Backpacking Culture and Mobilities: Independent and Nomadic Travel 9781845418083

Table of contents :
Contents
Figures and Tables
Contributors
Acknowledgements
1 Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?
Part 1: Ontological Approaches and Mobile Methods
2 Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review
3 The Go-along: A Mobile Method for Backpacker Research
Part 2: International Backpacking
4 The Motivations and Constraints of Chinese ‘Donkey Friends’
5 Identity Construction of Chinese Outbound Backpackers in Europe
6 Family Backpacking in India: The Case of Israeli Families
7 The Rise and Decline of Indonesian Backpacking
8 Iranian Female Backpackers and their Surrounding Community
Part 3: Backpacker Socialisation, Hostels and Learning
9 Travel and Transformation: Negotiating Identity in Post-Journey Life
10 The Backpacker Hostel: Performing and Experiencing ‘Place’ in Central America
11 Backpacker Lifestyle Entrepreneurism: Resident Perspectives on Hedonistic Events and Backpackaging
Part 4: Concluding Thoughts
12 After the Pandemic: Future Directions for Backpacking and Backpacking Research
Index

Citation preview

Backpacking Culture and Mobilities

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE Series Editors: Professor Mike Robinson, Nottingham Trent University, UK and Professor Alison Phipps, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK Associate Editor: Dr Hongliang Yan, Oxford Brookes University, UK Understanding tourism’s relationships with culture(s) and vice versa, is of ever-increasing significance in a globalising world. Tourism and Cultural Change is a series of books that critically examine the complex and everchanging relationship between tourism and culture(s). The series focuses on the ways that places, peoples, pasts, and ways of life are increasingly shaped/transformed/ created/packaged for touristic purposes. The series examines the ways tourism utilises/makes and re-makes cultural capital in its various guises (visual and performing arts, crafts, festivals, built heritage, cuisine etc.) and the multifarious political, economic, social and ethical issues that are raised as a consequence. Theoretical explorations, research-informed analyses, and detailed historical reviews from a variety of disciplinary perspectives are invited to consider such relationships. All books in this series are externally peer-reviewed. Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.channelviewpublications.com, or by writing to Channel View Publications, St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE: 61

Backpacking Culture and Mobilities Independent and Nomadic Travel

Edited by Michael O’Regan

CHANNEL VIEW PUBLICATIONS Bristol • Jackson

DOI https://doi.org/10.21832/OREGAN8076 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Names: O’Regan, Michael, editor. Title: Backpacking Culture and Mobilities: Independent and Nomadic Travel /Edited by Michael O’Regan. Description: Bristol, UK; Jackson, TN: Channel View Publications, 2023. | Series: Tourism and Cultural Change: 61 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: ‘This book presents fresh contributions from various disciplines, capturing the diversity of backpacker contexts, types and form. It aims to make sense of current research in order to understand backpacking’s future, and produce new directions for conceptual, theoretical and methodological development and future research’ – Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2022040975 (print) | LCCN 2022040976 (ebook) | ISBN 9781845418069 (paperback) | ISBN 9781845418076 (hardback) | ISBN 9781845418083 (pdf) | ISBN 9781845418090 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Backpacking – Social aspects. | Independent travel – Social aspects. Classification: LCC GV199.6 .B318 2023 (print) | LCC GV199.6 (ebook) | DDC 796.51 – dc23/eng/20221017 C record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022040975 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022040976 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN-13: 978-1-84541-807-6 (hbk) ISBN-13: 978-1-84541-806-9 (pbk) Channel View Publications UK: St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK. USA: Ingram, Jackson, TN, USA. Website: www.channelviewpublications.com Twitter: Channel_View Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/channelviewpublications Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com Copyright © 2023 Michael O’Regan and the authors of individual chapters. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted to the printer concerned. Typeset by Riverside Publishing Solutions. Printed and bound in the UK by the CPI Books Group Ltd.

Contents

Figures and Tables

vii

Contributors

ix

Acknowledgements 

xiii

1 Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings? Michael O’Regan

1

Part 1: Ontological Approaches and Mobile Methods 2 Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review Michael O’Regan 3 The Go-along: A Mobile Method for Backpacker Research Benjamin Lucca Iaquinto

41 72

Part 2: International Backpacking 4 The Motivations and Constraints of Chinese ‘Donkey Friends’ Yingying Li, Marion Joppe and Ye (Sandy) Shen 5 Identity Construction of Chinese Outbound Backpackers  in Europe Wenjie Cai

99

124

6 Family Backpacking in India: The Case of Israeli Families  Khen Ya’ari

144

7 The Rise and Decline of Indonesian Backpacking Sarani Pitor Pakan

161

8 Iranian Female Backpackers and their Surrounding Community Reihaneh Shahvali and Khadijeh Safiri

179

v

vi  Backpacking Culture and Mobilities

Part 3: Backpacker Socialisation, Hostels and Learning 9 Travel and Transformation: Negotiating Identity in Post-Journey Life Birgit Phillips and Michael Phillips

201

10 The Backpacker Hostel: Performing and Experiencing ‘Place’ in Central America Marko Salvaggio

221

11 Backpacker Lifestyle Entrepreneurism: Resident Perspectives on Hedonistic Events and Backpackaging Leon Mach

242

Part 4: Concluding Thoughts 12 After the Pandemic: Future Directions for Backpacking and Backpacking Research Michael O’Regan

271

Index

297

Figures and Tables

Figures

1.1

Israeli hostel in Cusco, Peru

12

2.1

Hostel in Vila Pereira da Silva favela, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

54

3.1 3.2 3.3

The vehicle Searching for travel companions The journey

77 78 80

4.1

Motivations, constraints and negotiation strategies for Chinese backpackers Relationships between motivations, constraints and negotiation strategies for Chinese backpackers

4.2 8.1

105 113

8.2

Emergent model of the changing process that occurs during the journeys The cycle of cultural change

189 192

10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5

Hostel welcome Hostel info board Hanging out in the hostel Non-social social Hostel tours

228 229 232 236 237

11.1 The Archipelago of Bocas del Toro (ABdT) in the South Caribbean249 11.2 Bocas Town on Isla Colon 250 11.3 Filthy Friday advert 251 Tables

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5

External labelling and internal identification Sociological, anthropological and business framings of backpacking Label extensions Sample of studies based on ethnographic methodologies Typologies, taxonomies, clusters, markets and segments vii

45 47 49 52 57

viii  Backpacking Culture and Mobilities

4.1 4.2

100

4.13 4.14

Broad profile of backpackers Common characteristics and differences between Chinese and western backpackers Profile of backpackers (N = 502) Travel preferences of Chinese backpackers (N = 502) Motivation of Chinese backpackers Analysis of variance (ANOVA) Constraints on Chinese backpackers Gender difference for constraint Age difference for constraint Negotiation strategies of Chinese backpackers ANOVA for negotiation strategies Correlations between motivation, constraint, negotiation strategies and intention Standardised coefficients for the path analysis Mediation effect of negotiation strategies

5.1

Trip details and informant information

127

8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5

The informants Subjective change Intrapersonal change Interpersonal change Community change

183 185 187 188 188

4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 4.11 4.12

11.1 Interview participant information and the frequency of backpacker theme mentions (n = 23)

101 106 107 108 109 109 110 110 111 111 112 112 113

253

Contributors

Wenjie Cai is Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Hospitality in the Greenwich Business School, University of Greenwich, UK. Wenjie received his PhD in tourism from the University of Surrey, UK. His main research interests include backpacker tourism, tourist behaviours, digital well-being, social inclusion and intercultural communication in tourism. Benjamin Lucca Iaquinto, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong. His work explores how tourist practices and mobilities (dis)connect people from pro-environmental ways of living. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Australian Mobilities Research Network and an Associate Editor of Tourism Geographies. Marion Joppe, PhD, is Professor in the School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, University of Guelph, Canada. Marion specialises in destination planning, development and marketing, and the experiences upon which destinations build. She has extensive private and public sector experience, having worked for financial institutions, tour operators, consulting groups and government prior to joining academia. Yingying Li is a master’s student who graduated from the University of Guelph, Canada. During her studies, she majored in tourism and hospitality management and became interested in studying the field of backpacking. She enjoys backpacking and has gone backpacking in different countries including China, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Canada. She is particularly interested in the travel motivations and travel behaviour of Chinese backpackers. Leon Mach, PhD, is Associate Professor in Environmental Policy and Socioeconomic Values at the School for Field Studies in Bocas del Toro, Panama. He has enjoyed success in higher education teaching, academic publishing, sustainability consulting, and study abroad facilitation. A 2021/2022 Fulbright Scholar, his research focuses on natural resource governance and sustainable tourism. ix

x  Backpacking Culture and Mobilities

Michael O’Regan, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in International Tourism Management, University of Swansea. He joined Wicklow County Tourism, Ireland as Marketing Executive in 1997 before starting a PhD programme at the School of Sport and Service Management, University of Brighton, UK. He spent four years in China, before joining Bournemouth University, and then Glasgow Caledonian University as a Lecturer in Tourism and Events. Michael’s research is focused on tourist, urban, historic, future, slow and cultural mobilities, as well as alternative tribes, collectives, communities and formations. Sarani Pitor Pakan is Lecturer in Tourism at the Vocational College, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. While his current research focus is on surf tourism, his interests also include backpacker travel, particularly traveling and backpacking cultures in and among Indonesia(ns). He is a co-founder of interval.co.id, a platform dedicated to critical analysis of travel and tourism in Indonesia. Birgit Phillips is Professor of Education at the University of Applied Sciences of Burgenland (FH Burgenland) in Austria. She is currently leading a project on digital literacy in tourism at the University of Graz. Her research interests include transformative learning, gender and diversity studies, and (online) higher education didactics. Michael Phillips is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the University of Graz in Austria. He also teaches a variety of subjects (including intercultural communication, marketing, negotiation techniques) at a number of applied sciences universities in Austria. Khadijeh Safiri is a Full Professor at Alzahra University and the first woman in Iran to achieve full professorial rank in sociology. She is currently Director of the Department of Sociology in Social Sciences at Alzahra University and Editor in Chief of the Women’s SociologicalPsychological Studies Journal at Alzahra University. Her teaching and research focus on the sociology of the family, qualitative research, the sociology of gender, and the sociology of health. She has published more than hundred national and international articles in leading journals and has authored seven books in sociology. She has served as a committee member for more than 90 doctoral and master’s dissertations. Marko Salvaggio is an environmental sociologist based in Maputo, Mozambique. He holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and currently teaches online social science courses for Tulane University, USA. Dr Salvaggio’s areas of specialisation include environmental sociology; cultural studies; mobilities studies; the political economy of space, place and tourism; and theories of nation, race, ethnicity and indigeneity.

Contributors xi

Reihane Shahvali holds a PhD in sociology from Alzahra University in Iran. Her research focuses on the sociology of tourism. She is a writer and consultant on authenticity in tourism eco-lodges and boutique hotels and its potential for the development of the cultural economy and as a solution to social issues. Her research interests also include the interactions among hosts and guests with distinct cultures in the context of tourism and hospitality. Ye (Sandy) Shen, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Experience Industry Management at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Dr Shen specialises in tourism experience design, destination marketing, and technology applications in tourism and hospitality. She has wide experience in conducting research using cutting-edge technology in a research lab setting. Her research has been published in leading academic journals. Khen Ya’ari, PhD, is a serial backpacking mother and a social anthropologist specialising in family and education and their intersection with mobility in the global era. She teaches at the Open University of Israel and is a postdoctoral fellow at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, researching single-child families by choice. She also leads a cosmopolitan education programme for elementary school students.

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the previous editors and writers in the Tourism and Cultural Change series of edited books on backpacking, published by Channel View Publications. The previous seminal books on backpacking in the series have been the basis for research and understanding of backpacker culture and have provided insights into backpacking for a generation of undergraduates, postgraduate students and researchers. The books are: • Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (eds) (2004) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice. • Hannam, K. and Ateljevic, I. (eds) (2008) Backpacker Tourism: Concepts and Profiles. • Hannam, K. and Diekmann, A. (eds) (2010) Beyond Backpacker Tourism: Mobilities and Experiences. Thank you to my parents, Michael and my late mother, Eileen, who I love and to whom I owe so much, and to my wife, partner, colleague and best friend, Jaeyeon, as well as to my extended family and colleagues for their continued support.

xiii

1 Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings? Michael O’Regan

Shaped and guided by their drifter predecessors and influential countercultural texts and narratives, backpackers pre-existed their labelling in the early 1990s and subsequent recognition as a transnational cultural formation that emphasised ‘movement and mobility’ (Doorne, 1994: 30). Backpackers remain characterised by their extensive spatial mobility, time and space flexibility, as well as their multifaceted social and cultural encounters, interactions and engagements. They remain a powerful travelling culture, celebrated through popular culture, in literature and movies as well as social and journalistic discourses, with themes such as adventure, thrift, proximity to local cultures, the search for existential authenticity and freedom from the restrictions of one’s society. However, 30 years after first being labelled, increasing numbers of scholars and commentators exploring globalisation, colonisation, imperialism and sustainability have critiqued backpackers as showing a marked disregard for the destinations and residents they consume as they seek to construct ‘authenticity’ by differentiating themselves from other tourists through various distinctions of taste. This book takes a fresh, and sometimes critical and reflexive look at past and current backpacker research, before introducing new perspectives on backpacking and backpackers. The volume builds on previous edited volumes on backpacking (Hannam & Ateljevic, 2008; Hannam & Diekmann, 2010a; Richards & Wilson, 2004a) and seminal journal special issues by key authors, such as the late Philip L. Pearce (Pearce, 2006). It brings together contributions by scholars from several academic fields, to capture the diversity of backpacker contexts, types and forms. Through various research approaches and forms of analysis, the chapters seek to capture multiple western and non-western perspectives on the backpacking phenomenon. 1

2  Backpacking Culture and Mobilities

This introductory chapter reflects on 30 years of backpacker and backpacking research, to ask whether the institutionalisation of backpacking and constant corporate manipulation has forced potential backpackers to shift their desires, interests and affiliations elsewhere or whether the shared solidarities, investments, norms, values, tactics and internalised structure which make backpacking ‘work’, are still resilient to outside interference. Thirty Years of Backpacker Research

Backpacking is embedded in western social imaginaries as an organised field with its building blocks, key storylines, narratives, cultural representations, affinities, performative conventions, understandings, regularities and practices firmly in the public domain. Backpacker subjectivities, institutions and practices took a very public and visible form during the early 1990s onwards, with backpacking celebrated in movies and literature as an ‘alternative’ type and form of travel. Backpackers became inscribed in images, representations, symbols, narratives, text and video that circulated and flowed across newspapers, mobile devices, bookshelves, cinemas and television screens (O’Regan, 2021). Books like Garland’s The Beach (original edition 1998), movies like The Art of Travel (2008), reality television shows like ‘Paradise or Bust’ (2008), documentaries such as ‘A Map for Saturday’ (2008) and guidebook publishers, such as Lonely Planet, popularised backpacking and helped to construct representations through which individuals could imagine this world. Lisle suggests that Lonely Planet, in particular, ‘cultivated a community of adventurers who define themselves predominantly against mainstream tourism’ (Lisle, 2008: 156). While the meanings that the media, guidebooks, society and individuals gave this category are often vaguely scripted, popular representations often included details about patterns of backpacker behaviour, practices and settings, and offered a mock-up of everyday backpacker life. They indicate that agency, transformation, self-reliance, exploration, reinvention, renewal and unique experiences are possible, if one removes oneself from ‘approved patterns of manner’ (Goffman, 1967: 143) prescribed by the general norms of etiquette, common courtesy and social rank. Backpacking still draws geographically dispersed individuals, who lay claim to a subjectivity that is radically different from the overregulated subjectivity in the home, school or workplace, expressing itself amongst shared systems of meaning, paths, rhythms and routes. The role still demands a subjugation of work, school and home-based routines, and valorises those who embrace self-driven and extended geographic movement across time and space, particular ways of living and complex encounters and relations with others (Hecht & Martin, 2006; Murphy, 2001; Riley, 1988).

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  3

Therefore, the embodied practices and subjectivity of backpackers, while culturally situated, are bound up with discourse, their performances negotiated and worked through movement. Any individual, at least theoretically, can relate to the backpacker role, place themselves in this narrative and engage in individual and collective action with others in particular social settings on routes that span the globe. Discursive representations are also produced by backpackers themselves, as they relay a ‘picture’ of their own lives, ‘contained’ or ‘framed’ by backpacker discourse in conservations, stories to others, blog posts, uploaded pictures, emails, letters, instant messages, TikTok videos and texts. When coupled together, a ‘social totality composed of all these separate and fragmented pieces can be coherently grasped’ (Hall, 1977: 340). For more than three decades, ethnographic research has acknowledged, identified and demarcated backpackers as a distinct cultural formation (Shaffer, 2004; Sørensen, 2003), with scholars exploring evolving type and form characteristics and ‘keep up’ with the complexity and heterogeneity of backpacking, in terms of ethnicity, class, age and gender (Elsrud, 2001; Maoz, 2007). While there have been tensions between western understanding and other local (non-western) meanings of backpacking, backpacker discourse has broadened as backpackers from non-western countries and different cultures re-interpret and re-construct backpacking. The shift from unifying depictions of the backpacker as a general type ‘toward an approach that stresses its diverse and plural characteristics’ (Uriely, 2005: 205) has had the effect of decentring the western focus of much backpacker literature and reclaiming epistemological space for backpackers from Israel, India, Brazil, Japan, China, South Korea and Indonesia (Prideaux & Shiga, 2007; Teo & Leong, 2006). However, backpacking is being increasingly re-evaluated and, in some cases, evaluated as a formation saturated in conventions, routines and unreflexive habitual practices, which, critical scholars argue, is rendering the experience mundane, banal and privileged (Edensor, 2007; Welk, 2004), if not destructive and damaging to host destinations. For these scholars, the backpacking narrative seems to have exhausted itself and mutated into a self-obsessed aesthetic vacuum that is more about marketing one’s coolness and individualism than about authenticity. Stripped of any real deviance, risk-taking or originality, its appropriation of different styles from different eras and cultures has generated a cultural formation lost in superficiality, unable to create any positive meaning or impact in the present. Some empirical research also seems to indicate that backpacking is in decline (WYSE Travel Confederation, 2019), the representational and narrative logics that ignited desire for the role having exhausted themselves after becoming emptied of meaning by an encroaching tourism industry, as well as by generational shifts. As backpacking has become a critical object of analysis (Farrelly, 2021), these narratives of exhaustion and decline are summarised below.

4  Backpacking Culture and Mobilities

Backpacking: Exhaustion and Decline

Considered ‘non-institutionalised’ tourists (Cohen, 2003), backpackers were cast as categorically different from ‘institutionalised’ tourists, because of the emancipatory impulses that drove them from place to place, their wilful and unabashed violation of social order a deviation from assigned social roles in the system of social stratification. However, critical scholars argue that the tourism sector has transformed backpacking into a commodity, who are now selling it back to unsuspecting youth through niche marketing (Richards, 2021). The suggestion is that backpacking was a product of a particular generation, with ageing western backpackers morphing into flashpackers with high disposable incomes (Hannam & Diekmann, 2010b). Lisle (2016) argues that the backpacker generation can be tied to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a shared generational identity and an intensification of globalisation. The period after the end of the cold war saw a greater ease of movement and the spread of infrastructure conducive to backpacker travel (Jobs, 2017), with Laos, for example, opening to international tourists, and to backpackers in particular (Bichler, 2009). The world become globalized and depoliticised, with meanings formerly occupied by youth culture invested with new values and meanings. Greater affluence made competition for an occupational career less urgent, with young people showing ‘little enthusiasm to engage immediately on a routine occupational career’ (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2004: 63). Likewise, Zhang (2014) notes that most Chinese backpackers were born in the 1970s and 1980s and came of age in the Chinese reform era. Following the logic of Mannheim (1952 [1927]: 278), who observed that the ‘duration of a generation is … variously estimated’ at something between 15 and 30 years, the backpacker generation is said to be ageing out. Scholars point to the decline of sales of Lonely Planet guidebooks (Butler & Paris, 2016), the rise of the flashpacker (Paris, 2012), and a decline in those who relate to the backpacker label (WYSE Travel Confederation, 2019; Richards, 2021). Scholars also argue that this decline is partially due to the institutionalisation of backpacking (Zhang et al., 2017). A sophisticated and structured backpacking industry (Prideaux & Shiga, 2007) stands accused of stripping backpackers of their agency and reducing the autonomy of the field. Welk (2004: 88) argues that this industry has grown the ‘backpacker scene … to a size that approaches individualised conventional tourism itself’, with backpacking comparable to conventional mass tourism as it moves from the practices of Cohen’s idealised drifter (Cohen, 2003; Wilson & Richards, 2008). Scholars have scrutinised backpackers and backpacker spaces as part of a ‘coherent industrial complex’ (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2004: 60). A ‘preference for small-scale, locally owned accommodation and independent travel arrangements’

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  5

(Weaver, 2006: 47), according to critics, has been replaced by a preference for low-cost airlines, smartphones (Hunter-Jones et al., 2008), established routes (Hampton, 1998; Hottola, 2005), backpacker hostels (Loker-Murphy & Pearce, 1995; Mohsin & Ryan, 2003; Richards, 2015; Scheyvens, 2002) and backpacker enclaves (Cohen, 2018). Haviv (2005: 82) suggests backpackers are ‘often blindly follow[ing] the advice of Lonely Planet, choosing not to recognise how the guidebook leads them along a backpacking superhighway paved with cheap lodgings, Englishor even Hebrew-speaking natives, and restaurants serving banana pancakes’. As backpacking options become shaped by forces external to backpackers themselves (Cohen, 2004; O’Reilly, 2006), scholars see fewer convincing accounts of active agency and inventiveness amongst backpackers, with Cohen (2003) suggesting that few backpackers now have the competence, resourcefulness, endurance, fortitude or ability to replicate the idealised drifter. Now exploitable as a resource, the tourism sector has spearheaded developments that sell backpacking as a self-contained system, from visas and transport to experiences, so that backpacking itself can be visited and consumed rather than experienced or felt. While supporting the discourse (Brenner & Fricke, 2007), cultural intermediaries (Woo, 2012) re-prioritise exploration and discovery to exploit backpackers economically by ‘helping’ them ‘succeed’ by taking care of visas, vaccinations, paperwork, itineraries, transport and accommodation, as well as running backpacker events. Scholars note how backpacker infrastructure, now visible and mapped, has morphed over time, so as to exploit movement in a rational, forecastable manner (Blanco et al., 2017). As a ‘conformist mass phenomenon’ (Welk, 2004: 88), backpacking is now seen as either part of mainstream tourism (Zhang et al., 2017) or as the ‘vanguard of mass tourism, bringing development and mass tourism in their wake’ (Richards, 2015: 341). Scholars also note that backpacking has been insufficiently problematised, and argue that wide disparities of power, wealth and privilege exist between backpackers and hosts (Thieme et al., 2021). Backpackers are framed as part of a ‘global elite’ (Berger & Paris, 2013), neoliberal ideal subjects (Tai, 2020) and ‘pillars of society, on temporary leave from affluence, but with clear and unwavering intentions to return to “normal” life’ (Sørensen, 2003: 852). Indeed, scholars argue that their form of travel is merely a simulation of alienation and exile (Hutnyk, 1996) as they take temporary leave and occupy a sanitised ‘bubble’ (Howard, 2005; Salvaggio, 2016) built on Orientalist and other fantasies. While backpackers may see extended independent travel as a choice worth taking, the backpacking life worth living, and the backpacker a person worth being, scholars have sought to place backpacking within the wider perspectives of imperialism, colonial dependency and globalisation. Lozanski (2011), for example, argues that backpacking

6  Backpacking Culture and Mobilities

remains embedded in the implicit hierarchies of colonialism and a desire to consume place after place, both aesthetically and experientially, using their capital in an orientalising and exoticising exercise for the purpose of self-fashioning and the gathering of subcultural capital. Lozanski (2007) found independent travel (backpacking) to India also operates against a backdrop of hegemonic western masculinity, and argues that such travel reflects racist, misogynist and colonial discourses. Indeed, given that backpacking was traditionally a Western European phenomenon, travel mostly followed colonial routes and destinations (Jobs, 2017) with drifting during the countercultural period trafficking in the iconography of the postcolonial. Backpacking has also been found to take place along gender, racial and ethnic lines (Wantono & McKercher, 2020; Yang et al., 2019), as backpackers face accusations of slumming it, as they descend across spatial, sexual, class and gender boundaries (Frenzel, 2016). While characterised by a concern for profoundly ‘authentic’ experiences and intercultural contact, scholars argue that the institutionalisation of backpacking shields backpackers from local people, food and customs (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2000; Cohen, 1982; Noy, 2006) and institutionalises their right to look into the ‘real lives’ of others (Qian & Zhu, 2016). The default argument is that their mobility is undesirable as their search for authenticity and connection are held to disturb original, native places and real cultures of belonging. Scholars argue that backpackers disregard the cultural norms of their hosts (Cohen, 2004), with western backpackers in particular represented as individualistic, hedonistic, isolated, racist, self-entitled and egotistical (Chen & Huang, 2017; Stanley, 2016). Scholars argue that backpackers engage in selfcentric, superficial, deviant and hedonistic pleasures and lack accountability for alcohol abuse, sexual health risks, shabby appearance and thriftiness (Bellis et al., 2007; Canavan, 2018; Sundbeck et al., 2017). Wantono and McKercher (2020: 19) note that ‘backpackers have the freedom to do what they want without fear of sanctions’ and are chastised for accentuating the darker side of possibilities for self-creation. While backpacker deviance is now framed as ‘soft’ rather than ‘hard’ as it has been largely stripped of any dangerous countercultural or deviant elements that threaten the social order (Raybeck, 1991), scholars argue that backpackers engage in risky travel and illicit behaviour (Matthews, 2014; Reichel et al., 2007). Practices such as ‘unrestrained hedonism’ (Cohen, 2004) are rendered unsustainable and unethical in new political, environmental and social contexts. Rather than indicating cosmopolitan tendencies (Germann Molz, 2006), dressing up in cultural garb, the use of backpack badges and tattoos (Maoz, 2005; Speed, 2008; Vrasti, 2007), indicates at best a failure to embrace adult privileges and, at worst, travelling ‘because of the attention gained on the road and online’ (Canavan & McCamley, 2021). By drawing backpacking

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  7

into various economic, educational and humanitarian logics (O’Regan, 2021), scholars have sought to apply macro-level concepts and principles, such as responsible travel and sustainable consumption, service quality, authenticity and loyalty, to backpacking (Brochado & Rita, 2018; Iaquinto, 2015, 2018). They have recommended that global organisations and tourism authorities nudge backpackers into ‘intentional sustainability’ (Agyeiwaah et al., 2021) and enforce responsible travel amongst a formation where such discourses didn’t previously exist. Seeking to rationalise backpacking, scholars accuse backpackers of falling short of their ideals, societal expectations and destination needs (Adam et al., 2021; Agyeiwaah & Bangwayo-Skeete, 2021; Nok et al., 2017). Backpacking is now increasingly subsumed under the categories ‘Young Budget Travellers’ (Duncan, 2014), ‘budget travellers’ (Larsen et al., 2011), ‘global nomads’ (Kannisto, 2017) or solo/independent travel (Du Cros, 2014), and is seen as part of a broader consumerdominated cultural field that includes other forms of niche tourism such as volunteer tourism and educational exchange (Richards, 2015). The argument that backpacking is merely another ‘tourist niche’ (Canavan & McCamley, 2021) suggests the blurring of boundaries between backpacking and other forms of travel and types of travellers, such as volunteers, solo travellers, gappers, budget travellers, student and study abroad travellers and working holiday makers (Duncan, 2014). Now that backpacking can easily be entered into, individuals can articulate a temporary position and ‘mindset’ in particular social settings. Allon et al. (2008: 86) note that the backpacker role can be ‘temporarily or provisionally occupied or adopted’ as individuals become strung out in mobile identities and mobility related ambitions, projects and lifegoals (Grebowicz, 2021), which tend towards individualism, spatial dispersion and social and temporal fragmentation. If backpacking was once seen as an alternative to mass tourism, their ‘counter-conduct’ (Foucault, 2007) characterised by resistances and refusals and by bringing ‘new visibilities, knowledges, techniques and identities into being’ (Death, 2010: 236), it is now characterised as ‘mass backpacking’ (Butcher, 2003; Wantono & McKercher, 2020), with critical scholars speculating that the role may no longer be a means to make a statement about oneself. For example, if hostels once embodied and afforded unconventional attitudes held by backpackers, such spaces are increasingly supplied according to technocratic delivery approaches and governance. While ‘Round the World’ (RTW) routes are standardized (Le Bigot, 2016), functional and standardised hostels are increasingly developed as franchises by hotel brands such as Accor and even developed as hotel-hostel hybrids. As scholars describe a more fragmented field with growing heterogeneity, its participants may no longer agree about the definition of the stakes involved. Growing

8  Backpacking Culture and Mobilities

heterogeneity, regulation and market pressure within any field is likely to lead to a catastrophic collapse of its autonomy if conditions for the production and transmission of specialist subcultural knowledge and know-how between backpackers fails. If the distinction between backpackers and other travellers disappears, routes and backpacker spaces may no longer act as a network of knowledge and a means to gain capital, recognition and status. Indeed, scholars may argue that ‘backpacker-like’ travel is more frequent in the contemporary world and can no longer be associated with a younger, low-budget cohort. As more people become mobile and flexible and are intentionally moving from country to country, changing occupations and seeking encounters, what is distinct about backpacking? Scholars are asking what really remains of backpacking, and given its links to everything from imperialism and orientalism to colonial history and ableism, should the practice be consigned to the history books? In Defence of Backpacking

While there are valid criticisms of backpacking, much of the criticism is focused on ‘what’s wrong’ and ‘what’s missing’ in backpacker discourse. The supposed gaps and contractions between backpacker ideals and practices have long been a point of contention (Welk, 2004; Wilson & Richards, 2008). However, backpacking operates below the level of a written ideology. There are no texts or mentors providing individuals with sacred truths before one sets out or during the journey. Backpackers are not cultural dupes or passive entities, rendered subordinate by the external influences or the force of an overpowering ideology. Neither are backpackers an ideological instrument that implicitly sustains the spread of mass tourism and modern global capitalism. Therefore, what is produced through what O’Regan (2010a) calls the backpacker habitus in terms of practices and routinised bodily performances is not merely a passive replica of an ideology or a guidebook but is, rather, a manifestation of a generative set of dispositions, individually and collectively performed, socially situated in the field and oriented towards the accumulation of capital for status in a system of meanings in line with their own identities. Individuals bring backpacking into material and social reality by drawing on implicit schemas of interpretation, rather than an explicit backpacker ideology, to produce ‘knowledges, stories, traditions, comportments, music, books, diaries, and other cultural expressions’ (Clifford, 1992: 108). While scholars are prone to contrast backpacker practices today with those of the 1960s, 1970s and 1990s (Richards & Wilson, 2004b), those practices were forged in a different social world, a world that has changed, and will continue to change (Hampton & Hamzah, 2016). While drifting forged an identity that emphasised mobility during

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  9

the countercultural period, and led to shared culture across national boundaries, the drifter/backpacker habitus is not fixed or permanent and has changed over time. The social field is a game with changing norms and rules, and involves struggle and tension over what is considered to have value, who and what may be included, and therefore social fields are ‘historical constellations that arise, grow, change shape, and sometimes wane or perish, over time’ (Wacquant, 2007: 268). Drifting, like backpacking, was never a pure cultural formation. Those who travelled east in the 1960s and 1970s appropriated other cultures, causes and movements, from the Beats and the Anti-War movement to Native Indian dress. Rather than strictly a western formation heading east, the flowering of cities and travel also occurred in the Soviet Union (Risch, 2005), Latin America and Japan. By the early 1970s, drifting was transformed by the alternative press and mass media and commercial interests from record companies to transport companies (Jobs, 2017). Backpacking, like drifting, remains both individualistic and communal, offering both constraints and opportunities in equal measure, and is ‘performed through everyone’s effort to define it’ (Latour, 1986: 275). Backpacking moves on, and mutates continually, physically, materially and within our desires and imagination, with Bourdieu (1999) noting that the desire to invest in a game emerges from ‘the inside’ as well as ‘the outside’. Therefore, the being and doing of backpacking is still partially determined by backpackers themselves, as the ‘illusion [illusio] is determined from the inside, from impulses that push toward a self-investment in the object; but it is also determined from the outside, starting with a particular universe of objects offered socially for investment’ (Bourdieu, 1999: 512). While guidebooks, hostels and so on, do provide individuals with clues to the shape, boundaries and meaning of the field they inhabit and their place in it, they will never be the final legislators of backpacking. Backpacking remains fluid and adaptable, full of compromises, conflicts and tensions, opportunities and constraints, and is continually reproduced through the acquisition of new ideas, new members, and social interplay between backpackers and others. It is a backpacker habitus, an embodied collection of rules, norms, codes and dispositions, that structures an individual’s interactions with the social world, generates individual practice (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977: 31) and equips them for transformation. External agents, from YouTube influencers, government administrators and hostel owners to smartphone apps and guidebook publishers, do not have the symbolic power to shape or re-shape the backpacker role and backpacking. Even in the era of the Lonely Planet guidebooks, when iconic writers (Richards & Wilson, 2004a) felt authorised to speak on behalf of backpackers, backpackers remained the final arbiters in decreeing the value of specific practices, routes and attractions. They travel according to their own norms and standards, rather than some

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external order, with Bourdieu (1977 [1972]: 73) arguing that we must ‘abandon all theories which explicitly or implicitly treat practice as a mechanical reaction, directly determined by the antecedent conditions’. While guidebooks and hostels may initially provide a backpacker with the symbolic resources to claim a position for themselves by offering the world as reducible, comprehensible and straightforward, they leave other places and experiences ‘unmarked’ and ‘unendorsed’ (MacCannell, 1976). Backpackers argue and often disagree about the worth of attractions, the price paid for a service, the choice of transport, etc. While those early in a trip may recognise discrepancies between their experience and the symbolic resources upon which their expectations have been built (e.g. price of a hostel dormitory bed in a guidebook versus reality), more experienced backpackers recognise discrepancies from symbolic resources built upon more experience, competence and knowledge. While guidebooks once might have appropriated symbolic power to make and appropriate meanings about what to see, where to stay and go next, individuals will only partially draw upon these resources in a desire to occupy the backpacker role (Zittoun et al., 2003). Little remains known about the symbolic capital attributed to particular backpackers who might build and hold resources built on the basis of their road status and subcultural capital, or how, through face-to-face interaction, they communicate knowledge and transmit a multiplicity of symbolic cues to other backpackers. Even less is known about how smartphone app content, podcasts, letters, emails, blogs entries, newspaper articles and books circulate within and outside the field, and which may also transmit symbolic cues. However, backpackers do not react instantly when a new blog post drops about a new destination, as information spreads slowly via websites, word of mouth, and so on. While there are concerns that technology may have fundamentally changed the backpacking landscape (Germann Molz & Paris, 2015), technology has always been part of drifting/backpacking, with ‘modern communications, travel and affluence’ all contributing to the replication of many of the features of the American counterculture (Altman, 1977). Indeed, rather than compare backpackers to Cohen’s idealised drifters (O’Regan, 2018), backpackers should be compared to the drifters whose travel behaviour became rationalised by the early 1970s, when drifting became firmly established and normative in societies. While critics bemoan the hedonism in social and material spaces, such as enclaves (Cohen, 2004), and the visible development of backpacker infrastructure, these spaces are a natural result of travellers seeking each other (Jobs, 2017). Backpackers, like the drifters before them, initially accept the world as it is given before potentially investing in its cracks and ‘in-betweens’ as they develop certain dispositions for social and spatial action over time. While tension exists between

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  11

autonomy and individualism, the need for communal experiences and infrastructure should not be read as a sign that backpacking is no longer capable of self-regulated stability. Hostels, enclaves and other spaces offer fixed points in a fluid world and constitute suitable launching pads for their social and existential self. While some scholars argue that such spaces lay bare its capitalist structure and lack of autonomy, such spaces still facilitate the free flow of knowledge and are well endowed with cultural and social capital. Agency operates within the context of social interaction (Flaherty, 2013), with backpacker infrastructural development remaining primarily local and context specific (Lloyd, 2006). Those beginning their trip rely on symbolic consumption and the hostel option, in particular, to achieve conformity. The backpacker hostel is a first step in claiming a backpacker identity and stands as an initial ‘taste of necessity’ for establishing the new self. However, more experienced and ascetic backpackers, may view that choice as too easy and common. There is more complexity when one explores the racial and ethnic diversity in backpacking. Backpacking is sustained by a series of particular privileges. Guidebooks continue to be authored primarily by white men (Gogia, 2002), while backpacker brochures, movies and images valorise young, white, western bodies, while marginalising and erasing others (Jenkins, 2003). Indeed, moralising guidance in guidebooks in regard to LGBT and female travellers, regardless of actual risks, has in the past caused hesitation and caution (Bhattacharyya, 1997; Elsrud, 2001). White, heterosexual young males retain a privileged mobility, their bodies given extra capital; access for those with queer, lesbian, female, disabled, coloured bodies is often made difficult or denied through exclusionary politics and practices. While some may lack the desire or motivation to enter and invest in this world, others will exclude themselves because ‘that’s not for the likes of us’ (Bourdieu, 1984: 471). Rather than a melting pot of different backgrounds, classes, sexualities, ages and genders sharing intimacy in fleeting encounters, backpacking is predominantly white, middle-class and western, and is now coextensive with heteronormative, reproductive middle-class life. While backpacking is an individual desire, it originates in knowledge about the role. It can thus be enlarged or reduced in knowledge and has been simply displaced from the screen of consciousness in many countries. For those who travel from Asia, Teo and Leong (2006) found that 20 out of 30 Asian backpacker informants felt Khao San Road (SKR), a backpacker enclave, was racialised and not for Asians. Yang et al. (2019) found that Asian travellers felt western backpackers looked down on their travel due to the short length of their journey, and their choice to travel close to home. To this extent, Asian travellers may, for example, feel vulnerable in heteronormalised, gendered and westerncentric backpacker spaces (Luo & Huang, 2016; Teo & Long, 2006; Yang

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Figure 1.1  Israeli hostel in Cusco, Peru (author photograph)

et al., 2019), as such spaces reflect the historically dominant westerncentric backpacker population. Likewise, many Israeli backpackers may feel more comfortable in Israeli backpacker hostels in enclaves (Figure 1.1). Therefore, there is no singular ‘turned-on league of nations’ who ‘could dress, talk and travel the same language’ (Neville, 1970: 207–210), or a supra-ethnic backpacker population. Scholars largely ignore the role of secondary socialisation and identity development, which reifies and legitimises social differences among backpackers. The acquisition of a ‘social identity’ is closely allied to the concept of the ‘front’, which Goffman (1969a: 22) describes as ‘that part of the individual’s performance which regularly functions in a general and fixed fashion to define the situation for those who observe the performance’. This implies increased cohesive relations with the in-group and, simultaneously, tension, conflict and distinction with out-groups. ‘To say who I am is to say who or what I am not’ (Jenkins, 2008: 21). The actor, in order to present a compelling front, is forced to both fill the duties of the backpacker role, project character traits and seek recognition, so as to allow others to understand their investment. Kelly et al. (2015) argue these boundaries are forged in routine practices as individuals seek to render themselves distinct from ‘others’, learn vocabularies, practices and elements that make a ‘good backpacker’, and accumulate status by cultivating subcultural capital to achieve

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  13

status within the backpacking field (Bourdieu, 1984). These boundaries of distinction enable individuals to coalesce around particular sets of ideas, tastes, and practices, develop solidarity and seek association with ‘significant other’ backpackers in the subcultural realm. Thus, symbolic boundaries ‘do not represent mere differences in taste or preference but are fundamentally tied to the architecture of status and identity’ (Kelly et al., 2015: 3). Beyond the purpose of identifying those whom they are like, symbolic boundaries provide the means for backpackers to articulate whom they are unlike. This may mean not associating with those identified and judged as lacking the same desire and purpose, and those lacking identity markers. For many Asian travellers, a habitus cultivated in one world comes up against social structures of another westerncentric one. This may lead to the disavowal of their cultural knowledge and the privileging of understandings to which western backpackers are far more attuned. Whether it is episodes of Family Guy on the hostel TV, a suitcase rather than a backpack, or western-style food on the menu, Asian travellers may lack the social resources, specific knowledge and skills drawn from one’s cultural capital, which is consciously acquired and passively inherited through a primary socialisation. Unable or not allowed to skilfully ‘play the game’ of western backpacking, or unable or unwilling to invest in backpacking in order to ‘earn’ status, they may be excluded from effective participation. This may lead to tension, alienation and insecurity (Crossley, 2001). While class, stereotyping, prejudice, categorisation and racial discrimination may be present and overlay existing disparities, scholars should also explore whether those who face rejection lack the required competence as others around them generate particular logics of practice on the basis of strategies that erect symbolic boundaries (Tajfel, 1981). In addition, cultural intermediaries, such as hostel owners and managers, may produce spaces and images that respond only to western expectations. The construction of backpacker spaces and infrastructure, with distinctive traditions and aesthetic standards, facilitates sociospatial incorporation, but also discrimination. As the hostel setting remains an important sign vehicle, along with appearance, manner of interacting, and how backpackers present to others, many hostels regulate access to ensure locals can’t book accommodation. Some may even separate western and non-western backpackers, or refuse certain nationalities entry (Edensor, 1998; O’Regan, 2010b) because they cannot attain or communicate aesthetic values such as coolness through talk or dress, that is connected to a perceived authenticity. They may also mean restricting the mobility of others seen as undesirable, economically marginal, immobile or disruptive (Hutnyk, 1996; Visser, 2003). Therefore, negative cultural representations and unfavourable material conditions may hinder strong self-identification among specific

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ethnic, age and racial groups. As they may be unable to repeatedly act within specific kinds of social relations and context to acquire the appropriate dispositions and feel for the game, many Indian, Korean and other non-western backpackers may feel a sense of exclusion and alienation. While backpacking is usually considered a spatially extensive field, various strands of Asian backpacking may constitute subfields, given they are realised locally, with practices that have enough separateness and enough inter-actor coordination for them to be recognised as a subfield. Their practices reveal revisions, reversals and inversions typical of subfields. For example, Chinese backpackers are active in virtual forums and physical spaces unavailable to all other backpackers (e.g. Tibet) and lack identification with other backpackers (Zhang & Xiao, 2021). Indeed, backpacking is becoming increasingly ‘regionalised’ (Giddens, 1984: 118) as backpacking is realised locally, in particular provinces, countries and regions. While all participants in each game, like backpacking, should broadly agree on what it is they are doing and what they are striving for, Zhang et al. (2017) found that half of Chinese backpacker respondents thought that length of journey does not matter to their identity as backpackers. Therefore, they are not respecting the temporal and other norms present within backpacking and cannot fully resist external social control or their foundational, unconsidered cultural beliefs. Chinese backpacker characteristics, which include conformity and forming travel groups in advance (Cai et al., 2019), suggest little acceptance of the (western backpacker) rules of the game or that the field of struggle is worth pursuing (Swartz, 2012). Little is known about how symbolic capital operates within the Chinese context, such as the sacredness of certain texts or travel idols, all of which give force to the field’s norms and the ‘rules of the game’, which then determines the relative positions and possible position-takings of all the agents involved in what may be a particular subfield. Indeed, many Chinese travellers labelled as backpackers may not be backpackers at all. However, just as Israeli backpackers gain status by performing a self that is often deemed different from western backpackers (Noy, 2006), these subfields may suggest autonomous sectors coexisting within the broader backpacking field. A backpacker habitus does have a class character but also transcends class. As class dimensions are deep and preconscious, individuals do gain agency through their privilege and primary socialisation. While the capacity for agency or self-efficacy arises from developmental contexts, such as family, peers, school, occupation, race, class and gender (Flaherty, 2013) and presupposes economic capital, status remains overdetermined by field-specific forms of valuation, economic capital itself is not a means to gather capital or act as an axis of distinction (Woo, 2012). The shared dimension of a backpacker habitus can be conscious and practical, organising patterns of consumption in a relatively autonomous field (Burawoy, 2018). The socialised subject

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  15

emerges from ‘sedimentations of experience of what it is that works in certain practical situations; and it is these practical and procedural “goings-on” that make up the underlying motor that drives our investments’ (Aarseth, 2016: 102). While backpacking has many young participants, backpacker research is often too focused on the characteristics of young people and particular generations (Gen Z, Y, millennials) (Canavan, 2018; Refaeli & Itzhaky, 2021), with Hunter-Jones et al. (2008: 238), for example, arguing that ‘[m]ost backpackers are students under 24 taking gap years or are young people on career breaks’. Once linked to youth or the characteristics of a particular generation, generational cohorts are now used as a market segmentation tool (Jennings et al., 2010), leading scholars to the conclusions that backpackers are a ‘high-risk group who are vulnerable due to their age, attitudes, naivety and generally low levels of experience as travellers’ (Hunter-Jones et al., 2008: 238). However, Clausen (1991) invokes the concept of ‘a reflexive self’, which means that, regardless of one’s age, an individual can reflect and consider who one is in relation to others. His conception of the life course entails ‘negotiation by a reflexive self of a set of potentially available roles that are interlinked and to which persons commit themselves to varying degrees at different periods of their lives’ (1991: 806) rather than transitions or rites of passage. Rather than see backpackers linked to particular life course events, such as leaving university, scholars must explore the ‘increasing diversity and unpredictability of life course trajectories’ (Lutfey & Mortimer, 2006: 190). Despite claims that sustainability (Adam et al., 2021; Nok et al., 2017) and ethical travel (Agyeiwaah & Bangwayo-Skeete, 2021; Speed, 2008) are defining psychological attributes of backpackers, the desire to be sustainable, ethical or moral should be understood within the context of the field, which encourages, but also denies, a range of psychological processes. While scholars are prone to place backpackers at the centre of debates about food security, inequality, sustainability and other moral considerations (Reichenberger & Iaquinto, 2021), the desire to be responsible, ethical, sustainable and moral emerges from subjective drives and desires, as well as from the distinctive objectives and aims within each field (Aarseth, 2016). There is no evidence that backpackers are predisposed to take an interest in ecotourism or sustainability, or whether holding such values offers a route to symbolic power. Often, ethical or moral values come at the cost of seeking capital and symbolic power (Pellandini-Simányi, 2014). While some backpacker practices are labelled insensitive, immoral, unsustainable, hedonistic and unethical (Canavan, 2018), the rigid moralising and criticism of practices such as ‘van-packing’, ‘wild camping’ (Caldicott et al., 2014), ‘begpacking’ (Bernstein, 2019) and drug taking (Matthews, 2014) are misguided. Such practices are quite normal when set against historically

16  Backpacking Culture and Mobilities

developed discursive resources and are not antithetical to backpacker values and norms. Studies of dirt, for example, indicate growing social anxieties and fears of ‘dirt’ (McLaughlin, 2021) and dirt as ‘matter out of place’ (Douglas, 2003[1966]). However, just as in the field of cultural production, backpackers, like writers, can only succeed according to the field’s own standards, by ignoring or flouting the demands of the market (Speller, 2011). Frugal travel, acceptance of dirt and selfsufficiency, contrast with tourism’s wasteful present-focused growth, and are a motivational component, with practices and moralities of thrift emerging through travel and imbued with deep meaning and narrative detail (Boucher, 2017). While the stakes, which flow from individuals’ investments in the backpacking field ‘might seem worthless and arbitrary to an outsider’, backpackers ‘feel their “weight” with great emotional intensity’ (Crossley, 2001: 102). While such practices, based on backpacking norms, may show a disregard for particular political, moral and market authorities and normatively understood goals in environmental, economic, political or spatial/social justice terms, backpacking does not need to justify itself in terms of public popularity, scholarly approval and managerial, economic and governmental requirements (Hellum, 2010). Indeed, such counter-conducts might serve as a challenge to dominant cultural norms and ‘other objectives than those proposed by the apparent and official and visible governmentality of society’ (Foucault, 2007: 198–200). While many backpacker spaces have morphed over time into tourist spaces (Cohen, 2018), scholars cannot write off backpacking as simply another strand of tourism or independent travel, controlled by cultural intermediaries, agents and institutions. While powerful cultural institutions and cultural intermediaries might seek to alter the distribution and relative weight of forms of capital, it is important to recognise its autonomy and ‘the capacity [the field] it has gained, in the course of its development, to insulate itself from external influences and to uphold its own criteria of evaluation over and against those of neighbouring or intruding fields (scientific originality versus commercial profit or political rectitude, for instance)’ (Wacquant, 2007: 269). One must also recognise the considerable individual investment (money, time and energy), belief and commitment by many to a world that offers a second birth to those who seek it. While being a backpacker is hardly a rebellion or even pure anti-conformism, it is still a position that geographically dispersed individuals can aspire to, and gain a position in. Rather than moralise about certain practices and signifiers (e.g. thrift, alternative dress) and point to the privilege backpackers might draw from their class and ethnicity, scholars might reappraise the legacy of the counterculture and its promise of (and contribution to) liberation, community, communal sharing and non-consumerist relationships with others. Where once described as

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  17

merely a white, middle-class phenomenon, there is increased attention on how countercultural ideas might enable escape from the confines of capitalist realism, demanding social and economic parameters, and ideological straitjackets that keep us compliant and unimaginative (Fisher, 2020). Research indicates that many backpackers are still motivated to travel by feelings of dissatisfaction with their home societies and escape from temporal, spatial and social pressures at home (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2000; Faulon, 2019). Rather than merely dismiss backpacking entirely as a subordinated, appropriated, commodified relic of the western counterculture or a vehicle for neoliberalism, it can be seen as a cultural formation that celebrates movement, made up of geographically dispersed individuals deploying shared sociospatial imaginaries and practices that are generative of intrinsic signifying meaning, their global spread and scope involving social, political, environmental, cultural and economic dimensions. Just as other practices and lifestyles like skateboarding, mountain climbing and surfing became institutionalised and partly codified and professionalised, these lifestyles and communities are still evolving. Narratives of decline fail to fully consider the considerable geographic, cultural and even historical variations in backpacking, and how the western backpacker has changed over a long historical period. While the backpacker may be in decline in some geographic areas, they are emerging in other contexts and locations. It is to Bourdieu’s notions of field, capital and habitus that I now return, as those who take on the backpacker role are drawn to a field of conflict and competition. By viewing the backpacker role and journey through a Bourdieuan lens, we can further understand the reproduction of backpacking and the development of an active habitus. The Backpacker Role and Journey

Rather than passively travelling from A to B as an independent or solo traveller, individuals install themselves in the backpacker role and in a field, as in a physical field, which serves as a point of investment, belonging and orientation through which identity and agency can be exhibited performatively and expressively within maps of meaning and desire. As social identity is ‘that part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership’ (Tajfel, 1981: 255), it takes considerable individual investment, belief, time, energy, resources, belief and commitment to install oneself in this role and field. While guidebooks like those published by Lonely Planet were once instrumental in naturalising backpacker discourse, and the material and symbolic boundaries of this field, the field has historically evolved over many years, its stimuli and

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structure allowing subjects to come into being (Edensor, 2007), to trigger a secondary socialisation. Individuals read guidebooks, research routes, save money, get vaccinations and buy plane tickets and insurance. Friends, colleagues and family are told, resignation letters are sent, sabbaticals applied for, university referral forms posted and luggage, accessories and clothing are purchased (Barry, 2017). Mobility is already central to a new narrative, as individuals begin to re-invent themselves and communicate their subjectivity in progress, as their mind and body is made ‘global ready’ and fit to travel (Germann Molz, 2006). Backpacking demands that individuals control the impression they make on others in social encounters and settings via verbal and nonverbal cues. To embrace a role, is to embrace and disappear completely into the virtual self, in terms of the image and to confirm expressively one’s acceptance of it, ‘playing it with verve and an admitted engagement of all his faculties’ (Goffman, 1969a: 106). It highlights how ‘we settle ourselves in the world and the position our bodies assume in it’ (Merleau-Ponty, 1964: 52), with the distance from home and the encounters that mobility yields allowing individuals to suspend the power of older norms and values that govern daily lives (Boniface & Fowler, 1993) for new ones, represented as more real and authentic than the ones they are leaving behind. Backpacking remains a well-lit world, of movement, solidarities, hostels, airports and crowds, ‘that helps us understand the real by also being more than the real’ (Begg, 2005: 634). This world is ‘populated with characters “felt to be there” and which continually splice into the real world’ (Hermans & Kempen, 1993: 71). It offers a secondary socialisation that involves maintaining a moving presence with others whose spatial movement is generative of meaning but also a component in that socialisation process. It requires a coherent integration of actions and a new way of ‘being’, ‘doing’ and taking part, intersecting to ‘form a style of use, a way of being and a way of operating’ (De Certeau, 1988: 100). This demands a reflexive monitoring of actions as the whole body dwells in movement, enabling individuals to participate in an assemblage of practices that constitutes a performance. If individuals seek to belong, they must master certain kinds of practical action which derive from moving within, among and between particular social relations, structures, settings and practices. When a backpacker habitus is triggered, it is dependent upon the stimuli and structure of the field, with those starting their trip incorporating a habitus that is strategic in the way it develops. Those intent on becoming backpackers initially seek out other backpackers and stick to the centre of the field like alcoholics, pouring themselves into ‘one role’, ‘believing that the predictability and regularity of a role could cure their injuries’ (Goffman, 1952: 461). The socialisation process initially fastens the subject firmly to social structures (to the world

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  19

provided), generating practices and performances, from appearances to utterances, that have a visible coherence and conformity, and which can be acted upon strategically by cultural intermediaries. New backpackers seek to highlight their ‘commitment to the presuppositions’ of the field they are playing (Bourdieu, 1990a: 66), driving them from sensation to sensation, preoccupied with accumulating and communicating the ‘right’ objectified capital as they adequately express their ‘new birth’ outwardly in the presence of others. With limited experience and limited knowledge about norms, values and rules, they rely on socially conspicuous resources (e.g. backpacks, appearance, hostel use) and practices that are more apparently observable, which helps them to objectify their cultural knowledge and fuel narrative capital. As they change their activities, how they interact with others and even the way they think about themselves, they seek out places of identification that act as a tool for self-regulation and objectified capital, all of which enables them to have (and share) a daily history with others. Their need for proximity, familiarity, fraternity solidarity, co-presence, sociability and disdain for tourists is crucial for ‘social activities and practices to occur’ (Adey, 2009: 27). They reduce ambivalence and impose orderliness by tending to coalesce around those who have similar characteristics and embody dispositions that underpin a patterned nature of collective activity. Backpackers seek connectedness at increased levels of complexity and integration, even though it might be an illusion (Loewald, 1980). Berger (1990: 459) argues serious playing ‘means playing seriously with full knowledge; however seriously you play, you are only playing’. He argues that it is ‘only a game,’ but a game which, like all games, ‘is to be played or taken with dead seriousness while it is going on. Carefully framed within this attitude, the mind may abandon itself with intensity to the pleasure or seriousness of its second world’ (1990: 459). Backpackers initially and willingly adopt accepted, and often unquestioned norms, practices and beliefs, and behave in accordance with the prevailing standards. Navigating socially, they use guidebooks and visit places of identification such as backpacker hostels and enclaves to make sense of this fragmented world (Lloyd, 2006), as interaction and encounter with other backpackers remain a fundamental part of backpacking and the socialisation process. Such a strategy proves for a sense of place and belonging as subjects slowly gain the competencies, knowledge and skills to read, see and consume this world of imprecise free-floating landmarks, sensations, connections, socialites, encounters, events, sights and sites. Backpacker hostels act as vehicles for impression management and socialisation as they are places which support backpacker performances (O’Regan, 2010b). Their sociomaterial, symbolic and imaginative boundaries (e.g. communal space and sleeping spaces) and regulated access, mean the hostel offers a ‘referential framework for the planning

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of a trip, but also a script for how to perform and perhaps reconfigure their own identities within the desired setting’ (Jansson, 2007: 11; original emphasis). Backpackers at the start of their journey and hostels are thus locked into a ‘fluid self-reinforcing system’ (Urry, 2005: 239), significant to those who pass through hostels, even though they do not necessarily have to consist of similar people (age, gender, nationality). However, an ‘imagined sameness’ (Gullestad, 2001) means an imagined representational space where one expects to find likeminded others sharing the same set of particular values and patterns of movement. Even though individuals will not know exactly who will be encountered in these backpacker hostels, the presence of other backpackers provides the reassurance that you are in the right place; the ability of an actor to participate in the network determined by whether they are seen as contributing to the goals of the network. This can see some businesses denying entry to those who are unable or unwilling to perform supporting roles or who lack the communality of experience that backpackers require of each other. This also extends to individuals or groups that refuse to comply with the role expected, as social space permits ‘fresh social actions to occur, while suggesting others and prohibiting yet others’ (Lefebvre, 1991: 73). Having been given and taken on a greater role in affording, enabling and selling a certain role and life course, hostels offer textual, spatial and visual fixing and interpretation. Hostels are adept at providing and organising scripts, interconnecting with specialised transport companies and other backpacker operators to manage a stage on which interaction can be carried out, a type of encapsulation, where the space is stage managed, ‘a strategy for maintaining spatial and imaginary boundaries’ (Jansson, 2008: 9). An encapsulated spell allows for an ‘imagined’ world (community) to take hold but, ‘in order not to break the spell, people are obliged to act in an appropriate manner – to play the right game’ (Jansson, 2006: 8). Hostels have become so prevalent that some scholars argue that modern backpacking was born out of, and is maintained by, backpacker hostels (Pearce, 1990; Slaughter, 2004). Wilson et al. (2008: 199) assert that Australia ‘gained a competitive advantage in the global backpacker market because of its rapid and extensive institutionalisation and commercialisation of backpacker travel’. As a ‘collective representation’ (Goffman, 1969a) and social establishment, the hostel is also a front to establish proper setting, manner and setting. The setting allows for the backpacker role to be assumed and empowers individuals to communicate characteristics of the role to other people in a consistent manner, so that familiarity prevails, and allows for solidarity to develop (Goffman, 1969a). As a given social front for more than 40 years, it has ‘become institutionalised in terms of the abstract stereotyped expectations to which it gives rise and tends to take on a meaning and stability apart from the specific tasks which

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  21

happen at the time to be performed in its name’ (Goffman, 1969a: 27). For any established role, Goffman (1969a) argues that there is usually a ‘front’ established for it. Likewise, backpacker enclaves can be theorised as ‘prototypes’ or ‘laboratories’ for a new backpacker subjectivity (ways of being, relating, and experiencing the world) (Ek & Tesfahuney, 2019). As cultural intermediaries operate in these enclaves, they enable the consumption of ‘legitimate’ subcultural capital and heighten the consumption of commercial products. By allowing and even organising services, activities and events associated with values such as creativity, thrift, sincerity and risk, intermediaries in these locales draw from known backpacker values and norms. For some researchers, the more organised the hostels and enclaves seem, the more it feels the whole scene is ‘managed, regulated and controlled by people and institutions acting as playwrights, directors and stage crew’ (Bærenholdt et al., 2004: 51). If committed to the role, individuals must master certain kinds of practical action which derive from moving within, among and between the particular social relations and practices available to them. Backpackers beginning their journey accumulate objectified capital in a strategic way as they monitor their practice and performance of backpacking and demonstrate that their practices and performances are aligned with field-imposed views. Objectified subcultural capital can be the display of material cultural goods (e.g. backpacker-style clothing, backpack, reading a Lonely Planet guidebook) and is largely produced by those with symbolic power (i.e. guidebook publishers, those selling backpacking tours). When there is a belief in the legitimacy of their words and utterance, such people or institutions may seek to force consensus on the value of objectified subcultural capital. Hostels are both storehouses for objectified cultural capital and a critical ‘cultural infrastructure’ to display one’s own possessions. Backpackers will slowly become semioticians, reading the field intersubjectively with others, their imagination enacted corporeally and physically as individuals travel from place to place, deriving meaning and accumulating capital from certain routes, systems, places and events that reinforces a certain view of their social world. While hostels and other appropriate social settings may offer an entry into the role, the search for road status (Sørensen, 2003) and subcultural capital demands extensive spatial mobility, time and space flexibility, as well as alternative social and cultural interactions and engagements (Chen & Huang, 2017; Murphy, 2001). While backpackers are not competing for position on popular search engines, where symbolic capital is reduced to the number of anonymous clicks, they will continually represent the social field to themselves and others (through blogs, emails, performance), the journey becoming ‘a spatial and temporal frame to be filled with identity narratives’ (Elsrud, 2001: 605), each place becoming a pause to someplace else which can be referenced and compared to others.

22  Backpacking Culture and Mobilities

While those starting out are acted upon strategically, ‘the horizon does not merely close off the landscape; it opens it up for further exploration, that is, for bodily ingression’ (Casey, 2001: 690). While roles ‘reflect norms, attitudes, contextual demands, negotiation’ (Biddle, 1986: 71), the ‘evolving definition of the situation as understood by the actors’ (1986: 71) means that one can develop the capacity to be reflexive about one’s role and become tired of playing out the role into which they feel cast. Not preceding, but following from practice, individuals over a long backpacking journey can realise that the reality they live in is their own construction. The social world can be changed by the way they engage with it, by how they use their bodies, through upping the ante and making sacrifices in exchange for capital. As backpackers take a straight forward and strategic position to attain a ‘feel for the game’, they do so by colonising a visible and specific (proper) space designed and regulated for them in mind. While those beginning their journey accumulate objectified capital in a strategic way, conforming and adjusting to others becomes strenuous and repetitive over time. Backpackers who have built up the competence, skill, physical resilience (recovery/ adapting to bodily challenges, stamina) and knowledge can come to see and exploit opportunities, using embodied capital to gain valuable resources that can advance their position in the field. A degree of healthy narcissism, confidence and resoluteness may emerge simultaneously as a backpacker’s skills, competencies and knowledge grows; knowledge and skills that are neither written in a guidebook or available through a hostel or tour package. Therefore, backpacking has depth and breadth, with strategic and tactical positioning. The tactical backpacker displays ‘role distance’ – related to Goffman’s (1969b) role continuum – a distance that requires skill, competencies and knowledge to renegotiate the field and their place in it, the ‘struggle for being… a course steered between a variable environment and the equally variable capacities of persons’ (Jackson, 2005: xi). While retaining commitment to the same value system and rules of the game, they become cynical about the role and often dismiss the backpacker label or any action or behaviour that could be termed touristic, collective or herd-like. As they move, encounter and learn over distance and at a distance, they will come to have a certain independence to assist themselves, so as to affirm and confirm to themselves and others their ability to create a world of their own definition. These tactical backpackers are seen to cope with their changing environment and generate creative negotiation, by undertaking roundabout paths as they work to define and individualise their presence as they work through space. They aim to convey qualities that new backpackers, taking a safer, well-trodden path, might consider risky and deviant. They may not accept a situation without trying to change it, overcome it, turn the scales and exploit ambivalence and ambiguity.

