Recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Tourism Research showed that 423,400 international backpackers visited Oz in the first half of 2000 - small potatoes by European tourism standards, but it makes backpackers an important sector of the approximately five million tourists who visit the country annually.
Tourism industry sources indicate Irish travellers account for about 5 per cent (or 21,170 in 2000)
Most backpackers tend to head for Australia's east coast, from Cairns in the north of Queensland down to Sydney in New South Wales. The majority enter on a three-month holiday visa, though 11,426 Working Holiday Visas (WHVs) were issued to Irish citizens during 2000-2001. These one-year visas allow travellers aged 18 to 30 to work for up to three months at a time with a single employer.
"The Working Holiday Visa is designed to fund people's travels while in Australia - it's not set up to take full-time jobs away from Australians," says Lance Batty, of the New South Wales Backpacker Operators Association. He points to nursing and fruit harvesting as two sectors that just could not function without the labour provided under the WHV programme.
Many employers are paying backpackers cash so they can employ them at less than the minimum wage. Stories abound of farmers taking advantage of crop pickers through paying below industry rates, providing sub-standard accommodation and charging for "extras" such as drinking water or gloves required to do the job.
Batty admits that backpackers have occasionally reported problems with corrupt employers, but denies the problem is widespread. "The main influence in backpacker circles is word of mouth," he says. "Employers who engage in this kind of thing soon find they can't get any labour."
Alan Collingwood, of Travellers Contact Point, points to the fact that the WHV programme is reciprocal as proof that foreign backpackers are not taking jobs from Australians. "Young Aussies are in Ireland and the UK looking for jobs," he says. "Once the numbers taking part are kept equitable, there shouldn't be a problem."
• Backpackers are often accused of being freeloaders but official figures suggest they contribute significantly to the Australian economy. They stay longer than other visitors (on average 69 nights versus 26 for all visitors) and spend more: AUS$4,483 versus $2,168 for all tourists, making the backpacker sector a $2 billion industry. Stephen Welsh, chairman of the Queensland Backpackers Association, claims that due to their longer stays, more than half their spend is outside the traditional tourism sector