was the global updates. Representatives from the adventure and backpacker industry in Canada, Chile, Ireland and New Zealand all reported that they had received little or no government support and the number of backpackers were either down or flat. However, the exception was Ireland who reported a booming industry and attributed their success to a positive attitude plus their desire to deliver the best product and customer service.

The conference ended on a high with “space travel with Virgin Galactic”. The ultimate adventure travel experience priced at a cool $200,000.00 for a 2 hour flight. It was a great presentation as it highlighted a new opportunity and a feasible mode of transportation for future adventure travellers and backpackers. And while the current ticket price is high for most people around the world, there is no reason to believe that it will stay like that. We’ve all experienced incredible changes over the past decade with new technologies now readily available to millions of people around the world, so who is to say that space travel can’t become more accessible to the general public in the future. Imagine this “Cheap fast space flights from London to Sydney in 30 minutes - $2,000.00″.

For me the conference was a success this year. I really enjoyed meeting up with industry colleagues and friends and I got the impression that people in the adventure and backpacker industry do know where they are and have a pretty good idea where they’re going. And that is reassuring for an industry that will continue to experience change and opportunities ahead.