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‘Natural’ sites, objects, places and services as well as chance encounters and cross-cutting paths are valued above purposely designed spaces, services and products; their consumption enacted through less privileged and ambivalent heterogeneous spaces located to serve passing trade and the local population such as small businesses and street vendors. They are often weakly classified heterogeneous spaces characterised by spatial fragmentation and discontinuity, the ‘the switched-off areas [that] are culturally and spatially discontinuous’ (Castells, 2000: 33). From small, unregistered hotels, food stalls and markets to unmarked attractions and rural areas, they look ‘for the unexpected, not the extraordinary, objects and events that may open a window in structure, a chance to glimpse the real’ (Jenkins, 2003: 311), even if such spaces and actions are unhygienic, immoral, unsafe, irrational, illegal or just difficult to get to. Those with a tactical stance seek to hurl themselves ‘headlong into the midst of the throng’ (Baudelaire, 1970: 7), their embodied participation in activities and spaces which are typically off-limits, ‘drawing on a mobile and private language of the streets’ (Tonkiss, 2005: 128). Like the flâneur attracted to the city’s dark corners, they hope for the chance encounters to confront the unexpected in a kind of counter-tourism that involves a poetic physical proximity with the marginal, and to experience supposedly ‘real’ or ‘authentic’ life (Crawshaw & Urry, 1997). Like the flâneur, tactical backpackers use their greater sense-derived knowledge, competencies and skill to get as close to the real world as they can by manoeuvring to pursue desirable resources. Each opportunity taken from a cheap hotel or market meal is an isolated action and fleeting victory (De Certeau, 1988) that highlights their mastery, fluency and confidence. However temporal, superficial, imagined and shallow, one should guard against writing off these victories. Victories transform their travel experience, their ability to live in hotels that are barely inhabitable, eat food of unknown origin and stretch funds to expand the trip, reinforcing their subjectivity. Each victory is grasped as evidence of ‘contact with the ground (Wylie, 2005), and addresses the fear they have of being passive, and unable to read and consume the ‘real’. Their ‘scrutinising, detective work, and dreaming’ (Game, 1991: 50) sets them apart from those rushing through the centre of the field, and therefore provides clarity about the self, others and the world. Their fleeting victories are the victories of the weak and are often via ‘clever tricks, knowing how to get away with things, manoeuvres’ (De Certeau, 1988: xix). They are ‘poets of their own acts, silent discovers of their own paths in the jungle of functionalist rationality’ (De Certeau, 1988: xviii). For de Certeau (1988: 31) such idiosyncratic trajectories ‘remain heterogeneous to the systems they infiltrate and in which they sketch out the guileful ruses of different interests and desires. They circulate, come and go, overflow and drift over an imposed terrain.’ They are ‘persistent

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as it is subtle, tireless, ready for every opportunity, scattered over the terrain of the dominant order and foreign to the rules laid down and imposed by a rationality founded on established rights and property’ (1988: 31). They clearly engage in unnecessary risks, exposing themselves and possibly others to danger in order to prove they are good and worthy persons who have earned the right to claim a restricted (achieved) social identity. Their ‘positive deviance’ (Pascale & Monique, 2010) is grounded in self-initiated efforts to establish social uniqueness and is tied to ‘a process of self- and social discovery’ (Wasielewski, 1991: 89). Their performance is genuine self-presentation rather than blatant impression management, as the search for road status becomes internalised. Creative tension between the subjective world of the ego and the given world increases as individuals find they have a certain independence to assist themselves, so as to affirm and confirm to themselves and to others their ability to create a world of their own definition, one that idealises the fundamental truths of this field (the search for something ‘real’). De Certeau (1988: 34) acknowledges these ‘[u]nrecognised producers, poets of their own affairs, trailblazers’ who trace ‘indeterminate trajectories’ that are apparently meaningless, ‘since they do not cohere with the constructed, written, and prefabricated space through which they move’. They remain locked in negotiation, cooperation and conflict with the dominant rationality visibly inscribed on the field, as they constantly renegotiate and rework their position by ‘[o]ccupying the gaps or interstices of the strategic grid’ (Colebrook, 1997: 125) which ‘can corrupt or pervert the strategy’s system’ (1997: 125). Their role distance and detachment may seem relaxed, their silent protest like demonstrating a perpetual urging to ‘figure things out for onself.... to rise above and escape the fetishism’ of the proper (Harvey, 2003: 56). Everyday acts (food, transport, routes and accommodation) become a re-staging on the personal level, each choice a performance for themselves and their identity, each opportunity evaluated against socially constructed versions of real backpacking, a daily negotiation and renegotiation that is time consuming and tiring as they alter the way they represent the world to themselves. Rather than being ‘forced’ to travel in the margins, they take up a tactical position to collide with people and cultures along the way and value the harsh sensations of friction, even if its emancipatory potential comes at the cost of speed and seamless, smooth mobility. They may need to sustain high levels of physical performance under extreme psychological pressure. They seek to improve, to become better travellers and validate one’s identity as a backpacker in a field of contestation (Wacquant, 2007), with struggles occurring not just within the rules but over defining the rules themselves (Bourdieu, 1991). However, alone, they have little power to ‘transform, partially or completely, the immanent rules of the game’ (Bourdieu &

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Wacquant, 1992: 99), Tactics are ‘constantly in the swim of things and are as much in danger of being swept away or submerged by the flow of events’ (Buchanan, 2000: 89). Subcultural capital is produced, accumulated and embodied by the struggles and interplay between backpackers over what should or should not be considered ‘good taste’. As backpacking involves negotiation between participants in processes of positioning both the self and others and being positioned by them, backpacking is continually remade, and transformed through everyday interpersonal interactions, as participants vie to accumulate and struggle over subcultural capital and gather symbolic power. Obtaining greater subcultural capital bestows status upon its possessor and is not something that can simply be bought, sold or traded in a formal or informal market. In embodied form, it is ‘being in the know’ (Thornton, 1995). In this respect, subcultural capital is far more dependent upon having qualities ingrained in the individual, such as social connections, knowledge bases and experiences holding. Therefore, capital is not wholly independent of the needs that are imposed by a tourism/backpacker industry, and while enclaves and hostels are necessary, given that they offer their own rewards and gratifications, backpacking remains based on imprecise and continually shifting sites of struggle. Tactical backpackers reveal a dimension of possibilities, both spatial and temporal, through which they resist a subsumption into the singular ‘mass backpacking’ and seek to become more than simply ‘a backpacker’ as they make their world explicable and the game worthwhile. Claims of ‘mass backpacking’, an echo of Cohen (1973), who believed that with the ‘massing’ of drifting the element of real adventure was drastically reduced, are overstated (O’Regan, 2018). Tactical practices, such as resisting conformist performances and seeking personal autonomy, work to resist and re-appropriate the ‘strategies’ of power, the ‘institutionalised frameworks, scripts, or patterns of action that serve as general guides to behaviour’ (Carlson, 1996: 49). Movement, which requires time and flexibility, which many cannot afford, is used as a tool for creativity, self-sufficiency, self-responsivity, and self-enterprise, tactical backpacker consumption highlighting competencies and knowledge built up over time. Tactical backpacker manipulation of texts, objects, people, infrastructure and spaces produced by others, ensures their social world performs for them in ways distinct from backpackers early in their journeys, their performative actions charged by the development of human capacity, embodied knowledge, competency and desire. Their position involves ‘being-inthe-world through our ever-changing capacity to create the conditions of viable existence and coexistence in relation to the given potentialities of our environment’ (Jackson, 2005: xv). While not in full rebellion or holding the same level of resentment towards dominant social values that drifters may have once held, the

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backpacker role cannot be symbolically or concretely abolished, and its contribution to self-development and inter-cultural mobilities and exchange washed from history. While backpacker self-denial about their touristic activities can be critiqued, blaming backpackers for not living up to the ideals of mystical and idealised drifters, current societal mores or engagement in ‘responsible’ travel practices, reduces backpackers to a simple set of propositions. Those early in their trip, despite belief in the role, may be irresponsible, given they have yet to take on backpacker habits. They will, and do, follow pre-established patterns of behaviour in social settings and situations, as they lack the symbolic resources available to crystallise identity. While they lack past experiences, events and actions in personal narratives to contribute to identity formation, they are giving this world a recognisable coherence, and contribute to a world that offers a form of seeing, encounter, togetherness and sociality. We should not overly critique backpacker mobilities mapped onto spaces and material settings along networks of mobility, given that they make this world visible, bringing backpacking, as cultural formation, into material and social reality. While patterns of social action, routes and social spaces may have become coherent and partially institutionalised, backpacking has developed without any single actor or group of actors integrating or capturing the phenomena. While backpackers strive for a coherent sense of identity and belonging, that identity construction is an ongoing process that does not culminate in a fixed identity. Coherence offers an ensemble of possibilities, with joined-up movements weaving places, events, people, objects, ideas together to give shape to space; and presenting options in constructing a lifeworld. The subcultural capital of those at the centre of the field is generated by and enhanced through the doxa (belief) of the field, by those early in their trip, and represent normative role adherence. While the centre of the field is crowded with powerful cultural intermediaries, this edited book shows, backpacking is more than hostels, enclaves, hedonism and white, western backpackers. It’s a world of diversity, that is continually negotiated and transgressed by backpackers themselves. Chapter Outlines

In Chapter 2, entitled ‘Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review’, Michael O’Regan outlines the increasing divergence in scholarly approaches to backpacking. In Chapter 3, ‘The Go-along: A Mobile Method for Backpacker Research’, Benjamin Lucca Iaquinto builds on the promise of mobile methods, to describe a method that can best apprehend the various practices and mobilities of backpackers. Part 2 explores multiple manifestations of backpacking beyond the western context, to move past what is known, toward what we do not yet

Introduction: Backpacking – A Tired Narrative or New Beginnings?  27

fully understand and that which is currently beyond us with regards to backpackers with different cultures, in different contexts. In Chapter 4, ‘The Motivations and Constraints of Chinese “Donkey Friends”’, Yingying Li, Marion Joppe and Ye (Sandy) Shen utilise a quantitative method to explore the travel behaviours and characteristics of, as well as the constraints faced by, domestic Chinese backpackers. In Chapter 5, ‘Identity Construction of Chinese Outbound Backpackers in Europe’, Wenjie Cai provides a mobile ethnography on how Chinese backpackers interpret, practice and understand the concept of backpacking and explores the nature of Chinese outbound backpackers by looking into their identity construction and various levels of transformation during their journeys. In Chapter 6, Khen Ya’ari explores family backpacking in India by Israeli families, and how their unique structure raises varied questions about backpacking itself. Chapter 7, ‘The Rise and Decline of Indonesian Backpacking’ by Sarani Pitor Pakan, explores the under-researched topic of Indonesian backpacking, while in Chapter 8, Reihaneh Shahvali and Khadijeh Safir, explore Iranian female backpackers. In Part 3, ‘Backpacker Socialisation, Hostels and Learning’, the authors argue that backpacking is inter-subjectively real as individuals still believe in backpacking and the backpacker role, as they collectively agree that the stakes are worth playing for. Rather than see backpackers as either passive cultural dupes, or individualistic or dependent on transgressive subcultural capital, backpacking can be said to re-shape the self through interpersonal relations with others. In Chapter 9, ‘Travel and Transformation: Negotiating Identity in Post-Journey Life’, Birgit Phillips and Michael Phillips argue that travel is a central issue in identity formation, which cannot leave the self-unchanged. In the following chapter, Marko Salvaggio investigates a backpacker hostel in Central America, to explore backpacker ideology, practices and the growing contradictions seen in a space vital in backpacker socialisation. In Chapter 11, ‘Backpacker Lifestyle Entrepreneurism: Resident Perspectives on Hedonistic Events and Backpackaging’, Leon Mach explores the increase in cultural intermediaries catering to backpackers and how these trends are impacting surrounding places and people. In Part 4, ‘Concluding Thoughts’, O’Regan explores the future of backpacking and independent travel, in an era of climate change, war in Ukraine, the enduring impacts of COVID, climate-induced disasters, polarised politics, capitalist expansionism, unrestrained resource extraction, nationalistic and populist governance, escalating surveillance and censorship, mounting social inequality and fears about migration and global mobilities. The exacerbation of gender, racial, political, class and environmental inequalities during a time of uncertainty following the COVID-19 pandemic, has, he argues, given rise to new and recycled imaginaries that offer new ways and means to live.

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Conclusion

Backpacker travel remains a medium through which ongoing, embodied, active and inter-subjective movement can demonstrate agency, self-expression, belongingness and empowerment. The backpacker role, at some level, retains literal and figurative meaning, with representational and narrative logics still giving meaning to bottom-up mobility and movement. Backpacking can be viewed as a field, with various subfields, with its own forms of capital, requiring individuals to gain and communicate a variety of skills and sets of knowledge achieved through a secondary socialisation. As scholars seek to fully fuse or reconcile backpacker discourse with dominant tourist discourses, this edited volume defends the autonomy of the field and the continuing struggle for distinction within it. This field largely exists in the interplay of diverse social actors, from new and skilled backpackers to cultural intermediaries, who help illustrate the illusio of ‘real travel’ and the normative regulating principles, fundamental truths and fantasy of the field. This chapter has argued that backpackers struggle and compete, gelling long enough to exchange, gift, share and communicate, leading to ideas, agreements and disagreements. Backpackers hope for a performance that conveys ‘the impression that his conception of himself and of them is the same as their conception of themselves and him’ (Goffman, 1951: 294) and that, over time, they can attain the skill and competence to craft their own meaning and emotional responses using mobile tactics, tools and mediums to push on through ‘friction’, ‘uncertainty’, ‘autonomy’, ‘ambivalence’ so as to accumulate capital. A Bourdieuan lens allows a systematic assessment of backpacker sociocultural practices, the search for capital, a secondary socialisation and individual transformation. Contextually specific subcultural capital enables an infinite number of ‘moves’ to be made, that ultimately no borders or rules can contain. The autonomy of the field is retained in this intricate interplay, fleeting victories unearthed as the more competent, skilled and knowledgeable backpackers who mobilise their competencies, knowledge and skills to struggle against labelling and ascribed discourses as they utilise cracks and opportunities through performing knowledge and experience turn ‘from that which is familiar to them and seek out, again and again, something which is not yet contaminated …not by moving up or down but by moving out’ (Goffman, 1951: 304). These brief and fleeting victories ensure that new space is ‘won’ and ‘authenticity’ exists before being passed on through interplay. References Aarseth, H. (2016) Eros in the field? Bourdieu’s double account of socialized desire. The Sociological Review 64 (1), 93–109. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954x.12348. Adam, I., Agyeiwaah, E. and Dayour, F. (2021) Understanding the social identity, motivations, and sustainable behaviour among backpackers: A clustering approach.

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Refaeli, T. and Itzhaky, H. (2021) ‘Which road will I take?’ Predictors of risk-taking behaviour among young backpackers. Current Issues in Tourism 25 (5), 1–15. https:// doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2021.1889479. Reichel, A., Fuchs, G. and Uriely, N. (2007) Perceived risk and the non-institutionalized tourist role: The case of Israeli student ex-backpackers. Journal of Travel Research 46 (2), 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287507299580. Reichenberger, I. and Iaquinto, B.L. (2021) The backpacker experience: A review and future research agenda. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism 22 (1), 80–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/15022250.2021.1989718. Richards, G. (2015) The new global nomads: Youth travel in a globalizing world. Tourism Recreation Research 40 (3), 340–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2015. 1075724. Richards, G. (2021) Rethinking niche tourism: The example of backpacking. Croatian Regional Development Journal 2 (1), 1–12. Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (eds) (2004a) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice. Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (2004b) Travel writers and writers who travel: Nomadic icons for the backpacker subculture? Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 2 (1), 46–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766820408668168. Riley, P.J. (1988) Road culture of international long-term budget travelers. Annals of Tourism Research 15 (3), 313–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(88)90025-4. Risch, W.J. (2005) Soviet ‘flower children’. Hippies and the youth counter-culture in 1970s L’viv. Journal of Contemporary History 40 (3), 565–584. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0022009405054572. Salvaggio, M.J. (2016) Bursting the backpacker bubble: Exploring backpacking ideology, practices, and contradictions. PhD thesis, University of Nevada Los Angeles. UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 2900. https://doi. org/10.34917/10083212. Scheyvens, R. (2002) Backpacker tourism and Third World development. Annals of Tourism Research 29 (1), 144–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(01)00030-5. Shaffer, T.S. (2004) Performing backpacking: Constructing ‘authenticity’ every step of the way. Text and Performance Quarterly 24 (2), 139–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/104629 3042000288362. Slaughter, L. (2004) Profiling the international backpacker market in Australia. In G. Richards and J. Wilson (eds) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice (pp. 168–179). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Sørensen, A. (2003) Backpacker ethnography. Annals of Tourism Research 30 (4), 847–867. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(03)00063-X. Speed, C. (2008) Are backpackers ethical tourists? In K. Hannam and I. Ateljevic (eds) Backpacker Tourism (pp. 54–81). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Speller, J. (2011) Bourdieu and Literature. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. Stanley, P. (2016) A Critical Auto/Ethnography of Learning Spanish: Intercultural Competence on the Gringo Trail? Abingdon: Routledge. Sundbeck, M., Agardh, A. and Östergren, P.O. (2017) Travel abroad increases sexual health risk-taking among Swedish youth: A population-based study using a case-crossover strategy. Global Health Action 10 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2017.1330511. Swartz, D. (2012) Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Tai, Y.C. (2020) Can-go girls: (Re)Making neoliberal ideal girl subjects through roundthe-world travel. Women’s Studies 49 (6), 596–615. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878. 2020.1785882. Tajfel, H. (1981) Human Groups and Social Categories: Studies in Social Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Part 1 Ontological Approaches and Mobile Methods

2 Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review Michael O’Regan

As a label or category, ‘backpacker’ and ‘backpacking’ can generate a surprising amount of debate. From different interpretations of what the label stands for – the scholars who contest the label itself – to those who seek to extend and dissect it, there is little agreement as to the nature of backpacking homogeneity or heterogeneity. While the label ‘backpacker’ did not originate in 1990 when first presented at an academic conference by the late Philip L. Pearce, its usage rose within an academic discourse community (Swales, 2016), which established shared interests, terminology, and methods of communication, along with a certain level of expertise and knowledge on the subject. These scholars were central in establishing ‘the means of categorising persons and the complement of attributes felt to be ordinary and natural for members of each of these categories’ (Goffman, 1986: 2). The ATLAS (Tourism Scholars Association) Backpacker research group grew to more than 35 scholars across 15 countries and facilitated face-to-face discussion and debate at standalone conferences in locations such as Shimla (India), Bangkok and Beirut between 2000 and 2013. As an academic discourse community, these scholars developed a broad subject level consensus about backpacking and identified some of the commonalities one might ascribe to backpackers in distinction to tourists and other travelers. While the scholarly community internationalised and embraced interdisciplinary approaches, a review of the academic scholarship points to the increasing instability of the community, as differential authoritative voices conflict over discursive conventions that regulate our understanding of backpacking. As backpackers become described with a plethora of sociological labels and are researched according to various type and form attributes, there is a growing divide between how scholars describe the nature of backpacking and its participants. While discursive struggles are welcome in any area of research,

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divisions have weakened the foundations for future research and theory-­ building. While conceptual and theoretical developments in backpacker research were once built through subject-level consensus, distinctions within the community point to new hierarchies, with their own schools of thought and even revisions and reversals (O’Regan, 2021). As disparities, incongruities and deviations in backpacker research output emerge, this chapter explores apparent communalities and contradictions in the literature and recommends new approaches to rebuild a foundation for backpacker and backpacking research. In particular, the chapter will explore the various labels used to describe backpacking, the sociological and anthropological parameters and concepts used to understand backpacking, and the research methodologies used to research backpackers. Literature Review

Within the genre of academic writing, authoritative scholars have sought to exercise (or seek to exercise) control over the meaning of backpacker discourse, produce accepted ‘truths’ about it and make certain representations of it appear real. Since the late 1980s, scholars from within this discourse operated as a ‘specific interest group’ and generated numerous articles, books and syllabi that entered discursive circulation. The academic discourse community produced competent discourse and shared a set of ideas, sources of information, terminology and beliefs about backpacking. Despite different members of the discourse community having varying perspectives, assumptions and interpretations, the language and discourse were similar, given this discourse community shared practices of thinking, research and learning. Despite conflict, changes in discourse were conditioned by the existing discipline-specific knowledge and ongoing work in the community about new developments, such as technology (Germann Molz & Paris, 2015). Over two to three decades, this community brought backpacking firmly within the realm of tourism and management studies and communicated it as a ‘better mode of tourism’ (Sørensen, 2003: 856). There was a positive shift in perceptions of a category of travel that had previously been ‘tacitly ignored, or at worst actively discouraged in official tourism planning’ (Hampton, 1998: 640). As the discourse community produced, disseminated and changed discursive knowledge in a range of arenas, including associations, policy documents and conference, official attitudes changed. For example, the Australian government launched its ‘National Backpacker Tourism Development Strategy’ in 1995, and this proactive approach in developing strategic initiatives was followed by other countries such as Malaysia, Fiji, Taiwan and South Africa (O’Regan, 2021; Rogerson, 2007). While the discourse community was flexible enough to explore changes in backpacking, the community has

Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review  43

become unstable as investigations peaked between around 2008 and 2010 and has since fallen into a period of prolonged decline. The backpacker researcher group was renamed the Independent Travel Research Group after the last standalone conference in 2013 (Richards, 2015), and where once authoritative writers shared common language, ideas, lexis and interests, new voices and discursive texts have emerged with conflicting focus, interpretations and knowledge (O’Regan, 2018). The implicit assumptions and conventions surrounding background have broken down. As research has reached across different subject disciplines and different sociocultural contexts, the backpacker label has become unrooted, with increased claims that the label itself is redundant. As growing disparities, incongruities and deviations in backpacker research emerge, scholars may no longer find the backpacker concept a useful construct for the advancement of research. While change and struggle within a discourse community is expected, new discursive texts not integrated into historical backpacker discourse have led to miscommunication, misunderstanding, and confusion for students, new backpacker scholars and practitioners seeking to make sense of this type and form of travel. The differing choices of theoretical foundations, sociological and anthropological parameters and research approaches have created discord between scholars and indicate an absence of a relatively unified stable academic discourse community. Methodology

Rather than explore a history of backpacking literature, a subset of articles will be examined to explore the various theorisations of backpacking and their approach to concepts. The authors are selected for their salience in theoretical and methodological directions within the field. For this reason, the small sample of authors/articles is not to be understood as ‘statistical sampling’ but rather as ‘theoretical sampling’ (Glaser & Strauss, 2000). Included in the analysis are authors who first introduced the backpacker concept and were at the origins of this new area of research. Also included are authors who have more recently sought to theorise and conceptualise backpacking. Analysis Backpacker as a label

There is some contestation concerning from whence the label backpacker originates, during what period it emerged, or its historical antecedents. While first used in an academic context by Pearce in 1990, Slaughter (2004) notes how the term was being used by a number of Australian hostels in the mid-1980s, while Smith (1992) notes its use by

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Boracayans (in the Philippines) to describe the international long-term budget travellers in the Philippines who started to arrive there in 1985 after the drifter/youthful traveller’s phenomenon in the 1960s and 1970s. Whatever its origins, the external identification of ‘backpacker’ became an internal identification used by those who shared an identity based on their form of travel. The research that followed met the demand by authorities and businesses in Australia for an internationally accepted, comprehensive definition (Wallace, 1991). Pearce (1990) utilised a quiz/ questionnaire inserted in the free Aussie Backpacker magazine during 1989 (596 questionnaires) and found backpackers to be predominantly young, on an extended holiday, with a preference for budget accommodation. He found they had a flexible and informal travel itinerary and placed an emphasis on meeting people and participating in a range of activities. Loker-Murphy and Pearce (1995) built on this, by administering a questionnaire and drawing on data from the annual visitor survey conducted at Australia’s major international airports. They extracted data from those aged between 15 and 29 years of age, with holiday as the main purpose of the trip, and a duration of stay of four weeks or more to confirm the original 1990 characteristics. This research made the category legible for scholars, its use instrumental in researching the demographic and social background of backpackers, with Pearce (1990), for example, using the label to explain the market characteristics, product development, information influences and activities of the phenomena. The label became a useful explanatory tool for academics to describe the phenomena, for service provision (e.g. hostels) and government authorities. It also helped re-shape public narratives about drifter tourists after the countercultural drift east ended in the late 1970s (Cohen, 2014). Businesses were also able to use the label and the construct for use in images and marketing aesthetics, and it is also favoured by policymakers, statisticians and academic researchers. Early research characterised these individuals as off-the-beaten track travellers, space-and-time flexible, able to choose journeys, their time of departure at will, and constituting a distinct ‘category’ of tourism and escape that was categorically different from mass tourism or ‘institutionalised’ tourism flows (Riley, 1988; Sørensen, 2003). Uriely et al. (2002) distinguish between two theoretical constructs: ‘form-related attributes’ (i.e. mostly visible institutional arrangements through which tourists organise aspects of their journey such as length of trip, category of accommodation, mode of transportation) and ‘type-related attributes’ (such as psychological attributes, attitude towards home culture, motivations for travel and the meanings they assign the travel experience). As regards type-related attributes, as seen in the previous sentence, there is little agreement on the extent of its heterogeneity or whether such heterogeneity, i.e. quest for adventure (Hampton, 1998), has a

Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review  45

major influence. The form-related attributes are regarded as characteristic features that distinguish backpacking from other forms of travel, especially institutionalised tourism. With respect to the form-­ related ­attributes, most authors consider the following criteria as defining backpackers: low average age (Murphy, 2001; Riley, 1988), independence from tour operators, flexibility of itinerary (Hottola, 2004), an extended period of travel (Loker-Murphy & Pearce, 1995; Sørensen, 2003), low travel budgets, and therefore demand for inexpensive accommodations and related tourist services (Murphy, 2001), as well as making use of the locally available infrastructure (Hampton, 1998; Westerhausen & Macbeth, 2003). Most scholars agree that backpackers prefer budget accommodation, longer holidays, flexibility of itinerary, meeting other travellers and involvement in participatory activities (Loker-Murphy & Pearce, 1995; Pearce et al., 2009). While the ‘backpacker’ label has become the dominant one in research studies (Table 2.1), individual authors have positioned their own contribution from within a broad discourse to describe backpackers. These struggles and contradictions are a normal activity and indicate that one does not need full consensus to have a healthy academic discourse community. However, many of the labels can be used interchangeably since they are describing travellers with similar Table 2.1  External labelling and internal identification Label

Authors

Budget traveller, budget tourist, economy tourist, International long-term budget traveller

Larsen et al. (2011), Riley (1988)

Youth tourist

Have (1974), Loker-Murphy & Pearce (1995)

Wanderers

Vogt (1976)

Non-institutionalised tourist

Uriely et al. (2002)

Free independent traveller

Ateljevic & Doorne (2000), Clarke (2004), Parr (1989)

Non-tourist

Tucker (2003)

Holiday hippie

Westerhausen (2002)

Anti-tourist

Maoz (2007)

Backpacker

Hampton (1998), Loker-Murphy & Pearce (1995), Murphy (2001), Pearce (1990), Teo & Leong (2006), Uriely et al. (2002)

Sojourner

Stanley (2016), Zhang & Xiao (2021)

Drifter

Qian & Zhu (2016), Qian et al. (2015)

Backpacker tourist

Canavan & McCamley (2021), Tomazos (2016)

Global nomad

Kannisto (2017), Richards (2015)

Global scout

Gezon (2017)

Donkey friend (驴友), qiongyou (穷游)

Zhang (2014), Yang (2022)

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characteristics. While often describing non-institutionalised forms of travel, an increasing number of authors do not want to shackle their studies to the backpacking construct and seek to decentralise backpacking research from its western orientation (Tucker & Zhang, 2016). However, there has also been an increase in studies that forgo the label despite sampling within backpacker spaces and infrastructure, because ‘backpacking does not necessarily indicate travelling alone’ (Yang et al., 2019: 1048). Authors who forgo the backpacker label seek to illustrate new forms of independent and solo travel (Tham, 2020; Yang, 2020) as they argue that new segments and formations do not selfidentity with the backpacker label. The backpacker label helped capture the mobility of independent, budget travellers and made them, their desire, and the field in which they operate, legible (Cresswell, 2006). The label seems to have significance in other cultural contexts, such as with Israeli and Japanese backpackers, for example, who have distinct linguistic, historical, social and cultural codes. Their mobility and mobility related practices make their worlds visible as backpacking, as individual subjects imagine and practise it. Israeli backpackers, for example, integrate Israeli culture, traditions, media, history, military service and language to develop their own set of dispositions that can be seen as a structural variant of the western backpacker habitus (Maoz, 2007). However, the label has also been applied to short-term independent travellers, and to those with disparate beliefs about travel, and with experiences and interactions dominated by one’s own social culture and values. Backpacking should exhibit similar type and form characteristics irrespective of ethnicity, language group and origin. As scholars seek labels for individuals who lack the time to withdraw from economic necessity or lack the unrestrained freedom to travel over long periods because they are bound by national culture, and other social and cultural constraints (Hsu et al., 2014; Xie, 2021), scholars need to provide a rationale for and legitimise label use. As a backpacker constitutes a distinct identity and way of life (Sørensen, 2003; Westerhausen, 2002), backpackers maintain symbolic boundaries, pursue subcultural capital through practices that lead them to think and act in particular ways, and shape how they make sense of their world. While individuals themselves might distance themselves from the backpacker label, they retain symbolic boundaries, as they accrue subcultural capital. Sociological, anthropological and other parameters

Difficulties arise when trying to categorise backpackers within ‘hard’ sociological, anthropological or business parameters (Elsrud, 2001; Noy, 2004; Sørensen, 2003). Despite their visible ‘reality’, the figure of the backpacker is reluctant to be fixed within a specific category, since

Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review  47

Table 2.2  Sociological, anthropological and business framings of backpacking Main Authors Lifestyle, mobile lifestyle, bohemian lifestyle migration

Cohen (2011), Thyne et al. (2005)

Subculture

Hampton (2013), Murphy (2001), Paris (2012), Shaffer (2004), Westerhausen (2002)

Neo-tribe

Noy (2004), Wang & Xie (2021)

Scene

Wilson & Richards (2008)

Neo-Nomadism

D’Andrea (2006)

Community

Welk (2004)

Hipsterism

Kimber et al. (2019)

Market Sector/Segment

Hecht & Martin (2006), Prideaux & Shiga (2007), Ryan & Mohsin (2001)

most are not permanent ‘lifestyle backpackers’ (Cohen, 2011). They do not belong to a cohesive group in any sociological sense and are not a homogeneous category. Authors, while agreeing with backpacking broad characteristics, have utilised various concepts to understand these characteristics. While framing backpackers in sociological, anthropological or business terms may seem like a moot point, such framing helps scholars understand backpackers, the prominence of individualism, community, fellowship, rituals, shared sentiment and coherence, as well as the presence of the formal and informal (kinship) ties that may bind them. Table 2.2 indicates that while the concepts of subculture, neo-tribe (Maffesoli, 1996) and lifestyle dominate, other framings have appealed to scholars, including segment. The range of conceptual frameworks employed suggests a lack of methodological cohesiveness. Backpackers, as individuals, are seen as interchangeable elements in various concepts or theories, with everything from subculture and lifestyle to neo-tribe being applied to the cultural formation. Given the association with resistance, even if symbolic, subcultures are considered separate from the larger society through their subcultural norms, values, rules and styles (Bennett, 1999, 2005). Emerging through personal convictions, as those who are dissatisfied with the surrounding system of values (Judah, 1974), there seems some doubt (and a lack of study) as to whether backpackers’ conflict with systems of values they see as exerting ideological and coercive control over their lives. Neo-tribes, instead, are ephemeral, fluid and temporally situated groupings of people who are bound by a shared sense of sentiment, belonging, customs, rituals and even language (Maffesoli, 1996). Emerging as a result of specific events, projects, political agendas or activities, the concept has been applied to backpacking since the early 1990s. However, the concept has been criticised for its emphasis on fluidity and temporality, given that a neo-tribe may only reflect the

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feeling of affective belonging or simply sharing a taste or style, can be offline but also generated and maintained online (Chang & Park, 2019). Backpacking has also been proposed as a lifestyle by those who argue that backpacking is not tied to any particular nationality, culture or locality, and can be characterised by a set of shared tastes and values that are distinctive from those of other groups, and reasonably consistent from one participant to the next, one place to the next, one year to the next (cf. Hodkinson, 2002). Therefore, self-seeking individuals can choose backpacking from a range of travel styles to express who he or she is or wants to be. While Ateljevic and Doorne (2004: 74) describe backpacking as ‘lifestyle enhancement,’ Cohen (2011) notes how lifestyle travellers, by travelling and work, can sustain backpacking as an ongoing way of life. However, backpackers’ lives are constituted through the journey, constituting a subjectivity in progress and a way of being in the world. Once the journey ends, it is often difficult to retain any level of backpacker credibility. By framing backpacking as merely a consumptive outlet for personal growth (Xie, 2017, 2021), one is suggesting that the scope, scale and make up of backpacking is determined by one’s life chances and the certitudes of life. By positioning lifestyle as a conceptual framework, one may invariably conclude that backpacking is a function of a middle-class habitus and is utilised as a transition to adulthood with any accumulated capital utilised for the job market (Zukin, 1998). Backpacking is therefore chosen because it fits into the life they are living, with individuals retaining their general way of life. Evidence that backpacking can be resurrected on demand and manifest itself in specific timespace configurations, given it requires suspending quotidian existence and entering a fugue state in which normal behaviour and identity are reversed, is still lacking. Indeed, backpacking may not reflect a middleclass habitus, and may still constitute an act of rebellion (an intellectual revolt) against social hierarchy, familial responsibility and home-centred lifestyles (Creswell, 1993; Meyrowitz, 1985), with its celebration of thrift, freedom, hedonism, economic independence and unconventional play. More recently, scholars argue that backpacking should be considered as just another tourist niche (Canavan & McCamley, 2021) or a market or tourist segment. This interpretation could dangerously narrow our understanding of backpacking and distort our perspective of a complex cultural formation. There is also a suggestion that backpacking includes sub-niches such as hiking and climbing (Canavan, 2018b), or that ‘Freedom Campers’ in Australia and New Zealand are a specific subset of the backpacker market (Agyeiwaah & Bangwayo-Skeete, 2021). In addition, reducing backpacker research to focus on those partially drawing on the discourse to travel independently, in order to serve more personal motives, may also undermine the discourse.

Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review  49

The backpacker plus

Given any academic specific interest group’s main purpose is to create or produce knowledge on a specific topic or in a specific subject area, academic discussion, criticism and academic competition remain at the heart of knowledge creation. This can emerge in the continual scholarly drive to explore the ‘basic’ form of backpacking, based on the search for road status (Sørensen, 2003) and subcultural capital (O’Regan, 2016), and other forms evoked by way of discursive deviations and fused discourses. Perceived deviations from ‘standardised’ or theoretically constructed models and the practice of actors have seen a discursive struggle within backpacking texts, as scholars seek to disrupt contemporary understandings of the backpacker by presenting practices perceived to be masked in backpacker discourse (O’Regan, 2021). The backpacker label has been extended (see Table 2.3) to include more structured forms of travel, including those on overland tours, volunteers, working holidaymakers, gappers, grey nomads and the more personalised and elite subjectivities of those deemed flashpackers (Paris, 2012). Even though there is no generally accepted definition of ‘backpackers’ outside some typical characteristics (Brenner & Fricke, 2007), backpacking is driven by a particular combination of practices and discourses. However, there are overlapping discourses, from which individuals can draw, and their form and type characteristics may appear somewhat like backpackers. When discourses overlap, similar discursive elements can apply to more than one discursive framework. Scholars have over-accommodated different and diverse forms and types of independent travel, even though few of these travellers may have used travel to internalise the backpacker role as a primary identity or are Table 2.3  Label extensions Label Extensions

Authors

Youth Train Backpackers

Bae & Chick (2016, 2017)

Study Backpacker/Student Backpacker

Jarvis & Peel (2008), Reichel et al. (2007), Richards & Wilson (2007), Stanley (2016)

Gap Year Backpacker/ Gapper

Luzecka (2016), Snee (2016)

Artisan Backpacker

Broocks & Hannam (2016)

Working Backpacker

Barry (2021), Harris & Prideaux (2011), Iles & Prideaux (2011)

Volunteer Backpacker

Laythorpe (2010)

Flashpacker, upmarket backpacker

Jarvis & Peel (2010), Paris (2012)

Grey Nomad, grey-nomad backpacker

Botterill et al. (2016), Holloway et al. (2011)

Begpackers

Tolkach et al. (2019)

Motorcycle Backpackers

Tripathi & Shaheer (2022)

50  Part 1: Ontological Approaches and Mobile Methods

not actively invested in backpacking. That identity may lie elsewhere, framed by other positions which demand active corporeal, temporal and social involvement. While social actors can ‘slip in and out of different contexts, identities, and relationships’ (Sheller, 2004: 49) they cannot be all things simultaneously. While you may find international exchange students, digital nomads, backpackers, Peace Corp volunteers and budget travellers at hostels etc., they may have very different desires, values and perspectives. Overlapping discourses can, of course, among other things, facilitate cooperation between backpackers and others, as they may share some common objectives. However, the (western) backpacker habitus interacts with the field for the acquisition of subcultural capital in the pursuit of distinction, as backpackers concern themselves with the preservation or improvement of their positions with respect to the defining value of that capital. While subcultural capital exists in three forms (embodied, objectified and institutionalised), backpackers largely seek to attain objectified and embodied capital that is encapsulated within the temporal, social and spatial context of the field. Capital, therefore, might encompass general cultural awareness to subcultural knowledge. I distinguish between objectified subcultural capital, which is primarily connected with collecting knowledge and places, and embodied subcultural capital, which refers to the embodiment of subcultural knowledge, specific competencies and skills, accumulated to be seen and recognised as a competent, legitimate, credible and relevant actor. While many travellers use mobility in a personal and individual sense, as to attain a ‘coherency of identity’ (Desforges, 1998: 190), the subcultural capital (Thornton, 1996) sought by backpackers is ‘acquired by means of a sort of withdrawal from economic necessity’ (Bourdieu, 1984: 12) and is encapsulated within the temporal, social and spatial context of the field. For other travellers, the field, and particular backpacker spaces (e.g. hostels, enclaves etc.), remain attractive, with subcultural capital commodified and co-opted by the world of advertising, tourism authorities and particular hostel owners, to sell a cynically narrativised aesthetic of excess, fun, hedonism and transgression (e.g. Khaosan Road, Bangkok). The interactions between participants in various positions and backpackers are often superficial, perfunctory, transient and shortlived, since they don’t share the same illusio, unwilling to submit to the field’s doxa and make the same investments in the game. Those seen to deviate from scholar-imposed criteria at recognised locations such as hostels are too often identified as a new type of backpacker with specific type-related attributes and are advanced by scholars identifying deviations from codified understanding of backpacking. These extensions have led scholars to associate non-backpackers, such as those on working holidays, language students, gap-years students and others as backpackers or as ‘sub-groups’ within

Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review  51

backpacking (Agyeiwaah & Bangwayo-Skeete, 2021). Huxley (2004), for example, does not distinguish between backpacking and gap years. Likewise, Stanley (2016) bundles Spanish language students, and those whose roles might involve volunteer work, social and tourist experiences, into the backpacker construct, while Canavan (2018a, 2018b) identified those on a planned, team-based fundraising trip as backpackers. The argument is put forward by Allon et al. (2008a, 2008b) that backpackers can occupy simultaneously a range of identities and positions at any one time, and can be simultaneously a student, a working holiday maker and a backpacker and live ‘a day-to-day existence in a house, flat or apartment in a way that appears to differ very little from the lives and identities of other more permanent residents’ (Allon et al., 2008a: 87). The argument that a backpacker can simultaneously take on multiple roles, move between roles (Moscardo et al., 2013), or be ‘temporarily or provisionally occupied’ (Allon et al., 2008a: 86), is difficult to sustain, as prioritising one role (e.g. going to work every day) means losing one’s capacity to present oneself as a backpacker. The link between working holidays workers and backpackers in Australia (Barry, 2021; Barry & Iaquinto, 2022), for example, does not hold across cultures (Wang & Connell, 2021) and contexts (Rice, 2007, 2010; Morikoshi & Nagai, 2022; Zhu et al., 2021). Li (2020, 2021) argues that these travellers are temporary migrant workers, with the backpacker label hiding both the varying sociocultural capital sought and the lifevalues of those, many of them Asian youth, who utilise the working holiday visa in Australia. The backpacker label masks the true vales and norms of East and South Asian working holidaymakers (Chiu, 2020), including those from Japan, the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong. The cultural resources and practices required for backpacker impression management evolve over time, with identity having a coherent narrativised and discursive nature. The discursive expansions above, rather than emphasising the richness and complexity of backpacker culture, identity and narratives, have instead led to the substitution of its historical antecedents with discursive reformulations that carry backpacking literature beyond, but not outside, a codified version of itself. While flashpackers, for example, may use cultural capital to function across structural sociocultural boundaries to acquire status in sociocultural environments beyond those of their primary socialisation, they are not backpackers or becoming backpackers. Backpacker codification and sampling

Loker-Murphy and Pearce (1995: 830–831) described backpacker characteristics as including ‘a preference for budget accommodation; an emphasis on meeting other people; an independently organised and flexible travel schedule; longer rather than brief holidays; and an

52  Part 1: Ontological Approaches and Mobile Methods

emphasis on informal and participatory recreation activities’. From these early definitions, methodological approaches emerged to codify backpackers. By treating the backpackers as an ethnographic object, scholars have sought to construct aggregate quantitative or qualitative samples based on ‘visible institutional arrangements and practices by which tourists organize their journey’ (Uriely et al., 2002: 521). These common features or forms include length of trip, flexibility of itinerary, visited destinations and attractions, means of transportation, and accommodation. Scholars have sought to use criteria in research methodologies to maintain some boundaries between backpackers and other tourists and travellers. Scholars have increasingly introduced criteria into their studies, such as age and form related arrangements (accommodation use, length of time travelling) (Table 2.4). Scholars using both quantitative and qualitative approaches have long drawn samples from hostel stayers, despite hostels having changed beyond their original functions for budget travellers and backpackers (Richards, 2016). Backpacker hostels are now simultaneously subcultural and public, targeting families, budget travellers and others (Veríssimo & Costa, 2018) and contain everyone from gig economy workers, digital nomads to inter-railers travelling Europe by train. The use of the hostel in research has largely been brought about by early research, with backpacker scholars focused on those staying at hostels (Loker-Murphy, Table 2.4  Sample of studies based on ethnographic methodologies Author(s)

Minimum Length

Average Age (years)

Research Locations

Backpacker Nationalities

No. of respondents

Riley (1988)

Minimum of one year

25–33

South and Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Western

19

Elsrud (2001)

Minimum of one year

25–33

Thailand

N. European, USA

35

Murphy (2001)

N/A

Av. 23.8

Australia

UK, Netherlands and Canada

59

Noy (2004)

Ave. 3 months

22–25

South America, Asia

Israeli

40

Sørensen (2003)

No minimum

N/A

Many

Many

134

Uriely et al. (2002)

Minimum of 3 months

21–26

Many

Israeli

38

Huxley (2004)

Minimum of 3 months

Targeted 18–30. Ave. 23

Global

Western

24

Maoz (2007)

Ave. 4–12 months

20–25

India

Israeli

25

Canavan (2018)

Ave. 3–6 months

24–29

India, Nepal and South East Asia

UK/Australia

12

Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review  53

1997; Loker-Murphy & Pearce, 1995; Martins et al., 2022; Murphy, 2001). This was largely a response to Tourism Research Australia (2008), which defines a backpacker as ‘a person that spends one or more nights in either backpacker or hostel accommodation’. Studies often employ hostel use as the only criterion to sample backpackers, despite more than 100 million people staying in hostels annually (WYSE Travel Confederation, 2018) and a proliferation of non-backpacker hostels and hostel franchises that target groups like working holidaymakers or digital nomads specifically. Larsen et al. (2011) surveyed those staying in Hostelling International facilities in western Norway. Mohsin and Ryan (2003) sampled those staying in hostels in the Northern Territory of Australia, while Hecht and Martin (2006) sampled all those staying at three hostels in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Brochado and Rita (2018) also sampled ‘hostel backpackers’ but without applying any additional criteria. Scholars have also sought to include enclaves and areas or attractions where backpackers are ‘known’ to congregate (Nok et al., 2017; Ryan & Mohsin, 2001). By sampling those at hostels, or where researchers believe backpackers congregate, scholars have simultaneously sampled budget travellers, backpackers, domestic travellers and working holidaymakers (Barry, 2021; Mohsin & Ryan, 2003; Nash et al., 2006; Ryan & Mohsin, 2001; Thyne et al., 2005). Some scholars screen out locals or foreigners working or living at a destination (Hsu et al., 2014; Paris, 2013). Chen et al. (2018), for example, identified backpackers as those staying in hostels and using a backpack as their main travel luggage, leading to a sample that included 20.6% foreign respondents residing in mainland China. Thyne et al. (2005) found from sampling those staying at 12 Scottish Youth Hostel Association properties that British respondents constituted 30% of respondents while 70% were staying/travelling less than two weeks. Moshin and Ryan (2003) found that 17.7% of those sampled in hostels in the Northern Territory in Australia were Australians. To control the sample, certain scholars are of the view that ‘selfidentification’ is a concise and convenient way to identify and sample backpackers (Adam, 2015; Dayour et al., 2017; Nok et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2018). While this approach is sometimes used alone (Adam et al., 2021; Dayour, 2019), it is often combined with approaching individuals in hostels. Ooi and Laing (2010), for example, distributed 107 questionnaires to seven hostels in Melbourne, using the proviso of direct questioning by a researcher, to ensure that only backpackers took part in the study. Refaeli and Itzhaky (2021) approached young Israelis in guesthouses, hostels, and other places known to be frequented by backpackers, and asked those between 18 and 29 whether they defined themselves as backpackers and were travelling for at least one month. In a study by Pearce et al. (2009), 1,555 individuals staying in

54  Part 1: Ontological Approaches and Mobile Methods

50 Australian backpacker hostels were surveyed. The study found that the working holiday was the principal trip type found there, with sizable populations made up of those on gap years and study abroad students. Similar results were found by Prideaux and Shiga (2007). A limitation of the approach is that experienced backpackers may distance themselves from hostels, group identification and the label (Lozanski, 2007, 2011). Empirical studies of other populations find self-identifiers are typically different from general populations, given the presence of non-self-identifiers, or those who prefer the labels ‘nomad’ or ‘traveller’ (O’Reilly, 2005). Therefore, self-identification must recognise those backpackers who seek distance from the label, despite relating to it. In addition, the spatio-temporal nature of social interaction means backpacker activities occur in numerous places daily. In many parts of the world Asian, Israeli, Western, Chinese and Korean hostels are separate and have different physical characteristics, as well as families of actions. Indeed, in many destinations, these hostels are in separate neighbourhoods. In addition, hostels are not ‘total institutions’ (Goffman, 1968), as a hostel in the central city district of Melbourne is not the same hostel in Siem Reap in Cambodia (Figure 2.1). Finally, the world means very different things in other cultural contexts. From long-distance trekkers in North America, to merely wearing a backpack

Figure 2.1  Hostel in Vila Pereira da Silva favela, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (author photograph)

Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review  55

in South Korea, self-identification as a backpacker may not indicate the existence of backpacking. As well as hostels and backpacker accommodation, duration of stay is also identified as a possible determining factor when defining a backpacker (Loker-Murphy & Pearce, 1995; Pearce & Foster, 2007), with Loker-Murphy (1997), for example, only sampling those at hostels and main points of attraction, and only those planning to stay in Australia for at least one month and who had been in Australia for at least one week. While Westerhausen (2002) indicated that those sampled needed to travel for at least three months, Welk (2004) chose six months, and Pearce and Foster (2007) four weeks or more. Elsrud (2004: 56–57) interviewed only those travelling for one year or more, arguing that it highlighted in her opinion ‘a total break with home routines and home times’. Duration is often used in conjunction with hostel stay and age, with studies often limiting research to young people (Refaeli & Itzhaky, 2021). Scholars have chosen various age groups, including ages 18–30 years (Huxley, 2004; Loker, 1991), 15–24 years (Hunter-Jones et al., 2008) and 18–24 (Tomazos, 2016). However, the generalisation that ‘backpackers are not uncommonly older than 25’ (Schott, 2004: 366) means research does not fully reflect older backpackers (WYSE Travel Confederation, 2019) and variable life-course patterns within and between birth cohorts (Flaherty, 2012). While the early developmental stages in the average person’s life may be linked by a predictable series of ritual experiences (e.g. school graduation), Clausen (1991) argues that, regardless of one’s age, there is increasing variability in one’s commitment to social roles. Clausen (1991: 806) argues that a life course ‘entails negotiation by a reflexive self of a set of potentially available roles that are interlinked and to which persons commit themselves to varying degrees at different periods of their lives’. Many backpackers, outside the 18–25-year-old cohort, have yet to take on adult responsibilities, such as marriage, children, mortgages, long-term employment (Thorpe, 2012). Finally, scholars have used other types of criteria such as travel luggage (Zhu, 2007) to identify backpackers. For some researchers, working holiday makers at hostels are backpackers, and therefore the visa type and accommodation choice are sufficient criteria (Barry & Iaquinto, 2022). There has been an increased number of retrospective studies looking at backpacker journeys after they return (Tomazos, 2016). O’Reilly (2006) interviewed 20 backpackers who had returned from their first journey more than a year previously. Reichel et al. (2007) explored the risk perceptions of 579 Israeli students who were previously backpackers. Uriely et al. (2002) and Noy (2004) interviewed Israeli backpackers upon their return, with the interval between the trip and the interview ranging between two and five years. Collins-Kreiner et al. (2018) interviewed 20 individuals whose first backpacking trip took place at least eight years

56  Part 1: Ontological Approaches and Mobile Methods

prior to their interviews. Yang et al. (2019) interviewed 35 Asian women, aged between 21 and 49 years, who had travelled previously. While mobility impacts upon individuals, a thorough understanding of the lived experience is difficult to explore after participation ceases, due to recall bias or misclassification bias. Typologies, taxonomies, clusters, markets and segments

Backpacking is recognised as a heterogeneous, complex and multifaceted phenomenon, in terms of nationality, motivation, organisation of the trip, age and gender (Loker-Murphy & Pearce, 1995; Maoz, 2007; Murphy, 2001; Sørensen, 2003; Uriely et al., 2002). Scholars have followed Cohen (1972, 1973, 1979) in seeking to identify several clusters, segments and typologies within backpacking, which O’Reilly (2005) argues helps us to ‘think about differences in behaviour and approach, facilitating comparison and generalisation where these might be useful’. Loker-Murphy (1997) first attempted to segment the backpacker population according to their motivational psychographics and identified four sub-groups of backpackers. This has been followed by a series of studies, which have extrapolated typologies and clusters in various ways and in various contexts. The need to discover differences within the backpacker populace has led to typologies and clusters, which have largely reified backpackers as immutable and reduced them to vague generalisations and characteristics (Crick, 1989; Pearce, 2005). Löfgren (2002: 267) notes that the ‘craze for classification’ within much tourism research often represents or produces ‘a tradition of flatfooted sociology and psychology’, driven by ‘an unhappy marriage between marketing research and positivist ambitions of scientific labelling’. Producing ever-finer subdivisions, it seems these more elaborate typologies and clusters (Table 2.5) ‘might eventually form a classificatory grid in which tourism [and backpacking] could be defined and regulated’ (Franklin & Crang, 2001: 7). Not all these studies understand their typologies, categories or clusters as permanent, with some noting the possibility for a single individual to pass through types during a trip or during their travel career (O’Reilly, 2005, 2006). Others note that backpackers may not be part of a particular generation or age group (Holloway et al., 2011). However, by and large, such findings find backpackers behave in certain ways as inanimate human prototypes or conform to a repertoire of performances and comportments. As many studies are a result of the clustering of variables with no hypothesis to test, there is often little in common or few links between the typologies. These typologies of objectification have often reduced backpackers to a practice (party backpacker), visa type (working holidaymaker) or perceived personality. While all cultural formations have devoted or lifetime participants, as well as less-committed newcomers and novices,

Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review  57

marginal participants and various subgroups (Thorpe, 2012), they may not constitute solid clusters or segments. Less attention is focused on how backpackers change over a trip as they learn, with more experienced backpackers often ‘more complete, the degree of cultural exposure more intense, the level of learning deeper, and the personal relations more significant’ (Vogt, 1976: 28). Table 2.5  Typologies, taxonomies, clusters, markets and segments Typologies, taxonomies, clusters, markets and segments

Authors

Notes

Moratorium Travellers, Ascetic Travellers, Adventurers, Goal Directed Travellers, Party Travellers, Alternative Travellers and ‘Peter Pan Travellers’ (late 30s or older).

Hartmann (1991)

Motive-based segments.

Escapers/relaxers, social/excitement-seekers, self-developers and achievers.

Loker-Murphy (1997)

Motivational psychographics of hostel stayers in Australia. Quantitative Research.

Students, professionals, specialists (e.g. ecopackers), outcasts (people seeking to start a ‘second’ life), freaks and neo-hippies, root diggers/old hippies and army discharges.

Hottola (1999)

Backpacker travellers in India and Sri Lanka. Qualitative Research.

Traditional, long-term budget travellers, mainstream backpackers.

Ateljevic & Doorne (2000)

106 in-depth interviews with ‘free independent travelers’.

Mainstreamers, Passive Viewers, Explorers, and the ‘Not Keen’.

Ryan & Mohsin (2001)

Cluster analysis on backpackers in Darwin, Australia. Quantitative.

Experimental, experiential and humanistic backpackers.

Uriely et al. (2002)

38 interviews with Israeli backpackers.

Short-term backpackers, backpackers.

Sørensen (2003)

134 formal, semi-structured interviews.

The Conquerors and the Settlers.

Maoz (2004)

44 interviews with Israeli backpackers in India.

Leisure backpacker, culture backpacker.

Shaffer (2004)

Qualitative Research.

Typical Backpackers, Discoverers, Outdoors, Family Ties and Routine Travellers.

Thyne et al. (2005)

Quantitative study of 309 backpackers.

Professional backpacker, the ‘Gap year’ backpacker, the ‘life crisis’ backpacker, the ‘partyer’ and the short-term backpacker.

O’Reilly (2006)

30 interviews on the road, and 20 post-trip interviews.

Traditional youth backpacker (15–25 years), the transition backpacker (26–29 years) and the contemporary backpacker (30 years or older).

Hecht & Martin (2006)

Quantitative study of 385 backpackers in Greater Toronto hostels.

Quest-packer, Same-packer, Traditional backpacker, Flexo-packer, Flashpacker and Long-packer.

Du Cros (2014)

Mixed methods among Asian travellers. Qualitative.

The constrained, the group and the modified independent traveller.

Prayag et al., (2014)

Quantitative study of 403 potential Chinese travellers.

Self-actualisers, Destination experiencers and Social seekers.

Chen et al. (2014)

Questionnaires to Chinese traveller’s at Chinese hostels.

Pragmatist, Purist and Eccentric backpackers.

Adam et al. (2021)

Segments based on social identity questionnaire.

58  Part 1: Ontological Approaches and Mobile Methods

Discussion

Like tourism research in general, research into backpacking remains focused on behavioural traits, typologies and traveller motivations at one end and by a business and managerial focus at the other (Pearce, 2006). While the former is broadly anthropological, drawing on qualitative, ethnographic research (Sørensen, 2003), the latter is etic in nature and seeks to capture activity patterns, placing value on specific practices (Pearce, 1990). Etic, according to Pearce and Lee (2005: 3), is ‘where the researcher, as an observer and outsider, classifies and describes the tourist’s behaviour’, while emic research involves ‘finding out from [the tourists] how they see the world, how they look at the setting, the other people in it and the value of their experience’. While methods such as email surveys, survey links posted in online forums, and social media sites such as Facebook (Paris, 2013) and netnography (Canavan, 2018b; Zhang, 2014) and other positivistic approaches are welcome, there are limitations in such an approach when seeking to understand a transnational cultural formation, whose global spread is occurring across and within multiple sites of encounter. While Welk (2004) argues that a feeling of belonging together is sufficient for a backpacker community to claim existence, belonging to a specific cultural formation is built on identity work, which includes positioning oneself within the history of the field, holding and communicating symbolic resources, and a discursive self-representation that includes conspicuous markers of identity. Research has struggled with the incorporation of digital into cultural formations forms, and the online connection of individuals mobilised by mobility fantasies and desires. However, backpacking is not a technoculture (Shaw, 2020), and online research often misses out on the embodied, emotional and affective nature of backpacker mobilities. Qualitative, ethnographic studies of the individual backpacker (Sørensen, 2003), which seek to understand these elements of backpacking from an emic perspective so as to explore its web of meanings, norms and narratives (Cresswell, 1999), have become fewer, given the time and resources required (O’Regan, 2015). Wilson and Richards argue that these approaches often lack a theoretical basis and are primarily based around a limited range of dimensions such as ‘issues of alienation, rite de passage /moratorium, ritual, extension /reversal, the search for authenticity and distinction’ (Wilson & Richards, 2008: 188). There is some truth about the over-categorisation of backpackers and overuse of old conceptual frameworks. Backpackers are said to share a travel ‘ideology’ (Berger & Paris, 2013; Elsrud, 2001), a ‘code of honour’ (Welk, 2004) and to undergo a liminal experience (Bui et al., 2014) and rite of passage (Johnson, 2003; Loker-Murphy & Pearce, 1995; Matthews, 2008; Noy, 2004; O’Reilly, 2006; Refaeli & Itzhaky, 2021; Reichel et al., 2007). This is despite backpacking not being a

Thirty Years of Backpacker Research: A Systematic Literature Review  59

well-developed cultural ritual in many countries, although it may be in Israel after military service (Noy, 2004; Uriely et al., 2002) and in Australia and New Zealand, where it is termed the ‘Overseas experience (OE)’ (Bell, 2002; Mason, 2002). Uriely et al. (2002), for example, found that 34 out of 38 of his informants had embarked on their trips within a year after their army service had ended. Given the presumption of a link between backpacking and youth, backpacking and life transitions, less research explores whether backpacking may also offer a means to ‘[l]iberate the individual from a dependence upon the primary attachments and relationships formed within the family group’ (Parsons, 1951). Backpackers, upon their codification, have often been reduced to a simple set of criteria in both quantitative and qualitative research, which has led them to be classified and organised into various contexts, typologies, taxonomies, clusters, markets and segments. Allowing pre-set limits and boundaries to the phenomena they are studying, there is little attempt by some scholars to reconcile differences, inconsistencies, contingencies and tensions between the ‘model’ backpacker, codified by criteria, and close observation of individual backpacker behaviour. Studies run the risk of missing the potential of the phenomena as they reduce the world to a small number of research nodes, small sample sizes and online netnography (Luo et al., 2015). More consideration must be given to how individuals position, and are positioned within, a field, their inter-relations and interactions and the inequalities that are present. If backpackers are codified as objects of knowledge (Crang, 2006), criteria may become problematic if such criteria are misapplied, overly applied or restrictive. For example, research that draws on a small number of type- and form-related characteristics may not indicate the presence of a backpacker. Rather than explore the conditions and processes of subject formation and socialisation, backpacker scholars use criteria, so as identify already formed ‘backpacker’ subjects. As a backpacker habitus can be conceived of as emerging over time as individuals optimise capital within the field, those who stay in hostels, wear a backpack, or even claim the label, may not be fully invested in backpacking. Bourdieu argues that we must be exposed to the world, and because of this exposure we are ‘open to the world’ and ‘invested in the world’ (Bourdieu, 2000: 140–141). This habitus emerges not within a relatively bounded website or hostel but through embodied and perceptual engagement with the field, which requires its participants to get a feel for the ‘game’. No backpacker is secure in their position on day one of a journey, and lacks the prior experience, competencies, skills, knowledge and the capacity to move both socially, temporally and spatially the ‘right’ way. However, backpacker research often explores those at hostels and enclaves, most of whom may be only beginning their journeys. They have not yet acquired the dispositions, through experience and travelling

60  Part 1: Ontological Approaches and Mobile Methods

from place to place, and therefore lack the subcultural capital that functions as road status, and feeds into the volume of symbolic capital an actor possesses. Therefore, scholars can both mis-sample at hostels or over-sample those early in their trip in their assumption that they already know the ‘proper’ locations, such as hostels and hiking trails (Nok et al., 2017), at which backpackers enter and invest themselves in ‘proper’ practices. Grossberg (1992: 110) notes, however, that scholars cannot ‘assume that the connections between such sites are always given in advance’, with backpacking remaining unpredictable, and always in a process of becoming. It is an ontological mistake, if scholars assume backpackers cannot manipulate the backpacker role, or manipulate their interactions with researchers. Rather than the passive objects of a scholar’s classification system, backpackers grow into their role and manipulate the rules and norms associated with it. A ‘“feel for the game” … enables an infinite number of moves to be made, adapted to the infinite number of possible situations which no rule, however complex, can foresee’ (Bourdieu, 1990: 19). However, the lack of criteria or a feel for the game can also be problematic. Hunter-Jones et al. (2008), for example, interviewed 10 individuals with previous backpacking-like experiences, which included short trips and activities like climbing and inter-railing, while Canavan (2018a) used netnographic research to identify 12 individuals engaged in a fundraising event as backpackers. The interchangeable use of gap year, working holidaymaker, independent traveller, backpacker and budget traveller is problematic. For example, while gap years are often addressed as backpacking and vice versa (Snee, 2016), structured gap years do not weaken the temporal reliability of a life biography or undermine notions of temporal continuity as far as university and career prospects are concerned. The gap year is positioned in relation to the fields of education, employment and the wider field of power. Labelling backpacker-like travellers as solo or independent travellers and vice versa also tends to sidestep the cumulative effect of the history of the social structures they occupy (Burawoy, 2018). While Hsiao and Chuang (2015: 409) for example, believe ‘backpackers are merely a subset of all independent travelers’, many independent travellers depend and draw on backpacker discourse to move and socialise. To move forward, scholars must first break from the codified backpacker to address the underlying truth of social structure, before breaking back to the perspective of the participants to understand how they reproduce the underlying structures (Burawoy, 2018). Scholars must accept that there is no independent way of assigning a person to their ‘true’ backpacker category (Gillespie et al., 2012), since the backpacking field, like many others, has ‘a weak degree of codification’ (Bourdieu, 1996: 226). It is therefore surprising to see scholars draw on a methodological process that includes a high degree of codification

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and objectification of a distant ‘other’ (Nussbaum, 1995), that sets backpackers up as a rigid category. Backpacking is too often seen as a fixed position, rather than an experience that can change, as individuals move into different conditions and contexts over time. Research shows a marked level of objectification, which entails making backpackers into a thing, treating them as a thing, as a tool to suit a researcher’s purposes, and treating them as lacking inautonomy and self-determination. Furthermore, research treats backpackers as lacking in agency, their experience and feelings (if any) fleeting, and as interchangeable with other types of travellers and forms of travel, and therefore lacking in boundary integrity (Nussbaum, 1995). Research has shown a level of instrumentality, with scholars using backpackers as a tool for marginal research purposes (e.g. cyclone awareness). There is a denial of backpacker autonomy, agency and self-determination, with scholars treating backpackers as fungible or interchangeable with working holidaymakers, gappers and solo travelers etc. The craze for classification indicates that researchers treat backpackers as objects lacking in boundary integrity, and as something it is permissible to break up into taxonomies and clusters. Finally, following Nussbaum (1995), there is a denial of subjectivity, with scholars treating backpackers as objects, whose experience and feelings (if any) need not be considered. The distinct scholarly objectification of backpackers and research setting (e.g. hostels) needs to be addressed. We cannot continue to simply sample westerners, aged under 30 years of age, at hostels. Neither can we ignore power differences between scholars and informants and how scholars position themselves (O’Regan, 2015). Scholars should understand that backpackers cannot be simply lumped together as part of a supra-ethnic backpacker population. Attempts to move away conceptually from inward-looking Anglocentric research is to be welcomed (Winter, 2009). However, assertive Asian research has also perpetuated its own insular understanding about backpacking (Chang, 2021), with arguments that Asian backpackers cannot be compared to other backpackers because of the social, temporal and cultural constraints that bear down on their attempts to ‘blend in’ (Ooi, 2019). O’Regan (2021) argues that the backpacker label and its type and form characteristics are often misapplied with regard to Asian and other backpackers, given that they operate in subfields realised within local contexts and smaller scale production and are structured by different capital in comparison to the field navigated by western backpackers. Western working holiday makers in Australia also seem to be labelled as backpackers, regardless of their actual dispositions towards travel or travel experiences. To explore an individual’s social position, their way of seeing and interests, scholars must again become as mobile as the population they seek to understand. They must explore how backpackers socialise in spaces of encounter and pursue capital,

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and the conflicts, structures and actors involved. Scholars should incorporate more spatial, anthropological and ethnographic analyses of backpackers to empirically explore experiences, encounters, tensions, normativities, contestations, self-positionings and knowledge flows. Research, for example, using oral narratives (Chase, 2005) might help reveal social, cultural and structural features of a backpacker’s everyday social world, and rules of truth, legitimacy and identity. When people describe their experience to others, they are creating their self and how they want to be known by others (Riessman, 1993). The aim of emic research is not to uncover some hidden realities or an invisible, secret ideological grid, but to explore individual and collective investments in the world, which is acquired through situated experience. While researchers can justify not undertaking field research, people are not simply backpackers because of a hostel stay or a backpack or carrying out a prescribed role. They are unique accumulations of experiences produced by their own unique trajectories through a specific role, capital accumulation and positioning. Conclusion

Backpackers, now codified as objects of knowledge, are largely separated from their near past and researched according to a business and managerial focus. The backpacker label and various form and type criteria have made backpackers socially eligible, and enabled scholars to explore backpackers’ practices and performances. This in turn has helped businesses to register and fix these performances and supply symbolic and material spaces for a category and type of tourist. While demystifying the field, the lack of longitudinal studies, immersion or multi-sited fieldwork, has flattened the field and backpackers themselves. The chapter warns against scholarly objectification, and asks that backpackers be acknowledged as world makers, each contributing to a field that interests us, demanding more mobile, intimate and immersive methodological approaches. References Adam, I. (2015) Backpackers’ risk perceptions and risk reduction strategies in Ghana. Tourism Management 49, 99–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.02.016. Adam, I., Agyeiwaah, E. and Dayour, F. (2021) Understanding the social identity, motivations, and sustainable behaviour among backpackers: A clustering approach. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 38 (2), 139–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/1054 8408.2021.1887053. Agyeiwaah, E. and Bangwayo-Skeete, P. (2021) Backpacker-community conflict: The nexus between perceived skills development and sustainable behavior. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2021.1995396. Allon, F., Anderson, K. and Bushell, R. (2008a) Mutant mobilities: Backpacker tourism in global Sydney. Mobilities 3 (1), 73–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450100701797323.

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Reichel, A., Fuchs, G. and Uriely, N. (2007) Perceived risk and the non-institutionalized tourist role: The case of Israeli student ex-backpackers. Journal of Travel Research 46 (2), 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287507299580. Rice, K. (2007) Push, pull, and paradox: The significance and irony of working-holidays for young Canadians in Edinburgh, PhD dissertation, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec. Rice, K. (2010) Working on holiday: Relationships between tourism and work among young Canadians in Edinburgh. Anthropology in Action 17 (1), 30–40. https://doi. org/10.3167/aia.2010.170104. Richards, G. (2015) The new global nomads: Youth travel in a globalizing world. Tourism Recreation Research 40 (3), 340–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2015.1075724. Richards, G. (2016) Hostels and the making of new urban spaces. In A.P. Russo and G. Richards (eds) Reinventing the Local in Tourism: Producing, Consuming and Negotiating Place (pp. 171–184). Bristol: Channel View Publications. Richards, G.W. and Wilson, J. (2007) Youth tourism: Finally coming of age? In M. Novelli (ed.) Niche Tourism: Contemporary Issues, Trends and Cases (pp. 53–60). Abingdon: Routledge. Riessman, C.K. (1993) Narrative Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Riley, P.J. (1988) Road culture of international long-term budget travellers. Annals of Tourism Research 15 (3), 313–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(88)90025-4. Rogerson, C.M. (2007) Backpacker tourism in South Africa: Challenges and strategic opportunities. South African Geographical Journal 89 (2), 161–171. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/03736245.2007.9713886. Ryan, C. and Mohsin, A. (2001) Backpackers: Attitudes to the ‘outback’. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 10 (1), 69–92. https://doi.org/10.1300/J073v10n01_05. Schott, C. (2004) Young holidaymakers: Solely faithful to hedonism. In Proceedings of the New Zealand Tourism and Hospitality Research Conference (pp. 364–376). Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. Shaffer, T.S. (2004) Performing backpacking: Constructing ‘authenticity’ every step of the way. Text and Performance Quarterly 24 (2), 139–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/104629 3042000288362. Shaw, D.B. (2020) Technoculture: The Key Concepts. Abingdon: Routledge. Sheller, M. (2004) Mobile publics: Beyond the network perspective. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 22 (1), 39–52. https://doi.org/10.1068/d324t. Slaughter, L. (2004) Profiling the international backpacker market in Australia. In G. Richards and J. Wilson (eds) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice (pp. 168–179). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Smith, V.L. (1992) Boracay, Philippines: A case study in ‘alternative’ tourism. In V.L. Smith and W. Eadington (eds) Tourism Alternatives: Potentials and Problems in the Development of Tourism (pp. 135–157). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. Snee, H. (2016) A Cosmopolitan Journey? Difference, Distinction and Identity Work in Gap Year Travel. Abingdon: Routledge. Sørensen, A. (2003) Backpacker ethnography. Annals of Tourism Research 30 (4), 847–867. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(03)00063-X. Stanley, P. (2016) A Critical Auto/Ethnography of Learning Spanish: Intercultural Competence on the Gringo Trail? Abingdon: Routledge. Swales, J.M. (2016) Reflections on the concept of discourse community. ASp. la revue du GERAS (69), 7–19. Teo, P. and Leong, S. (2006) A postcolonial analysis of backpacking. Annals of Tourism Research 33 (1), 109–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2005.05.001. Tham, A. (2020) Asian solo male travelling mobilities: An autoethnography. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research 14 (3), 453–472. https://doi. org/10.1108/IJCTHR-10-2019-0171. Thornton, S. (1996) Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press.

