The youth hostel industry in on the verge of collapse, according to its own industry leaders.
Covid is largely to blame. After 89 years in business the YHA recently announced it is permanently closing 11 properties due to border closures and the lack of international tourists.
And the report by the Backpacker and Youth Adventure Travel Association and the New Zealand Hostels Association says it is no longer an issue of struggling individual hostels, but a whole industry in jeopardy.
Eve Lawrence, general manager of Haka Tours, helped compile the data. She talks to Lisa Owen.
