12:00a.m. 22nd December 2008

| By Damian Bathersby

The man often lauded as the founder of the backpacking industry in Australia says he is not surprised some Sunshine Coast hostels have a policy against accepting Australians.

In fact, Michael Higginson has admitted it is a philosophy he created and then taught other hostel operators during the 30 years he was in the industry.

Now living on the Sunshine Coast after a career that spanned four decades and included opening the nation’s first backpacker hostel in Byron Bay, in 1977, Mr Higginson said the policy was essential to running a successful hostel as the attitude of “locals” could ruin the atmosphere of a facility.

And he made no apologies, saying “good discrimination is the basis of any successful business”.

NSW traveller Linda Wright has created a storm after claiming she and her teenage niece were refused beds at the Cotton Tree Backpackers. She said a staff member told them: “If you’re Australian, we don’t take them here.”

Although the hostel’s managers are now denying they have a ban on Australians, operators of several backpacker hostels on the Coast have confirmed the practice is common because Australian guests have a reputation for misbehaving.

“Over the years, I’ve taught hundreds of operators about not taking Australians,” said Mr Higginson.

“It’s a tried and true practice in the industry and it’s the same in any country.

“If you’re a New Zealander, you’ll have problems getting into a hostel in New Zealand and so on, all over the world.

“It’s because travellers in their own countries seeking budget accommodation generally aren’t tourists – they’re people looking for cheap accommodation because they have no money or are down and out.

“And they can very quickly ruin the atmosphere of a hostel with their attitude that it’s their country and they own the place.

“When you lose the atmosphere, you lose the international backpackers and it will take you a long time to get them back.”

But rather than a blanket ban on Australians, Mr Higginson said he had taught hostel operators to use their discretion and look closely at the situation of locals before deciding if they were desirable guests.

“So it’s not a question of whether there is a ban or not – it’s whether an operator is foolish enough to say to a person ‘we don’t take you because you’re Australian’,” he said.

Mr Higginson said the hostel industry had no reason to apologise, as “no customer has the right to expect service”.

“The operator of any business has the right to refuse to serve a customer, and the owner of a hostel has the right to choose who he puts in a bed in his facility,” he said.