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3 The Go-along: A Mobile Method for Backpacker Research Benjamin Lucca Iaquinto

Since the advent of the ‘new mobilities paradigm’ (Sheller & Urry, 2006) much work has explored how social research methodologies can do justice to the highly dynamic and fluid social contexts in which they are applied (Büscher & Urry, 2009; Merriman, 2014; Vannini, 2015). Along with the growing recognition of the significance of spatial mobility in shaping contemporary social life, the development of so-called ‘mobile methods’ has enabled researchers to ‘capture, track, simulate, mimic, parallel and “go along with” the kinds of moving systems and experiences that seem to characterise the contemporary world’ (Büscher et al., 2011: 7). While not always badged as such, backpacker researchers have for a long time used methods that allow them to ‘see’ and ‘be’ with their mobile research participants (Hampton, 2010). Yet current backpacker research is dominated by quantitative methods, limiting the ability of scholars to advance knowledge. While backpacker research has a history going back to at least the 1990s, studies explicitly examining backpacker research methods remain relatively rare. This chapter demonstrates the use of mobile methods in practice via a case study that examines a particular type of mobile method known as the ‘go-along’ which is ‘any method that attempts to (re)place the researcher alongside the participant in the context of the “doing of mobility”’ (Spinney, 2015: 232). Researchers have used the go-along method primarily in the context of everyday urban mobility, such as driving and cycling (Harada & Waitt, 2013; Spinney, 2011) but its applicability to tourism is also recognised (Duedahl & Blichfeldt, 2020). The case study involves a 5-day, 2000-kilometre journey through Central Australia undertaken by the author with two other backpackers in a rented campervan. The journey was part of fieldwork for a project completed in 2015 that investigated the role of mobility in shaping backpacker practices of sustainability. Through the case study the

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chapter will contribute to debates on how being mobile influences social research, the methods which can best apprehend the various practices and mobilities of backpackers, and how researchers are to keep up with the rapidly changing nature of backpacking. This is particularly important given the considerable impact that COVID-19 has had on the tourism industry and research practices. Previous studies investigating backpacker research methods have not explicitly examined how backpacker mobility shapes data collection (Iaquinto, 2016, 2018a; Lozanski & Beres, 2007; Matthews, 2012; O’Regan, 2015; Paris, 2013). While the purpose of mobile methods is not to replace conventional social research methods, paying closer attention to mobility during data collection can potentially advance the field of backpacker studies. While backpacker researchers have long applied methods that can be considered mobile, methods have become increasingly static and limited, based upon one-off surveys or publicly available ‘netnographic’ material. Developing new methods or approaches can help contribute to the progression of backpacking and mobilities research, as methodological experimentation encourages ‘multiple ways of knowing, understanding, and critically approaching the research process’ (McSweeney & Faust, 2019: 359). Overall, this chapter will show that bringing a greater methodological awareness to both backpacker research and mobilities studies can be of mutual benefit to both fields. Backpacker Mobilities

Australia’s Working Holiday Maker program permits people from 44 countries aged 18–35 to stay in Australia for up to three years provided they complete at least 88 days of agricultural work during each 12-month visa period (Barry, 2020). Backpackers on working holiday visas stay an average of 151 nights in Australia and spend an average of $AU10,300 (Tourism Australia, 2020). Before the pandemic, there were around 200,000 Working Holiday Maker visas granted each year with the majority of applicants coming from the UK, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan and France (Anderson, 2018; Barry, 2020). The diverse manifestations of contemporary tourist mobility are part of the reason why the mobilities paradigm emerged (Sheller & Urry, 2004). The perceived ‘sedentarism’ in the social sciences was believed to overlook various flows sustaining social life (Sheller & Urry, 2006). Mobilities positions tourism as one among many forms of mobility that comprise the social world, helping to situate tourism as a part of everyday life rather than something extraordinary (Cohen & Cohen, 2012). Mobilities thinking rejects the use of binaries such as home/away, work/leisure, ordinary/extraordinary in explaining the social world and, instead, explores the lack of fixity and stability of such categories (Cohen & Cohen, 2012). Tourist mobilities can be communicative,

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imaginative, financial and virtual, or they can pertain to the movements of tourist objects such as luggage (Barry, 2018; Sheller & Urry, 2016). It is a diverse field of study examining numerous forms of mobility that relate to tourism. In Australia, international backpackers often blur the boundaries between home/away and work/leisure because their long holidays enable them to become semi-permanent residents in their destinations (Allon et al., 2008). They also blur the boundaries between migrant workers and tourists (Barry, 2020). However, backpacker researchers working in Australia typically consider working holiday visa holders as backpackers (Allon et al., 2008; Barry, 2020; Iaquinto, 2015). Some of the researchers who study backpackers also blur the boundaries between researcher and backpacker (Cohen, 2011; Hampton, 2010; Iaquinto, 2020; Matthews, 2012). However, this has become less common over the past decade with backpacker research becoming dominated by quantitative methods. While mobile methods have their own limitations, methodological diversity can help to advance knowledge more effectively. Mobilities perspectives are thus well suited to backpacking and have commonly been applied by backpacker scholars (Allon et al., 2008; Ateljevic & Hannam, 2008; Germann Molz & Paris, 2015; Iaquinto, 2018b; O’Regan, 2008). Mobilities thinking moves between scales, from the ‘large-scale movements of people, objects, capital and information across the world, as well as the more local processes of daily transportation, movement through public space and the travel of material things within everyday life’ (Hannam et al., 2006: 1). This allows researchers to connect everyday practices with large societal structures and broader processes. It also helps mobilities theory inform other theories such as theories of social practice (Sheller & Urry, 2016). The focus in this chapter is upon the spatial mobilities of backpackers, so it adopts a theoretical perspective shaped by the combination of mobilities theory, which recognises the role of movement in reshaping everyday practices (Sheller & Urry, 2016), and social practice theory, which considers the social world to be comprised entirely of variously interlocking social practices (Ren et al., 2019). As the go-along was based within a campervan, the research is also shaped by theoretical strands derived from the caravanning and passengering literatures (Adey et al., 2012; Wilson & Hannam, 2017). The figure of the passenger has been used by mobilities researchers to overcome the binary between mobility and immobility (Bissell & Fuller, 2011). The passenger is a mobile subject sitting still, ‘located at the nexus of mobility and immobility, “freedom” and control, flesh and machine’ (Bissell & Fuller, 2011: 8). Passengers thus embody the tensions between mobility and immobility without setting them up as a binary. Caravanning has also drawn the attention of mobilities researchers as it involves the combination of the extraordinary with the mundane, and

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merges work with leisure (Mikkelsen & Cohen, 2015; Steer-Fowler & Brunt, 2018). Mobile Methods

The mobilities paradigm as a generative engine has been the basis of a profusion of methods developed under the guise of mobile methods (Büscher et al., 2011; Fincham et al., 2009). They include mobile video ethnography (Spinney, 2015), mobile virtual ethnography (Germann Molz & Paris, 2015), walking sensory ethnography (Duffy et al., 2019) and GoProing (Clement, 2019). Within the field of mobile methods, there is sustained attention on how conventional social research methods, such as interviews, participant observation and questionnaires, could be reworked to better suit the context of embodied spatial mobility (Merriman, 2014). These methods are often experimental and open, combining different theories such as social practice theory, non-representational theory and feminist methodologies, therefore helping to foster critical reflection upon the state of social scientific methods (Sheller & Urry, 2016; Vannini, 2015; Warren, 2017). The extent to which mobile methods are mobile or new can be debated. A clear precedent is Hägerstrand’s (1970) ‘time geography’ that was developed in the 1960s to mark the paths traced by people through place. Kusenbach’s (2003) highly cited work on the ‘go-along’ method emerged before Sheller and Urry heralded the arrival of the ‘new mobilities paradigm’ in 2006. As did Pink’s (2004) ethnographic study on domestic life in which she walked through people’s homes while recording video. Meanwhile, backpacker researchers were for several decades applying methods that would now be categorised as ‘mobile’ in the sense that they involved researchers physically moving with their backpacker research subjects (Büscher & Urry, 2009). In some of the earliest studies of backpackers, authors describe long periods of participant observation (Riley, 1988; Vogt, 1976), which is a method commonly used today (Barry, 2018). Another relatively common method is the adaptation of ethnographic techniques to the backpacking context (Sørensen, 2003), which necessitates researchers moving with backpackers to understand their mobilities. This has involved both repeated and one-off encounters with backpackers (Lozanski & Beres, 2007; Sørensen, 2003). However, by not situating such research among the mobile methods literature, the ability of such research to make theoretical, empirical and methodological advances beyond backpacker studies in the areas of mobilities research is limited. Moreover, some researchers have attempted to overcome methodological challenges presented by backpacker mobility by using immobile methods: for example, by using fixed infrastructures known to be places backpackers congregate in – such as hostels, visitor information

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centres, airports and enclaves – to recruit backpackers (Iaquinto, 2020; Reichenberger, 2017). As mobilities researchers have commonly pointed out, mobility is often dependent on various fixed infrastructures or ‘moorings’ such as airports or hotels (Ateljevic & Hannam, 2008). In addition, researchers have sought contact with research participants through internet forums, social media handles and email addresses. As online spaces are relatively fixed, they provide adequate moorings upon which researchers can connect with backpackers (Germann Molz & Paris, 2015). While these data collection strategies have undoubtedly been effective at expanding academic knowledge of backpackers, their reliance on fixed sites of data collection have potentially omitted a key feature of the backpacker experience. Practices of moving are fundamental to understanding what it means to be a backpacker. Moving produces embodied forms of knowledge that can be very different from those produced by less lively modes of data collection (Vannini & Vannini, 2017). Excluding a concern for movement from research that investigates a group of people defined by their mobility is a considerable research gap. However, this is not to claim that backpacker stoppages are irrelevant. In fact, mobilities researchers and backpacker researchers have recognised that stillness, stoppages and lethargy are often unavoidable elements of mobile experiences and might be deeply significant (Bissell & Fuller, 2011; Cresswell, 2012; Iaquinto, 2020). Therefore, when determining methodological choices, researchers must consider both active and passive dimensions of mobile experiences. Methodology

This chapter emerged from a doctoral research project on backpacker mobilities and practices conducted in Australia and completed in 2015. The focus of the overall project was upon the practices of sustainability performed inadvertently by backpackers and the role that place and mobility played in such performances (cf. Iaquinto, 2018a). This chapter is concerned only with one particular part of the fieldwork. It involved an approximately 2000-kilometre journey from Alice Springs to Cairns in Australia carried out over five days by the author in a rented campervan with two other backpackers. The small sample size limited a deeper understanding of how backpackers interact with each other. However, during the five-day period, the author was wholly immersed in the field, providing a contrast to much backpacker research conducted in fixed sites (Iaquinto, 2020; Reichenberger, 2017), thus enabling other insights. Figure 3.1 depicts the vehicle driven by the author and the two other backpackers across Australia. The photograph was taken at the Karlu Karlu/Devils Marbles Conservation Reserve, 96 kilometres south of Tennant Creek. The vehicle was a non-self-contained Toyota Hiace campervan.

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Figure 3.1  The vehicle (author photograph)

My two travel companions – Hayley and Sam (pseudonyms) – were both British women in their early twenties. They had been friends since university and were travelling after graduation. The drive from Alice Springs to Cairns was one small part of a much larger backpacker holiday that had already involved a five-week journey around New Zealand and a stay in Darwin. They had entered Australia on working holiday visas and wanted to travel to Cairns to find work. They pinned messages to noticeboards at various hostels in Alice Springs, introducing themselves and explaining that they were looking for one to two more people to join them on the journey to Cairns to save costs. I contacted them using the number provided and we met up the day before departure. Over coffee, I explained my status as a researcher and that the journey itself would be an important part of the data collection process. They were happy for a ‘backpacker–researcher’ to accompany them. Figure 3.2 displays one of the notices they used to locate travel companions (edited to maintain anonymity). The type of mobile method applied is known as a ‘go-along’ (Scott, 2020; Spinney, 2015), which is a collection of methodological techniques designed to observe research participants’ ‘spatial practices in situ while accessing their experiences and interpretations at the same time’ (Kusenbach, 2003: 463). Researchers have used mobile methods to understand the risks embodied by urban cyclists (Spinney, 2011), the

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Figure 3.2  Searching for travel companions

frictions of campervan mobility (Wilson & Hannam, 2017), and the everyday walking practices of families in car-dependent cities (Clement, 2019). Mobile methods have also been used by tourism researchers. To understand how tourists engaged with the environment, Duedahl and Blichfeldt (2020) used a combination of sedentary interviews with periods of accompanying tourists on walks and activities that they would normally do. Go-alongs can thus take various forms and are useful for gaining insights into how people engage with place and environment, the practices that they perform, and the social milieu in which people are located (Kusenbach, 2003). All of which are important insights for researchers interested in understanding backpacker experiences. This study used participant observation supplemented by a group interview with my two travel companions, and my own reflections. In a notebook, I recorded observations and reflections daily, while the interviews were audio recorded with the permission of the two interviewees. The interview took place on the third day of the five-day journey, which allowed enough time for the interviewees to reflect upon the journey and the impressions it had made upon them. In the interview I asked about practices, daily activities, and itineraries, how they spent their money and the types of people they interacted with. Throughout the journey, we shared costs of food, accommodation and petrol. The use of mobile methods blurs distinctions between backpackers and the backpacker researchers who study them, perhaps more than other forms of tourism research. The ability to assume the mobile

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identity of those you are studying is an advantage of the go-along method as it provides insights into, and empathy with, the lives of your mobile research subjects. And, as Scott (2020) has argued, one advantage of the go-along is that it is compatible with various social research philosophies, so researchers need not assume a backpacker or other tourist identity when using go-alongs. A key feature of mobile methods is the in situ data collection and the researcher’s participation in the mobility practice under investigation. For example, Spinney (2015) travelled with other cyclists on his own bike while doing mobile video ethnography. In the study by Wilson and Hannam (2017), the lead author made a digital film of her own experiences driving a campervan to festivals. It is thus important to reflect upon how the participation of the researcher in the mobility practice shapes the data collection. During fieldwork, I was not just a backpacker researcher but a backpacker as well. My researcher status was not foremost in the minds of other backpackers, nor my travel companions. At a practical level, I was just another backpacker. It required a conscious effort to maintain my identity as a researcher while in the field. As geographers have long noted, place is not a passive backdrop to human activity but influences social relations and identities (Edensor et al., 2020). Identity can therefore fluctuate depending on where you are located. My backpacker identity faded upon returning home but, during fieldwork, it was quite prominent even though I was also doing research. As my backpacker travel companions accepted me as a backpacker, this might have also shaped the data collection. There could be certain aspects of the experience that would only become apparent to a relative outsider. However, such insights would have been overlooked as, at the time of the journey, I had already spent ten days living at backpacker hostels in Alice Springs. Throughout the interviews, my backpacker identity was useful for maintaining a conversational style like that used when conversing with backpackers casually. Possibly because of this, none of the interviewees appeared troubled by the switch to my researcher role. Even the presence of the audio recorder did not put off any potential interviewees. I would show interviewees the recorder after the interview had already been going for several minutes and start recording after they agreed to be recorded. Nobody refused. The interview schedule was developed to account for this, with the less significant interview questions asked first. In any case, whether researchers are overt or covert about their researcher status will shape the research and data collection either way. A backpacker ‘go-along’

Mobile methods are particularly well suited to examining how people encounter the environment, their everyday practices, their embodied subjectivities, their interpersonal relationships, and their informal social

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networks (Kusenbach, 2003). The methods applied in this study were useful for examining the first three of these. Similar themes have also been explored in the literature on self-drive tourists and caravanning (Mikkelsen & Cohen, 2015; Waitt & Lane, 2007; Wilson & Hannam, 2017). This is because mobile methods are located within the very places where mobile lives are unfolding. Mobile methods provide a contrast to many conventional social research methods. Sit-down interviews prevent people from engaging in typical activities by removing them from the places in which such activities are performed (Kusenbach, 2003). One-off surveys lack the ability to provide in-depth insights into backpacker experiences. Researcher knowledge of everyday practices can empower researchers to investigate how backpacker tourists live their lives and can provide important knowledge for those researchers with anthropological or ethnographic inclinations. Understanding backpacker subjectivities can help to reveal the ways their experiences connect with other elements of social life, such as work, family and the home. Understanding how backpackers encounter the environment can assist sustainable tourism researchers and destination managers interested in learning more about how backpackers engage with place. Figure 3.3 depicts the route of our journey across Australia, with the overnight stops identified.

Figure 3.3  The journey

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The five-day journey through Central Australia provided insights into how backpacking sustains itself beyond the typical gathering places of the hostel and the enclave. What happens beyond those places is just as important for understanding the phenomenon of backpacking in Australia, as it is where backpackers find work in farming communities and complete their 88 days of agricultural labour (Barry, 2020). It is also where backpackers take to the road for long transcontinental overland journeys, which comprise an important element of backpacker identity in Australia. Whether by bus, train, rented car or their own vehicle, backpackers engage in overland travel to get off ‘the beaten track’ and see parts of Australia away from major tourist centres. It can also be cheaper than flying. Thus, travelling long distances overland is a common activity among backpackers in Australia. Everyday backpacker practices

Mobility practices and the experiences they enable form a central aspect of backpacking, playing an important role in shaping backpacker identity (Ateljevic & Hannam, 2008). As Ateljevic and Hannam (2008) have pointed out, the time spent travelling is not ‘dead’ time but involves important backpacker activities. Travelling via campervan, for example, involved certain rhythms of mobility. We alternated the role of driver every few hours. Conversations between the three of us would stop and start periodically as new sights came into view or as conversational topics came and went. Constant positioning and re-positioning of bodies was necessary to reduce discomfort on the seats. The mobilities of the road influenced the social atmosphere within the campervan as we attuned our bodies to the movements of the vehicle and the shifting perspectives encountered through the windows. As a result, there was not much talking. Some forms of qualitative research, such as interviews, rely heavily on talking to produce data. When doing a go-along, it is important to remember that silence does not mean a lack of data. Go-alongs are used to gather place-informed knowledge that emerges not only from participants’ recollections but also through their embodied engagement in the surrounding socioenvironmental context (Evans & Jones, 2011; Thompson & Reynolds, 2018). Researchers using go-alongs are often interested in understanding how people’s everyday experiences unfold ‘naturally’ and so periods of silence can be just as significant as those involving conversations (cf. Stiegler, 2020). Scholars who have researched caravanning also know that silence, solitude and apparent idleness can be deeply significant to caravanners (Steer-Fowler & Brunt, 2018). As I was interested in backpacker practices, what was recorded in field notes were often mundane observations from the drive: ‘The van has the worse mileage. We are stopping regularly to fill up. We didn’t stay long at the Devil’s Marbles. Maybe they feel rushed’ (field notes, Tennant Creek).

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But, over time, through such observations, it is possible to acquire a picture of what backpacker mobility is like. Everyday backpacker practices, such as preparing meals, were made different via their performance in the campervan rather than in hostel kitchens. The unfamiliar beds of the campervan altered everyday practices of sleeping, making them more mobile than usual. But backpackers accept lower standards of accommodation to save money and to boost ‘road status’. Being mobile thus reconfigured the performance of everyday practices, demonstrating the importance of a theoretical perspective that accounts for the relationship between mobilities and practices (Hui, 2013; Iaquinto, 2018b). The long distances between popular tourist sites means that air travel rather than overland travel is the preferred travel mode for most tourists in Australia (Iaquinto, 2015). However, domestic flights are usually too expensive for budget tourists such as backpackers, particularly as many will be travelling to rural locations where air services are limited (Iaquinto, 2015). Overland car or bus journeys through some of the most remote areas of the continent are highly valued as they enable budgeting and they boost backpacker road status. Seeing parts of Australia that ‘typical’ tourists rarely visit is a way for backpackers to differentiate themselves from mass tourists. Therefore, applying methods that can access such journeys can give researchers a more comprehensive understanding of backpacking. Backpackers are budget tourists, but budgeting in Australia is even more important given the high cost of living compared with other popular destinations in Southeast Asia. The relinquishing of various small luxuries was thus common: Across the continent, we rarely used Air conditioning (AC) to save petrol even though it was stinking hot out there. We used it a bit on the first day leaving Alice Springs, and then turned it back on five days later after we left Mission Beach. The morning in Mission Beach was the first time my travel companions started complaining about the heat. Maybe it was the humidity. (Diary notes, Cairns)

Everyday backpacker practices of frugality were essential for maintaining backpacking as a low-budget form of tourism and such practices often involved mobility in the form of overland travel, carpooling, ride-sharing, driving and passengering. Pictures from the journey were uploaded to Facebook to convey ‘road status’ to friends and family back home, and new connections made while backpacking. In the campervan, we also performed other frugal practices that were less obviously mobile but still important to maintaining daily routines throughout the journey: We reused water that boiled sweet potato to boil broccoli. When I couldn’t finish my dinner Sam finished it for me. Only because I was

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going to throw it out. She even asked me: ‘are you going to throw it out?’ and ate it when I said yes. We went to McDonalds in Mt Isa and Charters Towers to use the Wi-Fi and bathrooms but not to buy anything. (Diary notes, Charters Towers)

While highly mobile people such as backpackers travel light, it does not mean that physical items are unimportant. Mobile people may choose items purposefully to maintain a sense of home across unfamiliar locations (Rickly-Boyd et al., 2014). Relations with materials were highly significant to my two travel companions and me. We each carried a similar collection of objects: mobile phones, laptops, books, drinks and snacks. During our journey, everyday items such as water bottles and sunglasses, and technologies such as power steering, portable gas stoves and refrigeration, made the drive bearable and indeed possible. Everyday practices of cooking, driving and hydrating were impossible to perform without them. I was personally well aware of the importance of my laptop, recording device, notebook and pens as objects essential to enable my fieldwork. Meanings are an important element of practice (Shove et al., 2012). For backpackers, the meaning of budgeting shaped their everyday practices. In the interview, Hayley explained: ‘we don’t eat out very often. We ate out once last week but that was because we wanted to go out for a farewell meal with one of the backpackers we had met. But if it’s just us two we wouldn’t go out for a meal, we’d just cook’. The meaning element of practice in the form of the shared understanding that budgeting is an essential aspect of backpacking has a significant influence upon everyday practices (Iaquinto & Pratt, 2020). The cost of the journey was $AU217 per person for the whole trip, for a daily cost of $AU43 per person for the five-day journey (Iaquinto, 2015). Without the budgeting element, the five-day journey would likely not have happened in the first place, as they would have flown from Alice Springs to Cairns. Even if more spending were allowable, cooking practices would likely be non-existent, as backpackers would simply purchase their lunch at rest stops along the way. Frugality has a significant impact upon backpacking as it makes mundane practices like cooking a fundamental part of the tourist experience. As a result, backpacking can sometimes resemble life at home. But simply because something is mundane does not mean it is insignificant. Cooking in large groups and minimising food wastage and energy consumption inadvertently enabled backpackers to perform everyday practices of sustainability (Iaquinto, 2015). For caravanning tourists, mundane practices such as cooking and dishwashing ‘become ways through which experiences of freedom unfold’, challenging stereotypical masculinist versions of freedom in which the home is left behind (Mikkelsen & Cohen, 2015: 674).

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Embodied subjectivities of backpackers

Kusenbach (2003) argued that go-alongs can bring to the surface a range of associations, memories and anticipations that connect to our life histories. Duedahl and Blichfeldt (2020: 438) used the go-along for ‘navigating the unknown terrains’ of nature, social relations and researcher embodiment. In doing these things, go-alongs can foreground how practices of embodied movement connect people with other humans and non-humans as well as the self (cf. Scott, 2020). Being mobile enables people to reflect upon the ways their anticipations of future events connect with memories of the past, which is impossible to observe and quite difficult to access via interviews (Kusenbach, 2003). During the 5-day journey, the most personal conversations that occurred between the three of us happened not during stoppages but while on the move: During the drive today we talked about relationships. They asked me if I had a girlfriend. Sam had been in a relationship for three years (‘he wasn’t the travelling type’) and she was relieved it had ended because now she could travel. Hayley said she changed so much after university that her relationship with a long-time friend was consequently different. We agreed that a friend you can travel with for long periods is different from other friends. They had both experienced social changes in their lives that then prompted travel. (Diary notes, Cloncurry)

In their use of mobile methods, Harada and Waitt (2013: 148) explained how a moving automobile created an ‘affective atmosphere of comfort’ that increased the likelihood that people would share intimate details of their lives. The seat positioning makes eye contact difficult. Talking while driving instead relies upon bodily gestures combined with subtle variations in vocal tone, timbre and inflection (Harada & Waitt, 2013). As Ashmore (2013: 595) has argued, being a passenger is not a static experience but one involving a ‘shifting set of subjectivities’. The experiences of passengering are thus quite variable. They can be tiring, scary, active or violent (Adey et al., 2012; Martin, 2011). Experiences of passengering are relevant to backpacker researchers because backpackers are usually long-term tourists and so spend a lot of time being passengers. Popular backpacker experiences involve passengering, such as train travel or van touring in Europe (Johnson, 2010; Wilson et al., 2008). Passengering complicates the point at which a researcher can be said to have entered the field, particularly if ‘the field’ is considered to be places where backpackers are located. What happens when backpackers move to (and between) destinations is an overlooked element of the backpacker experience. In the campervan, the seat positioning combined with the hot air blowing forcefully through the windows slowed the pace of conversation, providing time for reflection in between speaking. The experience of moving in the campervan changed conversational norms, extending the time that elapsed between

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verbal exchanges. Instead of the exuberant conversations common in hostels and enclaves, backpacker speech while moving was lethargic and punctuated by prolonged periods of silence. Backpacker social interactions have received considerable academic attention (Germann Molz & Paris, 2015; Murphy, 2001; Reichenberger, 2017) and yet there remain gaps in how backpacker social interactions take place throughout the entire scope of the trip. Moving with two backpackers over a five-day period was very useful for understanding the influence of different places and contexts on data collection and how practices of mobility and stillness change the forms of data produced. They were travelling on working holiday visas and had been in Australia for about two weeks before embarking upon the drive. Using a mobile method produces data via a prolonged engagement rather than a single exchange. Even with the same two backpackers, the collected data over the five-day period varied depending on the context, social situation and spatial mobility. This indicates the importance of reflecting upon the limitations of various methodological options and choosing methods that are fit-for-purpose (Iaquinto, 2016). The interview with the two backpackers took place while at our campsite in Charters Towers, Queensland. Being away from the confines of the campervan, the hot wind, and with the ability to sit face-to-face, allowed further elaboration on the conversational topics that had emerged over the previous three days. The interview provided an opportunity for my two travel companions to consider the meaning of their backpacking experiences and to reflect upon the experiences leading up to their decision to go backpacking, which circled back to the conversations we had while driving: Hayley: we were saying that we are going to be different by the time we get home. Sam: because we have been away from home for three years at uni, we changed then, and this trip has been on top of that. But I think by the end of it we would’ve changed even more. More independent. Hayley: I think backpacking makes you more laid back. You have to go with the flow. I quite like it actually. Not knowing where we were going to stay tonight. It doesn’t bother me anymore. But it probably would have before [the trip]. Sam: Yeah because it’s not as structured in what you’re going to do and when. Hayley: Which I quite like. I’m quite … I get stressed easily at home. I like to know what I’m doing and when. I think it’s good for me to go backpacking because then I just have to learn to Sam: To deal with it. Hayley: Yeah. Pretty much.

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As other mobilities researchers have identified (Ateljevic & Hannam, 2008; Bissell & Fuller, 2011), stoppages are important aspects of mobility. Bissell (2009) cautioned that mobile methods risk privileging the more active elements of mobile social life. Moments of ‘quiescence’, in which mobile bodies are more passive or sluggish, are equally significant (Bissell, 2009: 53). Researchers interested in using mobile methods should avoid privileging the more active manifestations of tourist mobilities. Experiencing time at a slower pace can also be part of the appeal of some forms of tourism mobility, such as caravanning (Mikkelsen & Cohen, 2015). The mobile methods used in this study were able to avoid privileging active backpacker mobilities by the relatively long period spent in the field, enabling me to consider both active and passive backpacker dispositions over the five-day journey. As Bissell (2009: 68) has argued, the more passive aspects of mobile life might become apparent via ‘less hasty’ styles of research. While this is difficult to achieve in the current academic climate, it reveals how certain insights may be lost without adequate time dedicated to data collection and it highlights the need for more methodological diversity in backpacker research. Furthermore, bodily passivity is not meaningless, as mobilities researchers have long recognised it to be a significant aspect of the embodied experiences of mobility (Vannini, 2011). During the journey, stoppages were instructive for revealing insights into backpacking that are worth exploring in more detail. At Cloncurry, we spent the night at the house of a local schoolteacher who I knew through a mutual friend. Since we did not need to pay for accommodation, Sam and Hayley could justify spending money going out for dinner. As they explained later in the interview: Hayley: I was worried when I saw the roast on the board for $1–20 but then we got the lasagne and the mushrooms. Sam: They were cheaper. We will just have to cook more from now, to balance it out. Hayley: If we had been paying for a campsite last night, we wouldn’t have wanted to spend that much money on food. But obviously because we got the free bed it was okay.

These insights helped me to consider the importance of backpacker spending practices in remote areas, expanding my knowledge of how backpackers contributed to economic sustainability, and assisting the broader project of which this journey was a part. As the tourist presence in the areas between Alice Springs and Cairns is minimal, backpackers can make relatively important contributions to the local economy even via their meagre spending practices (Iaquinto, 2015). The go-along method helped to produce insights into backpacking

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that would be difficult to gain with other methods. The prolonged period of immersion in the field they enabled as I ‘moved-with’ my mobile research subjects, helped to reveal how the economic value of backpackers is not just in their working practices supporting the agricultural industry or in the main backpacker destinations where they do most of their spending: it is also in remote regions with little tourist appeal. Encountering the environment as a backpacker

A major advantage of mobile methods is their ability to reveal deeper insights into human–environment relationships that are not possible with conventional social research methods (Duedahl & Blichfeldt, 2020; Evans & Jones, 2011; Scott, 2020; Vannini & Vannini, 2017). As Kusenbach (2018: 4) argued: ‘if environment and place are fundamental features of human identity and social life, they must play an integral part in scholarly investigations and representations of these topics as well’. Backpacking, as with much tourism, is deeply shaped by issues of environment. Popular backpacker activities involve extraordinary practices dependent on specific environments for their performance, such as swimming, snorkelling, camping and hiking (Iaquinto, 2020; Luo, 2020; Sroypetch, 2016; Witte, 2020). While the environmental impacts of backpacking are relatively well known (Agyeiwaah et al., 2020; Sroypetch, 2016), there remains a lack of studies exploring the ways in which backpackers connect with the environment in more mundane ways. But if tourism is to become more sustainable then the daily practices of tourists such as backpackers are also important. Go-alongs can help reveal both the extent to which mobile people engage with the environment while on the move, and the qualities of that engagement (Kusenbach, 2003). As backpacker mobilities heighten the already dynamic relations between people and place, the environment became a significant actor comprising the confluence of relations unfolding in the campervan (cf. Barry, 2018): The landscape changed so much today. In Tennant Creek it was kind of shrubby but got greener with more trees when we turned east. It was then very arid after Barrow Creek but at Camoweal it became a little bit grassy or more like ‘dead grass’ as Sam said. Then after Mt Isa it was hilly with trees that had blackened stumps, but the hills were made of jagged rocks of a striking red colour. Hayley remarked, ‘it looks like a place where a T-Rex would live’. (Diary notes, west of Cloncurry)

Most assertive were encounters of a visual nature as the mobilities of the campervan enabled us to witness a constantly unfolding landscape; but also present were the sensations of our bodily comportment on

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the seats, the sounds of air blowing through open windows and the vibrations of tires on bitumen. Wilson and Hannam (2017) conceptualised campervan travel via the concept of frictions, which could be physical, environmental, technical or social. The vibrations caused by the engine and the surface of the road, combined with weather, gradients and topography, produced a specific type of body–campervan assemblage (Wilson & Hannam, 2017). Our heavy campervan and the lower quality of roads in Central Australia meant that backpacker mobility via campervan created a specific bodily experience. In the campervan, our passengering experiences were characterised by a sense of anticipation. We drove without air conditioning in an environment in which the daily temperature reached almost 40°C, only adding to the sense of unpleasantness. Overall, these factors made the drive uncomfortable, heightening the feeling of discomfort and fostering a sense of urgency to arrive in Cairns as quickly as possible. Despite the abundance of sightseeing opportunities, we did not linger or detour from our path: When we stopped at places we didn’t linger, we didn’t spend much, we didn’t leave the hostel, campsite or car. It was a quick fill up at a petrol station and then back on the road. Lunch was sandwiches we made ourselves. We might make one trip to a supermarket to buy a few items. Whenever we stopped for the night at a campsite, we rarely left the campervan. (Diary notes, Cloncurry)

However, even while passing through the same landscapes in the same vehicle, experiences of passengering would differ between backpackers. A range of factors would also influence whether a long overland journey was enjoyable. Backpacking can appear to be relatively luxurious during fieldwork conducted only within the confines of hostels and enclaves (Iaquinto, 2020). The pools, bars and other services available highlight the more leisurely aspects of this form of tourism while downplaying some of the difficulties. However, via mobile methods, the hardship of overland travel and the importance of frugal practices to backpacking became clear. Locating myself in the field, among the various daily practices performed by my travel companions, provided not only a cognitive awareness of backpacker travel but also revealed various forms of embodied knowledge. I felt tiredness from sleeping on the uncomfortable bed, fatigue from driving long hours, tingling sensations in my arms caused by holding a vibrating steering wheel over bumpy roads, and thirst caused by constant sweating in an arid environment. On our drive, the smell of dry grass, hot asphalt, eucalyptus and livestock, were detectable on the wind, while the taste of the local tap water lingered. This provided a form of environmental and place-based knowledge in which we were able to locate ourselves via our senses in an Australian landscape.

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Despite the dominance of the visual element in tourism, researchers have long been aware that the tourism experience is perceived by tourists through their entire body (Veijola & Jokinen, 1994). The turn to performance and embodiment has informed an understanding of the sensuousness of tourism (Edensor & Falconer, 2012). Mobile methods detected a range of bodily responses to the environmental conditions throughout the five-day journey, and they were able to communicate the embodied challenges inherent to backpacking. Such practices and experiences were essential to the maintenance of backpacking in the campervan. Therefore, mobile methods are quite useful for backpacker researchers as they can recognise both mobility-related practices and other practices that form part of backpacker mobilities. Experiences of mobility in the campervan involved a combination of liveliness and passivity. Campervan mobilities enabled us to experience rapid environmental transformations. Yet the campervan also provided stability and consistency via its metal structure, providing a strong sense of fixity. A relative sense of bodily lethargy pervaded the interior of the campervan as we sat prone on the seats. However, these experiences of sitting were also characterised by a highly dynamic sensory environment produced by driving at 130 kilometres per hour. When applying mobile methods, it is important to account for both movement and stasis as both are crucial for understanding the manifold ‘experiential dimensions of mobility’ (Bissell, 2009: 53). The challenge for those interested in using mobile methods is how to account for two very contrasting yet equally important mobility experiences during fieldwork. It is here that the figure of the passenger is a useful conceptual device for understanding backpacker mobilities. Passengers integrate both mobility and stillness into a single mobile experience. Passengering practices involve a combination of detachment combined with a purposeful involvement in place, so the concept of passengering could inform the use of mobile methods by indicating a way to ‘ride-with’ mobile research subjects. We alternated the role of driver in the campervan, but those who were passengering were not necessarily passive (cf. Laurier et al., 2008). Passengers would pass water bottles, snacks or sunglasses to the driver and help navigate by checking maps as internet access was unreliable in Central Australia. Passengering also enabled participant observation in the campervan. As a passenger, I was able to take notes, observe my travel companions and apprehend the environments we were moving through. I was also able to reflect upon my own actions, events from previous days, and earlier backpacker experiences. The long drive provided plenty of time for contemplation. However, not all go-alongs are like this. If scholars are to use the go-along in their own research, it must be adapted to their specific fieldwork setting. This involves considering how much time is spent observing and how much time is spent participating, and whether

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it is possible to do both simultaneously. How the data are to be recorded is another important consideration. When you are ‘going-along’, it might not be easy to write down observations or even record audio on a phone. Even if such activities were possible, they might disrupt the ‘natural’ flow of events under investigation. It is also important to remember that part of what is learned from go-alongs are the bodily experiences involved in doing the same activity with your research participants. This type of knowledge is harder to record and reflect upon than more cognitive forms of knowing as it is embodied and transient yet still potentially important. Embodied knowledge transcends the conceptual binary between humans and the environment as it emerges from a body’s entanglement in its surroundings. Scholars interested in embodied knowledge recognise that all senses provide distinctive ways to know place and environment (Barry, 2019; Vannini & Vannini, 2017). Common methods like sit-down interviews, surveys, GPS tracking and photographs do not adequately apprehend embodied knowledge. Therefore, scholars have applied go-alongs to understand how people come to know about the environment while on the move. For example, Duffy et al. (2019) walked, cycled and drove with residents of Dunbar, Scotland to understand the transformative potential of embodied responses to climate change. The embodied knowledge produced by physical movement connected the micro-scale of the body to the macro-level political concerns of global climate change (Duffy et al., 2019). This study recorded data using text-based techniques, but mobile methods are not limited to the strictly textual. A more sustained use of audio recordings, or video, can provide insights into the experiences of moving that potentially could be overlooked with text-based methods. Video provides a different way of understanding how people’s practices connect with place and environment, and it can animate various ‘morethan-human environments’ in ways that purely text-based methods cannot (Scott, 2020: 322). Moreover, as tourist mobilities do not take place in isolation and often relate to other forms of daily mobility, mobile methods are widely applicable beyond strictly touristic settings. Mobilities researchers recognise that the distinctions between home and away, work and leisure, tourist and non-tourist are increasingly blurred, so it is helpful for tourism researchers to apply methods that can account for these complexities. Mobile methods can provide insights not possible with other methods, but they are not suitable for all forms of backpacker research. Conclusion

To demonstrate the use of mobile methods in backpacker research, this chapter applied a mobile method known as the ‘go-along’. The

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five-day 2000-kilometre journey with two other backpackers in a rented campervan provided insights into the backpacking experience not possible with methods that are more conventional. The go-along adopted for this study revealed much about the performance of backpacking away from typical backpacker gathering places such as the enclave, the hostel, and various ‘must-see’ destinations. I have argued that what happens on the move, away from these major points, is equally important for understanding the phenomenon of backpacking. The go-along applied in this study revealed the importance of both active and passive bodily dispositions to the enactment of backpacking. Specifically, it revealed three aspects of the backpacker experience in detail: everyday backpacker practices, backpacker subjectivities, and backpacker encounters with the environment. Everyday backpacker practices of mobility and frugality are essential for enabling backpacking as a low-budget form of tourism. The embodied experiences of moving shaped the character of these practices. Understanding backpacker subjectivities helped to make sense of their spending practices and highlighted the different forms of data that emerge when the researcher is more mobile. Attending to the environment demonstrated how it influenced the performance of backpacker mobility practices. Combining mobilities theory with practice theory showed how mobility influenced the performance of practices by re-shaping the connections between practice elements. Everyday practices of cooking or sleeping, for example, became different as backpacker mobilities produced new connections between the materials, meanings and abilities required to perform them. As the research for this study took place before the outbreak of COVID-19, it is important to consider the influence of the pandemic on backpacker tourism and backpacker research. Backpackers might now prefer to avoid crowded places such as the enclave and hostel in favour of more isolated destinations. Journeys of the kind documented in this chapter might thus become even more significant to backpacking, particularly if new practices of social distancing encourage backpackers to avoid air travel. Domestic air travel in Australia could become costlier as COVID-19 has already had a significant financial impact on the aviation sector. Long-distance overland travel in Australia may then become more commonplace among not only international backpackers but other tourist types and residents as well. It is possible that the changes currently experienced by the backpacker sector, such as hostel closures and visa restrictions, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, will lead to further transformations of the backpacker phenomenon. Mobile methods as applied in this study provided knowledge of everyday practices, backpacker subjectivities and environmental encounters, all of which the COVID-19 pandemic could have altered.

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Future research should explore how the pandemic has changed backpacker social relations and their various mobility-related experiences. Understanding how the daily practices of backpackers have changed, and the ways they engage with what is now a potentially contaminated environment, would also provide useful knowledge for gauging the ongoing adaptations of backpackers. As backpacking is an already dynamic phenomenon, it is highly likely that the outbreak of COVID-19 will lead to more modifications. Backpacker researchers will also have to adapt to these changes and so ongoing methodological experimentation will become more important than ever. References Adey, P., Bissell, D., McCormack, D. and Merriman, P. (2012) Profiling the passenger: Mobilities, identities, embodiments. Cultural Geographies 19 (2), 169–193. https://doi. org/10.1177/1474474011428031. Agyeiwaah, E., Pratt, S., Iaquinto, B.L. and Suntikul, W. (2020) Social identity positively impacts sustainable behaviors of backpackers. Tourism Geographies 1–22. https://doi. org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1819401. Allon, F., Anderson, K. and Bushell, R. (2008) Mutant mobilities: Backpacker tourism in ‘global’ Sydney. Mobilities 3 (1), 73–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450100701797323. Anderson, E. (2018) Belonging, temporariness and seasonal labour: Working holidaymakers’ experiences in regional Australia. In S. Werth and C. Brownlow (eds) Work and Identity: Contemporary Perspectives on Workplace Diversity (pp. 117–131). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Ashmore, P. (2013) Slowing down mobilities: Passengering on an inter-war ocean liner. Mobilities 8 (4), 595–611. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2013.769721. Ateljevic, I. and Hannam, K. (2008) Conclusion: Towards a critical agenda for backpacker tourism. In K. Hannam and I. Ateljevic (eds) Backpacker Tourism: Concepts and Profiles (pp. 247–256). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Barry, K. (2018) Everyday Practices of Tourism Mobilities: Packing a Bag. Abingdon: Routledge. Barry, K. (2019) More-than-human entanglements of walking on a pedestrian bridge. Geoforum 106, 370–377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.10.015. Barry, K. (2020) Momentarily immobile: Backpacking, farm work and hostels in Bundaberg, Australia. Geographical Research 59 (1), 46–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/17455871.12445. Bissell, D. (2009) Narrating mobile methodologies: Active and passive empiricisms. In B. Fincham, M. McGuinness and L. Murray (eds) Mobile Methodologies (pp. 53–68). London: Palgrave Macmillan. Bissell, D. and Fuller, G. (2011) Stillness unbound. In D. Bissell and G. Fuller (eds) Stillness in a Mobile World (pp. 1–17). New York, NY: Routledge. Büscher, M. and Urry, J. (2009) Mobile methods and the empirical. European Journal of Social Theory 12 (1), 99–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431008099642. Büscher, M., Urry, J. and Witchger, K. (2011) Introduction: Mobile methods. In M. Büscher, J. Urry and E. Witchger (eds) Mobile Methods (pp. 1–19). Abingdon: Routledge. Clement, S. (2019) GoProing: Becoming participant-researcher. In B.D. Hodgins (ed.) Feminist Research for 21st Century Childhoods: Common Worlds Methods (pp. 149– 158). London: Bloomsbury. Cohen, E. and Cohen, S.A. (2012) Current sociological theories and issues in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 39 (4), 2177–2202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2012.07.009.

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Kusenbach, M. (2003) Street phenomenology. The go-along as ethnographic research tool. Ethnography 4 (3), 455–485. https://doi.org/10.1177/146613810343007. Kusenbach, M. (2018) Go-alongs. In U. Flick (ed.) The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Collection (pp. 344–361). London: Sage. Laurier, E., Lorimer, H., Brown, B., Jones, O., Juhlin, O., Noble, A., Perry, M., Pica, D., Sormani, P., Strebel, I., Swan, L., Taylor, A.S., Watts, L. and Weilenmann, A. (2008) Driving and ‘passengering’: Notes on the ordinary organization of car travel. Mobilities 3 (1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450100701797273. Lozanski, K. and Beres, A. (2007) Temporary transience and qualitative research: Methodological lessons from fieldwork with independent travelers and seasonal workers. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 6 (2), 106–124. https://doi. org/10.1177/160940690700600202. Luo, X. (2020) Donkey friends as Chinese backpackers. In S. Huang and G. Chen (eds) Handbook on Tourism and China (pp. 106–115). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Martin C. (2011) Desperate passage: Violent mobilities and the politics of discomfort. Journal of Transport Geography 19 (5), 1046–1052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jtrangeo.2011.03.005. Matthews, A.L. (2012) ‘Write’ of passage: Reflecting on the fieldwork process and its contribution to critically orientated tourism research. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 19 (1), 52–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/jht.2012.4. McSweeney, M. and Faust, K. (2019) How do you know if you don’t try? Non-traditional research methodologies, novice researchers, and leisure studies. Leisure/Loisir 43 (3), 339–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/14927713.2019.1629830. Merriman, P. (2014) Rethinking mobile methods. Mobilities 9 (2), 167–187. https://doi.org /10.1080/17450101.2013.784540. Mikkelsen, M.V. and Cohen, S.A. (2015) Freedom in mundane mobilities: Caravanning in Denmark. Tourism Geographies 17 (5), 663–681. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688. 2015.1084528. Murphy, L. (2001) Exploring social interactions of backpackers. Annals of Tourism Research 28 (1), 50–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(00)00003-7. O’Regan, M. (2008) Hypermobility in backpacker lifestyles: The emergence of the internet café. In P. Burns and M. Novelli (eds) Tourism and Mobilities: Local–Global Connections (pp. 109–132). Wallingford: CABI. O’Regan, M. (2015) Methodological bricolage: A journey on the road less traveled in tourism studies. Tourism Analysis 20 (5), 457–467. https://doi.org/10.3727/10835421 5X14265319207434. Paris, C.M. (2013) Surveying ‘difficult-to-sample’ backpackers through Facebook? Employing a mixed-mode dual-frame procedure. Anatolia 24 (1), 75–85. https://doi.or g/10.1080/13032917.2012.762319. Pink, S. (2004) Home Truths: Gender, Domestic Objects and Everyday Life. Oxford: Berg. Reichenberger, I. (2017) Why the host community just isn’t enough: Processes and impacts of backpacker social interactions. Tourist Studies 17 (3), 263–282. https://doi. org/10.1177/1468797616665770. Ren, C., James, L. and Halkier, H. (2019) Practices in and of tourism. In L. James, C. Ren and H. Halkier (eds) Theories of Practice in Tourism (pp. 1–9). Abingdon: Routledge. Rickly-Boyd, J.M., Knudsen, D.C., Braverman, L.C. and Metro-Roland, M.M. (2014) Tourism, Performance, and Place: A Geographic Perspective. Farnham: Ashgate. Riley, P. (1988) Road culture of international long-term budget travellers. Annals of Tourism Research 15 (3), 313–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(88)90025-4. Scott, N.A. (2020) Calibrating the go-along for the Anthropocene. International Journal of Social Research Methodology 23 (3), 317–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579. 2019.1696089. Sheller, M. and Urry, J. (eds) (2004) Tourism Mobilities: Places to Play, Places in Play. London: Routledge.

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Part 2 International Backpacking

4 The Motivations and Constraints of Chinese ‘Donkey Friends’ Yingying Li, Marion Joppe and Ye (Sandy) Shen

The name given to Chinese backpackers in Mandarin is (驴友 lü) or ‘donkey friends’ (Luo et al., 2015). In Mandarin, ‘donkey’ is pronounced similarly to ‘travel’. Also, the donkey is an important load-bearing animal that evokes the image of backpackers who carry a large pack when they travel. In Chinese culture, donkeys represent the hardworking spirit that is exhibited by backpackers, who are not afraid of the hardships that accompany long-distance solo travel, such as tough weather and sickness. In western culture, there is some suggestion that backpacking originated in the 17th and 18th centuries (Lokey-Murphy & Pearce, 1995), although Cohen’s (1972) conceptualisation was based on that of the ‘drifter’ (O’Regan, 2018). Pearce (1990) also traced it to the hippie/drifter lifestyle of the 1960s and 1970s. In China, backpacking is a much more recent phenomenon (Zhu, 2007), after domestic tourism emerged in the 1990s (Zhu, 2009) as a result of implementation of the reform and opening up policy in 1978. In the first half of 2018, Chinese tourists visited domestic attractions more than 2.8 billion times and, in that same year, domestic tourism accounted for revenues of 2.45 trillion yuan ($358 billion) (Zhang, 2018). According to the China Tourism Academy, Chinese tourists make 3.25 billion domestic trips in 2021, despite COVID related strictions. Chinese researchers have not undertaken extensive research on backpacking, and largely rely on the conclusions of backpacking studies produced by western researchers (Sheng, 2003). In addition, studies of domestic Chinese tourists’ travel motivations largely ignore backpackers – despite the importance of youth travel – and their characteristics, such as smartphone and higher education attainment (Chen & Weiler, 2014; Ong & du Cros, 2012; Zhang, 2013). This would suggest that their motivations could be different from other Chinese travellers. Zhang et al. (2018) suggest that ‘backpacker’ is a social identity, and that therefore an

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emic approach to ‘donkey friends’ should be considered. This chapter will, therefore, describe the differences between Chinese and western backpackers as found in the literature and explore the differences in their travel behaviours and characteristics, as well as the constraints faced by domestic Chinese backpackers. Finally, the chapter will examine the negotiation strategies adopted to overcome these constraints by revealing how Chinese culture and society play a role in influencing this specific group of travellers. The chapter concludes with practical implications for better targeting and catering to Chinese backpackers. Literature Review Characteristics of Chinese ‘donkey friends’

Although there have been many attempts to profile and classify backpackers (Table 4.1), starting with Cohen’s (1972) ‘drifters’, Nash et al. (2006) conclude that they are not easy to define. As a result, Pearce’s (1990) criteria continue to be widely used in backpacking studies (Luo et al., 2015; Nash et al., 2006; Pearce, 2008; Sheng, 2003). They indicate backpackers have a preference for budget accommodation; place importance on meeting other travellers; are independently organised and have a flexible travel schedule; take longer rather than very brief trips; and emphasise informal and participatory activities. Pearce (2008) refined this description insofar as he deemed the preference for budget accommodation to be a necessary condition while the other Table 4.1  Broad profile of backpackers Authors

Terminology

Descriptions

Riley (1988)

Long-term Budget Travellers

They are different from the ‘drifters’ described by Cohen (1972). Most of them are educated middleclass people. They have flexible timetables, and most expect to re-join the workforce in their countries. They travel with a budget, and therefore tend to visit developing countries to allow themselves to stay as long as possible. They are a wealthy society’s modification of drifters.

Loker-Murphy & Pearce (1995)

Backpackers

5 keys characteristics: a preference for budget accommodation; an emphasis on meeting other people; are independently organised and have flexible travel schedule; longer rather than brief holidays; place an emphasis on informal and participatory recreation activities.

Hampton (1998)

Backpackers

Also described as ‘Minimalist’. They have a low budget for accommodation, transport and dining facilities compared to mass tourists. Even so, they still bring benefits to the local economy.

Maoz & Bekerman (2010)

Backpackers

Young tourists who tend to gather in ghettos or enclaves: places where large numbers congregate to experience home comforts and the company of tourists of similar interests.

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four criteria are just strong indicators of the backpacker phenomenon. However, Richards and Wilson (2004) criticised the characterisations of backpackers based exclusively on travel behaviours as this does not reveal how they see themselves. Zhang et al. (2018) went further and argued that behavioural norms are not homogeneous and they suggested that Chinese backpackers were not particularly budget conscious, although they were restricted by societal constraints from taking long trips. Therefore, the line between independent travellers and backpackers is growing increasingly blurred. Previous research into Chinese backpackers found significant common characteristics and differences with their western counterparts (Table 4.2). To understand and define Chinese backpackers, it is important to distinguish the main differences from their western counterparts: • They travel for shorter periods (Luo et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2017). While western backpackers tend to go for six months or more, the majority of Chinese backpackers travel between two and seven days. • They are highly dependent on the internet (Cai et al., 2019; Luo et al., 2015; Ong & du Cros, 2012; Zhang et al., 2017). Their primary information sources are travel websites, where they exchange travel advice with other travellers (Ong & du Cros, 2012) and look for travel companions (Cai et al., 2019). Western backpackers are more likely to obtain travel information from each other and travel guidebooks (Hampton, 1998), although this has been evolving over time (Paris, 2009). • They are more likely to organise themselves into groups prior to travel via travel websites or in friend’s groups, which is partly due to the influence Table 4.2  Common characteristics and differences between Chinese and western backpackers Characteristics

Chinese Backpackers

Common

1. Most of them are young people (Chen & Weiler, 2014; Cohen, 1972; Loker-Murphy & Pearce, 1995; Ong & du Cros, 2012; Zhang et al., 2007) 2. Common travel behaviours: budget conscious, prefer to stay in hostels (Chen et al., 2013; Pearce, 1990)

Western Backpackers

Differences

Travel 2 to 7 days on average (Luo et al., 2015) Main information sources: travel websites (Cai et al., 2019; Ong & du Cros, 2012) Travel in groups (Cai, 2019; Chen & Weiler, 2014; Luo et al., 2015; Ong & du Cros, 2012) Have stricter gender roles (Chen & Weiler, 2014; Ong & du Cros, 2012) Less budget conscious with more financial flexibility (Cai et al., 2019; Chen & Weiler, 2014)

Travel for extended periods (Luo et al., 2015), at times more than six months (O’Reilly, 2006) Main information sources: each other and travel guidebooks (Hampton, 1998) Independent spirits (Cohen, 1972; Vogt, 1976) Tighter budget: reliance on public transportation (Hampton, 1998)

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of traditional culture (Cai, et al., 2019; Chen & Weiler, 2014; Luo et al., 2015; Ong & du Cros, 2012). During the trip, they often nominate one individual to be a team leader, who becomes responsible for the group’s safety and making important decisions (Luo et al., 2015). They build online communities, to find travel companions (Cai et al., 2019). The tendency to travel in groups means group members are less likely to interact with local people (Chen & Weiler, 2014; Luo et al., 2015). • Gender discrimination and inequality (Chen & Weiler, 2014; Ong & du Cros, 2012) is influenced by traditional thought, which does not encourage Chinese female backpackers to be physically ambitious (Ong & du Cros, 2012; Tsai, 2006). Often, they are expected to cook when travelling in mixed gender groups (Chen & Weiler, 2014). • They are less budget conscious than their western counterparts due to the limited length of the trip (Cai et al., 2019; Chen & Weiler, 2014). For example, they are more likely to rent a car when they travel, while western backpackers are more likely to take public transport (Chen & Weiler, 2014). The literature indicates that motivations of backpackers include seeking social interaction, relaxation, self-growth and self-development, and excitement. (Cohen, 2011; Loker-Murphy, 1997; Paris & Teye, 2010; Pearce & Foster, 2007; Uriely et al., 2002). Chinese researchers explored motivations based on these four dimensions in two studies. The first, by Chen et al. (2013), took a mixed-methods approach, conducting a web-based content analysis and in-depth interviews before sending out questionnaires to international youth hostels in Qinghai Province in Tibet and Hainan Province in the south. They found that the four main travel motivations for domestic Chinese backpackers were social interaction, self-actualisation, destination experience, and escape and relaxation. The second study by Chen and Weiler (2014) used a travel forum as the source to delve further into backpackers’ motivations to visit Tibet and found self-actualisation and destination experiences as the two primary motives. Backpackers travelled to Tibet to hike and to challenge their body limits instead of looking for relaxation. Thus, one might conceive of the backpackers heading to Tibet as ‘travellers’, and those visiting Hainan as tourists looking for fun. However, the labels of traveller, backpacker and tourist are contested notions (Cohen, 2010), leaving us without a clear understanding of Chinese backpackers, their motivations or characteristics. It would appear that the main motivations of ‘donkey friends’ reflect some Chinese traditional values as well as contemporary society. Traditional values stem from both Confucianism and Buddhism. Even though these religions are not widely practised in contemporary society, their philosophies have influenced Chinese peoples’ values deeply. Fan (2000) believes that contemporary Chinese culture in mainland China consists of three elements: traditional

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values (e.g. Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism), communist ideology and, recently, western values. Among various cultural viewpoints, Confucianism is the most influential: it forms the foundation of Chinese cultural traditions and still provides the basis of Chinese interpersonal behaviour (Li & Lu, 2016; Pye, 1972). Escape and relaxation may illustrate the idea of ‘Zhongyong’ (中庸) or the ‘Doctrine of the Mean’, which promotes the idea of balance and moderation. Fu et al. (2015) noted that Chinese people do not want to be overwhelmed by work and obligations. Travelling helps them balance their energy and recover physically and mentally. Another important value is that of harmony (和谐) (Cai et al., 2019; Fu et al., 2015; Jiang et al., 2019). The idea of harmony refers to a harmonious interpersonal relationship and to a ‘human–nature’ relationship. Chinese regard harmonious relationships with their co-workers, friends or family as very important (Cai et al., 2019). Related notions such as ‘quanzi’ (social circle 圈子) and ‘guanxi’ (relationship 关系) are also frequently mentioned when discussing Chinese travel and tourism (Li & Lu, 2016). During their travels, Chinese tourists hope to strengthen relationships with their travel companions. Other Chinese cultural attributes that play an important role in group dynamics are 客气 (courteous), and 尊重与服 从权威 (conformity and respect for authority) (Cai et al., 2019). Besides preserving a firm relationship with other people, Chinese also emphasise their relationship with nature (Fu et al., 2015; Jiang et al., 2019), which is encouraged by both Taoism and Buddhism. In traditional Chinese families, a young person is seen to have a social responsibility to take care of their elderly parents. Frequent visits are required when parents are old, making it hard for younger Chinese to take an extended period of time to engage in what may be seen as out of the ordinary or a waste of time by their peers. Although this responsibility is waning in contemporary society (Yang & Tung, 2018), interpersonal constraints remain significant. Constraints and negotiations

The leisure constraints model proposed by Crawford and Godbey (1987), and elaborated by Crawford et al. (1991), is commonly employed in leisure constraints research. The model posits that three dimensions of constraints inhibit people from taking part in leisure activities. They are intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural constraints. Intrapersonal constraints are psychological factors – such as anxiety and worries – that prevent individuals from realising their desires. Interpersonal constraints are factors external to a relationship, which limit one’s ability to engage in some behaviours – such as pressure from friends or family or the lack of travel companions. Structural constraints are the intervening factors between leisure preference and participation, which include economic resources, time availability, weather and other external factors.

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It had been thought that constraints would automatically prevent participation in leisure activities. However, Jackson et al. (1993) found that individuals could employ negotiation strategies to overcome constraints and modify their behaviours so as to take part in activities. Cognitive and behavioural constraint negotiation strategies can lead to constraint avoidance or reduction (Mannell & Kleiber, 1997). A cognitive strategy reduces an individual’s psychological discomfort by ignoring the perceived constraints to minimise the dissonance between attitude and behaviour (Jackson et al., 1993), while a behavioural strategy leads to modifications in other activities in order to participate in a preferred activity (Jackson & Rucks, 1995; Lyu, 2012). For example, if an older Chinese female encounters an interpersonal constraint such as not being able to find any travel companions, she might participate in square dancing to broaden her circle of acquaintances, and thereby remove the constraint (Gao & Kerstetter, 2016). Hubbard and Mannell (2001) built four models to test the relationship between motivation, constraint and negotiation to see how these three constructs influence corporate employees’ participation in recreation activities. The four models were the independence model, negotiation-buffer model, constraint-effects-mitigation model and perceived-constraint-reduction model. Of these four, the constraint-­ effects-mitigation model fitted best with their data. This model hypothesises that motivation influences leisure activities positively as the more highly motivated that people are, the more likely they are to put effort into negotiating and consequently to have a higher level of participation. Thus, motivation has a positive impact on negotiation and influences participation indirectly. In contrast, constraint influences leisure activities negatively, but will trigger the use of negotiation strategies, which mitigate the negative effects of constraints. This constraint-effects-­ mitigation model has been tested in different leisure contexts and is extended to Chinese backpackers in this study in an effort to explore the relationship between these three constructs (Figure 4.1). Methodology

Originally conceived as an intercept survey at hostels in China, the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in December 2019 led to a decision to administer an online survey instead. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data from self-identified Chinese ‘donkey friends’ (backapcker). The use of self-identification is based on the conclusion by Zhang et al. (2018), who found that Chinese backpackers ‘regard the term “backpacker” more as a social identity’ (2018: 537), rather than defining them by their behavioural characteristics. However, screening questions were asked to help them self-define: ‘Are you 18 years old and above?’, ‘Do you see yourself as a backpacker (e.g. travel on a budget,

The Motivations and Constraints of Chinese ‘Donkey Friends’  105

Motivation H1(+)

H4(+)

Negotiation

H5(+)

Constraint

H3(+)

Intention

H2(–)

Figure 4.1  Motivations, constraints and negotiation strategies for Chinese ­backpackers

prefer staying in a hostel, etc.)?’ and ‘Have you done backpacking in China within the past 12 months?’ While not ideal, due to recall bias, a 12-month time frame was chosen to ensure a sufficient sample. The questionnaire was designed to measure the backpackers’ demo­ graphic information, including age, gender, education, employment status, income, travel behaviours, preferences and backpacking experience. A set of items drawn from validated constructs in the literature measured motivations, constraints, and negotiation strategies on a 5-point Likert scale. The questionnaire was back translated and then pre-tested to determine whether respondents were interpreting questions correctly and to reduce measurement error. Pilot tests were conducted to ensure the reliability and validity of the measurement items. The survey was conducted during February and March 2020, and 502 valid questionnaires were collected through the Chinese online research company Sojump. With 2.6 million active users and broad geographic coverage, this company includes people of different ages, socioeconomic status, employment, education levels, etc., ensuring a diverse pool of respondents. Sojump conducted simple random sampling to distribute the survey by text or by email. Data analysis included descriptive statistics as well as analysis of variance (ANOVA) to examine the differences between the age cohorts and to determine whether and how gender, length of stay, and travel frequency might influence travel preferences, motivation, constraint and n ­ egotiation strategies. Next, a correlation analysis in SPSS and a path analysis in AMOS were performed to test the relationship between constructs, to see how motivation, constraints and negotiation strategies influence ­backpacking intention. Results Sample profile

The profile of the respondents (Table 4.3) found that a majority were male (59.2%) and just over half (52.4%) were 21 to 30 years old.

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Table 4.3  Profile of backpackers (N = 502) Variable

Category

Frequency

%

Sex

Male

297

59.2

Female

200

39.8

Did not indicate Birth year

Education level

Before 1980

5.6

185

36.9

1990–1999

263

52.4

2000 and later

26

5.2

Secondary and below

17

3.4

Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree and above

Monthly income (RMB)

Student

6.6 81.3

44

8.8

79

15.7

378

75.3

Employed part time

33

6.6

Temporarily unemployed/ looking for work

11

2.2

Retire

1

0.2

7500 Choose not to respond

Times to backpack in past 12 months

33 408

Employed full time

6001–7500

Length of stay

1

1980–1989

Technical/Vocational school

Employment status

5 28

9

1.5

8 days or less

243

48.8

9 to 14 days

198

39.4

15 to 21 days

38

7.6

22 days and above

21

4.2

1 time

89

17.7

315

62.7

99

19.7

2–3 times Above 3 times

Respondents are very well educated, employed full time (75.3%) and only 15.7 % were full-time students. As a result, the monthly incomes are relatively high in comparison to the median income in China (Wen, 2018), with almost 60% of respondents receiving 6000 RMB (S835) or higher per month. Nearly half (48.8%) the respondents travel for eight

The Motivations and Constraints of Chinese ‘Donkey Friends’  107

Table 4.4  Travel preferences of Chinese backpackers (N = 502) Travel Preferences

Mean

SD

When I go backpacking, I travel under a tight budget

3.76

0.87

When I go backpacking, I travel with a flexible timetable

4.11

0.84

When I go backpacking, I prefer staying in a hostel

4.08

0.83

When I go backpacking, I want to experience the local culture as much as possible

4.45

0.61

When I go backpacking, I look for travel information from travel websites rather than reading travel guidebooks

3.83

0.92

When I go backpacking, I prefer travelling in groups

2.80

1.12

When I go backpacking, I prefer doing some outdoor activities such as hiking, trekking and camping

4.28

0.63

days or less when they go backpacking, and a majority (62.7 %) has gone backpacking 2 to 3 times in the past 12 months. The travel preferences of these self-identified Chinese backpackers are shown in Table 4.4. They enjoy experiencing the local culture as much as possible, engage in outdoor activities such as trekking and camping, prefer to stay in a hostel, travel with a flexible timetable, and use travel websites as the primary source of information. They seem to be under greater budgetary constraints and, somewhat surprisingly, do not agree that they prefer to go backpacking in groups. Both these findings are at variance with previous studies (Cai et al., 2019; Chen & Weiler, 2014; Luo et al., 2015; Ong & du Cros, 2012). The line between backpackers and other independent travellers (hikers, campers) is blurred, however; these respondents see themselves as backpackers in contrast to hikers or campers who are enthusiastic about a specific activity. Backpackers may be campers and hikers, but hikers do not necessarily belong to the group of backpackers. Motivations, constraints and negotiation strategies

The four motivational dimensions identified by Chen et al. (2013) – escape and relaxation, destination experience, self-exploration and improvement, and social interaction – were confirmed in this study. Escape and relaxation was the most common motivation for Chinese backpackers for their most recent trip (Table 4.5). The Cronbach alpha for motivation is 0.747, which is higher than the acceptable cut-off point of 0.6, indicating excellent reliability. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value is 0.779 (>0.7) with a chi-square of 1393.053 (p < 0.05). The combined eigenvalues explained 54.056% of the total variance. Neither gender nor age had a significant effect on the different dimensions of motivation. Those who travel for 22 days or longer in a single trip are the most interested in doing so for self-improvement reasons

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Table 4.5  Motivation of Chinese backpackers Motivations

Mean

SD

1.  To escape daily routine and pressure of life

4.43

0.55

2.  To relax both physically and psychologically

4.56

0.58

3.  To relax and take things easy

4.51

0.57

4.  To be liberated from daily routine, seek time for my own

4.27

0.69

5.  Relieve stress and tension

4.37

0.59

6.  Get a break from everyday job

4.40

0.61

1.  To interact with local people

4.02

0.64

2.  To study the local culture, history and society

4.55

0.59

3.  To experience the local way of life

4.25

0.69

4.  To seek new and unforgettable experience

4.21

0.72

5.  To enjoy local natural landscape

4.58

0.54

6.  To enjoy local cultural landscape

4.36

0.67

7.  To achieve harmony between human and nature

4.34

0.64

8.  To learn something new/increase knowledge

4.41

0.64

1.  To know and understand myself

4.29

0.57

2.  To improve personal skills

4.31

0.73

3.  To develop personal capacity

4.07

0.75

4.  To change my character

4.01

0.81

5.  To accomplish/achieve something

4.21

0.79

6.  To fulfil an ambition

4.35

0.69

1.  To make new friends

4.08

0.70

2.  To develop a new friendship

3.93

0.78

3.  To communicate with and learn from other backpackers

4.25

0.69

4. To share feelings and build up connections with family and friends

4.17

0.78

5.  To build friendship with others

4.07

0.69

Relaxation and Escape (Mean = 4.42, SD = 0.28)

Destination Experience (Mean = 4.34, SD = 0.29)

Self-improvement and Development (Mean = 4.21, SD = 0.39)

Social Interaction (Mean = 4.10, SD = 0.47)

KMO = 0.779, explained 54.056% of the total variance.

(Table 4.6). The statistically significant variance between the different lengths of stay suggests that the longer that backpackers travel, the more likely they are to be driven by the motivations of self-exploration and improvement, which includes understanding themselves and improving personal skills This finding is consistent with Cohen’s (2011) call for a distinct categorisation of lifestyle travellers who backpack as a way of life (Table 4.6). Since the majority of them are employed full time, it could be because they are taking a break from their work and exploring their own interests during backpacking, so that they can find a better direction for

The Motivations and Constraints of Chinese ‘Donkey Friends’  109

Table 4.6  Analysis of variance (ANOVA) Variable Selfimprovement Variable Destination experience

8 days or less

9 to 14 days

15 to 21 days

22 days and longer

ANOVA

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

F (3.330)

p

4.17

0.41

4.21

0.36

4.26

0.37

4.43

0.29

0.50

0.019*

First Time

Repeated

Serial

ANOVA

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

F (7.704)

p

4.23

0.34

4.35

0.28

4.38

0.25

0.639

0.001**

Note *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.

their career path. As previous studies have shown (Jensen & Hjalager, 2019; Loker-Murphy, 1997), backpackers’ motivations can change over time. This study found that interest in destination experiences increases with the number of times these ‘donkey friends’ backpack. Indeed, ‘serial backpackers’ – the 20% who backpacked more than three times in the previous year – are the most interested in learning about the local culture and immersing themselves in the local way of life, a description that fits Cohen’s (2011) lifestyle travellers. Interpersonal constraints, followed by structural constraints, had the greatest likelihood of preventing respondents from going backpacking (Table 4.7). A T-test was conducted, and results showed that female Table 4.7  Constraints on Chinese backpackers Constraint

Mean

SD

1.  I am not confident of doing backpacking

3.04

0.96

2. I am not confident in my skills to go backpacking (understanding maps, communicate with strangers, etc)

2.50

1.02

3.  I worry about my personal safety

3.18

1.08

4.  I worry backpacking involves too many risks

2.95

1.04

1.  I do not have backpacking companions

3.34

0.96

2. People with whom I would go backpacking are not interested in going with me

3.56

0.99

3. My family/friends do not support me going backpacking

3.02

1.15

4. It is difficult to coordinate holiday with my family/friends

3.59

1.03

5. People with whom I would go backpacking are on different schedules

3.65

0.91

1.  Backpacking costs too much money

2.88

0.99

2.  School/work keeps me too busy to go backpacking

3.46

1.09

3.  The places I want to go backpacking are too far

3.40

1.07

4. The destinations are poorly developed and maintained

3.24

1.03

Intrapersonal (Mean = 2.92, SD = 0.843)

Interpersonal (Mean = 3.43, SD = 0.700)

Structural (Mean = 3.25, SD = 0.679)

KMO = 0.822, explained 54.056% of the variance.

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Table 4.8  Gender difference for constraint Male Constraint

Female

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

3.12

0.54

3.36

0.53

df

T

495

–4.942**

Note *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.

backpackers encounter more constraints than male backpackers (Table 4.8). The ANOVA results show that people aged between 21 and 30 years (born between 1990 and 1999) have the highest chance to encounter intrapersonal constraint (Mean = 3.03, SD = 0.80), while those aged 31 to 40 (born between 1980 and 1989) are least likely to do so (Mean = 2.75, SD = 0.86) (Table 4.9). The Cronbach alpha for constraint is 0.790, higher than the cut-off point of 0.6, showing a good reliability. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value is 0.822, with a chi-square of 1661.424 (p < 0.05). The combined eigenvalues explained 54.056% of the total variance. When it comes to negotiation strategies, Chinese backpackers tend to use, in descending order, time management, cognitive strategies, money management, and interpersonal coordination (Table 4.10). Not surprisingly, age influences the use of time management, as control over time increases with age (Table 4.11). Backpackers aged between 31 and 40 years show the highest interest in finding travel companions, while those under 21 are the least interested although still quite favourably disposed towards them. The Cronbach alpha for negotiation strategies is 0.657, which is higher than the cut-off point of 0.6. The KaiserMeyer-Olkin value is 0.702, with a chi-square of 885.824 (p < 0.05). The combined eigenvalues explained 55.747% of the total variance. Model testing

Travel motivation (α = 0.747), travel constraint (α = 0.790), negotiation strategies (α = 0.657) and travel intention (α = 0.623) were tested in the path analysis. Before doing so, a correlation analysis was performed. Motivation (r = 0.331, p < 0.05), constraint (r = –0.149, p  0.5). Biased corrected (BC) bootstrap confidence intervals in AMOS were used to examine the significance of mediation effects of negotiation strategies between motivations and intention. Table 4.14 shows that negotiation strategies partially mediate the relationship between motivation and intention. All hypotheses other than a relationship between constraints and negotiation strategies are supported (Figure 4.2). Negotiation strategies partially mediate the relationship between motivation and travel intention. Table 4.13  Standardised coefficients for the path analysis Path

Standardised estimates

t-value

Results

H1: Motivation → Intention

0.224

H2: Constraint → Intention

–0.132

–3.183**

Supported

H3: Negotiation → Intention

0.160

3.011**

Supported

H4: Motivation → Negotiation

0.621

17.758***

Supported

H5: Constraint → Negotiation

0.029

Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

4.233***

0.824

Supported

Not Supported

The Motivations and Constraints of Chinese ‘Donkey Friends’  113

Table 4.14  Mediation effect of negotiation strategies 95% Confidence Interval

Estimate

p value

BC

0.099

0.011*

0.051–0.169

0.224

0.010**

0.132–0.311

0.324

0.030*

0.205–0.383

Indirect Effect Motivation → Negotiation → Intention Direct Effect Motivation → Intention Total Effect Motivation → Intention

Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. BC: Biased corrected percentile method.

Motivation b = 0.22(t = 4.233)***

b = 0.62(t = 17.758)*** R = 0.39 2

Negotiation b = 0.33(t = 0.824)

.16(t

b=0

)***

11 = 3.0

R2 = 0.14

Intention

b = –0.13(t = 3.183)**

Constraint Note: Dotted line shows that relationship is not significant at 0.05 level *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Figure 4.2  Relationships between motivations, constraints and negotiation ­strategies for Chinese backpackers

Discussion

Consistent with the previous studies (Chen & Weiler, 2014; Ong & du Cros, 2012; Zhang, 2013; Zhang et al., 2007; Zhang et al., 2018), the characteristics of Chinese ‘donkey friends’ can be summarised as follows. They tend to be 30 years or younger, very well educated, and prefer to go on trips for one to two weeks (Zhu, 2009). According to Luo et al., (2015), three factors explain why Chinese backpackers take shorter trips than their western counterparts: shorter public holidays, the intense and competitive work environment, and the family-oriented culture. In terms of public holidays, such as Labour Day and Tomb Sweeping Day, people only get one day off, which increases their difficulty in taking a long vacation. Chinese traditional culture expects people to view ‘spending time with family’ as their top priority, especially during national holidays. This follows Confucius’ exhortation that ‘while his parents are living, a son should not go far abroad’, a dictum that prevents people from travelling too far and for too long. According to Schuman (2015), there has been a revival of Confucian thought and values, at least as far as this supports the government’s platform.

114  Part 2: International Backpacking

This study found that Chinese backpackers do not particularly agree that they like to travel in a group, which appears to contradict previous studies (Chen & Weiler, 2014; Luo et al., 2015; Ong & du Cros, 2012). This may point to an emerging trend of more independent backpackers, who could temporarily make new friends while travelling instead of being part of a group organised prior to travel. Chinese ‘donkey friends’ like to learn about local culture, history and society, engage in doing outdoor activities and/or look for meaningful experiences during travel, which are motivated by traditional Confucian and Buddhist values such as harmony (和谐) (particularly with nature: mean of 4.34) and ‘guanxi’ (relationship 关系) with travel companions but also local people, means of 4.25 and 4.02, respectively) ((Table 4.5). Considering the pressures of traditional culture and society expectations regarding work and family commitments, it is not surprising that relaxation and escape were found to be the most significant motivation for these ‘donkey friends’ (mean of 4.42, SD = 0.28) with the statement ‘To relax both physically and psychologically’ receiving the highest mean score at 4.56 (Table 4.5). It is unclear to what extent the massive pandemic-induced lockdowns in China during the survey period influenced these results as stress levels were particularly high during that time. While getting away from stressors was the dominant theme, western literature identified a quest for independence as a major reason for backpackers’ desire to travel (Cohen, 2003; Maoz, 2007; O’Reilly, 2006). Chinese backpackers who travel for more than two weeks are more likely to be seeking self-growth and self-development, while for those who took multiple trips over the previous year the destination experience was of utmost importance (Table 4.5). The seventh Chinese International Monitor emphasises ‘culture’ and ‘educational experience’ as two important factors for Chinese tourists, while Millennials (born between 1980 and late 1990s) seek adventure and uniqueness (Rapp & Zhang, 2018; Li, 2020). A recent report (Liang, 2018) stated that, for young people, travel lifestyle was seen as a way to express their personal brand, and they see travel as a significant part in seeking identity. Destination experience and self-improvement are becoming important for younger travellers in China as they look for opportunities to learn, grow and experience rather than shop. The most significant constraint for Chinese backpackers is interpersonal, which is consistent with a study by Wu and Pearce (2018) who explored the influence of collectivist culture on Chinese backpackers. Yang and Tung (2018) discussed family influences on Chinese solo travellers, which also explained the interpersonal constraints that Chinese backpackers encounter: first of all, in Confucianism a good child is expected to spend more time with their family and take care of them. Second, the family was found to exert strong influence and power over whether individuals could travel alone in the first place, by withholding financial support,

The Motivations and Constraints of Chinese ‘Donkey Friends’  115

for instance. It was determined that female backpackers encountered more constraints than their male counterparts (Table 4.8). This may be due to gender norms and power relations in the host society. Solo Asian female travellers often perceive risks, and gendered risks are amongst the main ones encountered, including street harassment, sexual intimidation or being mistaken as sex workers (Jordan & Gibson, 2005; Yang et al., 2017a). Using cognitive strategies to negotiate these risks, Yang et al. (2017b) explain how backpackers still backpack, because the experience of looking for independence and freedom is more important to them. Backpacking provides them with a sense of autonomy and empowerment, allowing some liberation from their familial roles and social norms (Obenour, 2005). Intrapersonal constraints impact the different age groups in diverse ways, with each applying somewhat different negotiation strategies. Younger Chinese are more likely to encounter intrapersonal constraints (Table 4.9) as they tend to be students or workers who have just graduated from school, within the past one to three years, and are still at a stage of exploring and developing themselves. Although they feel less sure of their skills and the ability to backpack solo, they nonetheless tend to be more independent and less likely to ask for travel companions. Although group travel is still significant, young Chinese travellers are more attracted to the idea of seeking uniqueness and being independent when they travel, whereas those over 30 are more likely to manage their time and ask for travel companions. The CEM model in this study shows that there is a positive relationship between motivation and travel intention, and there is a negative relationship between constraints and travel intention, which is consistent with previous studies (Hubbard & Mannell, 2001; Son et al., 2008; White, 2008; Xie & Ritchie, 2019). In addition, there is a positive relationship between motivation and negotiation strategies, and negotiation strategies partially mediate the relationship between motivation and travel intention, which suggests that the more that backpackers are motivated, the more likely they are to use negotiation strategies to increase their interest to go backpacking. However, this study did not find that the overall constraint has a direct effect on negotiation, nor that negotiation mediates the relationship between constraint and negotiation. This is contrary to previous studies (Hubbard & Mannell, 2001; White, 2008; Xie & Ritchie, 2019). Son et al. (2008) studied senior adults’ constraints and negotiation strategies on engaging in physical leisure in a metropolitan park, and their results indicated that constraint and negotiation strategies work independently and with similar but opposite influences on participation. They explained this phenomenon by suggesting that the strategies and resources used by the respondents may play the role of facilitators instead of negotiators because the effects of negotiation are independent

116  Part 2: International Backpacking

of participation. Hubbard and Mannell (2001) also pointed out that negotiation resources and strategies used to solve constraints could also be the general factors that can facilitate participation regardless of whether constraints are encountered or not. For example, in this study, backpackers do not have a financial constraint, but they still budget their money when backpacking. This explains that even when constraints are absent, they still tend to use negotiation strategies to increase the possibility of going backpacking. In this study, therefore, negotiation strategies work independently from constraints, and play the role of facilitator in this model. Contribution to Backpacker Research

By focusing on Chinese backpackers, this study fills a gap created by a lack of attention to non-western backpackers. Cohen (2003) suggested that research about backpacking studies should be extended to the emergent backpacking in non-western countries, especially areas including East Asia. Although in the past several years, more and more literature has begun to focus on non-western backpackers, including their travel motivation and travel behaviour, there are many other countries and regions of the world where the phenomenon is gaining ground, such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines to name a few. Backpackers are not a homogenous travel community or segment. This study reveals their heterogeneity and the impact of tradition, history, culture and contemporary media. Many motivational studies are from a limited Australasian context (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2004), with Israeli backpackers particularly well studied (Maoz, 2007). When it comes to Chinese tourists, there is a tendency to study them from the destination country’s perspective, as they are the world’s highest spenders, rather than their home country (Li et al., 2011; Lin et al., 2017; Mei & Lantai, 2018). However, travelling domestically may be driven by different motivations and constraints, since they are more comfortable with the environment and have no – or less of – a language barrier. China, like many other countries, saw its tourism sector hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in the early part of 2020. However, initiatives by the private and public sector, such as consumption vouchers issued by local governments, have seen a shift in spending towards domestic travel. Indeed, scheduled airline capacity in China is down only about 10% compared to 2019, whereas most countries are down anywhere from 30% to 50% and more (Grant, 2021). This study therefore contributes to the increased interest in the Chinese domestic market by shedding more light on backpackers and offering greater understanding of their travel motivations and constraints. This study is also the first attempt to explore Chinese backpackers’ travel motivations, constraints and negotiation together. The four

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dimensions – relaxation and escape, destination experience, selfimprovement and development, and social interaction – were all found to be drivers of Chinese backpackers. Statistical testing showed relaxation and escape to be the strongest. It is interesting to note that, even if they travel domestically, they still look for escape from their daily routine or their daily role, which could reflect the strong influence of tradition and high-pressure work. Durko and Stone (2017) mentioned that, for solo female travellers who are in a relationship, their distinctive motives include escape from daily routine and a need for individuality, which was confirmed in this backpacker study. As regards constraints, interpersonal and structural constraints have a stronger impact on Chinese backpackers than do intrapersonal ones, based on a comparison of means. ANOVA results show that the impact of motivation and constraint differs according to age group and length of trip. Moreover, this study has furthered the constraint-effects-mitigation model by applying it for the first time in a domestic Chinese backpacking context. The application of this model implies that, in order to increase backpacking intentions, destination marketing organization’s (DMOs) should not only consider providing solutions to solve backpackers’ travel constraints but also boost their travel motivations. The original constrainteffects-mitigation model has been widened in the literature and, by applying it to yet another unique context, specifically Chinese domestic backpacking, it continues to be refined. Although this study used an online platform to distribute the self-administered survey, possibly resulting in a bias towards younger cohorts or those more inclined to use the internet, it is important for those involved in backpacking businesses to understand the travel habits of Chinese backpackers and their reliance on social media pre-, during and post-trip. The respondents agree that they look for travel information on websites rather than guidebooks. This is similar to the findings of Paris (2009), who found that while guidebooks are still very important for backpackers of all ages, the use of the internet for pre-trip information searches seems more important. Image is an important aspect for attracting tourists (Lew, 1987) and so destinations and individual businesses should consider promoting their brands by posting short videos on Chinese social media and websites, such as Weibo and Douyin (TikTok), to attract potential backpackers. Xin et al. (2020) found that Douyin blurred the boundary between tourism and everyday life experience, and therefore recommended that DMOs ‘create multi-sensory and hedonistic fantasies specific to a destination or create travel video templates with representative music’ (2020: 10). In addition, marketers could stress how the experience of the destination can reflect an individual’s lifestyle, and therefore attract tourists that appreciate such values (Gross & Brown, 2006). Young Chinese people are becoming more adventurous, seeking new experiences and uniqueness and see travel as an important part of

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their self-identity. Destinations should cooperate with key influencers and vloggers on these platforms. Since destination experience (Mean = 4.34, SD = 0.29, Table 4.5) also has a strong influence on this cohort, backpacking destinations should pay attention to the protection of their authentic culture (Xu et al., 2008). The protection of the environment and local historical culture is essential for the development of backpacking tourism as ‘donkey friends’ value maintaining such a harmonious relationship between humans and nature (Mean = 4.34, SD = 0.64, Table 4.5). Since Chinese backpackers value the destination experience (‘To experience local way of life’ Mean = 4.25, SD = 0.69; ‘To seek new and unforgettable experience’ Mean = 4.21, SD = 0.72, Table 4.5), localisation and authenticity are two important factors for backpacking hostels. The building design should be integrated into the local historical architecture and guests should be provided with access to the local cultural heritage sites. They could also design a ‘themed hostel’ inspired by the local culture and traditions to attract young Chinese backpackers, who look for uniqueness when they backpack. The results of this study showed that Chinese backpackers look for social connections during travel (Mean = 4.10, SD = 0.47, Table 4.5) but are constrained by interpersonal relationships (Mean = 3.43, SD = 0.700, Table 4.7), suggesting that backpacking organisations should emphasise a platform for backpackers to socialise. Li and Lu (2016) reviewed how Chinese culture influences tourist research and pointed out that the top three most frequently mentioned values were collectivism, harmony and ‘face’. Destinations and hostels targeting Chinese backpackers should focus on solving backpackers’ interpersonal constraints by helping them to connect with other travellers. Tsang (2011) investigated how Chinese traditional values influence the tourism industry, and found that ‘attitude towards people’ – which includes tolerance of others, harmony with others and courtesy – had the highest mean in the study at 4.22. Backpacker organisations could provide young backpackers with short-term job opportunities such as doing housekeeping, which would allow them to make friends with other travellers while working. It would also help build connections with the local community. They could also organise some challenging activities for them, such as going trekking, which would help them reach a sense of achievement during their trip, since self-improvement and development are very important to them in terms of motivation, with a mean of 4.21 (Table 4.5). Female backpackers in particular face familial and intrapersonal constraints (Obenour, 2005). They are expected to assume the triple role of being a good daughter, a good wife and a good mother. Here, too, organisations could directly address their constraints by supporting females to break temporarily with families, jobs and roles, by helping them to take some time off from their family role and socialise with other backpackers who share similar responsibilities.

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Conclusion

This chapter describes the differences between Chinese and western backpackers, highlighting the differences in their travel behaviours and characteristics, as well as the constraints faced by domestic Chinese backpackers. It has examined the negotiation strategies adopted to overcome these constraints by revealing how Chinese culture and society play a role in influencing this specific group of travellers. Key differences are the shorter periods of travel; a somewhat greater reliance on the internet; the nomination of one individual to be a team leader and be responsible for the group’s safety and making important decisions; distinct gender roles and discrimination and greater budgetary flexibility. Escape and relaxation was found to be the most significant motivation, while interpersonal constraints and structural constraints have greater influence than intrapersonal constraints, which shows the influence of collectivist culture. In terms of negotiation strategies, older backpackers are more likely to use time management and interpersonal coordination than younger backpackers, which reflects the influence of societal changes and traditional culture. The CEM model employed confirms a positive relationship between motivation and intention, between negotiation and intention, and a negative relationship between constraint and intention. Negotiation strategies partially influence the relationship between motivation and travel intention. The implications for backpacking organisations are that they should not only focus on resolving backpackers’ constraints but also concentrate on boosting their motivation, thereby increasing their interest in going backpacking. Considering the strong measures taken by the Chinese government to control the SARS-Cov-2 virus, such as the stringent lockdowns and restrictions on domestic and outbound tourism, demand for domestic tourism may increase substantially once the measures are eased and people are able to travel. The desire to escape may lead to an increase in the number of people going backpacking to rural destinations. The limitations of this study include the possibility of recall bias, given it asked respondents to recall their travel motivations, constraints and negotiation strategies. It also means that this study focused mainly on these constructs during their trip, neglecting the fact that motivations could change over time pre-, during and post-travel (Paris & Teye, 2010). Furthermore, due to the pandemic, this study used an online panel and a self-administered survey to collect data. It is therefore possible that there is a bias towards younger cohorts who are more active in the online environment. In addition, when exploring the dimensions of motivation, this study retained the subsets rather than re-establishing new coherent subsets. Future studies are advised to conduct qualitative research before distributing questionnaires, to understand this group of travellers better.

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5 Identity Construction of Chinese Outbound Backpackers in Europe Wenjie Cai

Since their inception in the early 1990s, backpacker studies have principally looked at backpackers from the west travelling to less developed countries in the east (du Cros & Jingya, 2013). After the recent call to move beyond Eurocentrism in mobilities studies (Cohen & Cohen, 2015), there is an increasing number of studies exploring Chinese backpackers. However, with few exceptions (see Cai et al., 2019), most studies explore Chinese domestic backpacking rather than outbound backpacking. Influenced by western backpacker values, Chinese backpacking has unique characteristics and cultural influences worthy of further exploration. This chapter provides a mobile ethnography on how Chinese backpackers interpret, practise and understand the concept of backpacking and explores the nature of Chinese outbound backpackers by looking into their identity construction and various levels of transformation during their journeys. Western Backpacker Culture

Emerging from the concept of ‘drifter’ (Cohen, 1972, 1973, 1974), it has been four decades since the term ‘backpacker’ was first coined by Pearce (1990). Cohen associated the drifter with novelty, spontaneity, risk, limited-budget, independence and a flexible itinerary. In the Australian context, Pearce described backpacking as a means for the middle classes to escape their realities and engage in ‘occasional work’ to extend their time of travelling (O’Regan, 2018). From an anthropological perspective, Anderskov (2002) suggested backpacker culture has characteristics of ‘high mobility, abrupt social relationships, valuing of the visual, and identification with signifiers, as opposed to be signified’. In addition, Sørensen (2003) conducted an ethnographic study of the backpacker culture and concluded four key elements in backpacker culture: road status, ‘us travellers’ community, development and use of 124

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technology, and short-term backpacking. He also stresses the dynamic nature of backpacker culture. Also seen as a lifestyle (Cohen, 2011) and neotribe (Maffesoli, 1995), Larsen et al. (2011) defined backpackers as a community with a shared identity who differentiate themselves from other groups of tourists. However, Cohen (2003) argued that backpackers as a group do not suit the concept of ‘community’, since every backpacker is relatively independent, individual, and does not immerse with their fellow backpackers. Binder (2004) suggested that backpackers can be understood as an ‘imagined community’. Anderson (2006: 5) indicated: ‘it is imagined because the member of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them or even hear them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion’. The members of this imagined community share the same image of their communion; even though they do not know most of their fellow members. Interestingly, this imagined community starts re-establishing itself when backpackers interact. Specific values and narratives of travel experiences construct and contribute to backpacking culture. The characteristic of a ‘secure and friendly family’ is used as a metaphor for backpackers to describe the identity of the imagined community. There is no commitment among the backpacker network; however, backpackers feel secure sharing a room with strangers, and leaving personal property in hostels. Binder (2004) explained this phenomenon as mutually dependent on the ‘cursory’ and ‘intensive’ nature of backpacker culture. Even cursory contact allows trust-building among fellow backpackers. This community has its own rules, structures and implications, which are more dynamic and unpredictable than other tourist groups. To sum up, backpacker culture gathers and leads travellers who share the same interests to travel through similar paths, use the same facilities, and interact in certain enclaves (Cohen, 2018). They seek ‘otherness’, community experience, self-development, renunciation and distinction (Binder, 2004; Chen et al., 2020; Chen & Huang, 2017). Chinese Backpackers

In Chinese, Beibaoke (backpacker in Mandarin) was introduced as a western term, and it is culturally accepted in Chinese vocabulary (Beibao as backpack, ke as person or guest). This adoption of its western origin indicates that Chinese backpackers draw from the western backpacker culture of freedom, independence and authenticity-seeking. Studies indicate that Chinese backpackers shared similar motivations with their western counterparts (Chen et al., 2014; Prayag et al., 2015), while having rather unique characteristics. However, ‘donkey friend’ (lüyou), another widely adopted term for Chinese backpackers, shows strong Chinese characteristics. Chinese backpackers tend to be older, engage

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more with outdoor activities, have higher levels of risk uncertainty, are group orientated, time-poor and money-rich, and tech-savvy (Cai, 2018; Lim, 2009; Xiang, 2013; Zhu, 2009). Studies have investigated their unique characteristics in light of the influence of Chinese culture and values such as Confucianism (Cai et al., 2019), landscape appreciation (Zhu, 2009) and collectivism (Luo et al., 2015). Identity – particularly the ‘process of becoming’ (Zhang et al., 2017) and identity factors (Zhang et al., 2018) – has been explored to better understand Chinese backpackers. Zhang et al. (2017) emphasised the dynamic process of construction and reconstruction in the meaningmaking of a backpacker throughout the domestic backpacking journey, which are influenced by the ideal western backpacker image, intense interactions with others, and by the experience. Departing from Zhang et al.’s (2017) research on domestic Chinese backpackers focusing on the transformational journey of identity (re)construction, this study focuses more on the ideological/cultural level and investigates how western backpacker culture and Chinese culture intertwine, diverge and negotiate. In addition, with few exceptions, most Chinese backpacker studies still retain a domestic context. Differing from domestic backpackers strongly influenced by adventure travellers and lifestyle travellers (Xie, 2017; Zhu, 2005), Chinese outbound backpackers have been mostly considered as interchangeable with independent travellers who self-identified as backpackers (Cai et al., 2019; Prayag et al., 2015). When travelling in an environment perceived as adventurous and new, more encounters between different cultures and values will be taken on the trip, as intensive social interactions become sources of potential cultural confusion. Therefore, the outbound context will contribute a new understanding of Chinese backpacker culture. Methodology

A mobile ethnography with a ‘follow the people’ approach (Marcus, 1995) was conducted to obtain ‘thick descriptions’ (Geertz, 1973) of Chinese backpackers’ experiences as they travelled in Europe. Mobile ethnography allows one to gain an in-depth understanding of a mobile community’s worldview (Morris, 2004), particularly how various streams of values shape Chinese backpackers’ experience on the move (Cai et al., 2019). Informants were initially sought out in the biggest Chinese backpacker forum, Qyer.com, where many were looking for travel companions prior to the trip (Cai, 2018). Informants were self-identified as backpackers. After selecting potential informants, the author revealed their identity as a researcher and obtained consent to join their backpacking trips in Europe. Combining different research techniques, mobile methods enabled multiple angles for seeing the conflicts between informants’ replies as given in their interviews, and their behaviour, as

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noted by participant observations. In total, three trips (Table 5.1) of varying lengths of duration were conducted in four different European countries: Spain and Portugal (34 days); UK (16 days); Poland (7 Days). In addition to seven key informants who the researcher travelled with throughout the whole journey, eight Chinese backpackers we met during the trips were recruited as participants to conduct one-off interviews. Participant observations, two sets of in-depth interviews (at the beginning and at the end of the trip), and conversational interviews were implemented as research techniques to collect data. In total, 21 interviews, detailed field notes and reflexive notes were employed to understand Chinese backpackers’ practice of the backpacker culture. Thematic analysis was conducted in this study. Two rounds of coding were conducted. In the first round of coding, values of western backpacker culture such as ‘self-searching’, ‘learning’ and ‘off the beaten track’ were employed as the coding framework to guide through the coding process. Episodes of perceiving and practising these values were coded. In the second round, an inductive approach was applied. Based on the first-round coding, I identified the unique behaviour and pattern Table 5.1  Trip details and informant information Trip 1 Spain & Portugal (34 days)

Pseudonym

Age

Occupation

Travelled places

Jake (key informant)

28

Architect

SE Asia, China

Leo (key informant)

25

Graduate student (US), in a gap year

More than 50 countries

Joey (key informant)

24

Undergraduate in France

France, Belgium, China

Lydia

24

Masters student in the UK

Most European countries

30

Accountant

SE Asia, Europe

Teacher/ Self-employed

Europe, South Asia, America

Ted Lucy and Sam (Couple)

Trip 2 UK (16 days)

Trip 3 Poland (7 days)

33/34

Jess

21

Undergraduate student in China

China

Lena (key informant)

42

Marketing in a bank

New Zealand, SE Asia, Japan, South Asia, Iran, Morocco, Europe, China

Jocelyn (key informant)

45

HR in a bank

Australia, Japan, SE Asia, China, Eastern Europe

Emma (key informant)

45

Clothes trading

Sri Lanka, Europe, SE Asia, Australia, China

Olivia (key informant)

31

IT

Europe, SE Asia, America, Turkey, West Asia

James

29

IT

Europe, USA, China

Justin

38

IT

GCC, Europe, USA

Harry

24

Masters student

Europe, China

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that Chinese backpackers perceived these values or created their own values. Data were collected and analysed in Chinese to avoid losing the contextual richness of the data in translations at the early stage of data analysis. The data were only translated into English in the writing-up stage. Findings

Backpacker culture, initially a western term, represents some core western values, such as freedom, adventure, independence and flexibility. On the other hand, Chinese history and contemporary culture – influenced by values of Confucianism – advocates group harmony, group orientation and social hierarchy. These two value systems differ, paradoxically merge, and critically co-construct the Chinese backpackers’ identity. Although the ideas represented in the western backpacker culture fascinate Chinese people (Zhang et al., 2017), and encourage many to make their own backpacking trips, it is worth noting that Chinese backpackers perceive the concept of ‘backpacker’ rather differently in practice. When Chinese backpackers perceive and practise these values, the various streams of cultural influences and values bring new insights to (re)defining backpacker values beyond their Eurocentric roots. During fieldwork, informants throughout the three studies across different age groups and levels of travel experience showed the conflict between the Chinese culture’s stickiness and the drive of the western backpacker culture. Mobilities, in this case, facilitate the negotiation and the merger of these two schools of values, and result in a unique identity and unique characteristics of Chinese backpackers. No longer ‘budget’ travel

A limited travel budget is one of the key factors that define backpackers in the original western context (Larsen et al., 2011; Pearce, 1990). However, for most Chinese backpackers, budget is no longer a concern. When we studied in school, we learnt the hierarchy of people’s needs. For me, backpacking no longer satisfied my fundamental needs, but higher-level ones. When people talk about backpacking, the first impression is budget travel; for me, it is no longer the case, it is a spiritual experience, nothing to do with the material. I did luxury travel before, but at some point, I just realised the satisfaction of material cannot fill your spiritual emptiness. They are kind of superficial. Maybe I have already entered another stage of my life, I don’t think chasing material is that important. My journey should be more about exploring and understanding about myself. I like the feeling of travelling as a backpacker. (Lena, 42, interview, Cotswolds)

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Similar to Lena, Jocelyn (45), from the same trip, admitted that she herself had already passed the stage of being concerned about her travel budget, and interpreted backpacking beyond a budget: ‘recently people keep mentioning backpacking spirits; my understanding of this spirit is to explore, to go somewhere mass tourists won’t go, and explore myself at the same time through the journey’ (interview, Cambridge). With wider demographic groups joining backpackers, Chinese backpackers give wider interpretations of backpacking culture rather than just budget concerns, which is used to define western backpackers. A learning journey rather than a self-searching one

Perceiving backpacking as an opportunity for seeking selfdevelopment or searching for one’s internal self has been a main motivation and characteristic of western backpackers (Binder, 2004; Richards & King, 2003; Yang et al., 2019). The idea of travelling to find one’s true self or in search of self-development by backpacking to some extent motivates some Chinese travellers to undertake backpacker journeys; nevertheless, it is not the main driver of Chinese backpackers travelling in Europe. When asked about the motivation for their backpacker trips in Europe, younger informants aged under 30 in this study found the motivation searching for self or self-development was far too serious: ‘Simply just want to travel and have fun; in terms of how much I learn, leave it to the end of the journey’ (Leo, 25, Barcelona). Compared with the metaphysical ‘searching for self’, Chinese backpackers in this research tended to link their journeys with learning and gaining inspiration from the external world rather than from themselves. In addition to exploring self, Jocelyn (age 45) addressed the importance of learning through backpacking: ‘Chinese package tour is just like “look at flowers while passing on the horseback (走马观花)”; backpacking is different, as I can really take my time to digest and really get to learn things’ (interview, Cambridge). There is an old Chinese saying ‘You can learn more by travelling a thousand miles than by reading a thousand books (读万卷书，不如行万里路)’ that encourages Chinese people to learn through travel. This motive of learning through travel corresponds with the western backpacker culture of learning (Pearce & Foster, 2007), as in gaining knowledge and broadening worldviews. Compared with the hedonistic nature of some western backpackers (Canavan, 2018; Maoz, 2007), informants in this study particularly underlined the importance of learning in their backpacking journey. For Chinese backpackers, backpacking in a foreign environment is regarded as an effective approach to broadening their horizons. Before the backpacking journey in Spain and Portugal, Jake (28) said in the online chat: ‘I am travelling with an open mind, willing to learn

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local language and customs, get to know more about the destination by talking with locals’. As an architect having a career gap, Jake (age 28) considered his trip like a Grand Tour – experiencing western arts and architecture through his own eyes. This purpose influenced massively the decision making regarding the itinerary and activities. Similarly, Jocelyn – who is a big fan of English literature and British drama – was tracing images and myths created by media and literature for Great Britain during her backpacking journey. It is noticeable that Chinese backpackers in this study practised the backpacker culture of ‘exploring self’ (O’Reilly, 2006) and ‘learning’ (Pearce & Foster, 2007) unequally: they were inclined to find backpacking a more learning-based journey than a self-seeking one. This could be explained by the differences between Chinese and western understanding of ‘self’. Aligned with Chinese collectivistic and interdependent culture, the Chinese ‘self’ tends to be integrated into the group. The sense of ‘self’ in the Chinese context tends to be linked firmly within the community and society; on the other hand, the search for ‘self’ associated with backpacker culture in the western context reflects the individualism and personal merit of western values, which encourage self-achievement, equality and debate (Jin & Wang, 2016; SanchezRunde et al., 2011). Influenced by various social and cultural factors, such as filial piety（孝）and the former one-child policy, in Chinese society long-haul travel is usually not encouraged. Learning through travelling has been widely practised by Chinese backpackers to establish a positive image of travel. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that, by comparison, Chinese backpackers engage in less self-seeking than western backpackers. In terms of learning, the relations between learning and travel in the Chinese context have been widely explored in the literature (Maoz, 2007; Pearce et al., 2013), and informants in this study made the most of their trips to learn in various ways. Lena (age 42) explained that the learning pattern continues several months after the trip: I like to organise my trip in the blog format and share with others; it normally takes me quite a while to complete, as I revisit some relevant information or books of the sites or places I visited. I have to admit it is a huge project, but I enjoy doing it, it is an essential part of learning for me. (Lena, interview, York) Off the ‘Chinese mass tourists’ beaten track

Furthermore, informants in this study demonstrated their identity as backpackers by practising ‘off the beaten track’ travel and being anti-tourist, especially Chinese mass tourists. These distinguishing behaviours are believed to be key ingredients in constructing

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backpacker identity in the literature (O’Reilly, 2005; Welk, 2004; Zhang et al., 2017): I prefer to dress like a local. I don’t want to look like or act like a tourist. If locals don’t treat you as a tourist, it will help to get closer to them, and there are more chances to communicate. On the other hand, when I considered myself as a tourist, I would be very rushed sightseeing, have a to-do-list and many attractions to visit. I want to slow down: today I am in the mood of visiting, then I would do more; if I don’t have the mood, I can do something else, just like a local. Travelling in a rush in not really my style. (Lena, 42, interview, York)

In addition, some Chinese backpackers particularly make a distinction between themselves and Chinese mass tourists. Informants during the trip purposely avoided Chinese tour groups, felt superior when visiting places that Chinese tours do not go, and felt ashamed when surrounded by noisy Chinese group tourists: ‘Once I was queuing to get in St. Peter Basilica in Vatican City. There is an organised Chinese tour. They were laughing and chatting so loud, taking photos in all different ways, completely ignoring the feelings of others when queuing. At that particular moment, I do really feel ashamed’ (James, 29, interview, Warsaw). While seeking to distinguish themselves from mass Chinese tourists, Chinese backpackers still follow the same beaten track that mass tourists do. This behaviour acknowledges the argument of Welk (2004) that backpackers show an anti-tourist attitude to construct their identities, even though they are visiting the same attractions and following similar ‘beaten tracks’ to mainstream backpackers (O’Reilly, 2006). Particularly for Chinese backpackers travelling to Europe for the first time, their itinerary of sightseeing covers most of the same famous attractions that mass group tourists visit. Instead of fighting their ‘backpacker corner’, Chinese backpackers tend to avoid mass tourists: When walking past the square, Olivia (age 31) and I saw a group of Chinese tourists who had just got off the bus, and we increased our pace in order to avoid them. We laughed at this tacit agreement (field note, Krakow). Backpacking: A rite of passage or imperceptible transformation?

In western societies, backpacking is related closely to a life transition in an individual’s twenties, such as a gap year (Cohen, 2003; O’Reilly, 2006); this reflects the rite-of-passage model (Turner, 1973). The idea of rite of passage is interpreted and practised differently by Chinese backpackers than it is in western backpacker culture (Chen & Huang, 2017). However, Chinese backpackers’ attitudes towards backpacking as a rite of passage vary. When asked, after the trip, about how the trip

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influenced or changed their lives, ‘A silent transformation’ (潜移默化) was widely mentioned among informants. Chinese backpackers believe that a backpacking journey is not only sightseeing, taking photos and having fun, but is also learning new things through the experiences. Similar to self-imposed rites of passage (Noy & Cohen, 2005; Sørensen, 2003), transformative (Bruner, 1991; Lean, 2012), and self-changing journeys (Noy, 2004) of backpacking, this learning-motivated travel style is being practised differently by Chinese and Western backpackers. It is noticeable that Chinese backpackers have distinguishing opinions and motivations regarding their understanding of backpacking as a rite of passage. For less experienced Chinese backpackers, especially those who are first-timers, the motive of transforming themselves by undertaking their first ever backpacker journey is relatively strong. According to Jess, a female backpacker I met in Madrid, this first European backpacking journey was a big event in her life. Before approaching the end of her journey, she summarised: I felt this trip changed me a lot. I have learnt how to use another perspective to see and think. Since I travelled alone, I had plenty of opportunities to talk with different people, such as in the hostel or with locals. This experience really opened my horizons and made me think differently. (Jess, 21, interview, Madrid)

However, when I asked for further details of changes and for examples of different ways of thinking, Jess could not find a way to answer. Similarly, when James (age 29) recalled his experiences at the time he had just started backpacking, he said: ‘I am keen to learn things and hold the belief that I am going to become another person after that trip. But I am no longer that utilitarian, now I just want to travel, to see the world, just that simple’ (interview, Warsaw). Akin to James, most experienced informants in this study did not consider their journeys as a rite-of-passage, at least not a perceived transformation during the trip. ‘I travelled too often, so “change life through backpacking” this kind of slogan does not actually work on me; maybe it will be different for those less experienced backpackers, I don’t know’ (Olivia, 31, interview, Krakow). Leo (age 25), who regards backpacking as his lifestyle, believed that the motive of backpacking should not be too intentional: ‘there are certain things in the world that you cannot pursue if you are too utilitarian. Some people believe going somewhere can find the meaning of their lives or hiking in Tibet can achieve spiritual upgrade the second day you wake up. I don’t believe in this’ (interview, Madrid). Similarly, even though Lena stated that backpacking for her is a spiritual journey, she still treated it with peace of mind: ‘I am not expecting to gain certain status or become another person after this trip. In terms of what can I get from it, just let it

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happen’ (interview, York). Experienced Chinese backpackers in this study were unable to discern such a transformational impact of the journey. However, they admitted that previous backpacking journeys did indeed change and influence their lives, perspectives and ways of thinking: Actually, I cannot recall when it (the transformation) happened, I believe it is a slow and imperceptible process. When I started backpacking, I was very timid, and the way to perceive the world was quite simplistic. However, with the more I travelled, more people and events I encountered and experienced. Now when you asked me how backpacking has changed me, I can say it has completely changed my worldview and values, including my personality. I never regret choosing this lifestyle. (James, 29, interview, Warsaw)

Lucy (age 33) also applied this ‘silent transformation’ term to her backpacking: ‘the change is so imperceptible, I normally won’t notice unless I encountered certain events in real life, and at that moment, I would suddenly realise how backpacking has changed me. It can be new ways of dealing with things and unique angles of interpretations’ (interview, Granada). Emma explained why backpacking makes these subtle changes to her life: backpacking makes me come out of my ordinary life routine and experience different cultures and lifestyles. At the same time experiencing these differences, it also makes me compare what I have been through in my daily life. It really brings me some new thoughts of life when travelling in a strange environment. (Emma, 45, interview, Glasgow)

This narrative reflects the literature, which states that crosscultural understanding develops through international travel (Ward & Kennedy, 1993) and distance from home leads to the promotion of transformations in individuals’ self-construal (Kim, 2000). Interestingly, when asked if the trip had changed their lives (and, if so, why), most of my informants had trouble in summarising how, and to what degree. However, when asked about their previous journeys, they were able to talk about those, and highlighted how these trips influenced or changed their lives. It may be understood that the idea of rite of passage through backpacking is a slow and imperceptible process. This can be attributed to a number of reasons. First, Chinese backpackers travel for a shorter period of time (Luo et al., 2015) and with superficial levels of intercultural contact. As a result, Chinese backpackers have fewer social and cultural encounters with other backpackers and locals. This superficiality may help one to understand how, at the end of the journey, most donkey friends were unable to summarise their trip’s abstract relation to the value-changing process. The literature also supports this argument by suggesting that, the shorter the duration of

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the trip, the less embedded the self can become (Hayes, 2007; Hottola, 2004). Second, the level of perceiving transformation is to some degree influenced by expectations and motivations (Brown, 2009; Muzaini, 2006). Chinese backpackers driven by the concept of rite of passage and transformation through backpacking, more or less perceived and emphasised the concept by practising and reflexively summarising their experiences than did those who travel with no such expectations. Third, although Chinese backpackers attach importance to learning during the backpacking journey, life-changing transformation or rite of passage by backpacking is a concept that is still new to Chinese society. In other words, it takes time for Chinese backpackers to digest and accept this concept, by practising it. Fourth, it is challenging for transformations occurring as a result of the trip to be detected during daily lives. Building on the arguments of Lean (2012) about the complex social phenomenon of transformative travel, it is essential to acknowledge the transformation processes within the informants’ journeys. These processes were triggered by changing environments, ideas and culture exchanges, as well as the intense physical experience embedded in the journey. In terms of the process of transformation, Martin and Harrell (1996) suggest that the separation from mundane life leads to potential revisions of individuals’ domestic and professional roles. In addition, Lean (2012) suggests that everyone is transformed to some degree throughout the journey. However, the perceived level of transformation is rather complex and personal (Kim, 2000) in this case, which is crucial in assessing the role of ‘rite of passage’ in backpackers’ lives. It is influenced by the various cultural backgrounds and identification (Sussman, 2002), different levels of motivations towards transformation, and where the transformation takes place. In the case of Chinese backpackers, the perception of travel is paradoxically influenced by both learning-driven motivations of travel, as well as historical negative attitudes towards leisure activities. This perception of travel is rather different in the western context: stemming from the Grand Tour to current gap years, the concept of youth travel and backpacking links firmly with motivations of self-change and educational purposes. Thus, although transformation has already taken place, it generally takes longer for Chinese backpackers to perceive and recognise this change. Restricted flexibility and risk avoidance

Western backpackers normally travel with an open agenda without much preparation (Cohen, 2003; Richards & Wilson, 2004). By contrast, in order to overcome the anxiety of uncertain environments, take more control of their trips, and to maximise learning opportunities, Chinese backpackers, in general, are well prepared before their journeys. While

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some Chinese backpackers believe in the value of travel flexibility, they do plenty of ‘homework’ before departure: My idea of backpacking is self-organised, and I do not plan much. I don’t like the idea of travelling with a comprehensive itinerary, even detailed into what to do in a certain time slot. I normally travel without a checklist; what I do for preparation is just decide the destination. (Jake, 28, interview, Toledo)

Although Jake values flexibility, he was still well prepared, in detail, for this trip – contradicting his interview. As an architect, the main purpose of his backpacking trip was to visit great art around Europe. When speaking on WeChat before the journey, he said: ‘recently I read several books about the Renaissance, I cannot wait for our trip’. Learning-driven motivation encouraged Jake to spend extra time doing ‘homework’ into the historical and cultural background of the destination. In addition, as the head donkey, he also took responsibility planning the details of the trip. Similarly, experienced backpackers like Lena did not like the idea of thorough preparation for the trip, but still felt ‘forced’ to do it. She admitted: ‘it is quite different from when I am travelling alone’; before the trip, she already needed to consider everyone’s budget, car rental, accommodation bookings, and she came out with an itinerary to satisfy most travel companions’ needs. I asked her why she made notes on Lonely Planet, seemingly by highlighting and folding particular pages. She replied: ‘I wouldn’t do this when I travelled on my own, I bought this Lonely Planet only because of this trip, and I need to take responsibility’ (interview, Cotswolds). Travel companions in the same group relying on the decision of the head donkey spent much less time doing ‘homework’. Emma: ‘I don’t need to worry about the planning, as Lena already planned everything, and that is perfect for me. Before, I read some travel blogs and had some ideas where I would love to go. Places Lena suggested cover all, that is great’ (interview, Glasgow). Although some travel companions do not need to worry about trip planning and preparation, the format of backpacking in a group already predefines the nature of travelling in a fixed itinerary and less flexibility. Differing from solo travellers, who can make decisions on their own, travelling in a group requires an agreed itinerary to guide the movement and activity as a whole group in order to ensure conformity. In addition, when backpacking in a foreign environment, doing ‘homework’ during the journey to some degree helps reduce worries and anxieties for Chinese backpackers. One of the most common ways is to read others’ travel journals shared on Qyer.com: reading, practising similar routes, and even coming back to share after the event with this virtual community. Informants across the three studies, more or less portrayed their perceptions and images of certain destinations by reading

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other backpackers’ travel experiences and referring to their itineraries. In other words, the travel experiences posted on backpacker forums impact largely on the decision making and perceptions of Chinese backpackers, who prepare for their journey by reading them. For some backpackers, such as my informant Olivia (31) who wants to ensure the quality of her travel experience, they are usually well prepared as a result of reading and integrating different sources of information and making clear plans for activities: I cannot travel without planning. At least I should have a general idea how many days I should plan for one destination. If I don’t refer to other backpackers’ blogs or travel guidebooks, I would never know. Some information is necessary to gain in advance, such as attraction opening time, how to get there by public transport etc. I don’t want to waste my time in finding routes or visiting at the wrong time. Normally I will spend some spare time before the journey to collect some information, on my way to the destination, I will read entirely more details and come out with a plan. (Olivia, 31, interview, Krakow)

Motivations of experienced backpackers such as Olivia, who planned her trip in detail, are more focused on maximising and securing their travel experience, rather than reducing uncertainty and cultural shocks. For some flashpackers, who have rather limited time on the trip, getting the best value for every second is essential, and good planning is possibly the key to this: Olivia was well prepared when I first met her. After dropping the backpack, she already suggested visiting the Palace of Culture and Science. While talking, she got out a folder with a printed mini travel guide and a Lonely Planet. She went to the page marked with highlighter, checked again, and smiled: ‘it will be closing in 90 minutes, we should leave now’. (Field note, Warsaw)

Risk-avoidance, restricted time, complicated visa application and high demand of quality experience limits their flexibility, Chinese citizens are required to obtain visas when visiting European countries. Both Schengen and the UK visas require applications to provide return flights tickets, accommodation bookings throughout the journey, transport bookings between countries in the Schengen area, as well as a detailed itinerary. These requirements limit flexibility. A more experienced backpacker, Leo, shared with me his experience of how to be flexible under this strict visa application regulation: I always create fake itineraries and bookings for visa applications. I don’t like to plan so many details in advance. You see, flights bookings on Expedia can be cancelled without charging any fees within an hour

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after the booking is made, and before cancellation, you can print out the booking confirmation with the flight ticket number. As for accommodation booking, I always choose those hotels with no cancellation fees. Normally I would just choose one city when I make up my fake itinerary; it is much easier, and no need to worry about booking multiple hotels as well as transports booking between cities. (Leo, 25, conversational interview, Barcelona)

Many experienced Chinese backpackers like Leo found this loophole in the Schengen visa regulations. The trip was quite different from what was submitted for the applications. On some Chinese backpacker forums, such as eueueu.com, a detailed tutorial is provided to guide Chinese backpackers to prepare materials and documents without booking anything in advance for visa applications. Eueueu.com also works with an OTA to provide free cancellation of air ticket bookings. This trend, on the other hand, shows experienced Chinese backpackers’ demands for flexible itineraries and an open agenda from strict visa regulation. Sometimes, when I really like some places, I would just decide to stay a bit longer, I rarely book accommodation in advance; I believe I can always find some place to stay, the worst scenario I still got my sleeping bag. Bookings in advance really limit my freedom of movement. (Leo, 25, interview, Barcelona)

With the influences and restrictions of traditional culture, current social regulations and policies, achieving backpacking in a ‘western backpacker way’ is rather challenging. Although some behaviours are highly culturally rooted, the idea of the freedom and individualism of western backpackers is still appreciated, but rarely practised. Superficial interactions outside the backpacker bubbles

Chinese backpackers have unique attitudes toward interaction with others. Cai (2018) discussed how Chinese backpackers prefer to travel in a culturally homogenous group, which prevents them from interacting with locals and other backpackers. On the other hand, coming out of the familiar cultural bubble and contacting locals and other backpackers is a key characteristic of backpackers (Sørensen, 2003). During the trip, although informants suggested willingness to interact, and expected to make new friends while on the road, as other backpackers, in practice they were still relatively reluctant to interact with people outside their environmental bubble. Fu et al. (2017) identify that, culturally, Chinese tourists draw a distinct boundary between the travel group and the social environment outside their social group. This behaviour, distinguishing

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insider and outsider, reflects the strong Chinese values of collectivism, group orientation, and guanxi, which naturally excludes ‘outsiders’ (Wei & Li, 2013). Mainstream tourists, travelling in an environmental bubble, to some extent have similar travel patterns to Chinese tourists. However, Chinese tourists have more embedded cultural influences than just avoiding uncertainty. The fundamentally different attitudes and perceptions towards risks and uncertainties between the core values of eastern and western ideologies are the critical elements here that paradoxically construct Chinese backpackers’ identity. Seeking to go off the beaten track and exploring individually through backpacking reflect core values of the western backpacker ideology – willing to take risks – while Chinese tourists are regarded as more risk averse, especially in an unfamiliar environment (Wong & Lau, 2001). Chinese backpackers’ high-risk concerns are manifest on their being overcautious. This is present not only in their destination choices, group orientation, and activity decision making: informants were also overcautious when being approached by a welcoming host. In Porto, we were checking the map in the middle of the street to figure out the direction to the bay. One old lady approached us and spoke some Portuguese. Both Leo and Jake were quite cautious and tried to ignore her. Later the lady seized a young couple to translate for her, and we realised actually she was trying to help us. They felt ashamed afterwards, and spoke highly of the warm hospitality of the Portuguese. (Field note, Spain and Portugal trip) Discussion and Conclusion

Chinese culture and backpacker culture – if looked at via systems of values – are opposite on various levels, but do not conflict in terms of constructing Chinese backpackers’ identity. For Chinese backpackers, Confucian values are embedded in Chinese backpackers’ beliefs, ways of thinking and behaviours (Cai et al., 2019), while western backpacker culture influences their travel preferences and motivates them to pursue an ideal lifestyle. Western backpacker culture, as an outcome or representation of a western system of values, does not function on the same level compared to Chinese values, in terms of the identity constructions of Chinese backpackers. In order to understand the construction of Chinese backpackers’ identity, it is crucial to investigate – from a Chinese backpacker perspective – how an individual embraces, balances and practises these two systems of values. First, the nature of Chinese backpacking trips in Europe can be understood as short-term intercultural encounters: Chinese backpackers travel outside their familiar cultural environments, and practise

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western backpacker culture in the cultural environment in which it was generated. Although globalisation brings a certain degree of western impact, Chinese values are still predominant in current Chinese society. The values of harmony, collectivism and group orientation – that stem from Confucius thousands of years ago – still influence Chinese individuals by various means (Pearce et al., 2013). Second, although backpacking involves a deeper level of immersion than other means of travel, it is still a relatively short-term cross-cultural experience compared with immigration and longer-term international study. Therefore, embedded Chinese values are often used as a reference when Chinese backpackers are digesting and perceiving western culture or new encounters. Third, the traditional backpacker culture developed from a Eurocentric perspective, with western backpackers practising western backpacker culture in less developed countries (westerners practice western culture in the east). In the case of Chinese backpackers, the practice of this backpacker culture is not only out of its original context but is a converse one (easterners practising the western backpacker culture in the west). Thus, Chinese backpackers need to go through two stages of value negotiation: first, to perceive western backpacker culture from an eastern lens, and second, to perceive western values when backpacking. This chapter has investigated Chinese backpackers’ identity construction, cultural influence, perceptions and practice. It has examined how donkey friends perceive and practise characteristics of western backpacker culture. Some backpacker values are favoured and performed by Chinese backpackers, while some are interpreted differently due to the demographic group, as well as their embedded cultural influences and dominant social trends. The second section of this chapter investigated how Chinese backpackers perceive backpacking as a transformative journey. By comparison, it takes longer for them to recognise changes – ‘imperceptible transformation’. The differences between how western backpackers and Chinese backpackers interpret and perceive this ‘rite-of-passage’ idea can be attributed mainly to different streams of development of western and eastern attitudes towards leisure and learning. The different modern lifestyles between west and east also lead to these differences. Further discussion about the conflict between and paradox of western and eastern systems of values emerged through an analysis of how Chinese backpackers’ identity is constructed. The Chinese backpacker thus was constructed by embedded Chinese values and traditional western backpacker culture. Compared with western backpackers, their eastern counterparts are more cautious about safety issues and interactions with their external environment. Group orientation at the same time has helped allay safety concerns, while acting in opposition to the western backpacker ideologies of flexibility, exploration and interaction with others. While relatively

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superficial interactions might lead to a lack of travel information and fewer local experiences, Chinese backpackers make up for it by being highly active in their online enclaves and prioritising their local dining experiences. This chapter has sought to understand Chinese backpackers’ travel experiences by unpacking their internal perceptions, identity constructions and transformations. This chapter shows the fluidity of various streams of values and ideologies within one’s perception in the mobile and intercultural setting. In the post-COVID era, studies of Chinese outbound backpackers should be mindful of the constant change in their risk perceptions given their high level of risk avoidance, as well as of how the hostile environment towards East Asian communities in some countries might affect their identity negotiations. References Anderskov, C. (2002) Backpacker Culture: Meaning and Identity Making Processes in the Backpacker Culture among Backpackers in Central America [Research Report]. Aarhus, Denmark: Department of Ethnography and Social Anthropology, University of Aarhus. Anderson, B.A. (2006) Crisis management in the Australian tourism industry: Preparedness, personnel and postscript. Tourism Management 27 (6), 1290–1297. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.tourman.2005.06.007. Binder, J. (2004) The whole point of backpacking: Anthropological perspectives on the characteristics of backpacking. In G. Richard and J. Wilson (eds) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice (pp. 92–108). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Brown, L. (2009) The transformative power of the international sojourn: An ethnographic study of the international student experience. Annals of Tourism Research 36 (3), 502–521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2009.03.002. Bruner, E.M. (1991) Transformation of self in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 18 (2), 238–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(91)90007-X. Cai, W. (2018) Donkey friends in Europe: A mobile ethnographic study in group orientation of Chinese outbound backpackers. In C. Khoo-Lattimore and E. Yang (eds) Asian Youth Travellers: Perspectives on Asian Tourism (pp. 79–95). Singapore: Springer. Cai, W., Cohen, S.A. and Tribe, J. (2019) Harmony rules in Chinese backpacker groups. Annals of Tourism Research 75, 120–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2018.12.010. Canavan, B. (2018) An existentialist exploration of tourism sustainability: Backpackers fleeing and finding themselves. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 26 (4), 551–566. https:// doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2017.1361430. Chen, G. and Huang, S.S. (2017) Toward a theory of backpacker personal development: Cross-cultural validation of the BPD scale. Tourism Management 59, 630–639. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.09.017. Chen, G., Bao, J. and Huang, S.S. (2014) Segmenting Chinese backpackers by travel motivations. International Journal of Tourism Research 16 (4), 355–367. https://doi. org/10.1002/jtr.1928. Chen, G., Zhao, L. and Huang, S. (2020) Backpacker identity: Scale development and validation. Journal of Travel Research 59 (2), 281–294. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0047287519829255. Cohen, E. (1972) Toward a sociology of international tourism. Social Research 39 (1), 164–182. Cohen, E. (1973) Nomads from affluence: Notes on the phenomenon of drifter-tourism. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 14 (1–2), 89–103.

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Cohen, E. (1974) Who is a tourist? A conceptual classification. Sociological Review 22 (4), 527–555. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1974.tb00507.x. Cohen, E. (2003) Backpacking: Diversity and change. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 1 (2), 95–110. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766820308668162. Cohen, E. (2018) Backpacker enclaves research: Achievements, critique and alternative approaches. Tourism Recreation Research 43 (1), 105–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 02508281.2017.1388572. Cohen, E. and Cohen, S.A. (2015) Beyond Eurocentrism in tourism: A paradigm shift to mobilities. Tourism Recreation Research 40 (2), 157–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 02508281.2015.1039331. du Cros, H. and Jingya, L. (2013) Chinese youth tourists views on local culture. Tourism Planning and Development 10 (2), 187–204. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568316.2013. 783732. Fu, X., Cai, L. and Lehto, X. (2017) Framing Chinese tourist motivations through the lenses of Confucianism. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 34 (2), 149–170. https://doi. org/10.1080/10548408.2016.1141156. Geertz, C. (1973) Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In Y.S. Lincoln and N.K. Denzin (eds) Turning Points in Qualitative Research: Tying Knots in a Handkerchief (pp. 143–168). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. Hayes, H. (2007) (Be)coming home: An existential analysis of migration, settlement and the meaning of home. Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis 18 (1), 2–16. Hottola, P. (2004) Culture confusion: Intercultural adaptation in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 31 (2), 447–466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2004.01.003. Jin, X. and Wang, Y. (2016) Chinese outbound tourism research: A review. Journal of Travel Research 55 (4), 440–453. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287515608504. Kim, Y. Y. (2000) Becoming Intercultural: An Integrative Theory of Communication and Cross-cultural Adaptation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Larsen, S., Ogaard, T. and Brun, W. (2011) Backpackers and mainstreamers: Realities and myths. Annals of Tourism Research 38 (2), 690–707. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. annals.2011.01.003. Lean, G.L. (2012) Transformative travel: A mobilities perspective. Tourist Studies 12 (2), 151–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797612454624. Lim, F.K.G.L. (2009) ‘Donkey friends’ in China: The internet, civil society, and the emergence of the Chinese backpacking community. In T. Winter, P. Teo and T.C. Chang (eds) Asia on Tour (pp. 291–301). Abingdon: Routledge. Luo, X., Huang, S. and Brown, G. (2015) Backpacking in China: A netnographic analysis of donkey friends’ travel behaviour. Journal of China Tourism Research 11 (1), 67–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2014.908757. Maffesoli, M. (1995) The Time of the Tribes. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Maoz, D. (2007) Backpackers’ motivations: The role of culture and nationality. Annals of Tourism Research 34 (1), 122–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2006.07.008. Marcus, G.E. (1995) Ethnography in/of the world system: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology 24 (1), 95–117. https://doi.org/10.1146/ annurev.an.24.100195.000523. Martin, J.N. and Harrell, T. (1996) Reentry training for intercultural sojourners. In D. Landis and R.S. Bhagat (eds) Handbook of Intercultural Training (pp. 307–326). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Morris, J. (2004) Locals and experts: The new conservation paradigm in the MANU Biosphere Reserve, Peru and the Yorkshire Dales National Park, England. PhD thesis, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University. Muzaini, H. (2006) Backpacking Southeast Asia: Strategies of ‘looking local’. Annals of Tourism Research 33 (1), 144–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2005.07.004. Noy, C. (2004) This trip really changed me: Backpackers’ narratives of self-change. Annals of Tourism Research 31 (1), 78–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2003.08.004.

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Noy, C. and Cohen, E. (2005) Introduction: Backpacking as a rite of passage in Israel. In C. Noy and E. Cohen (eds) Israeli Backpackers and their Society: A View from Afar (pp. 1–44). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. O’ Regan, M. (2018) Backpacking’s future and its drifter past. Journal of Tourism Futures 4 (3), 193–204. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-04-2018-0019. O’Reilly, C.C. (2005) Tourist or traveller? Narrating backpacker identity. In A. Jaworski and A. Pritchard (eds) Discourse, Communication and Tourism (pp. 150–169). Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Channel View Publications. O’Reilly, C.C. (2006) From drifter to gap year tourist: Mainstreaming backpacker travel. Annals of Tourism Research 33 (4), 998–1017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2006. 04.002. Pearce, P.L. (1990) The Backpacker Phenomenon: Preliminary Answers to Basic Questions. Townsville: Department of Tourism, James Cook University. Pearce, P.L. and Foster, F. (2007) A ‘University of Travel’: Backpacker learning. Tourism Management 28 (5), 1285–1298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2006.11.009. Pearce, P.L., Wu, M.-Y. and Osmond, A. (2013) Puzzles in understanding Chinese tourist behaviour: Towards a triple-C gaze. Tourism Recreation Research 38 (2), 145–157. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2013.11081741. Prayag, G., Cohen, S.A. and Yan, H. (2015) Potential Chinese travellers to Western Europe: Segmenting motivations and service expectations. Current Issues in Tourism 18 (8), 725–743. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2013.868413. Richards, G. and King, B. (2003) Youth travel and backpacking. Travel & Tourism Analyst 6, 1–23. Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (eds) (2004) Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice. Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Sanchez-Runde, C., Nardon, L. and Steers, R.M. (2011) Looking beyond western leadership models: Implications for global managers. Organisational Dynamics 40 (3), 207–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2011.04.008. Sørensen, A. (2003) Backpacker ethnography. Annals of Tourism Research 30 (4), 847–867. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(03)00063-X. Sussman, N.M. (2002). Sojourners to another country: The psychological roller-coaster of cultural transitions. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture 8 (1), 1–11. https:// doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1067. Turner, V. (1973) The center out there: Pilgrim’s goal. History of Religions 12 (3), 191–230. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062024. Ward, C. and Kennedy, A. (1993) Acculturation and cross-cultural adaptation of British residents in Hong Kong. Journal of Social Psychology 133 (3), 395–397. https://doi.org /10.1080/00224545.1993.9712158. Wei, X. and Li, Q. (2013) The Confucian value of harmony and its influence on Chinese social interaction. Cross-Cultural Communication 9 (1), 60. https://doi.org/10.3968/j. ccc.1923670020130901.12018. Welk, P. (2004) The beaten track: Anti-tourism as an element of backpacker identity construction. In G. Richards and J. Wilson (eds) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice (pp. 77–91). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Wong, S. and Lau, E. (2001) Understanding the behavior of Hong Kong Chinese tourists on group tour packages. Journal of Travel Research 40 (1), 57–67. Xiang, Y. (2013) The characteristics of independent Chinese outbound tourists. Tourism Planning and Development 10 (2), 134–148. Xie, J. (2017) The pursuit of freedom and its risks: The dreams and dilemmas of young Chinese backpackers. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow. Yang, E.C.L., Yang, M.J.H. and Khoo-Lattimore, C. (2019) The meanings of solo travel for Asian women. Tourism Review 74 (5), 1047–1057. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-102018-0150.

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6 Family Backpacking in India: The Case of Israeli Families Khen Ya’ari

Traditionally, pre COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns, the popularity of backpacking was largely associated with young single men and women (Collins-Kreiner et al., 2018; D’Andrea, 2007; Maoz, 2007; Noy & Cohen, 2005; O’Reilly, 2006). However, more recent research has shown its growth and expansion to new population groups that intersect with age, ethnicity and socioeconomic background (Bar-On, 2012; Enoch & Grossman, 2010; Holloway et al., 2011; Jarvis & Peel, 2010). A group that has received scant scholarly attention is young families with children (under the age of 18). In this chapter, I intend to shed light on this population group by focusing on Israeli families travelling independently in India. The chapter notes how the appearance of families on the backpacker scene presents a rather dramatic development in the democratisation processes of backpacking culture. While the average backpacking age has continually increased over time (Hannam & Diekmann, 2010; Maoz, 2005), the phenomenon of backpacking families actually introduces young travellers, i.e. children, travelling with family members. The addition of a child population raises many questions in relation to the degree of their integration into backpacking culture, and, alternatively, in relation to the changes they create within it, such as impacts on hostels and infrastructure. The chapter argues that parent(s) need to be considered as an additional group within the backpacking scene. Current literature indicates that while many adults participate in backpacking, few do so with children. Adult backpackers in their 30s are usually described in the literature as single people who view the trip as a last opportunity to re-evaluate meaningful decisions such as marriage, family and career (Jarvis & Peel, 2010; Maoz, 2005). Another group of adult backpackers, such as mid-life travellers and ‘grey nomads’, are often described as parents who choose to travel without their children, as their children

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have reached adulthood. In fact, the mature age of their children acts as one of the triggers that encourages parents to embark on a backpacking trip (Holloway et al., 2011; Maoz, 2008). Therefore, the family travel phenomenon, which essentially merges parenting with travelling, can be viewed as a new backpacking population. The family backpacking phenomenon also introduces a new travel structure. Tourism studies often present the backpacking phenomenon as having a single structure, i.e. where individuals join together in ad-hoc groups (Cohen, 2004; D’Andrea, 2007), as in case of Israeli backpackers (Bonny-Noach & Maoz, 2018; Noy, 2006; Maoz, 2007; Simchai, 2000). Family backpacking, however, presents a structure of an inseparable organic group or unit. The unique structure and new population groups of family backpacking raise varied questions. By drawing on ethnographic research concerning Israeli families backpacking through India, this chapter will focus on questions regarding travel motivations and patterns. These questions will be examined from the parents’ point of view, due to their role as trip initiators and planners as well as guardians of their children. India was selected as a field site due to the growing popularity of India as a destination for backpacking trips by Israeli backpackers in general (Bar-On, 2012; Enoch & Grossman, 2010; Maoz, 2005; Nir, 2006; Noy, 2006). In order to examine the phenomenon of family backpacking in the context of Israeli culture, the chapter will open with a literature review of Israeli backpacking and the traveling family phenomenon. Following the literature review, an outline of the methods will be introduced. The study findings are presented in three sections. The first section deals with the motivations behind Israeli parents embarking on a backpacking family trip to India. The second section presents the travel characteristics of Israeli families travelling through India, as well as the cultural compass that stands behind them. The third section examines the way in which parents interpret and experience the intersection between their vision of family travel and motivations with actual travel. In conclusion, this chapter will argue that despite having similar travel patterns to Israeli backpackers in general, Israeli family backpackers represent a new sub-type of western backpackers, whose ideological basis is rooted in cultural perceptions of the ‘child’s best interests’ and the Israeli ethos of familism. These values replace ideas of hedonism and freedom from responsibility that were previously the cornerstones of backpacking culture (Bonny-Noach & Maoz, 2018; Collins-Kreiner et al., 2018; Hannam & Diekmann, 2010; Noy & Cohen, 2005; O’Reilly, 2006). Israeli Backpacking in India

Israeli backpacking in India originated in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a manifestation of young people’s protest against the social and political changes occurring in Israel. These young people joined

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European and North American peers who considered India the epitomic alternative to the western social order (Noy, 2006; Shafran, 2006). In the 1990s, the phenomenon of Israeli backpacking expanded and lost its ‘rebel’ image. The backpacking trip began to appeal to a wide range of young people in Israel, who formalised and normalised it until such a trip, following military service, became a standard item in the Israeli biography (Bonny-Noach & Maoz, 2018; Noy & Cohen, 2005). These primarily middle-class backpackers, from a secular Jewish demographic, created Israeli strongholds in India that the literature calls ‘Israeli colonies’ (Maoz, 2004). These colonies sustain themselves through repeated influxes of Israeli backpackers, and include Israeli music, leisure venues with Israeli films and television programmes, typical Israeli food, signs, restaurant menus and books in the Hebrew language, local service providers who have picked up Hebrew, and even Jewish religious organisations such as Chabad houses (Beit Chabad) (Maoz, 2004; Noy & Cohen, 2005; Simchai, 2000). Another trait of Israeli colonies is their location. Israeli colonies are often set in provincial villages that form ‘neighbourhoods’ with distinctly Israeli borders within broader western backpacker and tourist enclaves (Bonny-Noach & Maoz, 2018; Shafran, 2006; Simchai, 2000). Hence, Israeli colonies offer an environmental bubble in a cohesive Israeli collective that shuts out all others, such as locals and other backpackers. Within these bubbles, Israeli backpackers tend to behave in a permissive manner, in terms of drug use and disregard for local norms (Bonny-Noach & Maoz, 2018; Maoz, 2007). The phenomenon of Israeli backpacking in India has expanded to attract new population groups such as religious Jews and older tourists (Bar-On, 2012; Maoz, 2008; Noy, 2006). Maoz (2004, 2005) compared young Israeli backpackers’ trips with those of their older peers and found that the latter venture more frequently outside the borders of the Israeli colonies. Israeli youth, in contrast, tend to follow an itinerary that hops from one Israeli colony to another, and has been labelled the ‘Hummus Trail’ (Maoz, 2005). Other differences concern the tendency of older Israeli backpackers (young adults and mid-lifers) to travel individually or in small groups, compared to the gatherings and crowding together of young Israeli backpackers. They also tend to have lower drug use and enjoy trekking. In addition, they are described in the literature as having a greater interest in spirituality and the practices of self-growth (Maoz, 2005, 2007, 2008). Researchers argue that the growth of Israeli backpacking in India is due to a combination of an emerging and widespread leisure culture and the entrenched image of India as a middle-class ‘tool’ for taking a break from routine life (Bar-On, 2012; Maoz, 2007). Another explanation concerns the emergence of spiritual cultures within western society. For many people, this culture has enhanced India’s charm, not only penetrating marginal groups but also the dominant secular core

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(D’Andrea, 2006; Korpela, 2009). India’s image, however, is greater than merely its perception as a spiritual destination. Representations of India often involve dyadic contradictions. India is both an authentic, ‘aloft’ and spiritual place, but also a backward, primitive and dangerous one (Bar-On, 2012; Korpela, 2009; Maoz, 2004). This pejorative representation, however, has not stemmed the continued spread of Israeli backpacking in India, whose presence among western tourists in the country is increasingly visible. Travelling families

Typically, travelling families are characterised in the literature as middle-class families from the Global North, which, in most cases, include two parents and children under 18 years of age. While their mobility can be framed as a lifestyle choice (Bar-On, 2012; Germann Molz, 2021; Korpela, 2014, 2016; Mancinelli, 2020), Kannisto (2014) divides lifestyle mobility into three categories. They are long-term travel, lifestyle migration, and professional lifestyle travel. The first category refers to temporary journeys, which include retaining a home base in the families’ country of origin. The second category refers to journeys in which one leaves his or her country in order to search for a better quality of life. The third category is attributed to people who use their profession as a means of moving and exploring different locales (Kannisto, 2014). Travelling families are discussed primarily in relation to the latter two categories. With regards to professional lifestyle travel, families are explored in the context of international schools and the concept of ‘third culture kids’ (e.g. Langford, 2001; Mclachan, 2007; Pollock & Van Reken, 2009), a term reflecting the lack of ownership that children are said to be characterised with, in respect to their parents’ home culture and the culture of the country hosting them (Korpela, 2016). Within the discourse of lifestyle migration, travelling families are discussed in connection to several main topics. The first is the topic of the un-institutional education of travelling children, which is frequently labelled as Worldschooling or Roadschooling (Ferraro, 2016; Germann Molz, 2021), or more descriptively as ‘Worldschooling families’ (German Molz, 2021). The second topic concerns the contribution of the migration lifestyle toward raising cosmopolitan children, and the development of global citizenship (Germann Molz, 2017, 2021; Korpela, 2014). Korpela (2016) expanded this discussion by raising the question of the cultural identity of lifestyle migration children in Goa, India, considering the term ‘third culture kids’. The third topic refers to the crossroads of familism and travel. Under this umbrella, Mancinelli (2018) labelled travelling families as ‘location independent families’. Mancinelli examined the ways in which ‘home’ is imagined and socially constructed in the lives of families on the move.

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Despite the large body of literature on lifestyle mobilities, there is scant scholarly study on travelling families. This is especially conspicuous when it comes to long-term temporary journeys, as is the case in many backpacking trips. Germann Molz (2015, 2016, 2017, 2021) stands out in that she studied both families who embark on openended journeys as part of an alternative lifestyle, as well as families who embark on time-limited backpacking trips. While scant scholarly attention may be a consequence of the small number of families who take part in these types of travel, it could also be attributed to the common perception that positions family life and travel at opposing poles. Diaspora is too often seen as a fixed position rather than an experience that can change, because researchers remain stuck in a codified version of backpacking, where backpackers are young, stay in hostels and travel alone. Many researchers do not perceive these young, single travellers growing up to start a family, and travelling as backpackers. Indeed, they are often viewed as opposites (Cohen, 2011; Kannisto, 2014; Mancinelli, 2020). The current study, therefore, will be an addition to the existing literature on travelling families. By choosing Israeli backpacking families as the sample of interest, the study will depart from the common generalisation made in the literature of travelling families being from the ‘Global North’ or being ‘western families’. The study will therefore contribute to an understanding of the role of culture and nationality in the phenomenon of travelling families. Methodology

The chapter is based on ethnographic research that took place in backpacking enclaves in India that were identified as particularly popular among Israeli travelling families. In northern India, two enclaves were identified in Himachal Pradesh. They were Dharamshala (Bhagsu and Dharamkot villages) and Manali (including the nearby village of Vashisht). In the south, three enclaves of this kind were identified. They were Hampi and Kudle Beach, in Karnataka, and Palolem Beach and its vicinity, in Goa. The study consists of two periods of fieldwork. The first took place between 2010 and 2011 and lasted eight-and-a-half months. The second was conducted in 2013 over a duration of one month. Data were gathered in three ways. Firstly, participant observation was carried out, and in the second round of field work, the author took on the status of a backpacking family, with her spouse and daughter. Secondly, interviews with Israeli backpacking parents (N = 44) and with non-Israeli backpacking parents (n = 25) took place in order to identify and isolate elements of backpacking and forms of parenting that are specific to Israeli travelling families. Finally, between 2010 and 2017, online platforms that presented Israeli families’ trips to India or offered advice about them, were monitored. These platforms include

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personal travel blogs and websites of participating Israeli families, as well as popular social media forums among Israeli families that focus on family trips to India. The blogs and websites enabled continual exposure to the Israeli travelling families interviewed in India, and the forums contributed to a broader insight into the experience. Transcripts of interviews along with ethnographic field notes and digital texts were analysed using the grounded theory method. This method was formulated in the 1960s by Glaser and Strauss and is generally understood to be a qualitative research strategy to develop theories from data, rather than from preconceived logically deduced hypotheses (Charmaz, 2006). This study used the constructivist version of this method, which aims to enhance contextualised understanding so that participants’ meanings and actions can be connected to larger discourses and social structures (Matteucci & Gnoth, 2017). This approach was chosen due to the essential role of the Israeli identity in the study of the motivation and practices of the family backpacking phenomenon in India. In line with the theory, the procedure of analysis included three phases of coding (Glaser & Strauss, 1976; Matteucci & Gnoth, 2017). The initial coding involved breaking down the data into distinct units of meaning. This was followed by focused coding in which the most significant frequent initial codes were selected in order to categorise the data into a stronger analytic sense. Axial coding then followed, in specified possible relationships between categories, in order to generate a widespread understanding of the story of Israeli families travelling in India. In the study, a family was defined as a parent or a parent couple who engaged in backpacking with children under the age of 18. Despite the age limit that was set for the definition of children, most of the families identified had much younger children, ranging in age from infancy and pre-school (0–4) to early childhood (5–12). Correspondingly, the parents also proved to be relatively young - from their late twenties to their mid-forties. Most of the families were traditional in structure, as parents were legally married. This contrasts with many non-Israeli travelling families, which were composed of significantly more single mothers. Israeli families were also found to belong largely to the Jewish socioeconomic middle class in Israel. Furthermore, the parents were found to be largely well-educated individuals, with both parents commonly having prior backpacking experience in India. This experience included having made at least one long trip to India as part of the traditional ‘great journey’ (hatiyul hagadol) – the nickname given to the long backpacking journey that is standard for much Israeli youth at the end of their military service (Bonny-Noach & Maoz, 2018; Noy & Cohen, 2005; Noy, 2007). The duration of the families’ trips to India ranged from one month to one year. The variation in the length of travel time allowed for a deeper insight into the cultural logic behind the travel patterns and the shared motivations of Israeli families in India.

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Findings Israeli parents’ motivations for embarking on a family trip to India

‘No kid asks to go to India. It was our decision…’. The remark of Hadas, a mother of five (4.5, 6, twins 10.5, 13.5), emphasises the role of Israeli parents as the initiators of the family backpacking trip to India and, moreover, raises the question: What are the motives behind arranging such a trip? This research reveals that, like many other adult backpackers, Israeli travelling parents initiate the backpacking trip out of their desire to take a break (albeit a short or long one) from routine life (Jarvis & Peel, 2010). Unlike single adult backpackers, however, the parents’ routine home life includes familial aspects on top of their personal ones. Parents longed for an alternative routine, at a slower pace, one which could offer them, even for a little while, respite from demanding lifestyles in Israel, as well as increased family time. The backpacking scene in India is perceived to be a solution to this aspiration, as it allows for the dissolution of a variety of roles played by parents in their routine life. Such roles take up valuable resources of time and effort, and often come into conflict with their parental identity and desire to spend more time with their children. This position is evident in the words of Liat, a mother of three (ages 10, 14 and 16.5): Studies and studies and more studies, and then work and work and work…. And what about my family?... It seems like they’re always available and will always be there, but this just isn’t true. I do not have control over time. In one minute Yahli (son) will receive an induction order into military service, Noy (daughter) will begin adolescence, and Maor (son) is almost completely independent… and how much do I really know about them? The people I care most about in the entire world. How much do they know about their mother, aside from my job to get them moving in the mornings, my complaining about them not cleaning their rooms, and helping them with their homework?... There is a constant burden of lack of time for your own family, that just doesn’t make sense. So here we are in India, trying to fix everything and make it right.

The desire for a change in family life as a motive for embarking on a family backpacking trip was found to be interconnected with the Israeli family ethos, namely, the central place that family takes in the life of the individual (Fogiel-Bijaoui, 2002). This ethos, many Israeli parents claim, is paradoxically elusive and difficult to realise in the context of contemporary life in Israel. This subtlety makes India even more alluring, as parents can facilitate a relatively long-term family experience, at an attainable budget for the Israeli middle class. Shani, mother of a 16-month-old son highlights the irony of the impossibility of attaining the Israeli ethos of familism in Israel and noted: ‘In Israel

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family exists only on paper… you can’t even drink coffee together in the morning’. Meital, the mother of a 21-month-old son, further elaborates: I want to postpone [the returning to Israel] as much as possible…. I think about it all the time and I still can’t figure out how to live in Israel and work less… I don’t see any solution on the horizon... India is an Island of sanity for us... for a small amount of money we can live the life that we always dreamed of, our entire family together…. All the fears that I had before the flight over are nothing compared to the fears I have now when I think of going back. All the people who warned us not to come here got it all wrong. The place that we really should be afraid of is Israel.

It is evident from Meital’s statement above that a backpacking trip to India, which is culturally legitimate in Israel and even expected of youth after military service (Bonny-Noach & Maoz, 2018; Noy & Cohen, 2005), is not considered legitimate for families. Parents who wish to bring their children on a similar trip are mostly met with criticism. Hiding behind this negative judgement is the underlying perception that links India’s image as a Third World country with endangering children’s well-being. This link is often the cause for society’s labelling these parents as irresponsible and even unfit. Roee, father of a one-year-old daughter, describes the criticism he met, in the following statement: ‘Dealing with our parents was not easy. Even outside of the family it wasn’t easy. We heard that we were crazy, irresponsible, selfish ... Many people also tried to scare us’. The findings of the study indicate that the backlash received by parents was often amplified by the young age of their children. Parents of younger children were considered to ‘cross the line’ guilty of inappropriate parenting, as defined by Israeli society. Paradoxically, parents were subject to this critique while they attempted to conform and realise the ethos of Israeli familism and bring their children to the front and centre of their daily lives. The travel characteristics of Israeli families backpacking through India and the cultural logic behind them

One of the most distinct features common to Israeli families travelling through India is the tailoring of a backpacking route that consists of a combination of Israeli colonies and western backpacker enclaves. These locations are best known as ‘India Lite’ due to the simultaneous repression of Indian culture and the echoing of western culture. Nevertheless, Israeli families displayed a preference for Israeli colonies over western enclaves, especially when travelling with school-age children (compared to families with infants and pre-schoolers). Behind parents’ decisions to keep most, if not all, of the trip within the confines of ‘India Lite’, are their intentions to maintain what they believe to be their children’s well-being. In their opinion, these locations can provide

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the necessary security for their children’s physical health, as well as provide an appropriate safeguard of their emotional well-being and social development. Parents’ perception that the Israeli colonies and western enclaves protect their children’s health in India is a derivative of a value system that equates a high level of sanitation with western-style facilities and spaces. In this manner, western toiletries and western-style toilets and showers in these enclaves are construed by parents as sanitary mechanisms that assure the health of their children. Subsequently, even service providers of western descent are perceived as a safety net that preserves the health of tourist children in India, due to the premise that they share similar cultural perceptions of hygiene and safety. This point of view is especially evident in the preference of Israeli parents for dining primarily in western-owned restaurants. These restaurants are conceived by the parents as optimal in that they offer children not only a familiar menu suitable to the Israeli palate but also western standards of food hygiene. Shay, a father of two (ages 1.9 and 4), demonstrates this perception in the following remark: ‘I sometimes eat out at Dhabas [street food]. I love local food, it’s simple, cheap… [does your family eat there with you?] The kids eat at Cafe Inn [a Western style restaurant]. Why risk their stomachs?’. Israeli travelling parents view the rural nature of western enclaves and Israeli colonies as being able to provide greater protection and safety for their children. The scarcity of roads and the multiplicity of trails in these tourist areas is interpreted as a safe (automobile-free) environment for the unrestricted movement of their children. In addition, the quiet nature of these areas is viewed as promoting security, and certainly in comparison to the crowded Indian cities. Israeli colonies are perceived by parents as a particularly safe space. This perception is based on the human component – the Israeli crowd – which is perceived to offer a powerful fellowship that supports them in their mission to promote the well-being of their children in India. This support is presented as a derivative of the cultural code of fraternity that exists among Israeli backpackers, based on their shared nationhood (Bonny-Noach & Maoz, 2018; Simchai, 2000). Kobi, a father of a 21-month-old son, explains this in the following way: The Hummus Trail is like a warranty card. […] You’ve got someone to talk to if there’s a problem. The Israeli House (Bayit Yisraeli), a Chabad house (Beit Chabad) […] No matter what, they’ll all help you, anyone you meet on the road.

Israeli parents look to the western enclaves, and especially the Israeli colonies, not only as cocoons that protect their children’s health but also to instil a sense of stability and security. This stems from the parents’

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perception that these enclaves and colonies help mitigate the cultural shock that a trip to India could create, due to the familiar cultural components. The next statement of Orit, a mother of three (ages 8, 9 and 10.5), demonstrates this: Why Dharmsala? Because it’s India lite… There are a lot of things that are familiar here and that instil a feeling of confidence in them [the children]. They have the food they know, there’s a TV in their room… Yesterday they watched ‘What’s All This Nonsense’ [an Israeli TV show] in the ‘Israelit’ [an Israeli-owned restaurant]… it really softens the entire package that is India.

This sense of perceived stability is especially present in the Israeli colonies because children can communicate using their native language. Parents viewed the children’s ability to use Hebrew as a platform for maintaining their independence. The importance of this consideration grew exponentially with the age of the children. This explicit preference to travel and staying within the borders of Israeli colonies enabled the older children to order meals in restaurants on their own, read signs and advertisements, and even take part in some of the courses and attractions offered by businesses themselves. The setting is also perceived to safeguard their children’s well-being, as it is absent of the street beggars and the dire poverty that characterise the more urban areas of India. These perceptions, often based on representations of India, motivate parents to choose the fastest route to travel to the ‘safety’ of the enclaves. They adopt a travel pattern that shows a preference for private taxis and internal flights as the primary mode of transportation. Another reason for this preference is the parents’ assumption that long journeys, especially through rough terrain, present too great a challenge for their children. This assumption also led to the parents’ tendency to avoid particularly remote destinations, even in cases where internal flights were available. Nadav, a father of three (aged 2, 4.5 and 7 years), expounds upon this conception: Initially, Andaman [Islands] jumped to our heads quite from the beginning [of the planning of the trip] but as fast as it came to us, we just as quickly dismissed the idea. [Why?] Because it requires a flight to Chennai, and from Chennai another domestic flight to Port Blair and then a ferry... Too cumbersome, too long... Not for children.

In the eyes of Israeli parents, children have a hard time with extensive spatial mobility. This difficulty, alongside the negative effects attributed to children’s sense of stability as a result of frequent changes in their living environment, led parents to remain in each destination for an extended period. This is also known as ‘nesting travel’. In turn, this travel style led parents to prefer to rent houses within the tourist enclaves

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as opposed to hotels or guesthouses. Entire homes were perceived to be not only more comfortable and suitable for longer periods of time, but also, and perhaps most importantly, as conducive to establishing a sense of stability and routine among their children. Iris, a mother of three (ages 9, 7 and 4), expounded upon this: Giving the kids a home during the trip is giving them the opportunity to save a piece of their former lives… it preserves their ability to go to the fridge and get something by themselves, to have privacy if they wish, home cooked meals… and these are not small things. These things have the power to make it easier on kids as they experience the kind of a trip where their entire lives change in the span of a day.

A consequence of the travelling families’ tendency to congregate in backpackers’ enclaves is the formation of a community of children. This, in effect, means the enclaves, and more specifically the Israeli colonies, bring together children who share an Israeli identity and the Hebrew language. In the parents’ mind this community mitigates the ostensibly intrinsic social threat of India to childhood. This is mainly due to a neo-colonialist view that defines suitable company for Israeli tourist children as one that includes peers who share the same culture, or at the very least, a similar western culture. This formation of a community prompted some parents to establish scholastic settings for their children in some of the more popular enclaves to provide an educational environment. The findings suggest that parents subordinate the backpacking trip to their cultural perceptions of proper child rearing. The price of this subordination is the diminishing of a variety of elements that lie at the heart of the backpacking culture, such as mobility, flexibility and intercultural encounters (Cohen, 2004; Uriely et al., 2002). Another price of this prioritisation is financial: apart from the tendency to travel at a slower pace, which could potentially save on transport expenses, all travel consumption and behaviour of Israeli backpacking families is relatively expensive in comparison to mainstream Israeli backpacking. The cost of a meal in a western/Israeli restaurant, accommodation in rented houses and the cost of flights and taxis, are more expensive than alternatives. It should be added that even Israeli families who do choose to travel cheaply by bus or train still choose the most expensive option available. For example, they would choose a tourist bus and first-class compartments on the train. In this sense, the travelling habits of Israeli backpacking families are like those attributed to the ‘flashpacker’, a segment of contemporary backpackers who travel to budget destinations but who consume within them expensive tourist services (Hannam & Diekmann, 2010; Jarvis & Peel, 2010). Unlike flashpackers, however, Israeli travelling families adopt this travel style with the objective of upholding the best interests of the child, rather than their own.

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Parents’ perspectives on the family’s travel patterns and their ­implications

Parents design journeys that suit, first and foremost, their cultural perceptions of their children’s best interests, even though those interests do not always coincide with the parents’ personal desires and wishes. The following remark of Ayelet, a mother of two (aged 1.9 and 4), illustrates this kind of predicament:    It was rainy and overcast there [an enclave in Southern India], and there were hardly any tourists, and I really had this urge to get out of there. But we’d just arrived, and I knew the kids wouldn’t tolerate more travel all that well.

The conflict presented by Ayelet deals with the topic of pace of travel. A family trip to India is rife with tensions between the child’s well-being and the interests of the parents. Even the parents’ decision to travel within the confines of the Israeli colonies often clashes with their personal preference to occasionally cross beyond the borders of the ‘Hummus Trail’, much in line with the preference of most adult Israeli backpackers. Parents describe their decision to resolve these conflicts by placing their children’s interests first as a painful concession. Findings show that this feeling of loss is linked to their backpacking history and previous journeys to India: backpacking served as a duty-free liminal space for experimentation and wandering and centred on the individual’s needs and hedonistic desires (Hannam & Diekmann, 2010; Noy & Cohen, 2005; O’Reilly, 2006). The backpacking-family journey, in contrast, brings parents face to face with a different experience in which they feel obligated to make constant compromises in order to uphold their parental value system. These compromises are also a result of the fact that in the backpacking field there are few to no support systems to assist the parents in child rearing. Educational institutions and agents that exist back at home – like grandparents, community centres and after-school activities – are largely non-existent. Parents are limited by their parental obligations, in social spaces considered by Israeli culture and by parents themselves as the definitive symbol of freedom. The change in travel experience means that the opportunity and experience of family time is still portrayed as being gut-wrenchingly painful at times. The words of Tali, a mother of two (aged 2.5 and 5), outline this feeling: I came [to India] full of excitement, flooded with memories ... I did not realise that I was in for a completely different experience.... Smoking will never be the same, I could completely forget about spontaneity, courses, [and] Vipassana [meditation] – is not even an option worth mentioning. Maybe yoga, something small... and worries [for the kids], so much

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worrying... the ways in which this changes the trip, it’s just inconceivable. Like, where’s my India?... And the moment when the realisation hits you that what was, is over and will not come back, it is a painful moment.

Parents on their first family trip to India feel particularly constrained. At times it even develops into a minor crisis, which in this study is referred to as the ‘crisis of the first month’, due to its timing. This is a circumstance in which parents are still processing the new configuration of the backpacking experience in India and the dominant role of their parental identity in it. This crisis comes to an end, in most cases, with the emergence of a new adjusted perspective on the journey, which identifies the benefits of the trip through a family lens (replacing the individual lens). This alternative standpoint compares the family journey with the routine back home (instead of comparing it to previous backpacking experiences of their youth). This standpoint is demonstrated in the following remark by Efrat, a mother of two (aged 1.1 and 4.4): ‘I can tell you about a lot of other moments in which I had it hard, but the bottom line is - it’s better to be a mom in India than a mom in Israel’. Avi, Efrat’s husband, who spoke about their eldest son, clarifies the outlook that recognises the dissipation of routine responsibilities (with the exclusion of child rearing) in the backpacking field in India, as a platform for good parenting and acquisition of family capital: The trip gave us an opportunity to create an intimacy that we apparently didn’t manage to produce in Israel, but one that we can take back with us to Israel... and it [this intimacy] will stay with him. The whole trip may be erased from his memory, but the connection between us will remain.

These findings imply that only after arriving in India and experiencing the crisis of the first month, does the initial goal of increased family time develop into the central lens through which the backpacking experience is examined and evaluated. Discussion

The findings describe the phenomenon of travelling Israeli families in India as combining conformism with alternative practices and perceptions. Culturally accepted pedocentric child-rearing practices continue to manifest within backpacking spaces. Moreover, it is the principles of the Israeli family ethos that act as the primary motivation for parents to embark on the trip, despite criticism by parts of Israeli society. The travelling style of the Israeli family backpacking

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phenomenon appears at first to be conformist; however, upon closer inspection, it pushes the boundaries of backpacking culture. On the surface, Israeli family backpacking seems to fall in line with backpacking patterns common to Israelis (primarily youth), where they tend to congregate in Israeli colonies and segregate from the local population and culture. They also adopt a travel style that merges bourgeois and bohemian behaviour, similar to flashpacking. Despite these similarities, an in-depth look at Israeli family backpacking reveals that it is a different experience from that of the younger, and the older, generation of Israelis backpackers in India. The journey of Israeli families in India is unique in that its origins are stripped of the basic elements of backpacking culture, such as hedonism and freedom from responsibilities (Collins-Kreiner et al., 2018; Hannam & Diekmann, 2010; Noy & Cohen, 2005; O’Reilly, 2006). Freedom from commitments does not exist in family trips. Parents in India continue to bear the particularly heavy burden of and commitment to the upbringing of their children. Moreover, the role of parents’ aspiration to safeguard the well-being of their children as a guiding force shapes the journey and strips it of hedonistic components. This is true both with respect to the parents and the children. At the heart of their journey lie the ‘best interests of the child’, which addresses needs but not necessarily desires. The absence of the hedonistic component and freedom from responsibilities sets the foundation for defining the family backpacking trip as a new sub-type of western backpacking. This travel type recognises the value of the backpacking model even without the complete freedom that usually accompanies it and, moreover, identifies it as a tool for nurturing the family unit as well as the parenting role within it. Thus, attributes of backpacking that are conducive to promoting self-growth (Korpela, 2009; Maoz, 2007; Noy, 2007), are re-routed to promote the growth of the family unit. When discussing these alternative aspects of family backpacking, it is impossible to ignore the identification of backpacking as belonging to youth culture (Maoz, 2005, 2007). This identification embeds within the practice of family backpacking a critique that is directed toward the cultural perception that youthful behaviour and parenting are contrasting social categories (Mintz, 2004). The family trip to India sends the message that youth culture is no longer limited by one’s family status: parents are also entitled to be a part of it. In this manner, the family backpacking phenomenon not only challenges the demographic limits of the backpacking culture but also the limits of the cultural sanctions on Israeli parenting. Moreover, the message sent by family backpacking extends and even expands the implied rebellion inherent in single adults’ backpacking journeys, which subverts the traditional conceptualisation that uses age parameters to define youth culture (Jarvis & Peel, 2010; Maoz, 2005).

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COVID-19 and family backpacking

COVID-19 dealt a severe and almost debilitating blow to the tourism industry. From the conclusions of the study, family backpacking may have been hit even harder. Findings of the study primarily show that issues of children’s health during travel preoccupy parents. The emergence of a new and unpredictable health threat is certain to have significant consequences for family backpacking, since vaccines for young children are yet to be approved. Many parents are also hesitant about having their children vaccinated. Moreover, the fact that the tourist industry is not only a victim of the pandemic but is also a significant player in the spread of the virus, creates more difficulties for the restoration of family backpacking. India, itself, has largely pursued a closed-border policy. Additionally, even if the parents alone contract the coronavirus during travel, children will be adversely affected. Children of travelling parents who fall ill or need to go into isolation may face a situation where their care is compromised. In contrast, at home, parents and children are surrounded by a variety of adults who share the responsibility for the well-being of the child (such as the extended family, community and local authorities). This disparity in the support system available to parents, between the backpacking field and their home environment, coupled with the current inability/hesitancy in having children vaccinated, suggests that family backpacking may be slower to return in comparison to mainstream backpacking.

Conclusion

This chapter joins a growing field of research that seeks to shed light on the family backpacking phenomenon. Upon studying the case of Israeli family backpackers, it appears that this phenomenon introduces another new population group to the backpacking community. It also introduces a new organising axis and backpacking goals. These adjustments to the classical backpacking culture push the boundaries to such an extent that the present chapter suggests this genre of backpacking can be viewed as a new sub-type of backpacking.

Acknowledgement

This chapter is based on a PhD dissertation titled ‘Contemporary Israeli Parenting through the Prism of Travel: An Ethnography of Family Backpacking in India’, submitted to the Faculty of Education, University of Haifa. The dissertation was supervised by Dr Deborah Golden, whom I would like to thank deeply for her invaluable and enlightening guidance.

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Korpela, M. (2009) More vibes in India: Westerners in search of a better life in Varanasi. PhD thesis, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland. Korpela, M. (2014) Growing up cosmopolitan? Children of western lifestyle migrants in Goa, India. Studies Across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences 15, 90–115. Korpela, M. (2016) A (sub)culture of their own? Children of lifestyle migrants in Goa, India. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 25 (4), 470-488. https://doi.org/10.1177/0117196816671959. Langford M. (2001) Global nomads, third culture kids and international schools. In M. Hayden and J. Thompson (eds) International Education: Principles and Practice (pp. 28–43). London: Kogan Page. Mancinelli, F. (2018) A practice of togetherness: Home imaginings in the life of locationindependent families. International Journal of Tourism Anthropology 6 (4), 307–322. Mancinelli, F. (2020) Digital nomads: Freedom, responsibility and the neoliberal order. Information Technology and Tourism 22, 417–437. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558020-00174-2. Maoz, D. (2004) The conquerors and the settlers: Two groups of young Israeli backpackers in India. In G. Richards and J. Wilson (eds) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice (pp. 109–122). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Maoz, D. (2005) Young adult Israeli backpackers in India. In C. Noy and E. Cohen (eds) Israeli Backpackers: From Tourism to Rite of Passage (pp. 159–188). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Maoz, D. (2007) Backpackers’ motivations: The role of culture and nationality. Annals of Tourism Research 34 (1), 122–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2006.07.008. Maoz, D. (2008) The backpacking journey of Israeli women in mid-life. In K. Hannam and I. Ateljevic (eds) Backpacker Tourism: Concepts and Profiles (pp. 188–198). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Matteucci, X. and Gnoth, J. (2017) Elaborating on grounded theory in tourism research. Annals of Tourism Research 65, 49–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2017.05.003. Mclachlan, D.A. (2007) Global nomads in an international school: Families in transition. Journal of Research in International Education 6 (2), 233–249. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/1475240907078615. Mintz, S. (2004) The social and cultural construction of American childhood. In M.C.L.H. Ganong (ed.) Handbook of Contemporary Families: Considering the Past, Contemplating the Future (pp. 36–53). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Nir, E. (2006) Where is the time of non-movement? In E. Nir (ed.) From India Till Here (pp. 7–31). Jerusalem: Rubin Mass Publishers. [In Hebrew.] Noy, C. (2006) Israeli backpacking since the 1960s: A historic–cultural view of institutionalization and experience in tourism. Tourism Recreation Research 31 (3), 39–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2006.11081504. Noy, C. (2007) Narrative Community: Voices of Israeli Backpackers. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press. Noy, C. and Cohen, E. (2005) Backpackers as a rite of passage in Israel. In C. Noy and E. Cohen (eds) Israeli Backpackers: From Tourism to Rite of Passage (pp. 1–37). Albany, NY: State University Press of New York. O’Reilly, C.C. (2006) From drifter to gap year tourist: Mainstreaming backpacker travel. Annals of Tourism Research 33 (4), 998–1017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2006.04.002. Pollock, D.C. and Van Reken, R.E. (2009) Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds. Boston, MA: Nicholas Brealey. Shafran, N. (2006) From the hikes of the Palmach to the Muchileros. Panim 35, 48–83. [In Hebrew.] Simchai, D. (2000) This Trail Starts Here: Israeli Backpackers to the Far East. Tel Aviv: Prag. [In Hebrew.] Uriely, N., Yonay, Y. and Simchai, D. (2002) Backpacking experiences: A type and form analysis. Annals of Tourism Research 29 (2), 520–538. https://doi.org/10.1016/S01607383(01)00075-5.

7 The Rise and Decline of Indonesian Backpacking Sarani Pitor Pakan

I lifted my backpack for the first time at the end of 2009, at the start of my first semester holiday as a university’s student. As it was slightly after Christmas, I first went to the city of Blora in Indonesia and then travelled around for about three weeks. I suppose that was the beginning of my backpacker travel career. Little I knew at that time about backpacking or even what it means to be a backpacker. However, in retrospect, that trip and many others which followed were a tiny part of an emerging backpacking trend in Indonesia. From the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, there were many Indonesians who began their backpacking career and took part in backpacking travel. In 2005, an Indonesian backpacker called Trinity (pen name) started a travel blog called ‘The Naked Traveller’. Her blog postings eventually transformed into a book series: The Naked Traveller (written in Bahasa Indonesia). She restored the genre of travel writing in Indonesia and helped to popularise Indonesian backpacking. A year earlier, a popular mailing list, Indobackpacker, emerged, which united many Indonesian backpackers online for the first time. The list enabled practices of information-sharing, recommendation-giving, as well as casual conversation. The travel book series and mailing list played a role in making ‘backpacking’ a buzzword in Indonesia. Bookshelves were soon full of Indonesian language backpacking books, ranging from guidebooks and non-fiction to literary novels. Travel-related articles in newspapers, magazines, online media and blogs were discussing backpacking and how to become a backpacker. This travel culture, long a phenomenon in western countries, and visible in some (international) backpacker enclaves, in Indonesia emerged in its ‘local’ form. Gustiayu (2012), in her backpacking guidebook for beginners (dedicated to Indonesian readers), notices this then-growing cultural phenomenon: The words ‘backpacking’ and ‘backpacker’ have now mushroomed and become one of the most popular words in everyday conversations of 161

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Indonesian young adults. Even these words sometimes become ambiguous with the word ‘holiday’ […] It seems like backpacking and being a backpacker are very cool. (Gustiayu, 2012: 2, my translation)

Her observation is precise; and her book was only one of many books, magazines, television shows and films associated with Indonesian backpacking. The rise of the backpacking phenomenon in the mid-2000s coincided with a period of steady economic growth. This helped create a significant growth in the new Indonesian middle class. Many were concentrated in urban areas, with material and cultural consumption becoming vital to distinguishing themselves from each other and, more importantly, from the lower class (Gerke, 2000; Jati, 2017; Suyanto et al., 2019). This chapter hence views backpacking as a form of cultural consumption in the context of Indonesian consumer society. The primary aim of the chapter is to understand the rise and decline of Indonesian backpacking, by drawing on literature about backpacking (e.g. Cohen, 2011), the (popular) culture industry (Adorno, 1991; Fiske, 1989) and cool theory (Heath & Potter, 2005; Nancarrow & Nancarrow, 2011). In exploring aspects of Indonesian backpacking (as cultural consumption), the chapter draws attention to the practices, ideology and identity of Indonesian backpackers and the tensions between mass homogenisation and individuality within the backpacker scene. In sum, this chapter is about how backpacking was/is received, perceived, practised, consumed, popularised and declined in Indonesia. Literature Review Backpacking culture

In introducing the term ‘backpacking’ to academia, Pearce (1990) approached backpacking as a sociocultural construct, rather than an economic or demographic one. He describes the prominent features of being a backpacker as preferring budget accommodation, interaction with other travellers, independence and flexibility in travel plan, a preference for longer holidays, and emphasis on an informal and participatory holiday. In a similar tone, Bradt (1995, cited in Welk, 2004) proposes the pillars of backpacking ideology as travelling on a low budget, meeting different people, being or feeling free, being independent and open-minded, organising the journey independently, and travelling for a long time. These features served as cultural distinction markers to differentiate backpacking from other forms of travel. Such was the distinction that some authors described backpacking as a subculture (Cohen, 2003; Salvaggio, 2016) and regarded the backpacker as antitourist (Welk, 2004). Scholars have long studied backpacking as a cultural phenomenon. Sørensen (2003) explores the conduct, norms and

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values of backpacking culture; Paris (2010) takes on the virtualisation of backpacking culture by attending to it as an integrated system composed of technological, sociological and ideological subsystems; and Cohen (2011) brings a consumer culture approach into the analysis of backpacking, specifically focusing on individuals who regard backpacking as a way of life. They are the few scholars who examine backpacking culture in its entirety, in a particular geographic contexts. Others conduct cultural analyses of backpacking by categorising it as community/scene (Welk, 2004), type/form (Uriely et al., 2002), enclave (Cohen, 2018; Kravanja, 2016), performance (O’Regan, 2010; Walsh & Tucker, 2009) or habitus (O’Regan, 2016). This chapter extends Cohen’s (2011) contribution by bringing backpacking and consumer culture together. Cohen situates backpacking as lifestyle consumption by focusing on individuals whose lives are centred around the practice of backpacking. As ‘lifestyle travellers’, he regards lifestyle travel as a sub-type of backpacking. These travellers perceive backpacking as a way of life, rather than just a transitional break from life at home. Cohen (2011: 1551) argues: ‘the closest the lifestyle travellers came to feeling at home was being-on-the-road’. This mobile lifestyle entails shared practices and meanings, as well distinctive identity and ideology, through which these travellers set themselves apart from other backpackers and any prototypes of backpacker, such as the drifter (Cohen, 1973) or wanderer (Vogt, 1976). Approaching backpacking through the lens of cultural consumption is an attempt to better comprehend and contextualise contemporary backpackers, whose travels, while emerging from specific sociocultural contexts, reflect consumer society (Bauman, 2004). Understanding backpackers as consumers is not new. For the most part, backpackers are consumers of experiences (Wilson & Richards, 2008) and services, such as hostel accommodation and public transport (Brochado et al., 2015; Dayour et al., 2016). Other backpacker studies capture the practice of consuming space, place and landscape among backpackers (Allon, 2004; Teo & Leong, 2006). Given the mainstreaming of backpacking travel, backpacking can be understood as a form of consumption, and the backpacker as a consumer. O’Reilly (2006: 999) argues that as ‘more and more people partake of the backpacker image and travel in this mode, a common structure of consumption has formed’. This common structure makes backpacking ‘an easily recognisable stereotype’ (2006: 999) and has paved the way for the commodification and institutionalisation of backpacking (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2004; Hampton & Hamzah, 2016). Ateljevic and Doorne (2004: 61) note how an evolving conceptualisation of the phenomenon has shifted ‘from a de-marketing concept to a marketing label’, as consumerism has taken hold. Paradoxically, it has now become harder to distinguish backpacking from other forms of travel, including the phenomenon of mass tourism,

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regarding which backpackers had traditionally sought to maintain a boundary (Le Bigot, 2016; Welk, 2004). The mainstreaming of backpacking has seen backpacking develop into a more global cultural phenomenon, departing from its initial designation as a western(-centric) cultural practice (Paris et al., 2015; Teo & Leong, 2006) and resulting in more dynamic and diverse manifestations of backpacking (Cohen, 2003). As backpacking becomes globally mainstreamed, backpackers from non-western origins are more salient than ever, including those from Asia. Studies have explored backpackers from Japan (Prideaux & Shiga, 2007), China (Luo et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2017) and South Korea (Bae & Chick, 2016), with the term ‘Asian backpackers’ encapsulating the growing backpacker population from Asia (Teo & Leong, 2006; Wantono & McKercher, 2020). These studies provoke the reader to consider a shift of analysis to Asian backpackers and the Asian region (especially Southeast Asia), not simply as backpacker destinations (Spreitzhofer, 2002) but as a backpacker generating region (Chang, 2015). Dialectics of consumption

Following Cohen’s (2011) attempt to align backpacking travel with consumer culture, and understanding backpacking as a form of cultural consumption, this chapter explores the phenomenon of (Indonesian) backpacking using the heuristic devices of mass homogenisation, (pseudo-)individuality and cool consumption. Mass homogenisation and pseudo-individuality are associated with culture industry theory (Adorno, 1991; Horkheimer & Adorno, 1993). In Dialectic of Enlightenment, first published in 1947, Horkheimer and Adorno (1993) describe the culture industry as a totalising force that dictates the consumption of the masses, principally through the twin processes of mass homogenisation and the standardisation of cultural commodities. Under conditions of commodity fetishism and false consciousness, they further argue that ‘culture today is infecting everything with sameness’ (1993: 94). This homogenisation process requires the role of mass media, significantly as a distributing system for the culture industry. Indeed, the culture industry aspires to homogeneity of the cultural consumption of the masses and, thereby, standardised cultural products. All in all, mass homogenisation ensures that the commercialisation of cultural products and the market-oriented rationality of the culture industry can work well (Ray, 2011). Furthermore, in the standardisation process of the culture industry, there are ‘empty rooms’ which may be filled by an individual with their own individuality (Adorno, 1991). However, for Adorno, such a kind of individuality can only provide a superficial variation whose function is to deceive mass consumers: to make them feel as if they are free

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in exercising their individuality. In fact, they are still under the culture industry mechanism. Adorno calls it pseudo-individuality. In RodríguezFerrándiz’s (2014: 329) reading on Adorno: [Pseudo-individuality] introduces into every cultural product a trait, conceived as an optional variation of the standard product, to be able to justify its claim to novelty and originality. As a result, cultural consumption is distinguished by a voracity for the new and by a demand for distinction which is more pronounced than in other sectors of consumption.

There is a paradox of homogenisation/individuality at work here. While homogenisation creates uniformity, individualisation celebrates particularistic variation. Both processes are necessary for the culture industry’s goal towards mass deception. Individuality is therefore seen by Adorno as something phoney (pseudo). The individual (consumer) is just a powerless object, exploited and manipulated by powerful homogenising forces of the culture industry (Adorno, 1991). In contrast to culture industry theory, and the pessimistic view of the homogenisation/individuality dialectic, Fiske’s (1989) popular culture theory offers a more optimistic tone. He assumes a more balanced power exchange between the consumer and the producer of cultural commodities. In Fiske’s account, the individual (consumer) is more powerful, as ‘[One is] not simply consuming a commodity but reworking it, treating it not as a completed object to be accepted passively, but as a cultural resource to be used’ (Fiske, 1989: 10–11). Fiske’s consumer has the right and the choice to ‘make one’s own culture’ (1989: 15) in a process he calls ‘excorporation’. Individuality is not seen as something ‘pseudo’. Instead, although individuals still consume a homogenised mass-produced culture, they may actively and subjectively give new meanings to cultural commodities provided by the dominant system. Fiske (1989) argues that the culture industry and popular culture theories are two different ways of understanding the same phenomenon. The notion of ‘cool’ may also help to offer a more nuanced understanding of cultural consumption. Previously associated with ‘edgy’, ‘hip’ and ‘alternative’ countercultural attitudes and practice, ‘cool’ has now become the dominant ethic and central ideology of consumer capitalism (Heath & Potter, 2005; Pountain & Robbins, 2000). Heath and Potter (2005: 196) see ‘cool’ as ‘an intrinsically positional good’ that can also depend on exclusivity. Rather than searching for class-based social status, which manifests itself in conspicuous consumption, those in contemporary (consumer) society want to be cool. In a similar vein, Nancarrow et al. (2002) perceive cool as a form of cultural capital which can be achieved by doing what most others are not doing. Heath and Potter (2005: 196) claim: ‘[j]ust as not everyone can be upper class and not everyone can have good taste, so not everyone can

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be cool’. ‘Cool’ entails seduction and desire, which fortunately can be satisfied and ‘bought’, through distinctive cultural consumption practices (Nancarrow & Nancarrow, 2011). ‘Cool consumption’, then, becomes an ambivalent space where the will to be different and hip can fit within the conformist mass culture of consuming. ‘Cool’ is ever-changing as, once consumed by the masses, it becomes not cool anymore. Methodology

This chapter is based on an unstructured content analysis of literature, articles and books about the backpacking phenomenon in Indonesia which the author collected between 2012 and 2020 and on extensive field research between 2012 and 2013. As well as following and observing the subject of Indonesian backpacking in books, magazines, articles, television shows, films, discussions, social media, internet forums, the analysis also includes participation in some online backpacker forums and netnographic-style observations. The objective of the content analysis was to focus on the practices, meanings and ideologies of Indonesian backpacking, as well as interrelated processes of socialisation and identity-making within Indonesian backpacking. In addition, the analysis paid attention to the timeline of the content, to understand the peaks and troughs, and therefore the rise and fall in the popularity of backpacking. In addition, conversations and interviews with fellow Indonesian backpackers were undertaken, to explore the findings and insights gained from the content analysis. This also allowed the researcher to explore the generational shift as younger backpackers joined the scene, and why the once-hyped phenomenon was in decline. This chapter therefore makes use of the content analysis and 15 interviews with Indonesian backpackers, conducted in Bahasa Indonesia. The interviews lasted between 60 and 150 minutes each. A deductive approach was undertaken, examining the data using a predefined set of themes and using quotations to support the analysis. All informants’ names, except the public author Trinity, are pseudonyms to ensure anonymity. They are noted by pseudonym and #(number) in the text. The findings are contextualised with supporting literature, offline and online observations, and conversation notes. All the informants are Indonesian backpackers, and all informants backpacked between 2005 and 2015. This is not to suggest that backpacking was non-existent prior to the mid-2000s or after 2015. It merely reflected that the hype had dissipated. Backpacking on trend Along with the rise of the new middle class in Indonesia, travelling has become not odd anymore. Travelling is a new lifestyle. For some people,

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the level of ‘cool’ is no longer determined by hangout places, but how many destinations one visits. (Wibisono, 2012; author translation) After the Reformation [1998], travelling as a hobby started to become popular in Indonesia. Before, it was only the rich and the brave who were able to travel abroad, now the door is open. Everyone can travel because the airlines are often offering cheap ‘promotion’ tickets. This change has a positive impact: backpacker communities have mushroomed. (Gong, 2012: 87; author translation)

Backpacking became a cultural trend among Indonesians, but especially the urban middle class, between 2005 and 2015. During this period Indonesian backpacking – as a phenomenon, word, label, practice, hobby, desire, passion – was in its heyday and at a peak of popularity. As indicated by the two quotes above, there was a change in societal structure, which facilitated and allowed backpacking to happen in Indonesia. The mid-2000s coincided with constant economic growth, an increase in the middle-class population, a significant expansion of information and communication technologies (ICT) and a rise in low-cost airline services. These changes in the macro-environment enabled the emergence of Indonesian backpacking as a form of cultural consumption. Economic growth enabled people to fulfil their tertiary needs, including leisure travel. It helped produce the new Indonesian middle class, who, even with higher disposable incomes, were still price sensitive. Backpacking became a panacea. Purwo (#1) argues: Backpacking was chosen because people wanted to go to great destinations without spending much money. That is a typical middle-class behaviour where the decision making process is always based on price.

Indonesian backpackers exploited the cheap fares offered by low-cost airlines, and ICT expansion – e.g. mobile phones, the internet and social media – made the information (about places, prices, how-to-go-there etc.,) accessible. Anto (#2) notes that: In the earlier times, it was hard for people to get information about a place they want to go. Many travel plans may be cancelled. Now, the internet provides people with easy access to know many places. Diversity of Indonesian backpacking practices

As popular cultural consumption, Indonesian backpacking entails a very wide range of practices, which are often contradictory. It should be noted that the common term in Indonesia for backpacking is ‘backpacking’ (literal English). Unlike the Chinese phrase ‘donkey friends’ (Luo et al., 2015), there is no Bahasa Indonesia equivalent

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for ‘backpacking’ and ‘backpacker’. However, the word ngegembel (hobo-like travel) is used in passing although not widespread. As Indonesian ‘backpacking’ practices are varied, backpacking remains ‘ambiguous’ to other forms of holiday travel (Gustiayu, 2012). Anto (#2) asserts that ‘even if people do not follow the backpacking style, they still call it backpacking. So, sometimes it is just one’s label’. This disjuncture between the backpacking concept and practice is noted elsewhere (Le Bigot, 2016; Wilson & Richards, 2008). Indonesian backpacking practices have four key aspects: independence, budget, travel duration, and number of travellers. Scholarly understanding of backpacking regards the principle of independence as of vital importance. Backpackers arrange journeys and important aspects of travel themselves, and, by doing so, draw a clear boundary between themselves and passive consumers of touristic services (Franklin, 2003). A backpacker posting (13 October 2012) in the Backpacker Indonesia forum, notes: ‘I often hear the misconceptions about backpacking. When the trip is cheap, people assume it as backpacking. The main principle of backpacking should be independence.’ Nevertheless, the actual practice of backpacking in Indonesia often differs from western accounts, with many backpackers choosing to utilise travel agencies specialising in the backpacker scene. Backpacker Store, for instance, offered and sold ‘cheap’ travel packages to backpacker consumers. The owner of Backpacker Store used ‘backpacker’ as his business brand because the terms ‘backpacking’ and ‘backpacker’ were ‘easy to recognise by people’ (personal correspondence) at that time. Furthermore, he liked to promote his packages and services to the backpacker community group on social media, as his consumers were usually busy urban workers who did not have much time to arrange the travel themselves. Backpackers used the services of travel agencies, given the time convenience, if the price was low, and the agencies used the labels ‘backpacker’ or ‘backpacking’. Backpacking is widely known as a low-budget form of travel. Indonesian language travel books have titles such as Lucky Backpacker: 3 Million Rupiahs Exploring 5 European Countries (Novia, 2011) and 3-Day and 2-Night Holiday in Bali with 500 Thousand Rupiahs (Risang, 2014), titles similar to older books like Europe on 5 Dollars a Day (Frommer, 1957). In many ways, the focus on low budget emerged just as the western backpacking scene placed less emphasis on cost. Heroic narratives of low-budget travel were salient when backpackers recounted their travel stories, either in casual conversations (offline and online), travel articles, or other forums. Irfan (#3) noted ‘I only had 600 thousand rupiahs, but I did not think about that. I only thought I had to travel with that money,’ when narrating his trip from Jakarta to Flores. While the emphasis on low budget helped to ‘democratise’ leisure travel in Indonesia, the focus on cost was less in more recent narratives. Reflecting

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flashpacking, which is seen as a variant of backpacking, practitioners focused on new dimensions. Wiwi (#4) and Mita (#5) noted in an online conversation that they felt they belonged more to the ‘flashpacker’ category, as they often deliberately set a higher budget to have more comfort while travelling, as well as to compensate for the limited ‘time budget’. Travel duration has different meaning within Indonesian back­ packing culture. In theory, backpacking is seen as a mode of travel which usually lasts longer than conventional tourism. But, in practice, this is not always the case in Indonesia. My analysis found that it varies in length from common 3-day/ 2-nights trips to more prolonged journeys lasting three to six months. Wiwi (#4) admitted: ‘The longest time is six days. The shortest ones, of course, rely on a Saturday to Monday weekend, and going on Friday night and returning on Monday morning before going to work’. Wiwi is not a unique case and her habit quite reflected normal working urban middle-class backpackers, for whom time and a weekend trip is precious. My analysis found that Indonesian backpackers varied in terms of travel companionship. Many chose to travel alone and believe this element to be pivotal. Mita (#5) asserted: ‘What I call backpacking is when I travel alone. At that time, I am a backpacker. Other than that, no’. Solo backpackers feel more flexible and experience freedom, as they are not constrained by companions. For others, backpacking was more fun when accompanied by a spouse, friends or relatives. With the popular ‘share-cost’ system, backpacking groups could be as large as 20–30 people. The ‘share-cost’ system suggests and illustrates the collective character of Indonesian backpacking. On online forums, group backpackers gather, usually united by their desire to share costs and an interest in the same destination. They form ad-hoc, informal ‘committees’ (panitia) consisting of a leader, treasurer, itinerary-make etc. This is also a common characteristic within Chinese backpacking (see Chapter 4 and Chapter 5). The diversity of practices in Indonesian backpacking means that the use of a backpack is not widespread. Bima (#6), for instance, notes: ‘To my mind, backpacking does not necessarily define that we have to use a backpack. I think it should be possible to use a suitcase’. Transportation and accommodation choices are also flexible and related to the comfort and budget of each backpacker. Destination choice varied, from touristic places in Bali, for example, to the off-the-beaten-track destinations on remote islands. The diversity of backpacking practices indicates that Indonesian backpackers differ from their western counterparts. Madya (2017: 26), in the context of Indonesian backpackers, suggests that ‘the term of backpacker is adopted, even though they do not conform to the Western stereotype of what a backpacker is’. Indonesian backpackers have few ‘rules’ or ‘ideology’ to draw from and therefore display a broad

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diversity of practices. Even though they embrace the backpacker label, they travel both independently and/or on package tours, as cheaply as possible but also choosing more expensive options, travelling over weekends as well as longer trips etc. Paris et al. (2015) argue that Asian backpackers often contradict ‘conventional’ ways of backpacking, with less travel planning flexibility, shorter trips, preference for the beaten track/touristic destination, and the use of tour packages. Cool meets cheap

Beyond the diversity of varying practices, Indonesian backpackers do espouse a specific identity that allows backpacking to become recognisable and distinctive from other cultural formations. While the schema in which individuals espouse this identity may operate through the nexus of ‘cheap’ budget travel and ‘cool’ identity, it is still a place where identity and sense of belonging can be felt. Backpackers generate economical leisure activities and a socially distinctive lifestyle. While the former is more pragmatic (budget travel), the latter is concerned with status-seeking practice and distinction (coolness). Sekar (#7) recalls that ‘people have stereotyped backpacking as something cheap’. This stereotype of backpacking persists, as shown by an administrator’s post in the Backpackers Indonesia community Facebook group page (10 October 2019): ‘Passion for adventure has to be done by minimising the budget.’ While backpacking thrived because it was considered cheap, it also challenged the common perception that leisure travel was only for the rich. As Handayani and Paramita (2012) write: ‘Who says that travelling the world is identical with wasting money. You can also have a holiday abroad in a thrifty way. Being a backpacker is the answer’. Backpacking’s emergence opened leisure travel to many, at the expense of creating a stereotype. Sekar (#7) reflects on how ‘cheap’ the main pillar of Indonesian backpacking can become: When backpacking began to rise to the surface, it was something new. Few people knew it before. Then, it suddenly became popular because of its element of price. It was popular because this was new for many people; they said ‘wow’ when knowing that a whole trip to Singapore was possible for only 500 thousand rupiahs [US$35].

The pillar of cheap/low budget travel paved the way for mass cultural consumption and led to backpacking becoming different things to different people. Budget travel itself means different things to different people, with the meaning of cheap/low budget being subjective making it possible for everyone to regard their cultural consumption as backpacking. However, for some backpackers, their sense of identity and belonging are undermined by this dominant pillar, given that it shadows

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other aspects or pillars of backpacking travel, such as independence, freedom and adventure. Backpacking had its heyday and was considered ‘cool’ (keren) between 2005 and 2015. People were keen to make it part of their cultural consumption, and it did not reflect things they did not like, such as mass tourism. Just as with the counterculture, when cool or coolness rejuvenated the consumer experience rather than being a rebellion against consumer culture (Frank, 1998), so it was with backpacking. In Indonesia, backpacking is perceived as an anti-mainstream way of travel, and a form of antikemapananan (anti-establishment/liberation/in opposition). Backpacking was sometimes referred to as a gembel (hobo) travel style and seen as cool. Mita (#5) explains: ‘Some people think of anti-establishment as something cool, and backpacking is one of the things that reflects anti-establishment. That’s why people think it’s cool’. The nexus of low budget–coolness drew many people who wanted to be identified as part of a ‘cool tribe’ (Nancarrow & Nancarrow, 2011). These elements were performatively translated into everyday life through what they wore (flannel shirt, mountain shoes or sandals, backpack), how they behaved (adventurous, brave, thrifty) and what they talked about (travel stories, travel books, information on places, next travel plans). In the context of consumer society, cool is a social status, akin to upper class in a more traditional society (Heath & Potter, 2005). Backpacking as cultural consumption provides a means for individuals to become cool and acquire a positional good (social status). The ‘coolness’ of backpacking became a marker of distinction in society. First, it differentiates backpackers from conventional and ‘uncool’ mass tourists. Second, the experience-seeking backpackers are distinguishable from other types of Indonesian cultural consumers, who purchase material items, like clothes and gadgets. Anto (#8) notes: ‘Suppose that I have two million rupiahs, I will be keener to buy experiences through travelling rather than buying an expensive gadget’. While cheap (budget travel) and coolness might explain the attraction of backpacking in Indonesia, it also explains how backpacking was brought into a more consumerdominated cultural field, where emphasis on ‘money’ (to spend) and ‘identity’ (to perform) were salient. Homogenised individuals or individualised homogeneity?

The cultural consumption of Indonesian backpackers indicates an interesting paradox. On the one hand, their practices are very varied. This can be optimistically seen as the active redefinition and reinterpretation of western backpacking culture, to fit with contemporary Indonesian audiences. On the other hand, the variety of practices has not stopped the homogenising use of the ‘backpacking’ label (Madya,

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2017). This homogenous use of the ‘backpacker’ label resonates with Zhang et al. (2017) whose research in the Chinese context found that backpacking has become a mere cultural product, commodity and brand to be consumed. Cultural homogenisation occurred as the label ‘backpacker’ became coveted by individuals, as they sought to gain recognition through cool, low-budget travel. This single label encompassed a diversity of practices before the emerging backpacker sector reduced them to a small number of indicators. As backpacking became trendy, the simple act of self-labelling was crucial. The labels ‘backpacking’ and ‘backpacker’ became a tool to homogenise the masses. The homogenising process was partly done through various culture industry channels, such as books, mass media (television, magazines, print and online travel articles), social media, and the word-of-mouth interaction of friends or relatives. The importance of these channels can be seen in quotes by various informants: I think the most responsible factor is the media, especially books. It started with Trinity Traveler’s books. They were very popular. And those books motivate people to start travelling. Sekar (#7). TV programs are responsible [for this backpacking trend]. Nowadays, there are so many TV programs about travel, particularly on the weekend. People become interested. Previously, they may not know about such places or not realise that such places are beautiful. Because of the TV programs, people now want to go there. Anto (#2) The rise of social media, seeing travel photographs, reading travel blogs: they are making us want to go here and there as the places look interesting and beautiful. Backpacking has been long existing in Indonesia, but it has just recently blown up due to social media. On Facebook, everything we share can be seen by everyone. If we tag photos of our friends, our friends’ friends will see. That is the influence of social media. After seeing those photos, people tend to say, ‘Ah, you’ve just travelled somewhere. How about inviting me someday?’ Then A invites B, B invites C, the effect is getting wider and wider. Wiwi (#4). Let’s say I have a group of ten female friends; we usually hang out in the mall. Then, I travel with my other friends. As I’m so happy, I tell my travel story to this mall girls’ clique of mine. I say that my travel experience is cool, and they soon become interested. In fact, they, for example, do not have Facebook accounts. That is the power of word of mouth. Sekar (#7).

Accordingly, those who choose backpacking both created and bought the standardised version of Indonesian backpacking – with its ‘cheap’ prices and ‘cool’ identity. This version was well received in broader parts of Indonesian society. Backpacker online communities mushroomed, and

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growing numbers of people took part in this version of backpacking. Rather than being uniform, this version of backpacking reflected a form of individualised homogeneity, where backpacking as a cultural product was accepted, rearticulated, reworked, and redefined by Indonesian backpackers themselves and the sector’s cultural intermediaries. Indonesian backpacking remains full of contradictions, as individuals are free to interpret this simplified version of backpacking according to their own logics, positionality and needs. The Future of Indonesian Backpacking

Indonesian backpacking boomed between 2005 and 2015, with the scale of growth worrying many at the time. For instance, a Facebook comment says: Television programs about travel have depicted backpacking as nothing more than a hedonistic activity of wealthy young people, new ‘the haves’. […] The decency, pride, and spirit I felt before within the backpacker community has started to disappear ever since backpacker becomes a trend. (Backpacker Dunia, Facebook, 18 September 2012)

The comment further asserted that Indonesian backpacking was decadent, with the mainstreaming process standing accused as the reason. Backpacking began to lose its aura and coolness. Anto (#8) argues: ‘backpacking has become mainstream and it’s not fun anymore for some people. It used to be cool, used to be a pride. […] Backpacking is now commonplace, less prestigious’. However, looking at the positive side, he notes: ‘the backpacking virus we spread has worked out’. After 2015, Indonesian backpacking went silent and entered a hiatus. While backpackers exist, its popularity has diminished. Backpackers travel ‘silently’ now, and few boast offline and online like before. Conversations about backpacking or claims to identify with backpacking became non-existent. Those who travelled between 2005 and 2015 became older, and they travel less frequently now, due to work and careers, family, or losing the appetite to travel. New cultural products (books, TV shows or movies) about backpacking are rare. Many online backpacker communities ceased to exist, and it has become harder to find a person who labels themselves a ‘backpacker’. Interviews and conversations with younger travellers about backpacking culture found that they do not relate to the label or do not know anyone among their clique/friendship circles who identify their travel in that way. The informants are not buying a ‘backpacker’ label and seem keener on the broader term ‘traveller’ instead. Rahma (#9) believes that backpacking no longer resonates among younger generations, and notes that ‘backpacking is not the sole reference any­more, as there are more diverse perspectives on travel’. She said that leisure

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travel has become ‘easier’ and ‘more common’ for Indonesians and that travelling cheaply is no longer a source of pride because everything has become cheaper anyway. Travelling cheaply and in comfort are now available together. Many informants also mentioned Instagram. For Trinity (#10), Instagram changed the way people travel, as people travel to ‘fill their social media feed’. Trinity offers an explanation: ‘How can people travel light with a backpack now, while they have to bring a lot of different clothes so their photos and Instagram posts will not be dull?’ She feels that ‘kids now prefer a more comfortable way of travel’. Rahma (#9) remarks: ‘the word “backpacking” is more rarely seen now in social media’ and ‘backpacking is not popular anymore; it does not get much likes’. Furthermore, Purwo (#1) believes that Instagram-oriented travel culture has de-popularised backpacking by dismissing the elements of ‘journey’ (getting from A to B) and the ‘story’ behind the travel. What matters most are the destinations and the visual images that can be captured there. Backpacking and the importance of ‘journey over destination’ and the rich experiences and stories that follow, is no longer selling. In typical everyday language in Indonesia, the word ‘ikut-ikutan’ (following) is important. It suggests that the general character of Indonesians is to like, follow and consume whatever is on trend. Backpacking, as a cool cultural product, was once a part of the discourse of ikut-ikutan. Riza (#11) hopes the decline may serve as a kind of ‘natural selection’ process, separating those who really embrace the values of backpacking (beyond consumerism) and those who do not (trend-based consumers). After all, Indonesian backpacking is still here today despite its decline, and may allow Indonesian backpackers to be backpackers. From marketing to me-marketing

Ateljevic and Doorne (2004) argue that backpacking research since the 1980s has moved from a de-marketing approach (e.g. Cohen, 1973; Vogt, 1976) to a more marketing one, in the sense that researchers began re-defining backpackers as a coherent, dynamic and evolving ‘market segment’ (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2004: 61). Backpackers started to be understood in terms of consumer behavioural characteristics and perceived to be part of the mainstream tourism industry. While the drifter and wanderer of the 1970s might fall into a category of non-institutionalised travel, the backpacker might have drifted into institutionalised travel as it came to be practised by an ever-increasingly large number of people. This institutionalisation has manifested itself in backpacker guidebooks, hostel accommodation and backpacker routes (Hampton & Hamzah, 2016; Welk, 2004). The case of Indonesian backpacking may suggest a future reversal of the marketisation process, and possibly lead to the de-marketing

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(or de-commodification) of both Indonesian and western backpacking, after a period of commodification. Purwo (#1) believes the true meaning of ‘backpacking’ and the ‘backpacker’ label have been ‘completely squeezed out’. As backpacking is not as marketable as before, the Indonesian backpacker may enter the realm of de-commodification. Metaphorically speaking, the mundane act of not using the backpacker label might allow backpacking culture to leave behind the capitalist arena of the culture industry and step into a more serene arena of ‘culture without industry’. Yet, paradoxically, as backpackers go silent it becomes harder to find those who once might self-label as a ‘backpacker’. This may reflect the drifter of the past, whose solitude ‘appears to hide them from the field-worker studying backpackers’ (Cohen, 2003: 96). Today’s silent Indonesian backpackers are individuals to whom backpacking is not just a utilitarian, practical or cheap method of travel. Backpacking may in the future become more value based. Purwo (#1) coined the term ‘aesthete’ (penghayat) to refer to backpackers who are now backpacking without the hype. Meanwhile, the demographic character of current and future Indonesian backpackers might also change, as it no longer attracts the young urban middle class. Trinity (#10), who is still backpacking, observes that today’s backpackers are mostly ‘nature lovers’ (pecinta alam) and ‘mountaineers’ (anak gunung). In short, this emerging form of backpacking may not suit the masses and trend seekers anymore. Conclusion

An appreciation of backpacking history is important, as it allows us to speculate on its future (O’Regan, 2018). This chapter has explored the not-so-distant past of Indonesian backpacking and the cultural changes that have been occurring within the backpacker scene. By understanding backpacking as cultural consumption in the Indonesian context, the chapter has described how Indonesian backpacking went through a process of cultural boom and bust, before experiencing a de-commodification process. This chapter shows that Indonesian backpacking has its own variations of practices, ideology and identity, as well as a trajectory of rise and decline. As cultural product can be re-produced and re-consumed across cultural contexts and assimilated among the diversity of uses and values (Jackson, 1999), the questions of homogeneity and heterogeneity inherent within the backpacker scene and backpacking research, then, are re-emphasised. References Adorno, T. (1991) The Culture Industry. New York, NY: Routledge. Allon, F. (2004) Backpacker heaven: The consumption and construction of tourist spaces and landscapes in Sydney. Space and Culture 7 (1), 49–63. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/1206331203256852.

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Ateljevic, I. and Doorne, S. (2004) Theoretical encounters: A review of backpacker literature. In G. Richards and J. Wilson (eds) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice (pp. 60–76). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Bae, S.Y. and Chick, G. (2016) A rail pass as a culture code among youth travelers: The case of Rail-ro in Korea. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 14 (1), 27–44. https://doi. org/10.1080/14766825.2014.987781. Bauman, Z. (2004) Work, Consumerism, and the New Poor. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill. Bradt, H. (1995) Better to travel cheaply? The Independent on Sunday Magazine 12 February, 49–50. Brochado, A., Rita, P. and Gameiro, C. (2015) Exploring backpackers’ perceptions of the hostel service quality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 27 (8), 1839–1855. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-03-2014-0145. Chang, T.C. (2015) The Asian wave and critical tourism scholarship. International Journal of Asia–Pacific Studies 11 (1), 83–101. Cohen, E. (1972) Toward a sociology of international tourism: Social research. Social Research 39 (1), 164–182. Cohen, E. (1973) Nomads from affluence: Notes on the phenomenon of drifter-tourism. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 14 (1–2), 89–103. Cohen, E. (2003) Backpacking: Diversity and change. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 1 (2), 95–110. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766820308668162. Cohen, E. (2018) Backpacker enclaves research: Achievements, critique and alternative approaches. Tourism Recreation Research 43 (1), 105–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 02508281.2017.1388572. Cohen, S.A. (2011) Lifestyle travellers: Backpacking as a way of life. Annals of Tourism Research 38 (4), 1535–1555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.02.002. Dayour, F., Adongo, C.A. and Taale, F. (2016) Determinants of backpackers’ expenditure. Tourism Management Perspectives 17, 36–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. tmp.2015.11.003. Fiske, J. (1989) Understanding Popular Culture. Boston, MA: Unwin Hyman. Frank, T. (1998) The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Franklin, A. (2003) Tourism: An Introduction. London: Sage. Frommer, A. (1957) Europe on 5 Dollars a Day: A Guide to Inexpensive Travel. Trade Distributors: Greenberg. Gerke, S. (2000) Global lifestyles under local conditions: The new Indonesian middle class. In C. Beng-Huat (ed.) Consumption in Asia: Lifestyles and Identities (pp. 135–158). London: Routledge. Gong, G.A. (2012) Te-we (Travel Writer): Being Traveler, Being Writer. Jakarta: Gramedia. Gustiayu, H. (2012) Backpacking 101: Catatan praktis untuk backpacker pemula. Jakarta: Elex Media Komputindo. Hampton, M.P. and Hamzah, A. (2016) Change, choice, and commercialization: Backpacker routes in Southeast Asia. Growth and Change 47 (4), 556–571. https://doi.org/10.1111/ grow.12143. Handayani, W. and Paramitha, T. (2012) Keliling dunia murah, bisa! Retrieved from http:// life.viva.co.id/news/read/328070-keliling-dunia-murah--bisa-. Heath, J. and Potter, A. (2005) The Rebel Sell: How the Counter Culture Became Consumer Culture. Chichester: Capstone. Horkheimer, M. and Adorno, T. (1993 [1947]) Dialectic of Enlightenment. Trans. J. Cumming. New York, NY: Continuum. Jackson, P. (1999) Commodity cultures: The traffic in things. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 24, 95–108. https://www.jstor.org/stable/623343. Jati, W.R. (2017) Investigating the political base of Indonesian middle class: A comparative study. Komunitas: International Journal of Indonesian Society and Culture 9 (2), 267–282.

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Kravanja, B. (2016) The place of backpacker enclaves: Exploring the concept towards its temporariness and situational contexts. Anthropological Notebooks 22 (3), 87–107. http://notebooks.drustvo-antropologov.si/Notebooks/article/view/134. Le Bigot, B. (2016) The backpackers’ ‘round the world’ trip, standardized journey? Via Tourism Review 9. https://journals.openedition.org/viatourism/324. Luo, X., Huang, S. and Brown, G. (2015) Backpacking in China: A netnographic analysis of donkey friends’ travel behaviour. Journal of China Tourism Research 11 (1), 67–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2014.908757. Madya, S.H. (2017) Mobile sociality: Backpacker interaction in a digital world. Master’s thesis, Stockholm University. Nancarrow, C. and Nancarrow, P.J. (2011) Hunting for cool tribes. In B. Cova, R.V. Kozinets and A. Shankar (eds) Consumer Tribes (pp. 129–142). Abingdon: Routledge. Nancarrow, C., Nancarrow, P. and Page, J. (2002) An analysis of the concept of cool and its marketing implications. Journal of Consumer Behaviour: An International Research Review 1 (4), 311–322. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.77. Novia, A. (2011) Lucky Backpacker: Rp3 juta menjelajah 5 negara Eropa. Tangerang Selatan: Imania. O’Regan, M. (2010) Backpacker hostels: Place and performance. In K. Hannam and A. Diekmann (eds) Beyond Backpacker Tourism: Mobilities and Experiences (pp. 85–101). Bristol: Channel View Publications. O’Regan, M. (2016) A backpacker habitus: The body and dress, embodiment and the self. Annals of Leisure Research 19 (3), 329–346. https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2016. 1159138. O’Regan, M. (2018) Backpacking’s future and its drifter past. Journal of Tourism Futures 4 (3), 193–204. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-04-2018-0019. O’Reilly, C.C. (2006) From drifter to gap year tourist: Mainstreaming backpacker travel. Annals of Tourism Research 33 (4), 998–1017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2006. 04.002. Paris, C. (2010) The virtualization of backpacker culture: Virtual mooring, sustained interactions and enhanced mobilities. In K. Hannam and A. Diekmann (eds) Beyond Backpacker Tourism: Mobilities and Experiences (pp. 40–63). Bristol: Channel View Publications. Paris, C.M., Musa, G. and Thirumoorthi, T. (2015) A comparison between Asian and Australasia backpackers using cultural consensus analysis. Current Issues in Tourism 18 (2), 175–195. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2014.920771. Pearce, P. (1990) The Backpacker Phenomenon: Preliminary Answers to Basic Questions. Townsville: Department of Tourism, James Cook University. Pountain, D. and Robins, D. (2000) Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude. London: Reaktion Books. Prideaux, B. and Shiga, H. (2007) Japanese backpacking: The emergence of a new market sector: A Queensland case study. Tourism Review International 11 (1), 45–56. https:// doi.org/10.3727/154427207784771879. Ray, G. (2011) Culture industry and the administration of terror. In G. Raunig, G. Ray and U. Wuggenig (eds) Critique of Creativity (pp. 167–181). London: MayFly Books. Risang, P. (2014) Liburan 3 hari 2 malam di Bali dengan 500 ribu rupiah. Retrieved from https://www.hipwee.com/travel/liburan-2-hari-3-malam-di-bali-dengan-500-riburupiah/. Rodríguez-Ferrándiz, R. (2014) Culture industries in a postindustrial age: Entertainment, leisure, creativity, design. Critical Studies in Media Communication 31 (4), 327–341. Salvaggio, M.J. (2016) Bursting the backpacker bubble: Exploring backpacking ideology, practices, and contradictions. PhD thesis, University of Nevada Los Angeles. UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 2900. Sørensen, A. (2003) Backpacker ethnography. Annals of Tourism Research 30 (4), 847–867.

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Spreitzhofer, G. (2002) The roaring nineties: Low-budget backpacking in Southeast Asia as an appropriate alternative to third world mass tourism? Asien Afrika Latinamerika 30 (2), 115–129. Suyanto, B., Sugihartati, R., Hidayat, M. and Subiakto, H. (2019) Global vs. local: Lifestyle and consumption behaviour among the urban middle class in East Java, Indonesia. South East Asia Research 27 (4), 398–417. Teo, P. and Leong, S. (2006) A postcolonial analysis of backpacking. Annals of Tourism Research 33 (1), 109–131. Uriely, N., Yonay, Y. and Simchai, D. (2002) Backpacking experiences: A type and form analysis. Annals of Tourism Research 29 (2), 520–538. Vogt, J.W. (1976) Wandering: Youth and travel behaviour. Annals of Tourism Research 4 (1), 25–41. Walsh, N. and Tucker, H. (2009) Tourism ‘things’: The travelling performance of the backpack. Tourist Studies 9 (3), 223–239. Wantono, A. and McKercher, B. (2020) Backpacking and risk perception: The case of solo Asian women. Tourism Recreation Research 45 (1), 19–29. Welk, P. (2004) The beaten track: Anti-tourism as an element of backpacker identity construction. In G. Richards and J. Wilson (eds) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice (pp. 77–91). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Wibisono, N. (2012) Buang buku panduan wisatamu!, Retrieved from http://jakartabeat.net/ humaniora/kanal-humaniora/travelling/item/1449buang-buku-panduan-wisatamu. html. Wilson, J. and Richards, G. (2008) Suspending reality: An exploration of enclaves and the backpacker experience. Current Issues in Tourism 11 (2), 187–202. Zhang, J., Tucker, H., Morrison, A.M. and Wu, B. (2017) Becoming a backpacker in China: A grounded theory approach to identity construction of backpackers. Annals of Tourism Research 64, 114–125.

8 Iranian Female Backpackers and their Surrounding Community Reihaneh Shahvali and Khadijeh Safiri

The backpacking community is global, with researchers exploring backpackers from Israel, South Korea, Japan, China and Malaysia (Chen & Huang, 2019; Collins-Kreiner et al., 2018; Johnes & Mapjabil, 2020), among others. The research points to a multicultural mobile community that is exposed to cross-cultural experiences on a daily basis as it travels domestically and internationally (Kanning, 2008). Drawing from non-conformist ideas and countercultural legacies, backpackers are characterised as seeking a break or escape from everyday life and routine societal roles (Welk, 2004). They are described as noninstitutionalised tourists who avoid packaged tours and mass tourism, travel independently and seek to engage with the host society and culture (Welk, 2004). They are characterised as having a limited budget, long trip lengths, and interactions with local communities. Their activities rarely focus on natural, cultural and adventure activities, in off-the-beaten tracks (Canavan, 2018; Zhang et al., 2017). Although the backpacking experience for women from western countries has been researched, it is only recently that female solo backpacking has begun to be researched in other areas of the world, such as China, Philippines and the broader Asia–Pacific region (Wantono & McKercher, 2020; Yang et al., 2018). However, the experiences of female solo travellers or backpackers in Iran remain under researched. The chapter will first examine the existing literature, before exploring the socialisation process of Iranian female backpackers and their travel experiences in an Islamic society. The chapter will then uncover the underlying processes that backpackers undergo with regards to their socialisation (containing their norms and attitudes) upon returning home and consider their possible effects on their surrounding community. While many studies in this field focus on the effects that backpacking may have on identity (Zhang et al., 2017), economy

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(Hampton, 2013) or development (Scheyvens, 2002), this chapter argues that society and tourism are two distinctive but interrelated concepts, as society influences the behaviours, motivations, attitudes and consumption of tourists, and tourism impacts societies (Sharpley, 2018). This chapter studies the interrelationship between tourism and society by exploring female Iranian backpackers from a sociological perspective. It explores how Iranian female backpacking is an emerging travel trend in Iran, despite all the societal constraints. The interrelationships between female Iranian backpackers and Iranian society is also explored and discussed, with the findings indicating that female backpackers can impact their surrounding community after returning home. The findings conclude that more attention must be given to female backpackers in Islamic countries, given the constraining norms and taboos formed during their primary socialisation (Brown & Osman, 2017; Osman et al., 2020). Literature Review

Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest civilisations. It hosts 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and boasts landscapes stretching from dense rain forests and snow-capped mountains to desert basins. The country is noted for its hospitable people, world-renowned food and low cost of travelling. Iran is an emerging backpacker destination. For domestic Iranian backpackers, however, backpacking is a more recent phenomenon, and is conditioned by Iranians’ primary socialisation. Socialisation is a continuous life-long process by which people learn from others during the early days of life, as it develops our personalities (Macionis et al., 2019). It also influences the political, cultural, social and economic aspects of citizens’ and domestic tourists’ everyday lives (Wang et al., 2010). Socialisation also describes the processes that lead to desirable outcomes, sometimes labelled ‘moral’, with regard to the society where it occurs. Individual views on certain issues are influenced by societal consensus and usually tend towards what society finds acceptable or normal (Mirjalili et al., 2016). However, every experience affects our socialisation process in some way, although some experiences, such as family, school, peer-group and mass media, are more important (Macionis et al., 2019). Socialisation in Iran, and the predominance of gender socialisation, religious socialisation and national socialisation, constructs gender identity in Iran with specific traits, and has made things different for Iranians, especially for women to escape masculine hegemony (Foroutan, 2015). Iran is presented as an Islamic Society, governed by Islamic laws and inhabited by people with Islamic ethics and virtues. These ethical values consider drinking, prostitution, seductive music and immoral books and magazines as moral corruption. Therefore, the most important

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characteristic of the ideal citizen is their belief in God, love of nature, piety and chastity, honesty, trustworthiness, simplicity and passion for equality and justice. Individuals, to fulfil their religious and nationality duty, should cleanse themselves of carnal desires and sins (Mehran, 1989). However, there are 16 verses in the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, in which travelling is directly encouraged (Zamani-Farahani & Henderson, 2010). Women’s travel constraints in Iran

According to negative western perceptions of Iranian women, female citizens are required to wear black head-to-toe and to refrain from participating in higher education and driving (Wang et al., 2010). While religion plays an important role in Iranian citizens’ everyday lives, especially women, travel is still an important aspect of life, especially as Iranian women have become more independent financially (Javadian & Singh, 2012; Kian, 2014). While citizens in every nation have travel constraints, there are particular and often specific travel constraints upon citizens within Islamic countries or context. Women in Iran observe a dress code. By law, they cannot share a hotel room with non-related male partners and cannot use a mixed swimming pool or mixed recreational facilities. In most cases, they cannot renew their expired passport without the permission of their father or husband (Arab-Moghaddam & Henderson, 2007). Besides these legal constraints, there are culture-based travel constraints. Shahvali et al. (2016) note married women seldom travel without their family and children, seldom travelling alone or even with other female travellers. Even if the motivation exists, women usually cannot find a companion to travel with. Many travel services are not suitable for women travelling alone. Despite the process of socialisation, which imposed norms and constraints, domestic backpacking emerged in Iran with the aid of social media (Berto, 2018; Jansson, 2018). Images of destinations from male and female solo travellers created new demand for travel. More people are now concerned with this new phenomenon. This study is one of the first to research this understudied yet growing population. Backpacking and women

There are several studies exploring the transformations that backpackers go through (e.g. Cohen, 2003; Noy, 2004; Pearce, 2006; Pocock & McIntosh, 2011; Siriwardena, 2019; Zhang et al., 2017). Many studies believe that women are more neglected in these backpacking studies compared with other groups; however, there are still some that concentrate on the impacts of backpacking on female travellers.

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Myers (2017) tries to link the elements gained from activity choices of independent women travellers to the changes to their self-development and self-identity. She discusses three themes developed from independent women travellers’ interviews: empowering moments, emotional moments, and reflective moments during their independent travel. Myers and Hannam (2008) look at the case of female backpackers who, as a group, seek their independence. Grasping their right is their motivation for leaving on a backpacking trip. They want to break from their everyday identities and become empowered. In these kinds of travels, women try to escape from everyday life, and the many positive physical and emotional experiences they have liberate and empower them and often lead them to new identity formations. In the opinion of Myers and Hannam (2008), the homecoming experience is important where they present new self-identities that assist in future lifestyle choices. They indicate that travel is one means to help an individual re-image and re-fashion the self and to create their own identity away from that of being just Iranian. Maoz (2008) states that tourism is known to have an important role in the search for identity and thus she examines Israeli women in their forties and fifties who have backpacked to India, to see if they feel a significant transition in their self-identity has taken place. She has constructed her study on the proposition that tourism provides the individual with opportunities to satisfy a variety of psychological needs. In studying these women, Maoz (2008) states that they travel to compensate for deficiencies and their journey is a way of changing and of escaping from a former identity and offers a chance to construct a new one. The women she interviewed construct the journey as a transformative experience that has changed them. Their story was a story of change and a reversal of their previous lives. Although they have to continue the tasks of their lives, after their journeys they describe an act of agency which lets them lead their life. The expectations were that these women would, upon their return, end the little game they were playing with their identity and get back on track. Here one can ask if it is always like this? Does the surrounding community, as Maoz (2008) shows, always reject the changes that the traveller has experienced? Does an adventurous journey, like backpacking, have anything to do with the surrounding community apart from the traveller? Noy (2004) goes one step forward and relates this intrinsic change to the people around. He contends that, as a result of the interpersonal context of narration, the narrators’ adventurous travel narrations generated by their backpacking, make the audiences undergo self-change while listening to narratives of the journey. As performances are social events, the personal self-change that tourists themselves have experienced will be materialised in the social realm and that will cause change to the community around the backpacker. As Maoz (2008), Myers and Hannam (2008), Noy (2004) and Myers (2017) show, travelling has

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different impacts on women. Also, social interactions such as narrating will transfer these impacts from the traveller to the surrounding community. This chapter seeks to uncover what is the process of these impacts from the backpacker to the surrounding community in Iran. Although women’s participation in adventurous travels is more common around the world these days, Iranian women are an appropriate case for study as they have experienced a major change in their position during recent decades. Traditionally, a woman’s identity in Iranian culture was defined in relation to others: as a wife, mother, daughter (Myers, 2017). In recent decades Iranian women have worked hard to achieve higher levels of freedom by improving their level of education, working in public spaces, and participating more actively in social activities. They also have more visibility and independence, especially within the context of virtual realities. This social participation has permeated all aspects of their lives, including adventurous travel experiences (Tavakoli & Mura, 2017) and that makes them noteworthy to be studied. Methodology

This study utilises a qualitative method, given the exploratory nature of the study, and provides a means to answer questions about experience, meaning and perspective from the standpoint of the participants (Hammarberg et al., 2016). The method helps achieve deeper insights into the participants’ experience (Sutton & Austin, 2015). An ideal participant here is one who has experienced or observed the experience under investigation (Bryant & Charmaz, 2007). Initial informants were from Instagram, a photo-sharing platform, which is used extensively by Iranian backpackers to highlight travel plans and seek travel partners. After the initial informants were contacted, additional informants were invited via ‘snowball sampling’ (Vashistha et al., 2015). The sample in this study consisted of 8 female backpackers from Iran (see Table 8.1). Table 8.1  The informants Pseudonyms

Age (years)

Length of interview (minutes)

Backpacked domestically/ abroad

Rei

25

80

Abroad

Mah

30

85

Abroad

Par

27

68

Abroad

Arez

27

55

Domestically

Leil

26

40

Domestically

Mar

32

45

Domestically

Mahiii

24

110

Abroad

Eli

23

60

Abroad

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The criteria for the sample were female Iranians from middle-class families who self-identified as backpackers, had a low budget, and had completed semi-planned backpacked travel domestically or inter­ nationally in the preceding six months. Demographic features, travelling inside or outside Iran and their travel backgrounds were not specifically important at the time of sampling. A pilot interview (Griffee, 2005) in Farsi, with a female backpacker, was used to improve the semi-structured questions. Given that informants were predominantly Tehran based, they were invited to a coffee shop. Each interview was transcribed and coded and important features of the transcriptions were extracted as meaningful statements. This was followed by axial coding, which involves correlating data in order to reveal codes, categories and subcategories present in participants’ voices and contained within one’s collected data (Charmaz, 2006). This involves a greater degree of theoretical inference and analytic induction (Scott & Medaugh, 2017). Finally, a story line was written in the last step of the data analysis. The process continued until the researcher reached a saturation point at which gathering fresh data no longer sparked new theoretical insights, nor revealed new properties of the core theoretical categories (Charmaz, 2006). Findings

Analyses of interviews revealed four dimensions of change perceived by female backpackers during their journeys: (a) subjective change, (b) intrapersonal change, (c) interpersonal change and (d) community change. Subjective change

On a backpacking journey, experiences often start with subjective changes, which are defined as intrinsic changes that happen both in mind and in the way one may perceive the world (Brandt, 2009). Subjective changes were repeatedly mentioned by informants. Mar, 32, mentioned how backpacking has changed her perspective towards strangers: ‘I always used to think that people would take advantage of me. I don’t feel like that anymore’. Lei, 26, stated how listening to others’ life stories changed her relationships with other people: When the driver told his story, my attitude toward life changed. I thought that I might die any second and I don’t have much time to be with my loved ones. So, I have to appreciate any second with them. And that is the reason why I decided that whenever I miss my grandmother, I call her right at the moment. There may be no next time.

This dimension is made up of four different codes, each of which includes concepts displayed in Table 8.2. The concepts are not exclusive

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Table 8.2  Subjective change Dimensions

Codes

Concepts

Sample Quotations

Subjective Change

Intangible Changes

Intrinsic Change

They think that I take things more serious now. Many things that were not important to me before. Like the way people live and then I compare it to my own way of living. Some think that I face everything too philosophic now!

Change of Boundaries

I always used to make boundaries for myself and now I have reached a point where I am defining almost everything one more time.

Change of Points of View

I used to hate strangers before. I thought that they wanted to take advantage of me… I don’t feel like that anymore.

Change of Spiritual Beliefs

Seeing all the difficulties that people have, I now feel so blessed and believe that all the comfort is all God’s will.

Change of Selfperception

But now I have found the courage that if I think I cannot pull something off, I could at least give it a try.

Change of the Home Definition

I couldn’t sleep anywhere other than my own house before, even for a single night. But now after my journeys, I see a stranger on the road, s/he asks me to join them for the night and I accept the invitation warmly.

Questioning Previous Knowledge

I was absolutely determined in leaving Iran for good. But as time goes on, I’m becoming more and more uncertain… Besides all these, I’ve got in trucks, in passing cars, alone male drivers…

Learning New Things

But now after all these journeys, I have to know how to deal with them [strangers] and how to behave in front of them.

Mental Maturity

It seems that my wisdom has improved a bit. I am more mature. It was the distance that taught me what family really is and how valuable they are. And about friendships, I realised how deep it can be. In spite of the decrease in the number of my friends, the quality and depth increased.

Personality Maturity

And your world would grow clearly. And all these have made me grow up, little by little.

Selfrecognition

As soon as I started my journeys, I realised who the real Pari is and what she wants from her life.

To Appreciate the Belongings

When the driver told his story … I thought that I might die any second…. And that is the reason why… whenever I miss my grandmother, I call her….

To Change Intrinsic Structures

I used to keep ‘shoulding’ myself, I should do this and do that, be like this and be like that. Tried to fit myself in different definitions. But now I believe that there is no need to have definitions for everything, to follow people’s wants. This freed me and destroyed my fears. It encouraged me to move on. Be whatever I want.

Self Confidence

[In your journeys] the thing that happens to you is that you start to believe in yourself, little by little.

Wisdom Change

Maturity Change

(Continued )

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Table 8.2  Subjective change (Continued) Dimensions

Codes

Concepts

Sample Quotations

Prospective Change

To Make Life Purposeful

These kinds of journeys have shown me that I’m not the one who can work for other people, and you must start your own business.

To Give Value to Life

I now learned that I may not be alive even two days later, and the happiness may not last long, so I appreciate every moment. And despite how much I want, the only thing that will not come back in time. So, I enjoy the moment.

and are mutually inclusive as they overlap as changes in self-perception and self-confidence occur as the backpackers mature mentally. The reason they are distinguished is the emphasis of the informants. While some of them explained how their journeys had affected their way of thinking; others noted how the way of acting or self-knowledge changed. Intrapersonal change

Intrapersonal change mainly refers to the changes in characteristics that one may have based on oneself (Lancaster, 2020). According to Arez, 27: ‘Two years ago, I couldn’t do a simple thing, to go and say hello to a stranger... It was the journeys that gave me this ability to communicate with people whenever I want’. The difference between intrapersonal change and subjective change is that subjective changes are largely due to what happens in one’s mind while intrapersonal changes refers to outcomes that occur within the backpacker (e.g. a stronger sense of selfcontrol, increased self-esteem, improved problem-solving abilities). This dimension is constructed of different codes – see Table 8.3. Interpersonal change

As changes occur personally, they may shift outwards towards others and society. Eli, 23, said: ‘All of these journeys I’ve attended have given me the ability to better communicate with people’. This dimension includes two other codes: change in dealing with others and relationship change (see Table 8.4). Community change

Community change is made up of one code and two major concepts (see Table 8.5). This change, in which the process of change started intrinsically, is now transferred to community. As Mah, 30, puts it: I first started trying to make a change against any existing taboos when I was in college. College was the place that gave me the courage to break the taboo of females travelling alone. Attending these backpacking journeys helped me more through breaking other taboos.

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Table 8.3  Intrapersonal change Dimensions

Codes

Concepts

Quotations

Intrapersonal Change

Style Change

Change in Lifestyle

I dropped out of college and started my journeys and after only 3 months I moved out from my parents’ and started to live alone. I can see that to be the effect of my journeys… I feel that after all these journeys my lifestyle is completely changed.

Simple Living

[Seeing other ways of living] will make something change inside you. My lifestyle has now completely changed. I now prefer a simpler life.

Become a Risk Taker

I began to get in cars where I didn’t know the driver and I only saw the car itself. It was a kind of taking risks. From then on, learning how to communicate with strangers became vital for me.

To Become an Extrovert/ Introvert

Two years ago, I couldn’t do a simple thing, to go and say hello to a stranger…. That was the journey that gave me this ability to communicate with people whenever I want.

Not Being Accountable

…That would make me forget that life is not just having fun. But sometimes it becomes hard for me to be responsible.

Become Daring to Make Changes

Before attending my journeys, I couldn’t believe that I could ever change my job. I now feel that my job is not suitable for me, I have the courage to quit it easily and find another more comfortable.

To Change the Expectations in Life

I now accept my family more and expect less.

Removal of Prejudice

Something else that has happened to me was that my fanaticism about my city or country of origin has almost completely vanished.

Crisis Management

When you wait by the road and expect to arrive at your destination by 8 pm and it’s 8:30 and you’re still waiting there, that will teach you how to manage the crisis.

More Independence

I depended on my father, my brother and every man in my family, so bad. Ever since I started to travel alone, I feel completely independent.

Trait change

A revised model

As shown in Figure 8.1, all the informants were completely aware of the changes occurring in the many aspects of their life, as they usually mentioned it in their interviews. Therefore, change was set as the core phenomenon. Returning to the initial research objective, the other categories were identified as relevant codes, which together constitute an interpretive synthesis. An emergent model of the above processes, Figure 8.1, has change as its core phenomenon. This core phenomenon holds the other categories together, makings a process (Willig, 2013). Beside the change as a core phenomenon, we have causal conditions, which are mainly the variables or events that lead to the development of the phenomenon. This study suggests that backpackers as the agents

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Table 8.4  Interpersonal change Dimensions

Codes

Concepts

Quotations

Interpersonal Change

Encountering Change

Not to Judge

From one moment on, I realised that I don’t have to judge everyone.

To Tolerate

In my journeys I met people who accept everything so easily. I was always a warrior [but now I know that]. There are many other ways to reach my wants.

To Listen More

I wasn’t a good listener ever. But now whenever someone asks me if I have time to have a chat I will say WHY NOT???!!

Watch More Precisely

To watch. Seeing the differences.

To Trust

Trusting other people is the thing I’ve learned from my journeys.

Make New Relationships

Although I have lost many friends, these journeys have made me many others.

Learn Relationships Skills

All of these journeys I’ve attended have given me the ability to better communicate with people.

Sympathy

We didn’t want to experience the air pollution situation of people living at that destination and didn’t even stop by to see their living situation. So why do we expect the government to help them out when we don’t even want to stop by and see their living situation? They are really someone like us…

More Realistic in Relationships

I don’t have to change myself to satisfy them [my friends]. I can abandon my relationship with them, politely, and communicate with the ones who understand me more.

Relationship change

Table 8.5  Community change Dimensions

Codes

Concepts

Quotations

Community change

Surrounding change

To Make Changes in Other People

The impact I had on my brother was, the more my dependence on him was decreased, the stronger and independent he become.

To Change Taboos

The beginning [of my changing the taboos] was in college. Then it was my journeys that helped me break the society’s taboo of female gender and ladies travelling alone.

of change will start the process of change, from within themselves. Subjective changes – including intangibles, such as wisdom, maturity and new perspectives – emerge, as the starting point of the process. The changes that occur subjectively during the journeys were mentioned many times during interviews. For example: I used to define home as where I have all the services that I want, and where I have security and comfort. I can’t say that my definition is

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completely changed, and I can’t accept everywhere as my home; however, I can be comfortable anywhere, temporarily. Before, I couldn’t sleep anywhere except my own house, even for a single night. The reason is, they have told us that girls should sleep just in their own house. So, this has had the message for me that I am not comfy anywhere other than my own house. But now after my journeys I see a strange family on the road, they ask me to join them for a rest and I will accept the invitation warmly. I take a shower at their place and eat with them. (Mah, 30)

Zahra and McIntosh (2007) argue that tourism as an activity can facilitate positive change and make a positive difference to an individual’s relationship and purpose in life. These intrinsic changes appear since the backpackers can be said to exit their normal life and temporarily separate themselves from their family and community to enter an unfamiliar, liminal situation during the journey. They have to prove themselves by resolving the problems encountered on their trip, making independent decisions without the direction of others, the assistance or advice of parents or other authoritative adults, outside the routine context (Richards & Wilson, 2004).

Figure 8.1  Emergent model of the changing process that occurs during the journeys (based on data coding)

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After the process starts, other factors emerge. Interventional factors, which are much like the context, are intervening conditions and moderating variables. Before subjective changes go any further, they form behavioural intentions (Knot et al., 2008). Intrapersonal changes that occur in backpackers’ traits and styles during the journey, facilitate the process of change. Dealing with the new situations provides the informants with challenges and the ability to gain new perspectives. Arez, 27, noted: ‘I began to get in cars where I didn’t know the driver. It was a kind of taking risks but from then on, learning how to communicate with strangers became vital for me’. Compared to regular travel that provides a temporary escape from daily life, transformative travel which engages the traveller with unfamiliar encounters during a journey (Pung et al., 2020) offers insights to the traveller that constitute change (Methors, 2011). Robertson (2002) notes the potentiality of travel to change one’s meaning perspective, to have an impact upon the knowledge one has about the world, and to change the individual in subtle but important ways. I didn’t have much power to take risks. For example, I didn’t like my school major, but I couldn’t change it ever. It was after going on my journeys that I found the courage to go and work in a coffee shop and as a 22-year-old girl I had a good income. I went back to college and changed my major even though I knew it had no good job prospects, but I loved it. [I did so] since I had learned from my journeys that my inner satisfaction was the thing that could make me happier, not my money. Achieving the power of risk-taking was one thing I gained during my journeys. (Mahiii, 24)

As shown in Figure 8.1, the action strategies (Willig, 2013) performed by tourists after subjective and intrapersonal changes occur, are interpersonal changes. Their dealings and relationships are transformed due to their travel experiences. Backpacking provides opportunities for bonding, communication and strengthening of relationships to the surrounding community (Carr, 2011; Gram, 2005; Shaw et al., 2008). Subjective and intrapersonal changes fed into a change in behaviour or social norms. It impacted relationships with hosts (Griffiths & Sharpley, 2012; Pizam et al., 2000; Ryan, 2005), guides (Pearce, 1984) and other travellers and tourists (Harrison, 2003). For informants, the relationships and dealings with other backpackers was apparent, as well as the broader relationships with their family, friends and colleagues after they return from a backpacking journey: When you talk to different people about different topics, you learn how to communicate with random people. From a taxi driver to someone you ask an address from, to one you talk to in the metro or the one you randomly start talking about social issues. They all teach you how to start a relationship and then the personal taboo of communicating with strangers will be broken for you. (Rei, 25)

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The outcome of all these components, where the behaviours change to become a new norm (Knot et al., 2008) after the journey is ended, is when the backpackers interact with their surrounding community. Observing how their surrounding community reacts and starts to make changes in themselves, and being able to break the taboos, are the two main points that informants mentioned: For my family, getting used to my travels was a process. When I started to live this way, the impact I had on my mother was that she is a typical housewife who does nothing in her life, doesn’t care about neither her hobbies nor her health, somehow depressed like most of the housewives in their 40s or 50s. When I started to enjoy my time, I started to tell them ‘ok everybody, I’m going to travel, you may go too, but I’m not going to stay at home with you’. Finally, the result was that, watching me backpacking everywhere, my mother started to change herself and her life little by little. She went to self-help classes, yoga, swimming pool, she met new people, found friends after 40 years and started a new community around herself. She is now a new person, an open-minded lady who goes to self-awareness classes, guides others and she is really cool with me and my sister. (Par, 27) My sister had zero self-confidence and didn’t care about herself and just liked to take care of everyone else except herself. Now she travels and does everything for her own soul. Now my sister and my mother tell me that I have completely changed their lives and if I wouldn’t have done all these things, none of these changes would have ever happened. (Mahiii, 24) Discussion

The overall purpose of this study was to explore the backpacking experiences of female backpackers and the recitations of change seen through the conducted interviews. The shared central phenomenon was a sense of change upon many aspects of their lives. They all experienced change in different arenas: changes in insights, self-perception, introvert personality and maturity; changes in lifestyle, risk taking and independence; changes in tolerance or sympathy; and finally changes in the surrounding community, like the people around and taboos. The findings of this study resemble Berger and Luckmann’s discussion of reality construction in their book, The Social Construction of Reality, which posits that ‘society is a human product. Society is an objective reality. Man is a social product… An analysis of the social world that leaves out any one of these three moments will be distortive’ (Berger & Luckmann, 1991: 79). Supporting the findings, Knot et al. (2008) believe that, in a circular process, attitudes, values, aspirations and a sense of self-efficacy, which are developed from the world around, will pass into a behavioural or social norm in a reciprocal process, as in Figure 8.2.

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1. Attitudes, values, ­aspirations and sense of self-efficacy are ­developed from the world around people… 2. …which form ­behavioural ­intentions individuals hold in regard to specific ­decisions...

Cultural capital: attitudes, values, aspiration � family, friends and associates � organisation, school, ­workplace � community and ­neighborhoud � society

Behavioural intention

Behavioural drivers: � Engage � Exemplify � Encourage � Enable

5. …which ultimately becomes part of attitudes, values and aspirations. Behavioural norm

Behaviour Behavioural path

3. …Which influence actual behavioural along with ­other factors such as ­incentives, barriers and information…

4. …over time this behaviour passes into a behavioural or social norm …

Figure 8.2  The cycle of cultural change (Knot et al., 2008)

The findings showed that the contributions by Berger and Luckman (1991) and Knot et al. (2008) can be adapted to backpacking. While socialised into a society, backpackers, upon return, for better or worse, can impact their surrounding community. This impact is mostly on how they view the world, behavioural changes and changes in insights and treating taboos. Although there was no evidence about how long these changes would last, changing lifestyle was mentioned by informants. Par, 27, noted: ‘Watching me backpacking everywhere, my mother started to change herself and her life little by little’. The interactions between informants and their surrounding community, passed their travel knowledge onto the ones who had relationships with them (Noy, 2004). Conclusion

As collectors of experiences (Richards & Wilson, 2004), different studies indicate that what backpackers experience leads to a change in their sense of who they are, how they talk about it, and how they establish their identity. Backpackers are usually considered a changed person. (Collins-Kreiner et al., 2018; David, 2020; Noy, 2006, 2007). Noy (2004) also shows that narrations can transfer these changes from

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the travellers to their audiences. Regarding this conclusion, this chapter has shown that social interactions between these backpackers and the surrounding community can cause change. The women studied described their backpacking journey as a process of change, which starts within them, continues through intra- and interpersonal arenas, and results in causing change in the lifestyles of the people interacting with them, who basically make up the surrounding community. Backpacking has a formative and transformative impact on one’s identity, evidently leading to the backpackers’ transformations spreading to the community. Although, among the different types of tourism, backpacking exposes travellers most to the process of change, its impact does finally come to an end, although the experience remains one to remember (CollinsKreiner et al., 2018; Noy, 2006). That is probably why the informants admitted that they are planning to repeat the experience. Beside the many types of change that societies undergo, such as educational curricula (Harpe & Thomas, 2009; Kagawa, 2007; King, 2004), media (Crane et al., 2016; Giddens et al., 2016; Jenkins, 2006) or advertising (Cleveland & Laroche, 2007), this study has shown that backpacking journeys matter as well. At a more macro level, backpacking’s ability to cause change can be used by tourism policymakers to facilitate female backpacking in Iran, producing TV programmes or documentaries, residency regulations, specialised applications, publishing guidebooks or holding specialised seminars and gatherings, that could be of help in providing infrastructure for female backpackers in Iran. By doing so, it will help female backpackers to take greater control of their lives in achieving the outcomes they want (Knot et al., 2008) and it will help them in transitions (Maoz, 2008) at any stage of their life span. What is worth pursuing in further research is whether there is evidence concerning the impact of other forms of tourism (e.g. ecotourism, adventure tourism, religious tourism) on changing the surrounding community, following the suggested model of this study. Also, how these changes can be used practically in policymaking. Other questions worth investigating would be: How long do these changes last? Why are such changes important? Are they necessarily good changes? References Arab-Moghaddam, N., Henderson, K.A. and Sheikholeslami, R. (2007) Women’s leisure and constraints to participation: Iranian perspectives. Journal of Leisure Research 39 (1), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222216.2007.11950100. Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. (1991) The Social Construction of Reality. London: Penguin. Berto, A.R. (2018) The capitalization of backpacking tourism culture in Indonesian films.  Jurnal Komunikasi Ikatan Sarjana Komunikasi Indonesia 3 (1), 1–11. https:// doi.org/10.25008/jkiski.v3i1.143. Brandt, L. (2009) Subjectivity in the act of representing: The case for subjective motion and change. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 8 (4), 573–601.

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Welk, P. (2004) The beaten track: Anti–tourism as an element of backpacker identity construction. In G. Richards and J. Wilson (eds) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice (pp. 77–91). Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Willig, C. (2013) Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology. New York, NY: McGrawHill Education. Yang, E.C.L., Khoo-Lattimore, C. and Arcodia, C. (2018) Power and empowerment: How Asian solo female travellers perceive and negotiate risks. Tourism Management 68, 32–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.02.017. Zahra, A. and McIntosh, A.J. (2007) Volunteer tourism: Evidence of cathartic tourist experiences.  Tourism Recreation Research 32 (1), 115–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/0 2508281.2007.11081530. Zamani-Farahani, H. and Henderson, J.C. (2010) Islamic tourism and managing tourism development in Islamic societies: The cases of Iran and Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Tourism Research 12 (1), 79–89. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.741. Zhang, J., Tucker, H., Morrison, A.M. and Wu, B. (2017) Becoming a backpacker in China: A grounded theory approach to identity construction of backpackers. Annals of Tourism Research 64, 114–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2017.03.004.

Part 3 Backpacker Socialisation, Hostels and Learning

9 Travel and Transformation: Negotiating Identity in Post-Journey Life Birgit Phillips and Michael Phillips

For many people who embark on a long-term independent journey, their travel experiences represent a disruptive life event that fundamentally changes their values, habits, attitudes, behaviours and life goals (Phillips, 2019). The concept of travelling great distances to take inward journeys has been explored extensively in both fiction and tourism scholarship. Journeys might take the form of an international sojourn (e.g. Grabowski et al., 2017), a (contemporary) pilgrimage (Olsen, 2018), volunteer tourism (e.g. Coghlan & Weiler, 2018), spiritual travel (e.g. Moufakkir & Selmi, 2018) and, of course, backpacking (e.g. Matthews, 2014). This chapter extends a previous 14-year ethnographic study of the transformative processes of 41 long-term independent travellers (LITs), which revealed the essential role of the post-travel phase in the overall transformation process. Upon their return, the traveller’s new ‘self’ comes face-to-face with their old ‘self’, as reflected in the expectations of friends and family, and the effort to reconcile these two selves ultimately determines if the LITs’ newly acquired values, behavioural strategies and nascent identity constructs are viable in the real world (Phillips, 2019). Indeed, Phillips found that lessons learned on the road could be strengthened, undermined, or even reversed, in the post-travel phase, and often entirely new transformations were triggered by the shock of the return home. However, while the meanings, values and identities that emerge from the physical travel phase invariably undergo further transformation after the journey ends, Phillips found that the attitudes and skills acquired on the road generally serve LITs well in their ongoing efforts to build a fulfilling life. The goal of the current case study was to explore further how the lessons learned from long-term independent travel continue to shape LITs’ identities well after the physical journey 201

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ends. To this end, new interviews with two of the original authors further explore the long-term impact their travel experiences had on their values, behaviours and personal identities. Literature Review Defining LITs and narrative identity

LITs are individuals who have embarked on a journey lasting a minimum of six months, during which they are free from institutionalised time pressure (e.g. career or study obligations) and have relative freedom in choosing their destinations and day-to-day activities. This excludes mass tourism and business travel, as well as travel that occurs in an institutionalised or pre-arranged context, such as volunteering, ecotourism activities, wellness tourism, pilgrimage, or studying abroad. Although these latter forms of international mobility may also be transformative, they are inextricably linked to an institutionalised context and often have a limited time frame. These features mean that LITs typically eschew such constraints in favour of greater flexibility and personal autonomy. When dealing with transformative processes, it is necessary to first define what is being transformed. Erik Erikson (1980 [1968]) conceptualises identity development as a life-long process. The goal of this process, he explained, is to achieve and maintain ‘ego identity’, which is a self-image that encompasses one’s values and beliefs and provides a feeling of meaningful harmony with the culture(s) in which one is embedded. As part of this process, Erikson posited a series of ‘identity crises’ which often occur during life phase transitions or ‘turning points’, when life circumstances change in a way that makes one’s existing self-concept inadequate. While successful resolution of such crises leads to ‘identity synthesis’ (i.e. harmony between one’s values, beliefs and social roles), failure leads to ‘identity confusion’ (i.e. feelings of discontent arising from the misalignment of these important aspects of identity). As a complication to this process, many subsequent researchers (e.g. Hammack, 2016; Schachter, 2005) point out that in the postmodern world, rapid technological changes and spreading globalism place individuals in multiple contexts and roles. This is a particularly challenging environment in which to develop a coherent, stable identity. Regarding the mechanisms of forming and maintaining a sense of self, this chapter draws heavily on the narrative epistemological paradigm (e.g. Hammack, 2016). This concept views identity as an ongoing life story that individuals construct to provide a sense of meaning to their lived experiences and to help them understand their purpose and their relationships to others. McAdams (2011: 103–104) states that the concept of narrative identity ‘conveys how the author-self

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constructs a self-defining story that serves to integrate many other features of the Me in order to provide a full life with some degree of unity, purpose and meaning in culture and time’. In this context, echoing Erikson’s ‘identity synthesis’, Habermas and Bluck (2000) coined the term ‘autobiographical coherence’ to connote the guiding principle behind forming a narrative that establishes ‘thematic coherence’ (i.e. recognition of patterns of similarities between different events or stages in one’s life) and ‘causal coherence’ (i.e. narrative links that establish cause-and-effect relationships between these events and help explain the evolution of an individual’s values and roles over the course of their lifetime). The mechanism for establishing this coherence is storytelling, both to oneself (e.g. self-reflection, journal writing) and to others (e.g. travel blogs, oral storytelling). Thus, Rossiter (1999: 69) suggests that ‘the process of telling one’s story externalises it so that one can reflect on it, become aware of its trajectory and the themes within it, and make choices about how one wishes to continue’. Transformative learning

While narrative identity provides a sense of the raw material and fundamental processes with which an identity is formed and maintained, the theory of Transformative Learning (TL) (Mezirow, 1978) describes a kind of learning that is crucial for long-term independent travellers. Formulated in the late 1970s by Jack Mezirow, TL theory considers how individuals interpret their life experiences, critically assess their values, assumptions and beliefs, and then adapt these to gain a more integrative perspective upon which they can act (Mezirow, 1991). At the heart of TL is meaning making, which is the process of interpreting and making sense of an experience. This process can be rather chaotic and varied, and it requires individuals to adapt, appropriate or construct new interpretations of the meaning of an experience in the world (Taylor, 2017). When successful, this process can lead to a transformation of meaning schemes, which are fundamental mental constructs that are ‘made up of specific knowledge, beliefs, value judgments and feelings that constitute interpretations of experience’ (Mezirow, 1991: 5–6). While such constructs are relatively open to change, meaning perspectives, which are wider frames of reference that shape one’s overall worldview, are more difficult to transform, as they are usually formed in our childhood through processes of socialisation and acculturation and then become ingrained in our thinking patterns (Taylor, 2017). Mezirow (1991: 167) describes perspective transformation as: the process of becoming critically aware of how and why our assumptions have come to constrain the way we perceive, understand, and feel about the world; changing these structures of habitual expectation to

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make possible a more inclusive, discriminating and integrative perspective; and, finally, making choices or otherwise acting upon these new understandings.

Thus, while meaning scheme transformation changes what one thinks, perspective change transformation involves achieving a deeper understanding of how one thinks and acts in the world. While Mezirow outlined a 10-step process that leads to perspective transformation, a simplified explanation will suffice for this study. He posited that individuals first experience a disorienting dilemma, which presents them with a challenge for which their existing meaning schemes are not suited. This stimulates a search for alternative meanings that could help resolve this problem and, in a complete transformation, leads to a building and implementation of the necessary attitudes, beliefs and behaviours, which then become part of the individual’s transformed identity (Mezirow, 1991). Put simply, transformations are triggered by a confidence-shaking process, which leads to an enhanced self-awareness of one’s worldview and eventually a confidence-building process that results in agency (Taylor & Snyder, 2012: 46). Transformative travel

The term ‘transformative travel’ was first introduced into academic tourism discourse by the psychologist Jeffrey Kottler (1997), with the concept then garnering increasing attention by scholars and others (e.g. Leegstra, 2021). Kottler (1997) argues that the unfamiliar travel context forces individuals to develop new resources and deal creatively with challenging situations, which opens new and better ways of learning and being in the world. Transformative learning theory has been widely applied to conceptualise transformative travel. While Reisinger suggests that although not all types of travel are transformative, ‘by being immersed in foreign culture and exposed to a diversity of geographical and emotional elements. Indeed, distance from one’s home can increase one’s own cross-cultural understanding and engage in self-discovery and self-exploration, leading to a shift in self-understanding’ (Reisinger, 2013: 29). Similarly, Kirillova et al. (2017: 498) associate certain travel experiences with personal growth and development and argue that ‘transformative experiences are those special extraordinary events that do not only trigger highly emotional responses, but also lead to selfexploration, serve as a vehicle for profound intra-personal changes, and are conducive to optimal human functioning’. These assertions have been affirmed by several empirical studies that examined transformative travel experiences (e.g. Coghlan & Weiler, 2018; Hirschorn & Hefferon, 2013; Lean, 2009; Phillips, 2019; Robledo & Batle, 2017; Tiyce & Wilson, 2012).

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As evident in the arguments presented above, scholars have repeatedly emphasised the importance of Mezirow’s ‘disorienting dilemmas’ as part of the transformative travel process. Long-term independent travel is associated with friction and hardships that have to be overcome, as evident in the stories of injuries, illnesses and dangerous situations detailed in interviews and blogs. Indeed, researchers have posited that difficulty and suffering are the defining characteristics of long-term independent travel, while also highlighting the significant learning and growth opportunities associated with such hardships (e.g. Bosangit et al., 2015; Chen et al., 2020). For a fuller grasp of the variety of these transformation-triggering dilemmas, scholars have proposed various taxonomies. For example, Walter (2016) examined communitybased ecotourism and proposes nature shock, adventure shock and culture shock as potential disorienting dilemmas that may stimulate transformative learning. Likewise, Phillips (2019) identified four categories of disorienting experiences: encounters with nature, the self, local cultures and the traveller culture. The post-travel phase

In discussing transformative travel, it is important to realise that neither the hardships nor the transformation ends when the journey ends. If one expands the field of inquiry beyond backpacking to include extended international experience in general (e.g. study abroad, volunteering, international job assignments), studies have shown that reverse culture shock (i.e. the disorientation experienced upon returning home) can be just as traumatic if not more traumatic than the culture shock of entering a foreign culture (Brown, 2009; Mitchell, 2006; Szkudlarek, 2010). Phillips (2019) found most returnees reported significant difficulties in re-acclimating to their native cultures. The sources of difficulty include conflicts between the LITs’ newly acquired values and the home culture’s values, interpersonal difficulties with friends and family, and a struggle to strike a balance between the returnees’ altered needs and the demands of daily life. Despite (or perhaps because of) these struggles, the limited studies available of the traveller re-acculturation phase do seem to indicate some long-term benefits. For example, when interviewing 40 backpackers aged 22–25 five months after their return, Noy (2004) found increased self-confidence, self-knowledge and cross-cultural knowledge, as well as a more positive outlook on life. Similarly, Hirschorn and Hefferon interviewed 10 people (7 of whom meet the criteria for LITs) and found that long-term, intercultural exposure resulted in improved ‘Authenticity’, which includes ‘enhanced vitality by connecting with the “true self” […], finding faith in intrinsic will, […] and implementing authentic life change’ (Hirschorn & Hefferon, 2013: 290).

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Since Phillips (2019) focused on long-term independent travellers, and since some of the interviews took place several years after the original travel experiences, she was able to gain a more detailed insight into the extended effects of the long-term independent travel experience. While the vast majority of LITs in her study described significant difficulties associated with their return, most LITs reported long-term benefits from their travels as well. In fact, the study showed that, as with most transformative learning, there are few fixed outcomes of the travel experience. Instead, LITs return home with a new set of values and ideas that are subject to continued change, as well as a set of abilities acquired or refined through their travels, which help them to manage this change in their post-travel lives. As the goal of the present case study was to explore further these values and abilities over the longer term, these areas will be discussed below in the Findings section. Methodology Researcher positionality and the ethnographic lens

Since qualitative research is value laden and represents the voices of the researchers as much as those of the participants (Creswell & Poth, 2018), it is important to clarify positionality within this research (i.e. how personal histories, experiences and perspectives relate to the research topic). In terms of philosophical assumptions, the study is rooted in social constructivist and transformative frameworks, and these beliefs inform the research choices and decisions within the research process. For example, the authors sought to get as close as possible to the participants we study (Creswell & Poth, 2018) by spending extensive time in the world of long-term independent travel. Both authors spent multiple years engaged in such travel, both individually and together, which allows an emic perspective to this study. During travels together and thereafter, the first author conducted research for her PhD dissertation on the topic, and both authors engaged in countless hours of discussions with other travellers (and each other) about the meaning of travel and post-journey experiences. The immersion in the field, the many discussions with LITs, and the authors own repeated experiences with the re-acculturation process, contributed to the depth of interpretation of the present study. As Creswell and Poth (2018: 21) argue: ‘the longer researchers stay in the field or get to know the participants, the more they “know what they know” from firsthand information’. Thus, in line with Geertz (1975), profound knowledge of the long-term independent travel context and the people who inhabit it. This allowed authors to offer ‘thick description’, to make connections, identify issues and provide context, depth and reasoned explanations that allow for a more nuanced understanding of the post-travel phase.

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Research approach and design

This study uses a qualitative, interpretive research approach, which acknowledges that people operate from different interpretive epistemologies (Creswell & Poth, 2018). That is, each individual LIT constructs their own reality in their own way. The research consists of two case studies, which were selected to offer a deeper view of the post-journey phase of the transformative process from two related yet distinct angles. In case study research, interpretive inquiry is the most suitable form of investigation (Thomas, 2021), as it helps to decipher the meanings that study participants assign to their experiences to understand their social worlds. The goal of this research is not to offer generalisations about the coming home process, as this is impossible with case study research, but rather to explore themes identified in earlier research in greater depth and over a longer time frame. This is in line with Gary Thomas, who argues that seeking generalisability should never be the aim of social science, since it can ‘inhibit or even extinguish the curiosity and interpretation that should be at the heart of inquiry’ (2021: 74). Thus, this study is founded on the assumption that an in-depth exploration of these two unique cases will generate knowledge and insights that would otherwise not be possible. Data generation, analysis and triangulation

A longitudinal case study design involved semi-structured interviews with two participants (Max and Julia) and drawing on further interviews with 39 other LITs, as well as participant observation from time in the field. This approach allowed insight into the long-term effects of LIT travel experiences and an in-depth understanding of how LITs understand, experience, interpret and assign meaning to their posttravel life. As the post-journey outcomes of long-term independent travel are incredibly diverse, these two individuals were chosen because they represent two different models in terms of post-journey lifestyle/career choices and the role of travel in their post-journey lives. For the present case study, following a loosely structured interview guide informed by Phillips (2019), the interviews were transcribed and coded with MAXQDA, and thematic content analysis was applied. This involved both authors reading and re-reading the dataset, generating codes, identifying patterns, similarities, relationships, and points of congruence between the themes. To validate the findings and enhance the reliability of the study, member checking was used when statements were ambiguous. Methodological, investigator and design frame triangulation were applied to enhance the validity of the study. The authors triangulated data by employing participant observation, interviews and social media research. During data analysis, Denzin’s (2017) concept of investigator triangulation was applied, whereby two

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(or more) researchers interpret and analyse the data. Given the use of a case study and longitudinal study together, design frame triangulation was additionally applied (Thomas, 2021). The interview participants

Brief biographies of the two participants are addressed, in order to contextualise the findings of this study. Max was born and raised in Austria in a middle-class family. He studied public relations at an Austrian university, and then began a career in the field. Although his career was developing, Max decided to quit his job, sell off his belongings, and set out on an extended journey around the world at the age of 30. The first interview with Max was conducted in 2011, shortly before his departure. Max’s trip lasted just under three years, after which he returned to Austria, where he has focused on establishing a new life and career. Max’s second interview was conducted in 2017 (about three years after he returned to Austria) when he was 36, and the final interview took place in 2020, about six years into his ‘reintegration’ process. Julia grew up in a small village in Germany. After graduating from college at the age of 21, she set out to travel the world ‘until the money runs out’. For that first trip, she travelled for two years around the world, before settling down in Germany. However, since leaving on her first trip, she has never lived in one place for more than six months at a time. For 30+ years Julia has worked as an adventure tour guide for several months a year, spending the rest of the year travelling for pleasure. The closest to a home she has had in that time is when she lived on a small Caribbean island with her partner for a few months a year for thirteen years. The first interview with Julia took place in person on this island in 2004, when she was 37 and already an experienced lifestyle traveller (Cohen, 2011). Her partner’s sudden and unexpected death just before Julia turned 50 was a turning point in her life, and her second interview occurred at that time via Skype while she was working in Borneo. Julia went on to get an expedition travel related job (working four months a year and travelling the rest of the year), and her final interview was conducted in 2020 (via Zoom) in Germany when she was 53 and on a travel break in her home country. In addition to the interviews, additional data were gathered from both participants through follow-up conversations via phone or video calls, or text messaging or voice mails via WhatsApp or Facebook. Both participants also shared their travel and life experiences via personal social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram or travel blogs, which served as additional information for the present study. The two participants were chosen because they represent two different post-travel lifestyles. Max’s story is representative of many LITs, whose once-in-alifetime extended independent journey continues to resonate throughout their post-journey lives. Julia’s story, on the other hand, is more unusual,

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as travel has continued to play a dominant role in her life in terms of her personal and career decisions. In addition, in terms of identity synthesis and long-term re-integration in society, at present they represent two different phases of the process. Julia is more settled in both her lifestyle and identity, while Max is still in a phase of reconciling the values he acquired in his travels and the values he is confronted with in his daily life back in his home culture. These two quite different cases will provide a sense of the great variety of post-travel outcomes. Findings

Returning home is a disorientating dilemma, which in turn leads to what Erikson (1980 [1968]) called ‘identity confusion’. Phillips (2019) found tensions between travellers’ newly acquired values and those of their native cultures, as well as the skills and strategies LITs deploy to resolve this tension, as they re-establish interpersonal connections (or make new ones) and restore ‘identity synthesis’ or ‘autobiographical coherence’. Rejecting consumerism

Phillips (2019) identified an increased understanding of the human and environmental cost of the late-capitalist consumerist mindset among informants. Both participants previously condemned consumerism. Julia stated: I am not necessarily happier [in Germany]. Not at all, because I see how we destroy ourselves and stress ourselves out with many stupid things, while Max argued that materialism involves general dissatisfaction… it is spiritually sick. We can’t laugh, we can’t live. We can’t live at all. (Phillips, 2019: 313)

These convictions have not faded with time. Julia described her current life, where all her belongings fit in her recently acquired camper van and reported: ‘I have gotten rid of all excess baggage’. She connected her minimalist lifestyle to one of her most cherished values: ‘Freedom is having no fixed costs’. Max, on the other hand, has a life more deeply embedded in capitalist society, but still struggles with the influence of the materialist mindset. This tension is evident in his description of his purchase decisions: It stresses me out. On the one hand, I think to myself, ‘Is it not ok to treat yourself once in a while? Why not?’ I’ll buy myself a video game or a controller for 80 Euros. Who cares? Other people are constantly buying stuff. But then comes this ‘But you shouldn’t consume so much, and it is all made in China under who knows what kind of conditions’. And then I think, ‘Ok, then not’. But sometimes I do it anyway, but then

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I don’t get any real joy, but rather a guilty conscience. And then I try to find the balance somehow, and I say, ‘treating yourself from time to time is also ok’, but it isn’t easy.

Max’s stress is indicative of his current plight. His journey clearly transformed his values but he is struggling to harmonise these values with the circumstances of his daily life. Max’s response to these tensions is illuminating: Yeah, welcome to my life. Cognitive dissonance through and through. Two little angels, devils, and I say, ‘Guys, you’re right... you’re right’. Oh screw it! I have no idea what I should do! So sometimes it just tears me up really bad. Because I think it’s the environment that defines us. People were practically kicking my ass, really hostile, although I think maybe that was also their bad conscience. [...] What a freak I am because I don’t live the materialist life anymore. And I heard this from people, and sometimes quite violently. And then you think to yourself, ‘Well, ok, then I’ll just go along with [materialism] a bit, because I don’t have to go along with it completely,’ but then I feel like it somehow doesn’t fit.

This answer perfectly encapsulates Erikson’s (1980 [1968]) ‘identity confusion’, while also highlighting the amplification of the struggle brought about by his cultural environment, particularly as manifested by other people’s expectations. Striking a proper work–life balance

When LITs realise they cannot consume their way to happiness or fulfilment, it leaves them in the position of finding other ways to achieve such feelings. This can be particularly challenging for those who have acquired a taste for freedom, autonomy and travel. Most LITs must find an occupation, and this is another area where Phillips (2019) found that LITs’ newfound perspectives changed their approach to this decision. To look more closely at the strategies for managing this dilemma, Phillips proposed the concept of the double bottom line, which is a cost-benefit analysis whereby people seek to maximise the fulfilment they receive from the activities in which they invest their time. While there are endless possibilities for balancing this equation, Phillips found that LITs seemed to benefit from an ‘enhanced understanding of their own values and the cost-benefit ratios for the various activities in their lives in terms of the amount of time and energy that needs to be invested vs. the amount of fulfilment one gains from the activity’ (Phillips, 2019: 344). The interviews found that the two informants have shaped their work lives to foster feelings of fulfilment. For Julia, after a long career of travel and international living, she is currently in a phase where she has found a fulfilling balance. Although she is happy with her minimalist lifestyle, she also mentioned the importance of her material resources,

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including health insurance and financial reserves. She emphasised that she has always put some money away on the side, and then makes a clear connection between this financial reserve and freedom: [Freedom is] not knowing what tomorrow may bring. Being able to create your own tomorrow. And it helps if you have a little money. I couldn’t live so relaxed now, if I didn’t know that I had a little bit in my pocket. I need security to enjoy freedom.

Julia alludes to the inescapable link between money and independence in a capitalist society. Julia believes that security means not just savings but also some kind of reliable income. To ensure this, she has managed to find the perfect job that supports her ‘life concept’, as she refers to it. The job involves four months of work per year working on Arctic/Antarctic expeditions. This is challenging, well-paid (by her standards), and partially fulfils her ‘intercultural needs’, as the clientele is ‘very international and really fun!’ Although the job leaves her ‘totally exhausted’, it gives her ample time for personal travel. She noted that she has more freedom due to the job’s ‘fixed schedule’, as opposed to her previous job as an adventure travel guide, when she was always on call: ‘Now I have fixed dates when I work. And I hadn’t even noticed before that I could never plan anything… I never felt directly that I was missing something, but now I find it great that I can plan things’. Although Max’s new career is far less lucrative than his pre-travel career, this does not bother him. In his own words, his current job ‘really pays shit, but for me it is just important that I earn more than I need’. Furthermore, beyond paying the bills, his job provides him with a sense of community and reaffirms his values of empathy and solidarity. Describing his co-workers, he states: What definitely helps is that the people are just, you know, like a family. That’s the amazing thing there. I love these people so much. They’re just such reasonable, complete, great people, and you can talk about all your private worries, problems, fears, wishes, hopes, and at the same time be professional, and all that in a team of 18 people.

This theme also emerged in Julia’s description of her current job. In an earlier interview, she had mentioned that she had thought she ‘could never top’ her previous job because it was so ‘adventurous and exciting.’ However, the death of her partner was a disorientating experience for her, as she described in her second interview: I lost my reference point. Where before I knew where I should go after my journeys, I miss it now completely, and the journeys are only half as important. Also, it was so important to me before to be free, but now that I am totally free, it is no longer important.

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Three years later, when we asked how she had managed that difficult crisis, she cited how her new job gave her a sense of community, of being embedded in a group of people united by a common goal. The job helped restore Julia’s balance after a difficult life-changing event: That was really done in one fell swoop when I got this job offer. [...] I missed a bit of a challenge in everything. You know, I can’t not travel around forever. [...] And you know what I missed in my life was working in a team. I was always alone the whole time. The importance of community and empathy

The importance of personal relationships for identity synthesis highlights another challenge that most LITs face in their post-journey lives – the difficulty of re-connecting with friends and family or forging new bonds. Phillips (2019) found that the overwhelming majority of LITs experienced feelings of estrangement from their friends and family upon returning home. Julia initially dealt with this by largely leaving behind her old social network and developing a new one consisting of travel companions scattered around the world. Julia draws affirmation and support from a network of like-minded individuals, who then helped her deal with the loss of her partner. Max’s ongoing efforts to re-integrate into his native culture remains a struggle. Despite his growing bond with his co-workers, he described a lingering feeling of being out of step with his surroundings. When asked to reflect on his feelings just after his journey, Max first criticised himself for expecting ‘recognition and admiration’ for his travels. Asked whether this desire for recognition was inherently bad, he responded: I think we all want recognition, but it bothers me a little bit because why I can’t be honest with myself? So that’s more my problem with the whole thing. I fool myself by presenting myself as a better, great person, who deep inside is maybe still not, not anymore, maybe never will be, I don’t know exactly. It’s difficult to look inside oneself. [...] Actually, when I think about it, it’s less recognition, but rather I just want to be understood. What can you buy with recognition? [laughs] I think my wish was that there was somebody who would understand what happened and with whom I could share it.

Max longs for empathy – that someone will understand and respect the values he acquired in his travels. But what exactly are those values? Max explained that travel had transformed him. Whereas his pre-travel self was ‘very selfish, extremely egocentric, [...] actually incapable of, or lacking in empathy’, travel made him realise that ‘you can’t really do anything in this world on your own’. Thus, he went from believing that anyone who did not share his opinion was ‘an idiot’, to the belief ‘that

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you can question things, that you can also question yourself, that it is totally possible that two people see one and the same thing diametrically differently, but both see it correctly [...] because a lot of things are a question of perspective’. The value for which Max seeks empathetic understanding is empathy itself – the willingness or even the desire to explore and accept different personalities and perspectives. This echoes a key learning outcome from Phillips (2019: 344) who found that many LITs develop ‘an enhanced cognitive flexibility that allows LITs to be more open to different perspectives, more successful in their efforts to understand these perspectives (i.e. more empathetic)’. Max described a struggle to implement his values in his homeland. Max evokes the ascendant neoliberal form of extreme capitalism, which spurns ‘socialist’ attitudes of communal support and preaches freemarket competition and individualism as the alleged path to ‘freedom’. In a society that values competition over cooperation, Max’s intellectual humility is perceived as a weakness, which gives rise to feelings of lower self-worth. Max is essentially caught between two value systems, as was evident in the first quote of this section, when he confused ‘understanding’ (i.e. empathy that connects one with others) with ‘recognition’ (i.e. social status earned by competing with others). The difficulty of escaping the dominant value system in which he lives is also evident when he says that ‘recognition’ (by which he means empathy) is worthless because one cannot buy anything with it. The frustrations surrounding this value dissonance eventually led Max to conclude that the transformations he experienced in his travels are gradually fading now that he is back in his native culture: I don’t believe that this transformational process is such that it doesn’t change anymore either. There is no score sheet where someone says, ‘Ah, he has changed, and now he is on Team Blue and not Team Red anymore, and he will always stay there’. It’s nothing scientific, it’s just something subjectively empirical. I perceive it differently. Things have an influence; things can have an effect for a long time, but I think that over time this strength, this effect, simply decreases.

This shows the reality that newly formed identities and values are always subject to change and even backsliding, especially when they conflict with the values of the cultural environment. Travel in the Covid-19 era

Phillips (2019) identified that an LIT strategy to prevent backsliding was to devise creative ways to continue travelling, albeit on a more limited basis. In the present case study, the Covid-19 pandemic served as a test of the continued importance of travel. With their mobility greatly restricted by travel bans and other closures, both informants found creative ways

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to continue their ‘intercultural travels’ without leaving their native lands. When Covid-19 cancelled Max’s plans to travel to Kazakhstan, he set off to ‘get to know’ his own home province, about which he was essentially ‘clueless’. Sleeping in the back of his station wagon, he discovered ‘a ridiculous number of beautiful places’. More importantly, his encounters with his fellow Austrians on the road helped restore his faith in the goodness of humanity. Max described his anxiety when people approached him as he was preparing to sleep in his car (which is illegal in Austria without the proper permit). But did they give him trouble? Nope. Never. The people are just so nice. They ask where I’m from, whether I like it there, what I’m doing. Then I just tell them that I will sleep in the car, they say, ‘Yes, how great’, and then I wish them a good night. So, people are awesome, period. People are simply the best, and you can discover that in Austria too, you don’t have to leave.

Similarly, when the pandemic cancelled Julia’s planned job in the South Pacific, she took the opportunity to test out her new camper van with a trip to the Black Forest in her native Germany. On this trip, Julia, who in her first interview had expressed a deep antipathy towards her fellow Germans, found that she could still learn something new through travel. In an interview, after gently mocking a group of long-term German campers she labelled ‘Adiletten’ (after their rubber Adidas sandals), she paused, smiled, and then stated: I really must get rid of so many prejudices. So, one of those [Adiletten], whom I’ve watched from afar, and where I think to myself, ‘Oh for God’s sake’ [facepalm]. And then they invite you quite nicely for an aperitif, and I think, ‘Yes, that’s OK, too’. And then I think to myself, ‘Ahh, I wish I wasn’t so narrow-minded sometimes… so “Germans are like this, Austrians are like that”.’ But travelling always means using and training your senses. Just keep an open mind, yes... you even accept the Germans [laughs]. For both Julia and Max, new travel experiences, even within their native culture, present opportunities to refresh skills and attitudes learned in their previous travel, thereby re-affirming their sense of identity. Narrative and identity synthesis

Beyond continued travel, Phillips (2019) also explored other techniques for developing and maintaining identity cohesion centred around the narrative faculty. The first such narrative technique involves oral discussions with fellow travellers or other sympathetic listeners, a category which includes the interviews conducted for this research. In such discussions, one witnesses meaning-making happening in real time. For example, in an earlier interview, when Max was asked how travel had changed him, he paused for a moment, smiled and said: ‘I don’t think

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anyone has ever asked me what has changed, or how I have changed, like you asked me. Like how have you changed? Are you a different person? That just never happened’ (Phillips, 2019: 288). Similarly, Julia frequently mentioned the importance of ‘chatting’ (using the colloquial German word ‘quatschen’, which is similar to casual conversation or ‘shooting the breeze’) with her likeminded friends. Similarly, when describing her memory of her first interview for this research in 2004, Julia summed up the role of such conversations and their importance to her: I still remember exactly the first interview. I know exactly where we were sitting when you did the interview and later... When someone asks such explicit questions, you become aware that you have repressed a lot, you really have to think about it.

The need to explain something and articulate a meaning forces people to think about their experiences on a different level – to make connections and expand their awareness of their own mental processes and the way their own values interact with those of the environment. In Max’s case, due to the lack of sympathetic listeners in his life, he falls back on conversations with himself, so to speak. This is a ‘skill’ he first developed during his 3-year journey, which included a 6-month stay in a monastery to learn and practise meditation. While his ‘formal’ meditation practice has been inconsistent in the years since his journey, he mentions his practice of using his daily shower time as a period to ‘contemplate all manner of things’, including his place in the world. In addition, during the final interview, Max mentioned his plan to re-read his old travel blog, which he suspected would be ‘good for reflection’ and ‘not uninteresting’. A few days later, a voice message received from Max commented on the power of re-reading his blog: When I read these [blog] articles, it’s incredible how I’m back there. So physically, mentally, I remember everything. I hear how it sounded, I smell it, I taste it, the people are there. It’s incredible what an impression it made. I was very surprised how easy it is, and how quickly it can transport me back to a place within a second. I found that very exciting.

Beyond the power of the feelings evoked by the reading experience, one key takeaway from this ‘conversation with his earlier self’ is a clearer understanding of how his surroundings and the people in his life become a source of tension (an idea he had struggled to articulate in the earlier interview, as we have seen). Reading his journal reminded him of the difference between travel life and ‘home life’: I didn’t know anybody, nobody knew me, I was travelling alone, so I didn’t have to fulfil any expectations of any travel partner, etc., and that was easy, yes, free. So that made it so incredibly free for me [...] to get to

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know myself first. How I am, and what my needs are, what is important to me and what my self-worth is. I’ll tell you, that’s where it all began, and I can already see that. So, when I’m back in [my hometown], and I know all these people, and I again have social infrastructure around me, there’s a lot of ‘How should I behave?’, ‘What is appropriate?’, ‘You don’t want to disappoint them’, etc. So, a lot of social adaptation and a lot of external control.

Interestingly, his conclusion was not the need to get back on the road but, rather, a renewed determination to adjust to his current life and a belief in his ability to do so: And I think [this external control] is what it is now in the end, where people say they can’t stand it at home, they want to travel. [...] I think that is the motive behind it. But I think you can’t travel all the time in the sense of ‘going where I haven’t been’ [...] Apparently, settling down is something we all strive for, I don’t know. And that’s why you have to learn to get along with yourself at some point, also in the context of others around you. So, travelling has taught me how to be happy at home.

In effect, here we see Max coming to terms with a lingering guilt that stems from a conflict between his ‘traveller values’ and his ongoing attempts to re-integrate into his native culture. That is, the LIT phase of his life was dominated by two key words behind the LIT acronym – ‘Traveller’ and ‘Independent’. However, these ‘values’ are no longer dominant in his life, and he is still learning to accept his own desire for a more settled and interconnected existence. As a final question related to narrative and identity cohesion, both participants were asked if they had any travel-related regrets. I generally have an approach where I say that I can only be who I am right now in life without judging whether I like it or not. I can only be the one who has done all the things he has done before, and there is no alternative. So, for me, personally, questions like ‘Would you do something different?’ or ‘Was that good or bad?’ are somehow unnecessary for me, because it was like that, there was a reason why it happened back then. I just see a causal, never-ending chain. I stand here today because I made my journey, and I made the journey because that was it, and I made it...it never ends. And... so now it’s just like it is. (Max) Change something? Absolutely nothing, zero, zilch [...] So there were things that weren’t so great, not so good, but I needed that to get smarter. Yeah, you take things more as they are. I can’t change it. You really get smarter. So, you think, ‘I’ll make a lot of mistakes for sure. But I wouldn’t do anything else’. I believe in something higher. If I didn’t do something, there was a reason why. But I think you also learn that when you travel, because I simply know that you have so many encounters

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when you travel, where you always think ‘Why did I meet him or her now?’ [...] Whether these are all coincidences, I don’t know either. I’ve thought about it a lot, but there are no regrets. And regrets are really stupid because they don’t get you anywhere. (Julia)

Both Julia and Max view their lives as meaningful with coherent narratives. Their travel experiences have given them the perspective to recognise the value of all their experiences, including (and perhaps particularly) the difficult ones. While struggles and confusion may come, this underlying belief allows them to continue to confront challenging situations in their lives without losing their sense of autobiographical coherence. Post-journey self-efficacy

This chapter explores whether long-term independent travel experiences have a lasting effect on LITs’ self-efficacy (i.e. the belief in one’s own ability to handle challenging situations). In Max’s case, we have seen how he is still in a phase of insecurity stemming from feelings of dissonance with his environment and the people he meets in his day-to-day life. However, despite these doubts, when taken as a whole, his travel experiences have clearly increased his confidence. In fact, one of his key takeaways from re-reading his travel blog was that the values and confidence he acquired in his travels have not faded as much as he thought. In his own words: ‘I was amazed when I read it, and I found this and that to be totally “WOW” [when I was travelling], which for me today is somehow a banality, because I just live it and do it’. Rather than a case of backsliding, where he has lost his traveller values and behaviours, these values and behaviours have been so thoroughly assimilated into his identity construct that he no longer consciously notices them. Similarly, Julia thought travel had changed her: I simply believe that everything I’ve ever learned – not writing or reading – I mean common sense, this very natural way of dealing with things, I simply have from travelling. I have a feeling for people and when a situation is dangerous or not dangerous, I have such a quick view of things, I don’t ‘muddle around’ for long.

This ‘common sense’ of which Julia speaks is a form of hard-earned self-knowledge, which allows her to intuit quickly how situations are likely to affect her, as well as her enhanced self-efficacy, which gives her the confidence to make quick decisions. And indeed, her interviews provided examples of this ‘common sense’ in action. After her partner died, when she was feeling lost and confused, Julia briefly contemplated going on an extended meditation retreat to ‘reflect on herself’ and to learn to ‘accept and like herself again’. However, at that moment, she

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heard about a possible job in the Arctic. Although she was longing for a break, she took this as a ‘sign’, dashed off a quick application, and then accepted the job offer that came shortly thereafter – a choice that proved decisive in her ability to overcome her grief and find happiness again. Julia’s self-efficacy was also evident when she described her decision to spend a significant amount of money for her camper van. She first saw a friend’s van and thought right away, ‘That’s what I need!’ Shortly thereafter, she saw a commercial, went straight to the dealer and ‘within one hour I laid my money on the table and said, “there it is”’. Julia’s years of trial and error, taking risks, embracing challenge, facing disorientation and finding solutions have led to an inherent, subconscious understanding of her own identity and her needs, as well as the confidence to take actions to fulfil those needs, even if it means going against her thrifty traveller mentality. Self-efficacy means no ‘muddling around’, and indeed her investment has already paid off: ‘Now I have the camper that I’ve always wanted […] and I am super happy. Other people might say I don’t have everything. I don’t have children, a relationship or anything else, but that’s what I chose, and it fits me just fine’.

Conclusion

Long-term independent travel is rife with opportunities for transformation. However, while transformation begins on the road, it certainly does not end with the return home. New perspectives and values are almost inevitably adapted when the journey ends, as travellers face the challenge of finding roles and relationships to support their transformed/transforming identities. Ironically, the dominant theme of interdependence that characterises their travels often leads to an enhanced awareness of the importance of interdependence – that is, the connections between themselves, the people around them, people around the world, and the planet itself. The challenge of surviving ‘on their own’ leads them to a deeper understanding of the importance of interpersonal connection and a realisation that open and honest communication with people who are different can lead to more happiness and fulfilment for all involved. Regrettably, this ethos of compassionate communalism often does not align with the values of the societies to which many LITs return. The recent resurgence of dividing forces such as racism, nationalism, partisanship, rapidly increasing inequality and the greed and competition extolled by extreme neoliberal capitalism make for a truly inhospitable environment for nascent, transforming identities. Nevertheless, most LITs treasure their travel experiences and find that they can use the self-knowledge, attitudes and skills they learned to continue to write themselves a new, richer and more fulfilling life story in their post-travel lives.

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Noy, C. (2004) This trip really changed me: Backpackers’ narratives of self-change. Annals of Tourism Research 31 (1), 78–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2003.08.004. Olsen, D.H. (2018) Religion, pilgrimage and tourism in the Middle East. In D.J. Timothy and G.P. Nyaupane (eds) Routledge Handbook on Tourism in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 109–124). Abingdon: Routledge. Phillips, B. (2019) Learning by Going: Transformative Learning through Long–term Independent Travel. Wiesbaden: Springer. Reisinger, Y. (2013) Transformational Tourism: Tourist Perspectives. Wallingford: CABI. Robledo, M.A. and Batle, J. (2017) Transformational tourism as a hero’s journey. Current Issues in Tourism 20 (16), 1736–1748. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2015.1054270. Rossiter, M. (1999) A narrative approach to development: Implications for adult education. Adult Education Quarterly 50 (1), 56–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/07417139922086911. Schachter, E.P. (2005) Erikson meets the postmodern: Can classic identity theory rise to the challenge? Identity 5 (2), 137–60. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532706xid0502_4. Szkudlarek, B. (2010) Reentry: A review of the literature. International Journal of Inter– cultural Relations 34 (1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2009.06.006. Taylor, E.W. (2017) Transformative learning theory. In A. Laros, T. Fuhr and E.W. Taylor (eds) Transformative Learning Meets Bildung: An International Exchange (pp. 17–29). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Taylor, E.W. and Snyder, M.J. (2012) A critical review of research on transformative learning theory, 2006–2010. In E.W. Taylor and P. Cranton (eds) The Handbook of Transformative Learning: Theory, Research and Practice (pp. 37–55). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Thomas, G. (2021) How to Do Your Case Study (3rd edn). London: Sage. Tiyce, M. and Wilson, E. (2012) Wandering Australia: Independent travellers and slow journeys through time and space. In S. Fullagar, K. Markwell and E. Wilson (eds) Slow Tourism: Experiences and Mobilities (pp. 113–127). Bristol: Channel View Publications. Walter, P.G. (2016) Catalysts for transformative learning in community-based ecotourism. Current Issues in Tourism 19 (13), 1356–1371. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2013 .850063.

10 The Backpacker Hostel: Performing and Experiencing ‘Place’ in Central America Marko Salvaggio

Three candles burn atop the wood table located in the hostel’s courtyard. I sit at the table with four other backpackers: a 43-year-old Brazilian man, a 27-year-old German man, a 31-year old British man, and a 24-year-old American woman. We share three large bottles of Cerveza Gallo (the local Guatemalan beer), we discuss what it means to be a backpacker. Our conversation is reminiscent of the stereotypical ideas and media portrayals about international backpacking that have become embedded in western social imaginaries – as an ‘alternative’ travel form that offers long-term budget travellers opportunities to experience authentic cultures and pristine natural environments, in off-the-beaten track tourist paths (O’Regan, 2016). The Brazilian, ponders: ‘It is sometimes difficult to get off the, what do they say, gringo trail? You know, we all have this goal to travel, not like the tourists, but is this a real possibility?’ The German hesitates at first and then, with assurance, exclaims: ‘No, no way is this possible!’ The Brit chimes in: Fucking sure we can. I’ve done all sorts of things during my travels these past three months that simply contrast from most tourists’ approaches to travel. I mean, you don’t even actually see tourists here [in Central America] unless you’re visiting these colonial towns. Antigua, that’s a place, loads of tourists. But when I stayed at this one remote hostel located along the Río Dulce [a river that flows from Lake Izabal in Guatemala to the Caribbean Sea], I hardly saw anyone that resembled a tourist.

The American, while observing through the tattered screen door, contests: I don’t know man. Look inside. The newbies that got here earlier today, they’re all doing the same fuckin’ thing. Like I’m sure they took the 221

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hostel shuttle to the market this afternoon and now they, like, end up back here at the hostel bar… seems to me, like, we do what any other tourist would do….

In this chapter, I draw from two years of multi-sited fieldwork in Central America to discuss the role of the backpacker hostel as an important sociocultural space in which backpackers reinforce and extend their common travelling ideology. Specifically, I explain how backpackers perform and experience the hostel as place, which, in their doing so, offers them independence and adventure among an international community of travellers inside hostels. Yet, I also highlight the contradictory role of the hostel, which produces potential discrepancies between the ideology and the actual practice of backpacking. This chapter builds upon O’Regan’s (2010) theoretical discussion about the hostel as a place of performance, by providing a qualitative case study about hostelling in Central America. In the following section, I draw from the literature to situate my study conceptually by discussing the concepts ‘ideology’ and ‘place’ – within the context of international backpacking and hostels. Firstly, I describe the characteristics of backpacker ideology. And secondly, I describe the hostel tradition as one associated with the notion of ‘third place’. In the subsequent sections, I describe my methodology and findings. I conclude with remarks about the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in further shaping the hostelling experience. Conceptual Framework Backpacker ideology: What does it mean to be a backpacker?

From a sociological point of view, few concepts play a greater role in understanding how groups of people develop and maintain their culture and society than the concept of ideology. According to Eagleton (1991), ideology gives people meaning about the reality of their social world. Ideology combines ideas, beliefs and values, as well as desires, intentions and motivations, that people use to inform both their material culture and cultural practices. In other words, people create ideology to inform how they ‘should live’ (Eagleton, 1991). Ideology is a social construction, which people create, communicate, negotiate, maintain and sometimes challenge and change. Therefore, ideology is rooted at the most intimate levels of social interactions but is also ingrained within societal institutions that further shape it. Western tourism ideology – rooted in middle-class ideas, beliefs and values about how one ‘should travel’ – informs a travel motive to temporarily ‘escape’ from the responsibilities of home life, work life and community life; that is, by ‘getting away from it all’ (Rojek, 2000). Like most tourists, backpackers typically embrace the escape motive to pause their everyday lives back home as they travel; but backpackers are also said to hold tourist angst and attempt to escape the

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‘tourist caught in the iron cage of the modern tourist industry’ (Richards & Wilson, 2004: 5). According to Cohen (2003), backpackers idealise a travelling form, with greatest affinity towards the 1960s postmodern ‘drifter’ whom, he claims, emerged from the ‘hippie’ countercultural movement of the time and travelled independently without a fixed itinerary or timetable. The drifter sought out an intensive hedonistic ‘trip’ experience, delving into the ‘unknown’ and penetrating marginal ‘authentic’ destinations (Cohen, 2003). However, in this attempt to travel to ‘far-off places’, the practice of drifting became institutionalised on a level both segregated from and parallel to mainstream tourism. While Cohen’s depiction of the so-called 1960s drifter has been heavily critiqued and contested (see O’Regan, 2018), western social imaginaries continue to envision contemporary backpacking in a similar light, as an idealised travel form that offers backpackers a level of risk, uncertainty and adventure that challenges mainstream tourism. Certainly, the actual practice of most backpackers is at considerable variance with the predominant image of the drifter who roams alone the ‘far-off places’ of the continents (Cohen, 2003; Riley, 1988; Sørensen, 2003). Contemporary backpacking as an image or ‘label’ is simply a general type and the reality of backpacking produces various subjective experiences (O’Regan, 2018). Yet, O’Regan (2018) suggests that the countercultural imagination and the motivation to ‘escape’ continues to drive shared ideas about what it means to be a backpacker, whether backpackers use travel as a means to resist oppressive, patriarchal and heteronormative structures back home or hope to distance themselves from former lives and identities in the pursuit of exploring new ones ‘on the road’. This chapter helps make sense of why and how hostels and hostelling experiences reinforce and extend backpackers’ travelling ideology (even as ‘loaded’ as it may be) and their inherent practices. This chapter describes how the backpacker hostel plays an important place-based role in the lives of backpackers, how they perform and experience backpacking, and how they maintain (or forfeit) shared ideas about the backpacker community. As Hanna (2007) notes, communities sustain themselves, their culture, their ideology and their identity, through common places of social interaction. Indeed, the hostel is the primary sociocultural space, or place, in which many backpackers meet one another, interact, discuss their travel experiences and express what it means to be a backpacker (O’Regan, 2010). To understand what it means to be a backpacker, then, requires an exploration of the hostel as place. The backpacker hostel: A quasi ‘third place’

Contemporary backpackers move through several physical spaces throughout their travels, including their destinations, various transportation modes, hubs and routes, adventure travel agencies, internet cafes,

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as well as budget accommodations – in all of which backpackers periodically come into contact with one another (O’Regan, 2008). However, the backpacker hostel is the central space that backpackers frequent, as it serves as their point of access to backpacking destinations. The hostel also maintains a tradition established by early 20th-century German youth hostels, by providing a sociocultural space in which backpackers interact with one another and ‘perform’ place and identity (O’Regan, 2008). Indeed, the backpacker hostel is a ‘place’ where backpackers create and maintain their shared sense of identity and community and, thus, have opportunities to express and maintain their common travelling ideology. The concept place is one of the oldest tenets of geography. Though the concept has numerous definitions, place is generally referred to as a social space, involving location (where people go to interact), locale (the material infrastructure people rely on for their interactions) and sense of place (people’s subjective/emotional attachment to a social space) (Cresswell, 2004). Oldenburg (2000) refers to three different kinds of traditional places: ‘first place’, or a person’s home, ‘second place’, one’s workplace and ‘third places’, or ‘anchors’ of community life separate from first and second places, such as main streets, coffeehouses, markets and churches. Sandiford (2019) notes that while the intended purposes of third places vary widely, it seems reasonable to view most interactions that occur within them as potentially building and reinforcing long-term community. Accordingly, the hostel resembles a third place insofar as it provides backpackers with a social space in which to maintain their shared sense of a backpacker community; although, of course, the hostel also serves as a temporary ‘home’ (or first place) for backpackers and as a ‘workplace’ (or second place) for backpackers who also work (or study) remotely while they travel. Accordingly, the hostel can be interpreted as a quasi-third place or ‘fourth place’ (Morisson, 2019), that blurs the conventional separation between first and second places. Scholars working in the field of tourism and hospitality highlight the social and economic structures that shape such third-place communal experiences, behaviours and interactions (Tuulentie & Kietäväinen, 2019; Wise et al., 2017). For example, Sandiford and Divers (2019) explore place attachment associated with British public houses (pubs), as customers build and sustain community through repeat visits and ongoing social interactions with one another, thus becoming pub ‘regulars’; although they also note how regulars are shaped by the commercial hospitality industry that structures their expectations, behaviours and emotional ties to pubs. Other scholars contend that third places are diminishing with a rise in circumscribed and artificial social spaces that promote transience, impatience, and an acceleration of time through which community and tradition become difficult to sustain. Augé (2008: 63–64) claims that ‘non-places’ – such as casinos, airports,

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theme parks, shopping malls, supermarkets, museums, freeways and motels – are ‘the real measure of our world’. In a global society, people travelling through such non-places have also been led to partake in ‘postplace communities’, sharing a common culture of transience from which they build interpersonal relations (Bradshaw, 2008). Accordingly, the backpacker hostel most resembles a unique kind of third place, which provides international backpackers with access to a place-based community. Sandiford (2019) suggests that studies on place should be less concerned about debating whether something is a third place – or fourth place or non-place – and more about exploring the experiences and implications of different types of places for the enterprises, users and communities that they serve. The backpacker hostel presents a particularly interesting case study to learn about backpackers’ place-based interactions, experiences and the social patterns associated with them. Understanding the role of the hostel in the lives of backpackers provides greater insight into why and how the hostel as place reinforces and extends backpackers’ travelling ideology, and it further helps to reveal the structural processes that shape it – which is the intent of this chapter. I now describe the study methodology, followed by my findings, which describe the characteristics of Central American hostels and explain the ways in which international backpackers perform and experience ‘place’ within hostels. Methodology

The study draws from over two years of multi-sited fieldwork in Central America, which I conducted to understand international backpackers’ hostelling experiences throughout the region. Specifically, between 2006 and 2018, I conducted several fieldwork phases, averaging three months per trip, which totalled just over two years. My research began when I backpacked overland from Mexico City to San Salvador, stopping off in various backpacking destinations in southern Mexico (including the Yucatán Peninsula), Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. Two years later, I returned to Central America, this time beginning in Managua (the capital of Nicaragua) and then travelling overland from Nicaragua, through Costa Rica to Panama City, completing the Central America backpacking route. Over the course of the following decade, I returned several times to different parts of Central America, backpacking along some of my previously travelled routes as well as new ones. Fieldwork relied on the ethnographic approach to social research, which involved spending an extended period of time in the ‘field’ (more than two years in the Central American region), participant observation (primarily in backpacker hostels), casual conversations and in-depth interviews (with backpacker informants who use hostels as their preferred mode of accommodation), as well as content analysis

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(of backpacking information sources, such as guidebooks, hostel flyers and advertisements, and online resources) (Lofland et al., 2006). The ethnographic approach allowed me to make specific observations of backpackers’ micro-level hostelling experiences in situ, from which I developed descriptive and analytic field notes about. It also allowed me to learn directly from backpackers by speaking with them about why and how they use hostels throughout their travels. My fieldwork was multisited as I stayed overnight in more than 50 hostels throughout Central America, some of which I returned to during my different fieldwork phases. The multi-sited approach allowed me to both explore microlevel hostelling experiences and glean macro-level systematic connections across them (Marcus, 1995). Like my backpacker informants, I was both mobile and immobile during my travels, as I came and went from various hostels along the Central American backpacking route, and at times I was sedentary within them. Hostels became imperative to my fieldwork because they were the primary sociocultural spaces that international backpackers frequented along the Central America backpacking route as well as nodal points into the destinations they explored. Accordingly, most of my observations, interactions and conversations with backpackers developed inside hostels, though many of our conversations (including about hostelling experiences) also occurred outside them. Also, like Sørensen (2003: 850), I found that ‘the un-territorialisation of the backpacker community means that, instead of prolonged interaction with the few, fieldwork has had to be structured around impromptu interaction with the many’. Indeed, hostels are transient spaces. To gather in-depth information about backpackers’ hostelling experiences, I conducted 57 audio-recorded, semi-structured interviews with backpackers who primarily stayed in hostels while travelling Central America. My backpacker informants represented 21 countries, predominantly from European (northern, western and southern) countries (20 informants), but also from Australia (6), Israel (5), the United States (4), Canada (4), Brazil (4), Japan (4), China (3), New Zealand (2), Chile (2), South Africa (1), South Korea (1) and Turkey (1). Overwhelmingly, most of my backpacker informants were racially white (47). There was approximately an even split between women and men (31 women and 26 men). The average age among my backpacker informants was 27 years (excluding one 58-year-old and one 67-year-old backpacker). While I did not ask my informants about their sexuality or marital status, several of them expressed to me during casual conversations that they were straight, and six backpackers mentioned that they were part of the LGBTQ+ community. Many of them also mentioned to me that they were single. The average length of trip among the 57 backpacker informants whom I interviewed was eight weeks (excluding 6 backpackers travelling without a return ticket) and they were primarily travelling within the

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Central American region only. Most of my backpacker informants held an undergraduate degree and were either travelling post-university studies or were between jobs. A considerable number of my backpacker informants were enrolled in graduate school and travelling during their summer break. Several other backpackers, who were employed full time, were travelling on an extended holiday break. It is important to note that an overwhelming majority of my informants were also more ‘experienced’ backpackers in that they had previously backpacked before and stayed in hostels. In my findings, I further describe some of my backpacker informants and highlight their hostelling experiences in order to represent the central themes that emerged from my fieldnotes and interview transcripts. Data analysis involved an inductive analytic process of both coding (descriptive and in vivo) and memo-ing (procedural and analytic) about the data (fieldnotes and interview transcripts). I then used these codes and memos to develop themes (or patterned codes). In the following section, I use a realist approach, ‘an author-proclaimed description and explanation of observed cultural practices’ (Van Maanen, 1988: 45) in describing the major themes about hostels and hostelling experiences that emerged from this analytic process. It is also important to note that my findings, and my interpretation of these findings, are not based on one Central American hostel but, rather, I draw from the themes that emerged across the many hostels that I (and my backpacker informants) experienced. In short, these themes inform my theoretical conceptualisation about the sociospatial patterns of hostelling and the linkages and gaps between these patterns and the common backpacker ideology noted in previous backpacker studies. Findings Theme 1: Hostel location, locale and aesthetics

Backpacker hostels comprise the Central America backpacking route as they are nodes in the destinations that international backpackers travelling the route intend to explore. While backpackers are scattered throughout Central America, the hostel is the one space they frequently move to and through, linking one hostel (and community of backpackers) to the next. When backpackers arrive in a new town or city and exit the bus station, the first thing they do is seek out a hostel to stay in for the next few nights or week. Judy, a 23-year-old Australian backpacker, emphasised: ‘The hostel is always the first thing on my mind when I arrive. All I can think about is knowing I have someplace to sleep’. Exhausted from a long bus ride, anxious entering an unfamiliar place, hungry and thirsty, backpackers exit the bus station, inconspicuously look down at their guidebook or cellphone map, and head

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straight to the hostel. Backpackers know that, by getting to the hostel as quickly as they can, they will be welcomed into a safe and familiar space in which to hunker down before moving on to the next one. Central American hostels appear modest from the outside, even as they come in their many different forms: one hostel is located inside a 17th-century colonial building in the Casco Viejo (old quarter) district in Panama City; the next one is a rustic beachside inn located in the bohemian beach town of Montezuma in Costa Rica; and the next one is a cabaña situated on stilts along the banks of the Río Dulce in Guatemala. Backpackers in Central America typically learn about these hostels from other backpackers, online, or from fliers located inside hostels. Also, most hostels have signs out front (Figure 10.1) – often with a painting of a backpacker in silhouette or a common greeting: Mochileros Bienvenidos (Welcome backpackers) – to indicate to backpackers that they are indeed hostels and not hotels. When entering the hostel, backpackers are directed to a reception area where they check in by showing their passport and either confirm an online reservation made on a hostel booking platform or they pay on the spot. The fee to stay overnight in a Central American hostel can range anywhere from 4 USD to 15 USD per night for a dorm room bunk bed, although doubles and private rooms can cost up to 50 USD per night. Upon check-in, backpackers are assigned a dorm room, sometimes with a designated bed, locker and individual key to the room. They are also

Figure 10.1  Hostel welcome (author photograph)

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Figure 10.2  Hostel info board (author photograph)

provided with the hostel wi-fi access code as well as information about other hostel amenities and tours. Hostel tours are promoted on the walls above the reception desk, including city tours and pub crawls, adventure tours such as volcano hikes and ziplining, Mayan ruin tours, heritage and market tours, as well as surfboard and bike rentals. An information board (Figure 10.2) pinned with fliers advertising additional tours, dining options, shops, markets, and hostels in nearby towns and cities, is often located in the reception area as well. The physical layout of the hostel includes the dormitory rooms (co-ed or segregated by gender), which symbolises the traditional hostel accommodation. Some dorm rooms include en-suite bathroom facilities while others are located just outside the rooms as shared hostel facilities. Most importantly, hostels provide common areas throughout their premises, further symbolising the traditional hostel, which can range from relatively quiet reading rooms to social lounges, courtyards and balconies, all of which in Central America tend to have hammocks hanging throughout. Backpackers especially value these common areas as they provide opportunities for them to interact with one another. Oliver, a British backpacker, expressed: The hostel is a place where you can sit around and be merry and talk. In fact, nothing annoys me more than when I walk into a hostel, pay my five quid, and see that there isn’t an area to socialise in with other travellers.

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Some hostels also have a bar or café, which provides further opportunities for backpackers to meet one another and to socialise. At the very least, a cold box stocked with local beer for purchase is accessible near the reception area. Also, while most hostels are equipped with kitchens, only some of them provide backpackers with kitchen access. The Central American hostel aesthetic is both traditional and modern. The décor typically reflects the material culture of the local people, including contemporary paintings of traditional settings, town-life murals, artisanal pottery and textiles and indigenous crafts, placed throughout the hostel grounds. Native plants fill sunlit spaces. An international playlist plays through the hostel speakers most of the day and into the night. At times, the hostel is crowded and noisy, depending on the travelling season, the day of the week or the time of day. Some hostels cater to the younger party crowd while others attract the older more relaxed type, as well as families. Traditionally, hostels encourage outdoor exploration. Theme 2: Hostel as place

I found in my study that international backpackers begin their travels in Central America with common ideas to escape their home lives – to experience independence and adventure – by experiencing local cultures and their natural environments. However, I also found that, while exploring outside hostels is central to the backpacking experience, backpackers discover that exploring inside hostels is incredibly important to their lives as backpackers as well. As a place separate from their home and workplace/university back ‘home’, the hostel provides backpackers with a ‘third place’ experience in which they build a sense of community with one another: an international community of travellers. Inside Central American hostels, backpackers value the unique social experiences they create with one another, which reinforces and extends their travelling ideology. Within the hostel, backpackers perform and experience independence and adventure as part of a cross-national backpacking community, an experience not typically found or performed in hotels or other mainstream tourism forms. International backpackers in Central America especially rely on the hostel common areas as tools for place-making and performing place. And these hostel-based experiences are manifested through backpackers’ practices inside them: hanging out with one another while swaying on hammocks; cooking meals together in the kitchen; drinking and making music in courtyards – all of which provide them with opportunities to gain further (a) a sense of community and (b) a sense of place within the hostel. (a)  A sense of community

In my study I found that, after a full day of outdoor exploration, backpackers miss being back at the hostel because it serves as both their

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temporary ‘home away from home’ and as their place of community. Typical upon most returns, backpackers will chat with the hostel receptionist or perhaps with other backpackers in communal areas to discuss their adventures. Casually, and without any rush, they eventually find their way back to the dorm room. Upon entering, they might come across a new arrival to the hostel, whom they greet in Spanish. When backpackers realise that it may be easier to communicate in English, their greeting moves to a brief conversation that always includes ‘Where have you been?’, ‘How long have you been travelling?’ This brief introduction is a familiar one, a symbolic one, that reinforces backpackers’ sense of community and trust in sharing another sleeping space with another foreign traveller. The two ‘dorm mates’ will meet again in the hostel courtyard, exchange names, and might decide to venture out together. Back at the hostel, they continue to perform the hostel community, such as preparing dinner, playing trivia and beginning to form a temporary friendship and, possibly, a new travel mate if their Central American destinations or interests collide. I met Hazan, a Turkish backpacker, in a hostel located in the Nicaraguan beach town of San Juan del Sur. Hazan valued the communal aspect of hostelling and enjoyed using hostels as a way to meet other travellers from around the world. She planned her Central American trip specifically to learn how to surf from other ‘backpacking surfers’ who were travelling the region and surfing along the Pacific coast. Hazan even convinced me to try out surfing for the first time. After a frustrating day of just trying to stand on my board, we ended up back at the hostel with some of the other ‘surfers’ for a card game and beers. She shared: I can tell you that the best part of hostels are those nights together with travellers with some beers and music and talking about all of our experiences from the day… and we also learn so many things about the world from each other.

In a different hostel located on Isla Mujeres, a small island off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, I hung out with Kristina, a German backpacker. For most of our stay at the hostel, we were rained in, due to a tropical storm, but we found our sense of community. Along with some other backpackers staying at the hostel, we decided to form a drum circle with the hostel’s ‘famous’ set of hand drums, which we learned was a nightly routine among backpackers staying there. A South Korean backpacker in our drum circle jokingly called us the ‘United Nations of Drummers’, further stating that all the world’s political problems can be solved by getting ‘high’ together and playing drums. Later that night, Kristina reflected on our communal experience: There are these times when I remember some hostels more than other ones. I don’t know how many I’ve stayed in now, but I don’t think I can

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Figure 10.3  Hanging out in the hostel (author photograph)

ever forget this hostel. I don’t even really like it here in Isla, haha, but I love, love, love this hostel so much because of the friendships. It’s such a cool vibe here. Maybe because we got stuck here, like, because of the rain. I don’t know. Tonight’s been so much fun hanging out and playing music, though. I’m sure I won’t forget it here.

Many hostels in Central America offer backpackers opportunities to be creative in performing and experiencing their backpacking community, and these experiences often occur through impromptu encounters and unstructured interactions in the hostel’s common areas (Figure 10.3). Maintaining community within a shared social space is a common aspect of third places. While backpackers are not ‘regulars’, per se, at each Central American hostel, they contribute to an ongoing community of regular backpackers who perform and experience a collection of hostels as places. (b)  A sense of place

I further found in my study that backpackers experience place attachment to certain hostels in Central America because of the shared sense of community they create inside them. While most backpackers in Central America spend just a few nights in each hostel, they sometimes find themselves staying in particular hostels a bit longer. Backpackers often reflect upon and share their memorable times spent inside these hostels. I met Lindsay, an American backpacker, inside a hostel in San Salvador, El Salvador. She reminisced about her favourite hostel in El Salvador, a hostel experience that she also shared a few different times with other backpackers she met during her travels. She described:

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This one hostel stands out to me the most. Like, I actually heard about it from another traveller. You gotta go, man. It’s along the Ruta Flora in Juaya. I can’t remember the name of it. Fuck! I’ll remember it and let you know, for sure. But I remember everything about it. It was actually more like a house, but it had the dorms and everything, so it definitely was a hostel. But it had this amazing kitchen and just the most amazing garden outside. Anyways, I met a few really cool travellers there. This girl from Spain, and a French guy…we were, like, all sick of travelling and just stayed there forever it felt like, maybe only a week though. Just about every night we cooked huuuge meals and sat outside and chainsmoked cigarettes and drank wine. And, of course, coffee every single morning together. That was the place, man. My favourite, for sure.

Although backpackers become attached to certain hostels, it is important to emphasise that place attachment occurs specifically through connections with others. Backpackers often find it difficult to move on from some hostels, but more specifically from one another, as they depart to the next destination (and another hostel) or return to the city, airport and home. However, backpackers also sense when it is their time to move on from a hostel, when they feel complete with both their exploration outside the hostel and their experiences within it. I met Ivan, a Brazilian backpacker, inside a hostel in Xela (short for Quetzaltenango), Guatemala. We arrived at the hostel on the same day. I initially planned to pass through for only one night because I had heard that Xela (as a destination) did not add much to backpackers’ sense of adventure. Ivan and I both took a liking to the hostel, however, because of its relatively calm yet social atmosphere. We ended up staying there for three weeks, along with three other travellers who arrived around the same time. The five of us developed a close friendship and, after experiencing the hostel (as place) for a few weeks, we eventually knew it was time to move on. Ivan explained: You can tell it’s time to go when a new group of people come in who don’t really fit with us, it just feels like it’s time to go… you know, we all arrived here about the same time, so we had time to make friends and do things together…. This hostel will be very hard to leave from, especially because this is the last place before I fly back home. There have been, I would say, maybe four or five hostels where you just don’t want to leave because of the travellers you meet, but eventually you have to leave.

Backpackers often leave hostels with memorable experiences about international friendships, which produces a sense of nostalgia as they enter new hostels – as they often reminisce and share previous, familiar, hostelling experiences. Meanwhile, other backpackers continue along the Central America backpacking route, experiencing each destination, and each hostel, wondering what their next hostelling experiences will be

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like. In sum, backpackers not only move to and through destinations, but they move to and through hostels, as central sociocultural spaces, which become valuable backpacking tools for them to perform and experience community and place. In the absence of hostels, backpackers in Central America resort to staying in other budget accommodations, such as budget hotels (and private rooms). Some backpackers might occasionally stay with locals as well, whether they ‘couch surf’ for free or pay for a room/bed; or they might even participate in a volunteer programme or work on a farm, some of which provide accommodation. However, backpackers in Central America value the hostel as the primary place where they can interact socially with one another, participate in hostel activities, and reflect upon their travel experiences. Indeed, these subjective, place-based experiences are tied directly to the hostel. Inside the hostel, backpackers create a backpacker place in which they reinforce and extend their travelling ideology. Theme 3: The encroachment of tourism on the backpacker place

Backpackers in Central America value the hostel as a place to perform community and place, which further allows them to perform their travelling ideology rooted in ideas and values about experiencing escape, independence and adventure. Backpackers understand, however, that even within the ‘safe haven’ of the hostel, they are never entirely independent from mass tourism (or their own home societies), nor do they fully want to be. Richards and Wilson (2004) explain that the presence of mass tourism is inevitable and integral to the globalisation process and, as a result, it becomes difficult to completely escape. Tourism’s spread ties more and more people and places into the global economy, modern society and communication networks. Backpackers’ very presence, and the material culture that they carry inside their backpacks, makes it more difficult for them to experience escape, independence and adventure in the places – the hostels – they visit. The encroachment of tourism means (a) commercialisation of the backpacker hostel and (b) ‘signs’ of increased tours. (a)  Commercialisation of the backpacker hostel

The commercialisation of the hostel increasingly structures the hostelling experience. Rather than remain in the background, hostel management, as cultural intermediaries, shape both backpackers’ experiences of exploration outdoors (within the ‘local’ environment) and indoors (within the ‘international’ environment). Lefebvre’s (1991[1974]) theory on the social production of space describes the contradictory, conflicting character of space. He claims that space can become a means of social control, and hence a domination of power. Through political economic appropriation, space (as place) escapes in part from those (the

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culture-sharing group) who make use of it (Lefebvre, 1991[1974]). Any social thing can become appropriated, co-opted or commodified. Any social thing can potentially be turned into something transaction based and profitable. The hostel is no exception to this process. Inevitably, the social interactions associated with the commercialisation of the hostel become altered. A decade ago, I found in my study that many Central American hostels were already standardised but offered relatively basic amenities. In most hostels, backpackers were provided with a simple breakfast of toast or pancakes and instant coffee, or they might have had kitchen access. Hostels, particularly within tourist towns and cities, also provided backpackers with access to the lone hostel computer (connected to the internet), which they could wait in line to use for 10 minutes at a time. The movie room was also common, as well as the free walking tour. Accordingly, most of the backpackers’ downtime in hostels was spent offline, interacting with one another, structured only by the opportunity to watch movies or to participate in the one hostel tour each day, albeit together. It seems reasonable to assume that this hostelling experience in Central America was different (and more structured) than in previous decades. And many older, experienced backpackers who tend to travel the Central American region recognise that their support and involvement in using these amenities and facilities contributes to a changing of the hostelling experience. Yet this change is not entirely shaped by them. Today, global tourism and hospitality, technological changes in the form of greater internet access, and modern society’s expectations for having even more travel amenities, also contribute to the changing of the hostelling experience. No longer do backpacker hostels in Central America simply offer a basic breakfast and tour: they are now equipped with bars and cafés which further structure the hostelling experience. Hostels also provide ‘free’ wi-fi service, an amenity that has become just as important to backpackers as the common area (Figure 10.4). I met Margaret, an American backpacker, in a hostel located in the Garifuna village of Hopkins in Belize. She had backpacked frequently for the past eight years since she graduated college, and this was her third trip to the region. She explained: We don’t even really cook meals together anymore [in the hostel] because we can just go to the [hostel] café… also, I think having the internet at the hostels changes the atmosphere, because now travellers are always expecting to have free Wi-Fi…. And now, it’s like even if you’re in San Marcos [a Guatemalan lakeside village known as a remote destination to immerse oneself in nature], you find travellers looking for hostels with internet.

In this sense, hostel bars, cafés, and wi-fi access have changed the hostelling experience to a more structured one than in previous times.

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Figure 10.4  Non-social social (author photograph)

It has structured the ways in which backpackers (dis)connect with one another. Though, in other ways, these facilities and amenities have also provided new opportunities for backpackers to perform and experience community. In particular, greater wi-fi access has allowed backpackers to document their journeys, write blogs and remain in contact as they travel, as ‘post-place communities’. (b)  ‘Signs’ of increased tours

Additionally, I found in my study that many hostels in Central America now provide or promote a variety of tour and transportation services, which further structure and direct where and how backpackers travel, and essentially how they experience the hostel. Backpackers learn about these tours directly within hostels (Figure 10.5), not from each other but from the excess advertisements (e.g. flyers and posters) pinned up throughout hostel premises. I met Emma, a Belgian backpacker, inside a hostel located in Copán Ruinas, a town in Honduras located near the Copán Mayan ruins. She had stayed in more than 20 hostels in Central America and observed: I see so many hostels that they have these tours. So, you don’t have to find out on your own [or with other travellers] how to go and hike the volcano. You can buy a ticket to do this, and they might pick you up outside the door. You can even go and surf on the volcano, like they take you… and you rent a board and slide down the volcano, like the black sand.

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Figure 10.5  Hostel tours (author photograph)

Many of these tours are provided directly by the hostel but, in some instances, they are commissioned out to private tour and transportation agencies. Unless backpackers arrange to take a tour together, they may end up on a tour with travellers staying at other accommodations, including with ‘tourists’ staying at hotels. Like the role of the hostel bars, café, and greater wi-fi access, the hostelling experience has become more structured in ways that can both further connect or disconnect backpackers from one another, making them independently dependent upon tours to achieve their sense of adventure. I found that backpacker hostels in Central America (in some countries more than others) increasingly attract non-‘traditional’ backpackers, who buy into and openly embrace the commodification of backpacking. More experienced backpackers in Central America make note of and critique these travellers, whom they feel spoil their ability to perform and experience independence from mainstream tourism and their sense of adventure inside the hostel. Ari, an Israeli backpacker who was travelling for six months in South America and Central America, explained: ‘Now that I’m in Costa Rica I have come across lots of travellers who are here for only two weeks, and they stay in the hostels because it’s cheap and then they can spend all their money on tours’. Costa Rica, which has been known for its ecotourism products and tours since the 1990s, is a popular destination for American college students on spring breaks and for young professionals who use hostels for their two-week backpacking vacations. These backpackers spend

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just one or two nights in a hostel before another ‘sign’ directs them to quickly move on to the next hostel and pay for another tour. In sum, ‘what it means to be a backpacker’ in Central America is deeply connected to the hostelling experience, its communal and place-based aspects, that offer backpackers escape opportunities (independence and adventure) from both their lives back home and from mainstream tourism forms. Certainly, ‘backpackers’ who rely on hostels – no matter how they identify as a traveller or how long they travel for – and who openly choose a more structured and commodified backpacking experience, exemplify the changing hostelling experience. Consequently, we may expect to see that, once backpackers return to the hostel after a day of outdoor exploration, they: head straight to their private hostel rooms, rather than chat for a bit with the receptionist or with other backpackers; pull out their key card, insert it into the door, and enter into an air-conditioned room; pull out their cellphones, link to the hostel wi-fi, sign in to social media, make a post about their day, and message with friends and family members back home; take a long hot shower in their en-suite bathroom and then head to the hostel café for a bite to eat; and then find an open hammock in the courtyard, pull out their tablets, put in their wireless earbuds, and stream a recently released movie. As backpackers collectively participate in such a contemporary hostelling experience, they also collectively do so alone. Until, at night, they reconvene at the hostel bar for happy hour and follow along the hostelguided pub crawl in town. Discussion

The backpacker hostel in Central America increasingly represents a new kind of hostel place, or possibly ‘non-place’, with a new sense of experience design directing backpackers’ hostelling experiences, which simultaneously diminishes their sense of community and place. Backpackers can still perform and experience social interactions and develop relationships with other travellers inside these types of hostels. The hostel café, the hostel bar, the hostel tour: all require international backpackers to partake in each of these commodified hostelling activities or they risk complete isolation inside the hostel. But the future of hostels in Central America, and in other destinations throughout the world, may be more concerned with extracting as much revenue as possible – like airport shops, hotels, shopping malls, supermarkets, and so on – than with maintaining their more traditional communal aspect. Indeed, hostels may become more like a non-place as hostelling experiences become even more standardised, modernised and commodified, directed by an omnipresence of signs, making some hostels simultaneously inviting and alienating. While non-places have vastly different purposes and designs, one of their key characteristics is the

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omnipresence of ‘signs’ that direct their users to move quickly, that position them in a relation of ‘solitary contractuality’, prompt them to experience ‘solitude and similitude’, and reduce them solely to guest, customer or tourist (Gottschalk & Salvaggio, 2015). In a time of non-places, backpackers might rely more on expanding their ‘post-place backpacker communities’ in order to maintain some sense of community, and to further extend their backpacker ideology rooted in newer ideas about what it means to be a backpacker. Finally, backpackers in Central America can still find many locally owned, independent hostels with little to no modern amenities, but many other hostels are foreign-owned (including, owned by former backpackers). Locally owned hostel chains have also sprung up in the Central American region but are not yet the norm. Trends in global tourism suggest that the hotel industry will further capitalise on the growth in the backpacker travel segment and the hostel model, re-shaping hostels and the hostelling experience. For example, in 2016, Accor Hotels launched their new ‘poshtel’ (posh, boutique hostel) brand Jo&Joe, aimed at ‘stylish’ young adult millennial ‘tripsters’, which offers them services and amenities that include yoga classes, craft beer, woodfired pizzas, USB ports, massages and music gigs (Otley, 2016). Also, a new Hilton Hotels brand, their Motto micro-hotel brand, will cater to backpackers and other ‘budget’ travellers who want the privacy of a single room but desire a social atmosphere and ‘budget price’ (Trejos, 2018). Accordingly, global tourism establishes a hypermodern experience, profits from it, and increasingly damages the hostel tradition, and allows more and more people to partake in the evolving hostelling experience. The global spread of modern society and chain hostels, along with professional management, may further structure and seek to manage the backpacking experience, which may be the true cause of potential discrepancies between backpacker ideology and the reality of backpacking. Conclusion

In this chapter, I have explained why and how backpackers in Central America rely on the hostel as the central place to perform and experience the backpacker community and to reinforce and extend their common travelling ideology. Backpackers continue to use hostels to venture outside them, but they also rely on them to interact socially with one another. While it might appear contradictory for backpackers to spend a significant amount of time inside hostels, I argue that backpackers’ hostelling experiences, including hanging out with one another, are just as authentic to them, and as important to them, as maintaining their ideology concerned with exploring the local places in which hostels are located. Certainly, understanding what goes on inside hostels, including

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the different types of subjective and structured experiences, tells us a lot about contemporary backpacker ideology and the myths and realities of 21st-century backpacking. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed its remarkable effects on global tourism, and hostels, given the shared nature of this type of accommodation. In mitigating and adapting to the pandemic, governments around the world have mandated safety and hygiene measures and policies as they look to improve tourism in their respective countries. UNWTO (2020) continues to emphasise the need for responsible, safe and secure measures as travel restrictions are lifted. Timothy and Teye (2009) previously noted that sickness and disease can easily spread through lodging facilities because of their enclosed nature and the proximity of guests. Accordingly, backpackers who stay in more traditional hostels with shared dorm rooms and enclosed common spaces become especially vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic, not to mention their spreading COVID-19 to the local peoples they come across as they move in and out of hostels throughout their travels. Hostel owners will need to assure backpackers, as well as their local community members, that their hostel establishments are safe for use. In conclusion, we can assume that backpackers will continue to travel to countries with less restrictions and will be further structured on where and how they travel based on these restrictions. However, hostels, as a primary backpacker place, present a less than ideal form of accommodation to keep open, since hostels entice intimate, social interactions among backpackers. As such, we might see a push for, or rearrangement of, hostels to further adopt a hostel model representative of a non-place, which might also re-shape further ‘what it means to backpacker’ in the ‘new normal’ of pandemic times. References Augé, M. (2008) Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity. London: Verso. Bradshaw, T.K. (2008) The post-place community: Contributions to the debate about the definition of community. Community Development 39 (1), 5–16. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/15575330809489738. Cohen, E. (2003) Backpacking: Diversity and change. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 1 (2), 95–110. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766820308668162. Cresswell, T. (2004) Place: A Short Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Eagleton, T. (1991) Ideology: An Introduction. London: Verso. Gottschalk, S. and Salvaggio, M. (2015) Stuck inside of mobile: Ethnography in nonplaces. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 44 (1), 3–33. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/0891241614561677. Hanna, Kevin S. (2007) Planning for sustainability: Experiences in two contrasting communities. Journal of the American Planning Association 71 (1), 27–40. Lefebvre, H. (1991[1974]) The Production of Space. Oxford: Blackwell. Lofland, J., Snow, D., Anderson, L. and Lofland, L.H. (2006) Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis. Fourth Edition. Stamford, CA: Cengage Learning.

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Marcus, G.E. (1995) Ethnography in/of the world system: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology 24, 95–117. https://doi.org/10.1146/ annurev.an.24.100195.000523. Morisson, A. (2019) A typology of places in the knowledge economy: Towards the fourth place. In F. Calabrò, L. Della Spina and C. Bevilacqu (eds) New Metropolitan Perspectives: Local Knowledge and Innovation Dynamics toward Territory Attractiveness through the Implementation of Horizon/E2020/Agenda 2030. Volume 2. (pp. 444–451). Berlin: Springer. Oldenburg, R. (2000) Celebrating the Third Place: Inspiring Stories about the Great Good Places at the Heart of Our Communities. New York, NY: Marlowe & Company. O’Regan, M. (2008) Hypermobility in backpacker lifestyles: The emergence of the backpacker café. In P. Burns and M. Novelli (eds) Tourism and Mobilities: Local Global Connections (pp. 109–132). Wallingford: CABI. O’Regan, M. (2010) Backpacker hostels: Place and performance. In K. Hannam and A. Diekmann (eds) Beyond Backpacker Tourism (pp. 85–101). Bristol: Channel View Publications. O’Regan, M. (2016) A backpacker habitus: The body and dress, embodiment and the self. Annals of Leisure Research 19 (3), 329–346. https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2016.1 159138. O’Regan, M. (2018) Backpacking’s future and its drifter past. Journal of Tourism Futures 4 (3), 193–204. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-04-2018-0019. Otley, T. (2016) Accorhotels launches Jo and Joe brand. Business Traveller. 27 September. Retrieved from https://www.businesstraveller.com/accommodation/2016/09/27/accor hotels-launches-jo-joe-bra). Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (2004) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice. Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Riley, P.J. (1988) Road culture of international long-term budget travelers. Annals of Tourism Research 15 (3), 313–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(88)90025-4. Rojek, C. (2000) Leisure and Culture. London: Macmillan. Sandiford, P.J. (2019) The third place as an evolving concept for hospitality researchers and managers. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 43 (7), 1092–1111. https://doi. org/10.1177/1096348019855687. Sandiford, P.J. and Divers. P. (2019) The pub as a habitual hub: Place attachment and the regular customer. International Journal of Hospitality Management 83, 266–273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.11.005. Sørensen, A. (2003) Backpacker ethnography. Annals of Tourism Research 30 (4), 847–67. Timothy, D. and Teye, V. (2009) Tourism and the Lodging Sector. Oxford: ButterworthHeinemann. Trejos, N. (2018) Hilton introduces new micro-hotel brand: Motto by Hilton. USA Today, 23 October. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2018/10/23/hiltonintroduces-new-brand-motto-affordable-micro-hotel/1734272002. Tuulentie, S. and Kietäväinen, A. (2019) New rural community? Narratives from second home owners about everyday life in a tourist region in Finnish Lapland. Sociologia Ruralis 60 (2), 357–374. https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12288. UNWTO (2020) New data shows impact of COVID-19 on tourism as UNWTO calls for responsible restart of the sector. Retrieved from https://www.unwto.org/news/newdata-shows-impact-of-covid-19-on-tourism. Van Maanen, J. (1988) Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Wise, N., Mulec, I. and Armenski, T. (2017) Towards a new local tourism economy: Understanding sense of community, social impacts and potential enterprise opportunities in Podgrade Bac, Vojvodina, Serbia. Local Economy 32 (7), 656677. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269094217734329.

11 Backpacker Lifestyle Entrepreneurism: Resident Perspectives on Hedonistic Events and Backpackaging Leon Mach

Understanding the driving forces behind development and how it impacts places and peoples around the world is critical for many reasons. Intrepid backpackers have been noted for opening particular geographical spaces up for further development and tourism growth, as well as dictating the style of development that occurs (Cohen, 2018; Saarinen, 2016). The Archipelago of Bocas del Toro (ABdT), Panama, is a relatively young tourism destination (tourism development did not really begin until the early 2000s) and many different small-to-medium sized tourism entrepreneurs are vying for market share by offering different types of businesses (Guerron Montero, 2020). Many sources are beginning to suggest that the hedonistic events and nightly parties being promoted by relatively young backpacker lifestyle entrepreneurs are gaining in popularity and that there is a great need to understand the impact on local residents (Bourque, 2016; Die, 2012). The field research for this analysis sought to better understand local resident perceptions of the growth and evolution of ‘party tourism’ in the ABdT. To fit the geographical context for residents participating in the research, party tourism was defined as: ‘tourists visiting primarily to experience night clubs, live music, booze cruises, bars and beach parties to consume alcohol (and/or drugs) and socialise’. While the term ‘backpacker’ was never used in semi-structured interview questions, backpackers and the businesses catering to them were mentioned in many responses related to the social, environmental and economic impacts of party tourism. This validated the dedicated attention presented herein. This chapter presents the themes that highlight the nexus between backpacker 242

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tourism and party tourism, which emerged during interviews with 23 residents representing different levels of economic reliance (not at all, somewhat, or completely reliant) on the party tourism industry. Three interconnected themes emerged through references to backpacker entrepreneurs from interview responses. Firstly, the study found a relationship between entrepreneurs creating events that encourage backpacker hedonism and an influence of these activities on destination image and development. Secondly, there are growing resident perceptions of an increasing presence of ‘all-inclusive’ backpacker tourism, through which backpacker entrepreneurs package and sell the backpacker experience as one commodity purchased from a centralised broker (typically a hostel). Thirdly, the growth of backpacker tourism and hedonistic events influence the geography of development – specifically the implications of residents and entrepreneurs (not interested in the backpacker market) avoiding the centre of town. Higgins-Desbiolles (2020) has encouraged academics, practitioners and policymakers to utilise the COVID-19 pandemic pause to consider reinventing the tourism industry in ways that foster the tenets of social and ecological justice through approaches driven by local desires. This chapter is significant because it offers important insights for stakeholders considering what types of tourism locals wish to see return, when it eventually does, after lockdowns and travel restrictions ease. Focusing on the business of backpacking, this chapter provides food for thought when considering the desirability and implications involved in the marriage of backpacking and hedonism in areas where it has become an important component of destination image and the activities being offered. Literature Review What is backpacking? Who are backpackers?

Backpacking is a continuously evolving phenomenon. A majority of backpacker research in the field is dedicated to understanding what backpackers do (i.e. where they go, trip length, accommodation type and transportation sources) and why (i.e. sociopsychological attributes and motivations), while travelling. Unique ‘badges of honour’ have been proposed to help unpack the backpacker habitus, or the imagined community in which backpackers seek their identity, their sense of belonging and distinction from conventional tourists (Chen et al., 2019; Ek & Hultman, 2008; O’Regan, 2010; Welk, 2004). Pearce (1990) characterised backpackers as those who prefer budget accommodation, emphasise meeting other travellers, organise travel independently with flexible schedules/itineraries, prefer longer stays, and emphasise informal and participatory holiday activities. Studies have found that backpackers are most commonly motivated by a desire to escape conformity within

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their societal structures of origin and value distinction from other forms of more conventional tourism (O’Regan, 2018; Zhang et al., 2018). Backpackers also value personal development and self-change and report wanting to contribute to the local communities they visit (Chen et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2018). While once almost solely a travel milieu practised by westerners, growing numbers of Asian travellers are adopting this style of travel, even if they are often not comfortable with the actual title of backpacker (Zhang et al., 2018). In short, backpacking represents a distinct form of travel or way of being-in-the-world that involves extensive spatial mobility and time–space flexibility (O’Regan, 2018). Some academic research, and perhaps the bulk of the popular media coverage, however, are also concerned with backpackers indulging in heavy drinking and drug use while violating local customs and making access to certain spaces undesirable for local residents (Allon & Anderson, 2010). This behaviour is perhaps most often displayed during events like full moon parties (Malam, 2004), day drinking activities, raves etc., in areas that come to specialise in attracting hedonistic backpackers, such as Koh Phangan and Haad Rin in Thailand (Vail, 2013) and Vang Veing in Laos (Bennett, 2012). While drinking and drunkenness have been argued to embody important performative social functions for backpackers (Jayne et al., 2012; Kerry, 2013; Wilson & Richards, 2008), the role of their drinking and drunkenness in heterogeneous place making (as also participated in and experienced by local residents) has received less attention (Iaquinto, 2020). Backpacking has thus been both praised and heavily critiqued. Some scholars argue that backpackers represent a valuable market segment in some contexts because of their desire for authentic encounters, aversion to luxury, and a greater willingness to patronise local service providers, relative to conventional tourists (Cohen, 2006; Scheyvens, 2002, 2006; Scheyvens & Russell, 2012). Because backpackers seek places that are ‘off the beaten path’ they do not require an infrastructure that caters to tourists, nor do they want local residents to provide high standards of trained/staged hospitality in the western sense. Even though they seek bargains, because they stay longer and patronise local services, the economic multiplier associated with backpacking might be considered higher than with tourists on more conventional packaged holidays, which entail a great deal of economic leakage (capital or income that escapes an economy) (Mowforth et al., 2008). All in all, backpackers can be argued to provide a source of local sustainable development (Scheyvens, 2002, 2006). Backpackers can, however, open up areas to tourism development, which facilitates future phases of tourism development best suited to outside entrepreneurs, often coming from either urban centres within the country or from abroad (Brenner & Fricke, 2007; Cohen, 2018; Hampton & Hamzah, 2016). Spreitzhofer (1998: 982) argues that the influence of backpackers in remote areas in low-to-middle income

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countries (LMICs) often proves to be more ‘lasting’ and ‘shaping’ than what is often considered to be the impact of more conventional forms of packaged tourism, which are less porous and develop more clearly defined boundaries (Cohen, 2018; Wilson & Richards, 2008). Backpacker enclaves and hedonism

It is important to understand the business of backpacking within the broader context of globalisation. The alienated young countercultural drifters of the 1960s and 1970s who sought alternative lifeways through backpacking abroad had to initially resort to patronising local and often ad hoc accommodations and other services in the places they visited (Cohen, 1973, 2018). Residents developing cottage-scale industries to earn income from the backpackers’ presence laid the foundation for the sustainable development potential of this form of tourism mentioned above. Cohen (1973) suggested that these backpackers congregated in drifter communities, which tended to be places that were amenable to their presence and that at least tacitly accepted the pursuit of an unconventional and often drug-related lifestyle. Cohen (2018: 2) elucidated that what began as organic ‘drifter communities’ dominated by small-scale local businesses rather quickly transitioned via an ‘enclavisation’ process, which occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. As the backpacker route became more standardised, focal points of interest developed into backpacker destinations (Le Bigot, 2016). While each point of interest that found its way onto the backpacker map had distinctive features (i.e. some specialising in spiritual pursuits, others for drunken debauchery), they all came to comprise of business catering to backpackers, such as cheap accommodations, restaurants, cafes and bars/clubs (Le Bigot, 2016). Backpacking researchers became increasingly interested in the distinct traits of enclaves and in the backpackers’ practices and experiences within them (Cohen, 2018; Iaquinto, 2020; Wilson & Richards, 2008). Cohen (2018: 4) concluded that ‘the rising popularity of backpacker enclaves was paradoxically largely due to the failure of the majority of backpackers to realise their naïve dreams of solo trailing the unexplored parts of the world’. These backpacker enclaves emerged and developed alongside backpackers’ developing increasing desires to interact with one-another, which perhaps, as Cohen (2018) notes, has taken primacy over what once began as a quest to experience peoples and cultures endemic to the actual places being visited. These backpacker enclaves are distinct from walled off all-inclusive mass tourist resorts, mostly because backpacker enclaves do not have clearly defined and distinct borders and because backpackers are not completely insulated from the local context (Cohen, 2018; Wilson & Richards, 2008). Backpacker enclaves have been defined as liminal spaces ‘suspended between local and global culture,

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between a total tourist culture and a totally local culture’ (Wilson & Richards, 2008: 193). Enclaves have been critiqued, but also seen as important points of mediation between tourist and local cultures, which protect each from undesirable encounters while also allowing for productive interactions (Iaquinto, 2020; Wilson & Richards, 2008). Binge drinking and mild drug-use have been argued to be growing in importance over time in many backpacker enclaves (Bennett, 2012; Cohen, 2006, 2018; Jayne et al., 2012; Malam, 2004). Research has suggested that binge drinking may even be seen as an essential experience that helps backpackers not only overcome the harshness of the road but also to open up space for heightened sensations of belonging and engagement with fellow travellers and local residents (Jayne et al., 2012; Wilson & Richards, 2008). While drinking and druguse occur in most hostels and spaces lodging backpackers, some areas have become distinguished by the widespread acceptability of these features: areas which ‘attract considerable attention because of their unregulated, hedonistic, partying lifestyle, in which all the rules and codes of behaviour of “home” are conveniently suspended’ (Allon, 2004: 65). While studies have commented on the governance of backpacker tourism and how power imbalances can drive tourism development (Thieme et al., 2020), the role of entrepreneurs in creating events that invite hedonism in order to attract particular backpacker tourists in destination development does not receive much dedicated attention. I argue it is a critical element in a destination’s evolution. The business of backpacking and lifestyle entrepreneurs

What emerges is the understanding that destinations, or spatial areas within broader destinations, can be contextualised as enclavic spaces, which attract backpacker tourists through the provision of an atmosphere that is conducive to providing the life experiences they seek. Within much of this literature, hostels have been highlighted as vital infrastructural components where the facilitation of desirable experiences are both realised and commodified (O’Regan, 2010). As hostel owners seek to offer more and diverse services to their clientele (Brenner & Fricke, 2007, 2016), hostels can be seen as increasingly becoming enclaves within enclaves. Lifestyle entrepreneurs are people who design their business activities around their preferred lifestyle and personal circumstances (Kaplan, 2003; Marchant & Mottiar, 2011). Lifestyle entrepreneurs relocate to other countries in order to make a living, capitalising off on their professional skills and striving for more meaningful experiences of life (Brenner & Fricke, 2016; Lardies, 1999). Research has found that the evolution of development in backpacker tourism destinations is in many cases driven by individuals who have once, or continue to, identify as

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backpackers, utilising their experiential knowledge of the industry and connections to capital to begin enterprises that are well matched to the international demand (Brenner & Fricke, 2016; Thieme et al., 2020). These entrepreneurs from outside local communities are often best at identifying market opportunities and diversifying their offerings in ways that attract and keep backpackers within their establishments and utilising their services. In many cases, this has shifted the market towards more refined products, such as more professionally run, resort-style accommodations (Brenner & Fricke, 2016; Thieme et al., 2020). This means that hostels increasingly seek to offer familiar comforts, such as high-speed reliable internet, English-speaking staff, security, live music, sociality and privacy, which O’Regan (2010) suggests creates a type of encapsulation via predictability and reliability across hostels and across spaces. Thieme et al. (2020: 4) added that ‘profit-driven full-service provisions also means that less tourism income is spread throughout the community as the businesses do not necessarily work together to create a tourism product for the backpackers’. The idea that foreign entrepreneurs can, and often do, outcompete local service providers is not new: it is even posited as a structural progression in the widely cited tourism area life cycle model (Butler, 1980). After tourists ‘discover’ an area and locals earn revenues from providing ad hoc services to them (thus demonstrating sufficient economic value), these small-scale industries are overtaken by wellcapitalised outsiders (Butler, 1980). Brenner and Fricke (2007: 227) suggest the term ‘developer-tourists’ for those who expressly enter the market to build backpacker infrastructure utilising their access to capital and business acumen, which gives them a head start and allows them to take control and dominate the backpacker market segment – facilitating ‘conflict ridden socio-spatial segregation’ between locals and foreign entrepreneurs (Thieme et al., 2020). Westerhausen and Macbeth (2003: 72) discussed how the existence of flourishing backpacker enclaves invites a ‘hostile takeover’ of local tourism structure by outside interests. Resident perspectives on backpacking and social ­impacts of backpacker hedonism

Residents’ perspectives on backpacker tourism, broadly speaking, suggests that certain elements are viewed favourably while others are not so popular, but that locals value the income-generating opportunities more highly than the negative aspects (Bennett, 2012; Cohen, 2006; Scheyvens, 2006; Sroypetch et al., 2018). Researchers commentating on the influence of backpacking’s presence in local communities have suggested that youths growing up in backpacker enclaves sometimes take to the habits (i.e. drinking and drug-use) and styles of dress of some backpackers, which elders perceive as having negative sociocultural

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impacts (Sroypetch et al., 2018). Research also suggests that areas without pre-existing patterns of drinking are at a greater risk of facing cultural impacts from the introduction of hedonism (Brenner & Fricke, 2016; Moore, 1995; Örnberg & Room, 2014). Alcohol consumption has been shown to increase considerably in many backpacker destinations and also to aggregate in particular geographic areas within backpacker destinations (Iaquinto, 2020; Jayne et al., 2012; Wilkinson, 2017), which can become areas of heightened risk of crime, sexually transmitted diseases and violence, which become difficult to govern (Allon & Anderson, 2010; Botterill et al., 2013; Hughes et al., 2009). Caribbean tourism areas have been specifically defined as geographically, socially and behaviourally distinct spaces that function as ecologies of heightened vulnerability. This contributes to the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and other health problems directly related to alcohol consumption (Padilla et al., 2012). Residents in Sydney identified significant backpacker impacts on community amenity including as follows: noise pollution, rubbish dumping, car dumping, loss of security in residential buildings, public health and fire safety concerns, public drunkenness, antisocial behaviour, violence and harassment, damage to property and general loss of neighbourhood amenity, loss of local shops and services, and the general touristification’ of communities. (Allon & Anderson, 2010: 18)

Allon and Anderson (2010) found that, once taken over by backpacker tourism, certain areas become sacrifice zones to the industry and locals avoid these areas as much as possible. Resident perspectives specifically on the hedonistic attributes of backpacker tourism, however, have not received much dedicated attention, despite how shaping activities that invite this behaviour can be to destination image and development. In this literature review, strands within backpacker research have been exposed, such as the enclavisation of destinations and the importance of backpacker lifestyle entrepreneurs towards this, as well as the increasing importance of a party/hedonistic atmosphere to certain locations. These strands, however, are rarely considered together; nor are residents’ perspectives of entrepreneurial efforts to create the destinations characterised (or at least partially characterised) by providing the opportunities to engage in hedonistic behaviour. Methodology Case study context and study rationale

Bocas del Toro is a Panamanian province. Part of it is sandwiched on mainland Central America between the Ngobe-Bugle (Panama’s largest Indigenous community) Comarca and the Costa Rican border.

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Figure 11.1  The Archipelago of Bocas del Toro (ABdT) in the South Caribbean

The other portion, what I am calling ABdT herein, consists of nine inhabited islands floating in the South Caribbean (see Figure 11.1). In this sense, Bocas del Toro is both part of a Latin American country in Central America, as well as a Caribbean archipelago and must be understood as such. Many sources suggest that Bocas del Toro has been on a different and independent development path from Panama City and its neighbouring provinces, and this is mostly attributed to its geographic isolation and the lack of understanding, support and concern at the federal level (Guerron Montero, 2020; Spalding, 2018). The 2010 census reported that the archipelago was populated by roughly 16,000 Afro-Antilleans, Chinese migrants, Indigenous, Latinos and lifestyle migrants from the USA and Europe – with the latter growing more than 250% since 1990 (Spalding, 2018). This growth has been facilitated by neoliberal land titling reforms, which have facilitated the dispossession of many Indigenous families and also incentivised foreign buyers with large tax breaks for purchasing land and starting business, particularly in tourism (Prado, 2011; Spalding, 2013). Many lifestyle migrants are retirees who tend to build homes outside the town centre, but a growing portion are younger lifestyle entrepreneurs who start businesses based in Bocas Town. Tourist visitation to ABdT was negligible prior to the 1990s. Tourism was declared a national economic growth strategy in 1992 in preparation for the United States’ return of the canal to Panama 1999, and ABdT was listed as a highpriority tourism development area at around the same time (GuerrónMontero, 2005). In the early 1990s there were only three hotels in ABdT but today there are more than 100 registered hotels and hostels (Suman & Spalding, 2018) and hundreds of informal lodging options listed on platforms such as Airbnb. While accurate numbers are not kept, it is estimated that in 2012 a quarter of a million tourists visited ABdT (Camargo, 2016).

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ABdT is still not ‘easily’ accessible to tourists, which makes it attractive to backpackers. On arriving in Panama, via the Tocumen International Airport, you can either take a 12-hour bus ride to Almirante and then a 40-minute boat from there to Isla Colon, or you can take a 30-minute taxi ride across the city to the domestic airport and board a 50-minute flight on Air Panama, the nationalised carrier. Many local entrepreneurs believe that tourism development is severely limited by air accessibility. The other main option is to cross the border in Guabito from Costa Rica on the Caribbean side. This is the preferred backpacker route. Many hostels have partnered with travel providers to offer travel packages from various points in Costa Rica directly through the border and onto a shuttle waiting on the other side, which is then followed by a boat waiting to bring them to the islands (25–35 minutes). Around 61,000 international tourists crossed that border into Panama in 2016 (Tourism Authority, personal communication) and the tourism authority assumes a large portion of them were backpackers and that almost all of them were headed to ABdT. Furthermore, as many as one-third of the lodging options on the archipelago can be categorised as budget hostels. Backpacker tourism has been, and remains, the dominant form of tourism in Bocas Town on Isla Colon (see Figure 11.2), which is the population centre of the archipelago. Most visiting backpackers are interested in exploring the local environment and wildlife, but also in

Figure 11.2  Bocas Town on Isla Colon

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participating in social gatherings and nightlife. According to online blogs, travel guides (Lonely Planet, 2019) and the official Bocas del Toro tourism website (ATP, 2019), the ‘party scene’ is a key attraction (Majeed, 2016). I visited ABdT as a backpacker in 2008 and I am currently a social science professor who directs month-long research projects for undergraduates studying abroad at our Center for Tropical Island Biodiversity Studies on Isla Colon in ABdT. At the first meeting for my research group in April 2019, they voiced a particular interest in understanding resident perspectives on a weekly afternoon booze-cruise/ bar-crawl that was once known as ‘Filthy Fuckin Friday’ – attended by roughly 12,000 people per year (Filthy Friday, 2019). The entrepreneurs have since dropped the ‘fuckin’ (after direct public denunciation) and it is advertised as follows: Filthy Friday is Central America’s first and only island-hopping day party experience – happening every Friday at 3 picturesque locations across 3 tropical islands in the Caribbean paradise of Bocas del Toro, Panama. Prepare to get filthy all day from 11:30am to 9:00pm, with the perfect combination of good music, good vibes, strong drinks, amazing scenery and beautiful people from all over the world. (Filthy Friday, 2019)

There are billboards and signs for this event at the border and all over the small town (see Figure 11.3). While this event attracts all

Figure 11.3  Filthy Friday advert (author photograph)

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different types of party tourists, the vast majority who participate are backpackers staying in the hostels (Event manager, personal communication). My students also reported the organisation’s very strong social media presence, which they felt viscerally. I was taught that Filthy Friday rapidly ‘follows’ young people in their demographic after they post any travel photo within a certain geographical radius from their event. They then begin trying to reach their target audience with images of the wild darties (day-parties): scantily clad young folks pouring booze in each other’s mouths, sexually suggestive dancing and azure Caribbean waters (Filthy Friday, 2019). The relative success of this event has brought in competition, and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed borders, bars and restaurants, a Bocas Bar Crawl event was beginning on Saturdays as well. These hedonistic events complement what was already a vibrant nightlife scene with many bars and clubs offering free drinks for ladies and entertainment almost nightly (Bourque, 2016; Guerrón Montero, 2020). Data collection and analysis

Given the rapid growth in participation in hedonistic backpacker events, the initial impetus behind the field research phase was to gather local resident perspectives on the social, environmental and economic implications of party tourism (as defined in the introduction). Four trained undergraduate researchers approached potential interview participants in public parks and in areas outside supermarkets where locals often shop. Potential participants were first asked if they were a local resident. If they said yes, they were then asked if they were willing to take a survey (results of this portion are not included herein) and be interviewed to help student researchers gather a better understanding of their perspectives on party tourism. Interviews were semi-structured (Bernard, 2006). Residents were asked to offer their perspectives on the social, environmental and economic impacts of party tourism, each in turn, and this sparked free-flowing conversation, which was recorded and transcribed. Interviewees guided the conversation and researchers asked some probing questions when they felt something said required further elaboration. Data was collected between 1 April and 3 May 2019, and this resulted in 23 interviews with residents, which lasted between 3 and 28 minutes (see Table 11.1). Seven informants reported high dependency on party tourism (i.e. party event entrepreneurs and hostel owners), 8 were somewhat reliant (i.e. other hostel/hotel owners/managers and restaurant workers who sometimes catered to party tourists) and 8 had minimal or no reliance on the industry (i.e. schoolteachers, public servants and retirees). To protect anonymity, interview participants are identified only by their job classification.

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Table 11.1  Interview participant information and the frequency of backpacker theme mentions (n = 23) Interview Participants Types

n

Example Occupations

1, Party tourism dependent

7

3 Hostel managers, 2 hedonistic event employees, 1 bar owner, 1 DJ

2, Semi-dependent

8

1 Dive instructor, 1 Musician, 4 hotel owners, 2 food vendors

3, Not at all dependent

8

3 Retirees, 1 pastor, 1 police officer, 1 NGO employee, 1 Spanish teacher, 1 science teacher

Theme

Total Mentions

Type 1

Type 2

Type 3

Hedonistic events and destination image

12

3

4

5

Emerging trend towards all-inclusive hostels

11

4

5

2

Geographic implications

9

2

4

3

To analyse these data, transcripts were uploaded to the AtlasTi qualitative data analysis software. In-vivo coding was then used to locate text where interview participants used a word or phrase that contained a backpack (i.e. backpacking or backpackers). These were then axial coded manually to construct the themes discussed below related to the business of backpacking within the context (Saldaña, 2015). The main limitation of this research is that it does not necessarily portray a nuanced approach of how residents generally perceive backpackers, because the study was designed to understand impacts of party tourism specifically. That said, a study designed to understand local perspectives on backpacking specifically would likely demonstrate a more nuanced interpretation, rather than solely focusing on the hedonistic aspects. There is value in this research, however, because backpacking was mentioned very often despite not being the focus of the research, which demonstrates the importance of the themes that emerged from the interviews. Results and Discussion Backpacking lifestyle entrepreneurs, hedonistic events and destination image

An important theme that emerged from these responses related to a concern that certain lifestyle entrepreneurs catering to backpackers are facilitating the dissemination of a coordinated image of ABdT as a party destination. Interview participants who run hostels and hedonistic events suggested that this was a direct intention and that it helps to diversify and grow the local tourism industry. An interview with an event operator demonstrates their perspective on the impacts of their marketing efforts: Many people travelling through Central America don’t even know that Bocas exists. One of the coolest things that has happened since

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we created Filthy Friday is that people are talking about Bocas. This is because of the marketing we did on social media, and they are coming because they know we put on a consistent, fun, and unique weekly event. If we have between 300 and 500 people coming in for our event each week, then they’re staying in hostels here, they’re going on tours here, they’re going to restaurants here.

The residents who were reliant on party tourism expressed the view that bringing in tourists to participate in events catered towards their desire to ‘get a little wild’ and ‘loosen up’ is critical to destination competitiveness for tourists choosing between destinations or deciding where to stop when backpacking through Central and South America. A hostel employee shared this illustrative quote: The backdrop to all of our marketing photos speak for themselves – it’s a beautiful and unique environment here. When we advertise and tell tourists and backpackers there are also fun party things they can do here in the Caribbean, it helps bring them in even if they were not planning to on their travels. Bocas is not the easiest place to get to, so you have to make people confident that there is plenty to do here.

Together, these statements reveal the belief held by both party tour operators and hostel staff that they feel compelled to create a particular atmosphere to entice backpackers and suggest that ABdT on its own is not quite enough without these manipulations to draw in backpackers in an economically viable manner. Their mutual interest in creating an environment suitable to drawing in backpackers, they argue, also serves the local economy. Many of the interview participants spoke directly about their efforts to fill market niches by providing events and atmospheres they saw as missing while visiting and spending time in ABdT. They also mentioned the effectiveness of their collaborative efforts to appeal to backpackers and take pride in the growth of this form of travel. Another hostel/bar owner said: We came here a long time ago because we liked the vibes and the party atmosphere, but there wasn’t really much going on outside of drink specials in the hostels. A few of us just built on that to make bars and parties that would appeal more to backpackers and make them want to stay longer. Most young tourists want to be part of a big event they can share on Instagram; they don’t want to sit and drink in their hostels smoking hookahs like we used to.

The coordinated image, however, is not centrally planned or facilitated by destination management organisations. Most of the entrepreneurs interviewed talked about how, individually, they have tried things over time and built off what seems to work. While many residents agreed that that party image is effective in bringing young backpackers

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to ABdT, this is not without consequences and it changes many aspects of the destination. A local hotel manager expressed this sentiment: Catering to backpackers is like a race to the bottom for the islands. Everyone is competing to provide the most shit for the cheapest price. People wonder why the whole main street is bars and Chinese [grocery] stores. Backpackers just want to party, hang on the beach and eat cans of tuna. This [tourism] only benefits the bars, cheap hostels, and owners of the party venues. Most of these people are not local and don’t care how they are changing the place…. Even the local tour guides are competing to take backpackers to the most places possible for the cheapest prices. They say, ‘Come in my boat, I’ll take you everywhere you want to see in one day for 30 bucks’. That’s why people don’t stay long or spend a lot here… the image now of Bocas is a poor man’s San Blas.

In addition to the economic argument above, most interview participants also maintained that backpacker hedonism directly facilitates some negative cultural change. ABdT’s reputation as a party destination for young backpackers has co-opted cultural holidays that used to ‘involve some drinking’ and made them ‘centred upon drinking’. Many informants said that during Feria del Mar and Carnival specifically, they must get their families off the streets early because the festivities get so wild in the evenings. One response was illustrative: A lot of these events used to be more like family events and local things. I won’t say adults didn’t drink and carry-on, but it was more discreet, and it was after the family time. Each year it seems like more people come in, they start drinking earlier, the music gets louder, and the people get wilder. These kids just use our cultural dress and activities as a backdrop while they get wild. It’s not cultural anymore. It is more of a party and that’s why people come and that is the reputation Bocas has. I don’t really know how that happened.

While local residents are perceiving a shift towards the prioritisation of hedonism during local events, they seem to attribute this more to the visitors over-indulging in ways that are not culturally appropriate, rather than something actively curated through the marketing efforts of lifestyle entrepreneurs. Like the response above, most residents seemed genuinely unsure at how the image has changed. A club owner shed some light on the marriage between backpacker hedonism and local events and the role of entrepreneurs: Carnival is probably our busiest time, backpackers from all over the world come to see the diablo costumes and local dances on the streets. Then most of the bars and clubs have like four nights of special parties planned for after the cultural stuff. Tourists like to see the culture and then party, it’s pretty cool. It’s part of what makes it unique here.

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Residents who were not entrepreneurs, however, were not only concerned with the co-optation of their cultural events: many expressed concerns with the impacts of day-drinking events. As one local resident language instructor said: They start drinking at 1:00 pm every Friday now, which is too early. Most of us don’t mind the event, but it’s what happens when they finish. It’s not good for the children to see these kinds of people – walking in the middle of the street, maybe in swimming clothes or having sex in the corner or puking or something like that. It’s not good. It’s something that’s supposed to be happening at midnight or later, but not this early. We can’t protect our kids from seeing it.

Younger generations are growing accustomed to a backpacking lifestyle heavily influenced by hedonism, while the older generations are noticing the shift in the cultural identity and perceiving backpacking overall more negatively. The increased use of drugs and alcohol by locals (Bourque, 2016; Die, 2012) was also corroborated in interviews for this chapter. This quote from a local pastor was illustrative: You see this happen a lot now. Where local kids start hanging around all the partying. They find little jobs for themselves that they think are cool because the money is easy, and they are around all the parties and foreign women. Making money for families is good, but it’s becoming like a zombie culture of people sleeping all day and working all night around these clubs and carrying on. It’s not good for families.

Interestingly, however, the relationship between backpacker entrepreneurs and the environmental image of the archipelago was rather mixed. Many interview participants mentioned the advocacy these entrepreneurs engage in towards environmental campaigns like banning plastic bags and participating in things like beach clean-up and assisting in environmental education campaigns. However, at least two interviews focused on the solid waste pollution directly tied to hedonistic spectacles. A quote from a schoolteacher was illustrative of this nuance: I’ve snorkelled around the piers on a Monday after a weekend of parties and can tell you there are tons of plastic shot glasses, beer cans, and things like Mardi Gras beads on the seafloor. But the event sponsors and bar owners seem to actually want to do something about it and really don’t want to trash Bocas. They live here and they are surfers, sailors and divers, most of them. They also show up in public forums and advocate for the environment so it’s not easy to say whether their environmental impact is good or bad.

In relation to destination image, interviews revealed that some current entrepreneurs visited ABdT as budget travellers and developed business in order to establish a life for themselves on the islands. As other

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research dedicated to backpackers turned lifestyle entrepreneurs (Brenner & Fricke, 2007, 2016) has found, in ABdT, many found their niches through filling service gaps by creating day drinking events and clubs for backpackers to aggregate and party. Most of these entrepreneurs build off this foundation to run successful businesses. However, residents not involved in these industries often note that a new image of ABdT as a party destination is taking hold. They suggest that it seems to be effective at bringing in backpackers, but with some consequences as noted above. In some respects, this echoes other research on backpacker tourism, which portends that backpacking tourism tends to reproduce dominant power relations instead of addressing them (Mosedale, 2011; Thieme et al., 2020). This, however, in the context of backpacking entrepreneurs in ABdT requires a nuanced understanding because many are local stakeholders who are trying to have what they believe is a positive local impact, as evidenced in the environmental discussion above. There does seem to be consensus that the destination image is being actively and effectively changed by the entrepreneurial efforts to draw in backpackers to the archipelago, which warrants further attention. Commodification of backpacker infrastructure?

In the Film Gringo Trails (Vail, 2013), Erik Cohen, a seminal anthropologist to backpacker-related studies, mentions the term ‘backpackaging’ in a brief attempt to explain the commodification of the budget traveller itinerary (Vivanco, 2014). Cohen (2018) is referring specifically to the morphing of traditional backpackers’ activities (i.e. hiking, camping, and hanging out with local residents) being packaged into excursions that are sold to budget travellers through hostels, rather than organically experienced. In that sense, the term was utilised to explain the commodification processes, by which maiden travels to areas with no or little pre-existing tourism infrastructure become dissected into a series of marketable excursions built around the creation of hostels dedicated to providing the base from which to launch into various local offerings (Kerry, 2013). Some scholars have gone so far as to suggest that the difficulty associated with efforts to experience some authentic drifter past helped to nudge backpacking in a direction of finding authenticity in the experience in-and-of-itself, an experience which relies most heavily on backpackers interacting and having memorable experiences with one another (Cohen, 2018; Kerry, 2013). This fuels an industry where backpacker entrepreneurs compete to offer as many services as possible in order to achieve economic success in the places where they operate (Brenner & Fricke, 2016; Thieme et al., 2020). In ABdT, the Selina hostel chain is emblematic of backpackaging and the franchising of new forms of low-end all-inclusivity. This hostel group, with locations in more than 14 countries (and counting) and

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six locations in Panama (2 in ABdT) has its own rewards programme for loyalty. They advertise themselves this way: No matter where your trip takes you, Selina can offer a curated inventory of local adventures. We blend passion, fun and transformational experiences to the way you travel. Taking care of everything from transportation to bookings, to logistics, to the best locally curated entertainment…. Participate in the complete ecosystem of Selina: stay, eat, work, surf, explore, and find a deeper connection with the world. Meet your tribe when you stay with Selina. (Selina, 2019)

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this chain was expanding to one new location per week and had been working continuously to make it cheaper and easier to get from one location to the other, by subsidising or offering free direct transport if clients pre-booked Selina lodging at their next destination. While Selina is not the only hostel chain beefing up service and comfort and providing a servicescape (Bitner, 1992) to backpackers by providing access to curated experiences, comfort, privacy, safety and pre-planned travel, their operation is offered here as emblematic of this phenomenon that was discussed in many interviews. Particularly, when discussing party tourism’s economic impacts, five interview participants moved the discussion towards a concern that partying brings in backpackers who no longer spend much money outside their hostels. The term used in four of these interviews was ‘new backpackers’, which implies an understanding that some backpackers are different in their patronisation of all-inclusive hostels than backpackers who visited in the past. One local hotel manager both marvelled and critiqued the emerging backpackaging phenomenon and offered this response: People staying at these hostels were brought there by their special transport, the tourists then eat all their meals in the hostel, do tours the hostel plans for them, and hang out there on their WIFI all day posting how awesome it all is. Then they go out and party, day and at night at events the hostel has set up and profits from. So, who is benefiting from this type of tourism? Hardly anyone. And lots of new backpacker types just pop around Central America from one [hostel name removed] to another. So, it is hard to say that these entrepreneurs are not geniuses, but it’s important to question how beneficial this type of tourism is for locals here... In the beginning they weren’t hiring any locals and instead were employing only foreign ‘volunteers’.

The introduction and growth of backpackaging (as detailed in the quote above), and its connections to hedonism, were said to bring economic opportunities. Many, however, critiqued the type of work available and the access to ‘good’ jobs. Some interview participants expressed concern about the extent to which Bocatoreños (inhabitants of Bocas del Toro Province) are the ones who are employed in these

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all-inclusive hostels, specifically in the higher-paying and managerial jobs. A hostel owner validated concerns related to an employment hierarchy, with the following statement: Whenever we can, we hire Panamanians, especially people from Bocas, we do, but it’s hard. It’s hard to find because this place is what it is. If you grow up here, your access to education is not very good… So, it’s not easy to find highly qualified people… Often locals don’t have the customer service skills we need and our clients expect, or they get too wrapped up in the partying and socialising to be professional.

This perception corresponds with Die’s (2012) research. which found that the majority of higher-paying jobs for backpacker services tended to go to illegally employed foreigners or English-speaking Panamanians from other parts of Panama. In addition to the statement above, two interview participants noted that they were not able to access certain hostels and events as they were for paying guests only. Another (non-reliant) local resident also said that the expansion of one hostel into a neighbouring waterfront property effectively removed one of the last remaining public spaces to dock their boats or even be picked up at and or dropped off on the main island. The establishments that provide a safe space to deliver a multitude of services to backpackers also create enclaves with impervious borders, which physically keep residents out and disrupt their access to town. This section demonstrates that residents consider backpackaging as the process whereby backpacker entrepreneurs attempt to create forms of ‘all-inclusive’ ‘tourism enclaves’ to package and sell the backpacker experience as one commodity purchased from a centralised broker, which minimises benefits to residents. And, in Central America, this model has been increasingly franchised, often emblematic of economic success and market demand. The results in this section also suggest that backpackaging may require even more niche skill sets, required to provide high-end service in multiple realms including concierge services, coordinating travel, food service and accommodating special room requests, which makes it difficult for many residents to find employment. As one operator said, employees also must ‘help keep the party going, without getting too wrapped up in the drugs and alcohol’. Further, it becomes clear that backpacker enclaves can and often do have clear boundaries that prohibit residents from the access they desire, whether that is access to land or particular events curated for backpackers. Bocas Town as a sacrifice zone to hedonistic backpackers

Many geographical implications associated with the influx, evolution and convergence of backpacking and party tourism were also discussed by residents. As other studies have shown, bars and clubs

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tend to aggregate in particular areas (Iaquinto, 2020; Jayne et al., 2012; Wilkinson, 2017): most seem to suggest that the centre of town on Isla Colon (see Figure 11.2) is becoming such a space. All the stakeholder groups represented in this analysis referred to Bocas town as a party zone that gets wilder each night as it gets later. Most complained about the noise, suggesting they could avoid many of the other aspects if they wanted to. A police officer stated: We have a lot of complaints about the noise. For example, near [bar name removed], there are two or three nice hotels, and some of the guests often decide to stay only one night and then leave the next day because of the noise. So, the parties are good for some businesses and people in hostels don’t complain, but the noise is really bad for others. We ask bars to turn down the noise, but it’s not in our jurisdiction to enforce noise.

Noise is considered locally to be a major factor impacting the mobility of tourists and the geography of development. Specifically, certain types of business can exist and even flourish around parties and late loud noise, where others just cannot, so they move elsewhere, and in this context that means away from town on the main island and on to outer islands, both spurring land conflicts and issues with uncontrolled coastal development, while displacing economic benefits (Spalding, 2018). Locals seemed concerned that backpacking and businesses catering to backpackers are taking over more existing infrastructure in Bocas Town, as has been reported in other literature (Wilkinson, 2017). Businesses that cater to families are being driven towards previously undeveloped areas on Isla Colon, or to outer islands, which may have environmental consequences on previously undisturbed ecosystems now facing development pressures. Many foreigners (lifestyle entrepreneurs, vacation homeowners, and retirees) are also constructing houses far from town, which has required clearing new land, and high-end tourists are being pushed to outer islands or choosing other destinations completely, thereby excluding Bocatoreños from the economic benefits. A hospitality provider said: Too many bars and clubs have developed here. And this changes the type of tourists that come to Bocas. Families do come, yes, but none stay in town. The hotels on other islands are full. Like Red Frog, San Cristobal... these resorts are very expensive and often all-inclusive, but people prefer to go there because of the party tourism [on Isla Colón]. It affects the economy because families do not come to consume here because they think it’s party party party, so they go away. Adults prefer peace when travelling.

This quote raises important aspects related to how the image that is drawing in backpackers physically changes the landscape on Isla Colón.

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Several of the semi-structured interviews revealed the sentiment that party tourists travelling to ABdT are young individuals who often travel alone and spend less money than other adults who may be travelling with their families. And, as mentioned above, many are concerned that even this reduced spending is being absorbed by a small number of businesses that are outcompeting others to provide more services at budget prices. Most of the interview responses from residents not reliant on party tourism, however, raise the theme of Bocas Town as a sacrifice zone to backpackers and other young party tourists at night, corroborating research done in Sydney (Allon, 2004; Allon & Anderson, 2010), and making this an important consideration; something perhaps even harder to escape in ABdT because of how loud many hedonistic events are and how noise travels over the water. The frequency and quality of interactions between backpackers and locals associated with hedonism also emerged as an important and related topic during semi-structured interviews. Most interview participants indicated that party tourism fostered very few positive or meaningful interactions between backpackers and locals and that locals often seek establishments outside the centre of town to drink and party. A local taxi driver (semi-reliant) described the lack of interactions between the two groups, stating: If you tell a local person ‘Come with me to [Bar X]’, they say, ‘No, that spot is for the gringos and the beers are too expensive.’ If you say to the Gringos, ‘Come with me to [Bar Y]’, they’ll say, ‘No there are a lot of Panamanians there and they cause trouble.’

A retiree summed up the dual challenge associated with the social avoidance and locals sacrificing the town centre to young foreigners at night with the following statement: So now we have the whole crazy backpacker scene in town and then the locals raging in cabana [a waterfront area just outside town] all night. If you don’t want to be bothered, you must go pretty far away from it all these days. I sleep with earplugs and fan by head, but that doesn’t even work during the big events. Conclusion

Most backpacker research focuses on backpackers in some form or another, and this body of work has enriched collective understanding of backpacker motivations and performances, as well as how they change over time. Future research is needed to better understand the role that backpacker lifestyle entrepreneurs have in shaping destination image and development, particularly as the importance of alcohol and drug-fuelled

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socialising increases in importance to a growing subset (perhaps now even the dominant subset) of the backpacker subculture (Cohen, 2018; Jayne et al., 2012; Kerry, 2013). This chapter aimed to extend knowledge related to how residents view backpacking in relation to the growth and proliferation of hedonistic events in ABdT. The three themes most often discussed related to backpacker lifestyle entrepreneurs or the implications of their success. The first involved an understanding of how the creation of popular bar crawls and club events changes the overall destination image. In the era of social media dominance, backpackers are not only clients of backpacker lifestyle entrepreneurs but are also key to business and destination marketing through social media posts and reviews on forums such as Tripadvisor. Creating spectacles for backpackers to participate in, enjoy and share, becomes critical to entrepreneurial success in this market and in bringing backpackers to ABdT. So, while backpacker lifestyle entrepreneurs suggest that creating popular and profitable hedonistic events simply fills a market niche and makes more people aware of ABdT, other local residents seem to be growing more concerned about what this image conveys and the type of tourism it encourages, even beyond the temporal confines of the actual events. The second theme involved the growing insularity of the benefits associated with backpacking tourism growth, as entrepreneurs compete to offer more diversified services out of their hostels. In short, many residents argued that bringing in more backpackers accrues benefits but mostly to a small group of backpacker lifestyle entrepreneurs, rather than broadly to more local stakeholders. Third, many expressed beliefs that the growth of backpacker tourism and hedonistic events facilitates changes in the geography of development. These combined processes (hedonistic event growth and backpackaging) were shown to impact the actual material conditions, s­ociocultural environment, atmosphere and image of the of the destination through visible day-drinking parties, a domination of loud late-night clubs, the development of pristine areas outside town, and an erosion of the significance of local cultural events. In short, while local residents are recognising image and actual changes, it is not clear whether they see the benefits as outweighing the costs. Research into these converging phenomena is warranted, not only in ABdT but in many places around the world where hedonistic events and/or all-inclusive ­backpacker holidays are beginning to show signs of outcompeting other forms of tourism and dominating broader local development. This scenario above is not presented as an inevitability nor as a doomsday scenario, but as a cautionary tale. Considering that backpackers will likely be some of the first travellers after COVID-19 lockdowns ease, destinations should take this time to consider how

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to control and manage tourism in consultation with local residents (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020). Though few in number, there are examples of destinations utilising regulatory measures to transition away from tourism economies reliant upon hedonistic events and drunken debauchery and towards more sustainable (and locally preferable) models of ecotourism. Vang Vieng, in Laos is one example where backpacker hedonism got out of control and at one point was leading to an average of two deaths per month, as drunken backpackers would river tube (river tubing is a sport in which people ride innertubes or inflated disks down a river), visiting multiple riverside bars all hours of the day and night. In 2012, local officials made tubing and river parties illegal and instituted a midnight curfew, which effectively wiped the location off of the hedonistic backpacker map but has led to the emergence of a lower volume and higher-spending ecotourism market (Bennett, 2020). Prior to the pandemic disallowing international entry into Panama and shutting down all non-essential businesses, there was a great deal of momentum behind backpacking hostels and hedonistic events, leading to what some local residents articulated as a deteriorating image of ABdT with consequences. The interview material gathered for this chapter seems to suggest that most residents who are not solely reliant on the party tourism industry would like to see this momentum slowed and or dialled back. It will be interesting to follow whether these voices will become louder in opposition to these types of tourism operations, or if the status quo will re-emerge when tourism can. ​I do not expect local officials will take a hard-line approach to restricting hedonistic behaviours. This research suggests, however, that they should consider cracking down on noise and having/enforcing reasonable closing times. These small measures would likely benefit many local stakeholders without being overly detrimental to the bar and club economy. While prohibiting daytime bar-crawl events would certainly help to change the hedonistic image of ABdT, even starting such events later in the day and ending them in the evening might be a way to limit the intrusiveness of these events on local residents who do not want to see or experience the aftermath of these wild parties. Regardless, there ought to be local dialogue specifically dedicated to the impacts of a changing destination image via particular hedonistic events and potential regulatory measures with broad local appeal. The ‘all-inclusivity’ shift in the backpacker market that has been exposed, however, will require more nuanced governance approaches to impact, which would involve changing what backpackers demand and how lifestyle entrepreneurs decide to deliver their services. The broad conclusion is that the battle for backpacking to remain as an industry that prioritises local service providers and local sustainable development (Scheyvens, 2002, 2006) lies in this being demanded by backpackers, supplied by entrepreneurs and/or through policy/ community organisation, to ensure that development progresses with

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local benefits as the priority. Change is most likely to occur when backpackers understand the impacts of their hedonistic performances on destinations, when entrepreneurs carefully design events to mitigate negative impacts on residents, and when regulations support the public will for better tourism outcomes. References Allon, F. (2004) From visiting cultures to travelling cultures: Local communities, backpacker tourism, and the consumption of authenticity in Sydney. Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal 52 (1), 65–73. Allon, F. and Anderson, K. (2010) Intimate encounters: The embodied transnationalism of backpackers and independent travellers. Population, Space and Place 16 (10), 11–22. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.574. ATP. (2019) Nightlife: Bocas del Toro. Retrieved from https://bocasdeltoro.travel/category/ food-nightlife-bar-bocas-del-toro/. Bennett, M. (2012) Vang Vieng: Backpacker heaven or hedonistic hell? CNN Travel, 1  March. Retrieved from http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/vang-vieng-backpackerheaven-or-tourist-hell-994621/. Bennett, M. (2020) Vang Vieng: A hedonistic backpacker town reborn. Retrieved from https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/vang-vieng-backpacking/. Bernard, H.R. (2006) Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (4th edn). Oxford: AltaMira Press. Bitner, M.J. (1992) Servicescapes: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees. Journal of Marketing 56 (2), 57–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 002224299205600205. Botterill, D., Pointing, S., Hayes-Jonkers, C., Clough, A., Jones, T. and Rodriquez, C. (2013) Violence, backpackers, security and critical realism. Annals of Tourism Research 42, 311–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2013.01.007. Bourque, O. (2016) Analyzing the recent, rapid tourism development in Panama’s Bocas del Toro archipelago: Is socio-environmental justice attainable? International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE), 19. Retrieved from https:// commons.clarku.edu/idce_masters_papers/19. Brenner, L. and Fricke, J. (2007) The evolution of backpacker destinations: The case of Zipolite, Mexico. International Journal of Tourism Research 9 (3), 217–230. https:// doi.org/10.1002/jtr.604. Brenner, L. and Fricke, J. (2016) Lifestyle entrepreneurs, hostels and backpacker tourism development: The case of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico. El Periplo Sustentable (31), 125–148. Butler, R.W. (1980) The concept of a tourist area cycle of evolution implications for management of resources. Canadian Geographer 24 (1), 5–12. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1541-0064.1980.tb00970.x. Camargo, M. (2016) Percepción de la comunidad del archipiélago de Bocas del Toro, Panamá, sobre el impacto de la industria turística. Turismo y Sociedad, xix, 73–96. https://doi.org/10.18601/01207555.n19.05. Chen, G., Zhao, L. and Huang, S. (2019) Backpacker identity: Scale development and validation. Journal of Travel Research 59 (2), 281–294. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0047287519829255. Cohen, E. (1973) Nomads from affluence: Notes on the phenomenon of drifter tourism. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 14 (1–2), 89–103. Cohen, E. (2006) Pai-a backpacker enclave in transition. Tourism Recreation Research 31 (3), 11–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2006.110815002.

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Cohen, E. (2018) Backpacker enclaves research: Achievements, critique and alternative approaches. Tourism Recreation Research 43 (1), 105–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/0 2508281.2017.1388572. Die, R.A. (2012) Troubling Tourism: Tourism, Development, and Social Justice in Bocas del Toro, Panamá. Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin. Ek, R. and Hultman, J. (2008) Sticky landscapes and smooth experiences: The biopower of tourism mobilities in the Oresund Region. Mobilities 3 (2), 223–242. https://doi. org/10.1080/17450100802095312. Filthy Friday (2019) What is Filthy Friday? Retrieved from https://filthyfridaybocas.com/ Guerrón-Montero, C. (2005) Marine protected areas in Panamá: Grassroots activism and advocacy. Human Organization 64 (4), 360–373. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.64.4. 2mx2j6qd0xyg1rqv. Guerrón Montero, C. (2020) From Temporary Migrants to Permanent Attractions: Tourism, Cultural Heritage, and Afro-Antillean Identities in Panama. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. Hampton, M. and Hamzah, A. (2016) Change, choice and commercialization: Backpacker routes in Southeast Asia. Growth and Change 47 (4), 556–571. https://doi.org/10.1111/ grow.12143. Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2020) Socialising tourism for social and ecological justice after COVID-19. Tourism Geographies 22 (93), 610–623. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688 .2020.1757748. Hughes, K., Downing, J., Bellis, M. and Copeland, J. (2009) The sexual behaviour of British backpackers in Australia. Sexually Transmitted Infections 85 (6), 477–482. https://doi. org/10.1136/sti.2009.036921. Iaquinto, B. (2020) Understanding the place-making practices of backpackers. Tourist Studies 20 (3), 336–353. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797620927308. Jayne, M., Gibson, C., Waitt, G. and Valentine, G. (2012) Drunken mobilities: Backpackers, alcohol, ‘doing place’. Tourist Studies 12 (3), 211–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797612461082. Kaplan, J. (2003) Patterns of Entrepreneurship. Chichester: Wiley. Kerry, E. (2013) Backpacker selves in a hostel: Discourse, identity, and existential authenticity. Master’s thesis, Louisiana State University. Retrieved from https://core. ac.uk/download/pdf/217399789.pdf. Lardies, R. (1999) Migration and tourism entrepreneurship: North-European immigrants in Cataluña and Languedoc. International Journal of Population Geography 5 (6), 477–491. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1220(199911/12)5:63.0.CO;2-U. Le Bigot, B. (2016) The backpackers ‘round the world’ trip, standardized. Via Tourism Review 1 (9). https://doi.org/10.4000/viatourism.324. Lonely Planet (2019) Bocas del Toro town in detail: Drinking and nightlife. Retrieved from https://www.lonelyplanet.com/panama/bocas-del-toro-town/in-location/drinkingand-nightlife/a/nar/54e2687f-7739-4c24-8fad-6941a0b7cfc2/358511. Majeed, J. (2016) Party scene in Bocas del Toro: When and where to go out! Retrieved from https://www.hablayapanama.com/blog/2016/01/party-scene-in-bocas-del-toro-whenand-where-to-go-out/. Malam, L. (2004) Performing masculinity on the Thai beach scene. Tourism Geographies 6 (4), 455–471. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461668042000280237. Marchant, B. and Mottiar, Z. (2011) Understanding lifestyle entrepreneurs and digging beneath the issue of profits: Profiling surf tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs in Ireland. Tourism Planning and Development 8 (2), 171–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/2156831 6.2011.573917. Moore, R. (1995) Gender and alcohol use in a Greek tourist town. Annals of Tourism Research 22, 300–313. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(94)00078-6. Mosedale, J. (2011) Thinking outside the box: Alternative political economies in tourism. In J. Mosedale (ed.) Political Economy of Tourism: A Critical Perspective (pp. 93–108). Abingdon: Routledge.

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Mowforth, M., Charlton, C. and Munt, I. (2008) Tourism and Responsibility: Perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean. Abingdon: Routledge. O’Regan, M. (2010) Backpacker hostels: Place and performance. In K. Hannam and A. Diekmann (eds) Beyond Backpacker Tourism: Mobilities and Experiences (pp. 85–101). Bristol: Channel View Publications. O’Regan, M. (2018) Backpacking’s future and its drifter past. Journal of Tourism Futures 4, 193–204. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-04-2018-0. Örnberg, J. and Room, R. (2014) Impacts of tourism on drinking and alcohol policy in low- and middle-income countries: A selective thematic review. Contemporary Drug Problems 41 (2), 145–169. https://doi.org/10.1177/009145091404100202. Padilla, M.B., Guilamo-Ramos, V. and Godbole, R. (2012) A syndemic analysis of alcohol use and sexual risk behavior among tourism employees in Sosúa, Dominican Republic. Qualitative Health Research 22 (1), 89–102. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732311419865. Pearce, P. (1990) The Backpacker Phenomenon: Preliminary Answers to the Basic Questions. Townsville: James Cook University. Prado, A. (Director) (2011) Paraiso for Sale [Motion Picture]. Saarinen, J. (2016) Enclavic tourism spaces: Territorialization and bordering in tourism destination development and planning. Tourism Geographies 19 (3), 425–437. https:// doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2016.1258433. Saldaña, J. (2015) The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Scheyvens, R. (2002) Backpacker tourism and Third World development. Annals of Tourism Research 29, 144–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(01)00030-5. Scheyvens, R. (2006) Sun, sand, and beach fale: Benefiting from backpackers – the Samoan way. Tourism Recreation Research 31 (3), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.20 06.11081507. Scheyvens, R. and Russell, M. (2012) Tourism and poverty alleviation in Fiji: Comparing the impacts of small- and large-scale tourism enterprises. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 20 (3), 417–436. Selina (2019) Retrieved from https://www.selina.com/. Spalding, A. (2013) Lifestyle migration to Bocas del Toro Panama: Exploring migration strategies and introducing local implications of the search for paradise. International Review of Social Research 3 (1), 67–86. https://doi.org/10.1515/irsr-2013-0005. Spalding, A. (2018) Re-making lives abroad: Lifestyle migration and socio-environmental change in Bocas del Toro, Panama. In D. Suman and A.K. Spalding (eds) Coastal Resources of Bocas del Toro, Panama: Tourism and Development Pressures and the Quest for Sustainability (pp. 31–43). Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami. Spreitzhofer, G. (1998) Backpacking tourism in South-East Asia. Annals of Tourism Research 25, 979–983. Sroypetch, S., Carr, N. and Duncan, T. (2018) Host and backpacker perceptions of environmental impacts of backpacker tourism: A case study of the Yasawa Islands, Fiji. Tourism and Hospitality Research 18 (2), 203–213. https://doi.org/10.1177/1467358416636932. Suman, D. and Spalding, K. (eds) (2018) Coastal Resources of Bocas del Toro, Panama: Tourism and Development Pressures and the Quest for Sustainability. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami. Thieme, J., Hampton, M., Stoian, C. and Zigan, K. (2020) The political economy of backpacker tourism: Explorations of tourism actors’ embeddedness in Colombia. Current Issues in Tourism 24 (13), 1830–1855. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1806793. Vail, P. (Director) (2013) Gringo Trails [Motion Picture]. Vivanco, L.A. (2104) Gringo Trails. Visual Anthropology Review 30 (1), 82–84. https://doi. org/10.1111/var.12037. Welk, P. (2004) The beaten track: Anti-tourism as an element of backpacker identity construction. In G. Richards and J. Wilson (eds) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice (pp. 77–91). Clevedon: Channel View Publications.

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Part 4 Concluding Thoughts

12 After the Pandemic: Future Directions for Backpacking and Backpacking Research Michael O’Regan

In an era of climate change and climate-induced disasters, polarised politics, capitalist expansionism, unrestrained resource extraction, nationalistic and populist governance, escalating surveillance and censorship and mounting social inequalities, the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns as well as the war in Ukraine have provided an opportunity for individuals to reflect on their present lives and possible futures. This chapter explores how sociocultural imaginaries are becoming newly activated, re-signified and circulated in societies across the globe, and asks whether individuals, during a time of societal uncertainty, will still positively value backpacking as an alternative life course. The chapter explores potential research pathways and directions, before exploring backpacking futures.

A Pandemic, War and the Climate Emergency: The Decline of Solidarity

While the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath drew the world’s attention to a health crisis and economic losses, it also focused attention on broad inequalities and uncertainties across different social environments. Jürgen Habermas, the acclaimed German philosopher and sociologist, believes that our complex societies are facing great existential uncertainties (Schwering, 2020). These uncertainties relate not only to coping with the direct dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic, but to the completely unforeseeable, unintended and unpredictable impacts the pandemic has had on individuals, families and societies. Social distancing measures, hygiene rules, government regulations, 271

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lockdowns and even COVID-19 conspiracy theories (Schaeffer, 2020) have, for example, had unintended impacts on lives, livelihoods and social connections and exacerbated mental health issues, divorce rates, relationship strife, health scares and workplace satisfaction (Ducharme, 2020; Savage, 2020). Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has pushed up inflation and interest rates and disrupted the global supply chain. These impacts, in turn, have increased concerns as to whether societies will see increased social vulnerability, a decline in social trust, as well as social and political disruption. However, inequalities in housing, society, race, health, economics and gender existed long before the COVID-19 pandemic and the anxieties brought about by the war in Ukraine, Brexit and the climate crisis. The world was already facing the consequences of degrading labour protections and conditions, failing social structures, and futures imperilled by climate change, rising sea levels, mass migrations, culture wars, global pandemics, rapid technological development, nativist panic, resource depletion, environmental deterioration, anxious and controlling parental practices, and growing distrust of financial, political and cultural institutions (Žižek, 2020). In the west, core functions of democratic societies, like the financial system, democratic institutions and the free press, were already under pressure, while ideological tensions between orthodox and progressive moral and social positions on abortion, same-sex marriage, immigration, feminism, transgenderism, education and attitudes towards race are driving division and connection in equal measure (Duffy et al., 2021). Turchin and Korotayev (2020) predict a period of growing instability in the US and western Europe, due to popular immiseration, intra-elite competition, overcrowded labour markets, state weakness and the overproduction of elites. Likewise, Herrington (2021) argues that if we continue our business-as-usual approach to resource extraction and overexploitation, we could witness the collapse of civilisation as soon as the year 2040. Indeed, Khanna (2021) argues that climate change will lead to a full-blown crisis, with economic collapse, destabilised governments and technology disruption leading to a new age of mass migrations. In China and other Asian societies, capitalist dynamism and extremely competitive and capitalist education systems have led to the 996 culture (working from 9am to 9pm for six days a week) (Wang, J., 2020) and a toxic working environment for young people. Across OECD countries (OECD, 2019) and other industrialised nations, such as China, the decline of religion, marriage, fertility rates and social cohesion means uncertainties, inequalities and pressures will continue long after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. Habermas describes our current situation as having so much knowledge about our lack of knowledge and being forced to act and live under the uncertainty of not-knowing what we need to know (Schwering, 2020). While increasing numbers of us live

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in an age in which the social order of the nation state and previously institutionalised life forms related to religion, traditional gender and family roles, social class and/or territorially are declining (Cortois & Laermans, 2018), the ethic of individual self-fulfilment, happiness and achievement is flourishing (Beck & Beck-Gernshein, 2002). However, increased access to travel across borders, individualism, individual wealth, smartphones and access to the internet (Twenge, 2017) has not reduced uncertainties, with increasing angst regarding individual health and well-being, careers, family formation, and lack of community (Headlee, 2020; Pillemer, 2021). As people seek to take control of their lives, become the author of their own life and express one’s ‘true self’ (Beck & Beck-Gernshein, 2002), we are seeing a marked rise in personal reflexivity as people seek new relationships, occupations, partners, lifestyles and living situations (Cohn, 2020). Bauman (1997: 20–1) argues that modernity has transformed ‘identity from the matter of ascription into the achievement [sic] – thus making it an individual task and the individual’s responsibility’. Paradoxically, the freedom to author one’s own biography is also embraced by the market, which commands us to be free, to be creative, and flexible (from family ties and hierarchical institutions), leading to increased precarious and non-standard employment. While COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine have produced a great collective shock, there is little evidence to suggest this is leading to ‘collective effervescence’ (Durkheim, 1961; Tiryakian, 2016), as societies come together, to share similar thoughts and engage in the same social action that stimulates unity and societal renewal. Instead, scholars have described the pandemic, the war and its aftermaths as a ripe time for the Durkheim-formulated concept of ‘anomie’. While the word anomie comes from the Greek anomia, translated as lawlessness, anomie has come to be used to describe a breakdown of purpose and detachment from social standards, ideals and values in society. Durkheim maintains that ‘a state of anomie is impossible wherever organs solidly linked to one another are in sufficiently lengthy contact… they are easily alerted in every situation to the need for one another and consequently, they experience a keen, continuous feeling of their mutual dependence’ (1984: 304). While Durkheim argues that society can create bonds of mutual dependency, which enforces positive solidarity and social cohesion, he acknowledges that modern industrial societies can also be characterised by ‘by hostility and struggle between labor and capital, by commercial crises and the attending bankruptcies, by normlessness (anomie), lack of regulation, unrestricted play of individual or collective self-interest’ (Durkheim, 1984: xx). As the unifying principles and practices of society fray, anomie springs ‘from society’s insufficient presence in individuals’ (Durkheim, 1951: 258). Anomie was very visible in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, with Bygnes (2017) finding many left Spain after

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the crisis in a state of anomie, feeling there was something wrong in Spain. Hodwitz and Frey (2016) also provide a large-scale account of trends of anomie in Europe after the financial crisis. They argue that ‘the norms of success were upended, creating a vacuous state… [and the] collective conscience was suspended temporarily’ (Hodwitz & Frey, 2016: 239). Sandel (2020) argues that meritocratic capitalism has created a permanent state of competition within society, which corrodes solidarity and the notion of the ‘common good’, by sustaining a system of winners and losers. Sandel argues that this system breeds ‘hubris and self-congratulation’ among the former and low self-worth among the latter. Our ‘burnout society’ means, increasingly, that we live exhausted and depressed by the unavoidable demands of existence (Han, 2020; Headlee, 2020), such as housing prices, student loans and falling wages (in real terms). There is a rising sense of social disconnection, loneliness, burnout, anxiety and neurosis as solidarity and collective bonds, rituals and trust weaken (Curran & Hill, 2019; Han, 2020). Intergenerational solidarity, understood as an expression of unconditional trust between members of the same or different generations, which is also the attitude that assumes that ‘one generation should do something’ for another generation, is failing. While anomie emerges at a time of weakened collective bonds caused by widespread disillusionment about democracy, liberalism, capitalism and even civilisation as we know it (Demos, 2023), the COVID-19 pandemic, global culture wars and the war in Ukraine have triggered feelings in many that there is no way back to the previously known ‘normal’ (Eschenbacher & Fleming, 2020) of free markets, material goals, stratifications, exclusions, marginalisation and consumerism, and the failed dreams of social mobility, house ownership and the myth of meritocracy. The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath is above all a personal crisis, as it has become a trigger for individual stress, frustration, anxiety, confusion and powerlessness. While crisis is a highly ambivalent notion, Bloch (2014) notes crises are occasions which mark a change, for the better or the worse. Such occasions represent ‘historical turning points where human choice could make fundamental difference to the future’ (Shrivastava, 1993: 25). Bloch (2014) notes how the word stems from Greek and means a turning point in the development or a moment of decision. In the 18th century, impacted by the French crise, people started using it in a broader context to mean a ‘decisive, difficult situation, dilemma, decision, turning point’ (Apitz, 1987: 15) that can erupt at any time and can unfold in an unpredictable manner (for better or worse). The COVID-19 crisis has upended social situations and attachments and stopped individuals attending to activities and events that might enhance social solidarity. COVID-19, along with Brexit has also led to constraints, such as frustrating career aspirations, disruption to consistent temporal tethering and shifts in people’s social status.

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It has also led people to question the organisation and value of work and the impact of returning to the office, and normative rhythms. The crisis has disproportionately impacted those in precarious positions, with those already marginalised pushed further to the edges of society, with many unable to afford the maintenance of solidarities, including intergenerational solidarity. More broadly, it has also led certain kinds of governments to exploit the weakening of social bonds to introduce emergency and or authoritarian measures, which have inflicted a toll on democracy, civil liberties, fundamental freedoms and human dignity (Gupta & Ray, 2021; Thomson & Ip, 2020). While many people will face these uncertainties and challenges as best they can, by pushing them out of mind, others may experience existential anxieties and crisis (Ducharme, 2020) as they search for meaning and for ways to manage their own risks as they face losses or blockages of freedoms, jobs, savings, health, homes, friends, family and security. Others are coming to terms with the impact of long Covid and are reflecting upon occupationally induced illnesses. Millions of workers who dropped out of the workforce during the pandemic may never return, because of persistent illness fears or physical impairments. As diversity, scepticism, modernisation and individualism are written in various cultures (Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 2002), everyone is responsible for creating their own lives and living that life authentically (Yalom, 1980). To find meaning in the face of existential anxiety and crisis, a broad variety of actors have activated, re-signified and circulated sociocultural imaginaries, using social, cultural and political symbols and ideas. These imaginaries have led some to succumb to the temptations of engaging in denial and retreating to the private sphere, and even into domesticity. Others refuse to be written into partial aspects of society as taxpayers, students, consumers, producers, fathers and so on and have dis-embedded or opted out, either temporarily or permanently from work, family and so on. The phrase ‘Great Resignation’ (Hirsch, 2021), for example, has come to be explored as people seek life-course changes and escape bullshit jobs (Graeber, 2019). Some are joining social justice movements, resorting to anti-lockdown violence, crime or are becoming activists (e.g. climate change, political activists) (Milburn, 2019), while others are retreating from the unsatisfying conditions of the corporate workforce through entrepreneurial empowerment, self-improvement and spiritual pursuits, lifestyle migration or digital nomadism. While scholars observed growing variabilities in life-course transitions before the pandemic and increasing diversity and unpredictability in developmental trajectories (Flaherty, 2012), the pandemic has exacerbated these trends. While individuals are conditioned by their social location (Mannheim (1952 [1927]), and hegemonic representations, the articulation of emancipatory imaginaries is producing creative potentials that

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engage the possibility of multiple worlds and plural embodied futures (Matos & Ardévol, 2021). While individuals in many parts of the globe are expected and encouraged to include mobility in their life trajectories (e.g. transnational work, international study, volunteering, gap years and other self-development mobilities), emancipated representations of lived experience and communities based on historical and cultural references from the counterculture (1964–1972), and other periods, are suggesting pathways to dynamically reconfigure oneself. These imaginaries suggest not only new roles and geographic movement (Alloul, 2021) but migration across social formations and fields, new practices, intentions as well as shifting subjectivities and powers. Escape, Opting Out, Withdrawal, Detachment

As an antidote to anxieties, anomie, malaise and alienation caused by increasing and pervasive uncertainties (Kalleberg & Vallas, 2018), Durkheim suggested political solutions, such as representative government, to create a moral density to foster solidarity and collective conscience. However, many see no immediate solutions in politics, occupational groups or education, and traditional community life. Rather than become plagued by these uncertainties and the vulnerability and the unpredictability that comes with them, Beck (1992: 53) argues that people will rely predominantly on themselves and their ‘own cognitive means and potential experiences’ to comprehend their environs and themselves. As climate change, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine impact lives, the lack of any effective counterforce to neoliberalism is profoundly impacting social, political, economic and cultural landscapes, with individuals becoming deeply self-oriented and dis-embedding from family and work-routines, to explore various postfamily relationships, new co-living arrangements, lifestyle migration, co-working environments and digital nomadism and rural living (Orel, 2019; Rosenkranz, 2018), and also accepting beliefs and values that may contradict those in the dominant culture (Westhues, 1972). Rather than wait, taking back control to find a renewal and revised sense of purpose during a time of uncertainty may involve opting out, withdrawal, retreat and detachment from perceived socially ascribed roles, oppressive, patriarchal and heteronormative structures and statusbound social order (social structure), excessive societal regulations, the standards imposed by societal institutions and external measures, from academic records to popularity and professional achievement (Lozanski, 2007; Skotnicki & Nielsen, 2021; Turner, 1977). Merton (1968) describes five types of deviance in terms of the acceptance or rejection of social goals, with retreatism entailing, for example, living off-grid and countercultural rebellion. This may lead people to reject cultural goals and means and supporting other social orders that already exist. During

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the various crises caused by the cold war, the uncertainties caused by the threat of thermonuclear war and the rejection of technocracy in the 1960s (Roznak, 1995), individuals sought to align with new values and styles. This period saw individuals withdraw or detach themselves from tradition, and embrace new cultural styles, values, norms, assumptions and ways of living. Rather than just a western phenomenon, the social and cultural climate of the Brezhnev period in the former USSR also enabled the development of Soviet hippies (Fürst, 2021), with countercultures also blossoming in Japan, eastern Europe and Latin America. During the 1980s, individuals again acted against repressive conformity after the fall of communism (Jobs, 2017), with groups such as New Age Travellers drawing attention in the UK after emerging during a time of domestic crisis (McKay, 1997). Roszak (1968) noted that many who search for enhanced social solidarity, mutual dependency or adventure may forge new personal identities through the acceptance of new values, views, norms and behaviour in loose collective groups, tribes and nano-communities. These communities, groups and neo-tribes are often characterised by their mutual aid and do-it-yourself approach, in which individuals learn and embody alternative approaches to the construction of identities, knowledge systems, and forms of social organisation based on solidarity and social and temporal agency (Romero, 2019). Indeed, these communities may mark a point of reorientation, in which predominant future perspectives may be confirmed, renegotiated or shifted. Some may associate opting out with affluence and privilege, with some western elites pursuing creativity, social capital and religious exoticism (Lucia, 2020) in the service of white identity needs through high-cost events like Burning Man or exclusive retreat resorts. It may indeed be an intersectional category, given the act of opting out is thoroughly imbedded in, and intersects with, issues of class, race, education, gender, sexuality, and the state and state power (Bashir, 2020; Cresswell, 2006; Dutta & Shome, 2018). Those with privilege can opt out and choose to re-join the system at any time, as the state provides them with a nationality, identity documents, social security and (relative) freedom to do so. Cohen (2011), for example, describes some lifestyle travellers who opt out and in, to sustain their lifestyle. Therefore, opting out is not always a ‘a radical rejection of things as they are’ (Berman, 1971: xvii), and may simply provide a literal breathing space from seamlessly conforming to societal values. Similarly, the counterculture, and the lifestyles and values associated with it, did not entail a straightforward rejection of everything produced in the capitalist field (Willis, 2012). Instead, opting out is often a learning opportunity to cultivate one’s identity, by altering dispositions, orientations, patterns of action, and even appearance. For some, the act may be permanently self-destructive, and lead to poverty, homelessness, drug use and destitution, but it

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also offers a sense of belonging, solidarity, reciprocal trustiness, and becoming (Mudu & Chattopadhyay, 2016). For others, opting out may be transformative (Ruti, 2017), as it may represent a ‘literal’ escape, and freedom from their social context and social constraint. While many may opt out and stay put (Schelly, 2017) and find liberation there, the search for creativity, social and interpersonal connections, a sense of shared identity and relationality may lead one to travel, towards neo-nomadism, lifestyle mobility and bohemian lifestyle migration, to lower-cost destinations (Korpela, 2020). Much of this is a result of a shift from past to present, involving a reworking of older patterned flows (Heyman & Campbell, 2009). This ‘mobility power’ expresses the agency of an increasing number of people to direct their own mobility – away from jobs and families, between jobs, between places, and so forth (Vickers, 2020). The backpacker is only one role, where one can take on new norms, habits and schema as a way of coping with uncertainty (Giddens, 1992) so that over time and space, the imaginative capacity of their new subjectivity can transcend situations that other tourists might see as untenable, deviant, hedonistic and hostile. Like the drifters before them, some are transformed, their self-induced mobility becoming a ‘substantial content of the reflexively organised trajectory of the self’ (Giddens, 1991: 85). Many others may merely buy into a temporary commodification of difference and otherness that is neither permanent nor long lasting. This may be because they lack the time and the inability to withdraw from economic necessity or lack unrestrained freedom of travel because of passport and visa restrictions imposed upon them. Others may feel unsafe, with some backpacker spaces not designed to foster relationships of equality. Instead, such spaces may embody and transmit unacknowledged privilege. There are other roles, cultural formations, spaces, and collectivities build on individual engagements with spatial imaginaries, that emphasise mobility as a means for individual liberation and for rediscovering the lost potentialities of the self (Fairfield, 1972; Stickells, 2015; Yablonsky, 1968). They include the resurgence of New Age travellers (Kuhling, 2007), the Rainbow Family (González & Dans, 2018), Woofing (Ince, 2016), nomad houses, transformational festivals (St John, 2001), hospitality exchange (Ince & Bryant, 2019), hitchhiking (O’Regan, 2014), wild camping (Caldicott, 2020), global nomads/ neo-nomads (D’Andrea, 2007), off-grid living and vanlifers (Craft, 2020; Schelly, 2015). Little is known about the impulses that push individuals towards self-investment in various roles and fields and how ‘people are motivated, driven by, torn from a state of in-difference and moved by the stimuli sent by certain fields – and not others’ (Wacquant, 1992: 26). Furthermore, little is known about what holds their subjective emotional investments together, and the emotional, physical and mental intensity

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with which they invest in certain roles and fields (Aarseth, 2016). Each social arena gives life to a specific desire (Aarseth, 2016), and, in each, individuals will engage in contests for specific types of capital or combinations of capital. DIY cultures and alternative economies are often associated with the accumulation of capital/subcultural capital (Thornton, 1995). However, like the ‘underground’ before it, many of these communities and participants overlap, with boundaries between specific fields becoming more permeable. Many individuals move between various social and cultural spaces, with Marginson (2008) noting the increasingly ‘flaky borders’ of social worlds, which draw people into communication and contact with imagined counterparts. In many ways, new transnational spaces, such as beaches in Goa, hitchhiking events to spiritual events, are part of global nomadic scapes (Appadurai, 1996), through which various transnational cultural formations can perform and move. Therefore, opting out or withdrawing from traditional roles and rules largely means entering another, with different forms of capital (social, cultural and economic) that individuals may accumulate and use. Therefore, they are not true outsiders (that is, being outside the social structure). There is still logic and ‘rules of the game’ in each field. These fields are arenas of social activity but, like the art field, ‘The game of art is, from the point of view of business, a game of “loser takes all”’ (Bourdieu, 1996: 101). As the economic world is shunned in many of these fields, researchers might explore how these communities are imagined as free from restrictions and transactional relationships. Researchers should explore any growth of mistrust of these fields and communities from other broader publics. As mobility has been represented, among many others, ‘as adventure, as tedium, as education, as freedom, as modern, as threatening’ (Cresswell, 2010: 19), there is already concern about deviant ‘dirty campers’, illegal raves, off-grid living, western-led ashrams and utopian communities and motorhome and campervan users, and subsequent discussions on anti-nomadic regulations. As spaces associated with many of these tribes and communities are often western led, owned or managed, and predominantly have white participants, they often partially rely on practices, clothing and music that originate from native peoples and are often eclectically mixed and interpreted in line with romanticised views of the other. Issues of cultural appropriation, colonial logics and privilege require further examination (Namakkal, 2021). It will take time for researchers to fully understand the effect COVID-19 has had on societies, life courses and mobility around the globe (Ducharme, 2020). The COVID-19 crisis, the climate change crisis, the mental health and loneliness crisis, and war in Ukraine are increasingly cast in generational terms, with scholars pointing to a disinherited generation left to live with the failures of their forebears.

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Tourism scholars are uncertain about what travel and tourism might look like in the future (Spinks, 2020), and whether individuals might seek more equitable and sustainable mobility futures. While the pandemic and other crises have brought imaginaries of mobility more clearly to the fore, a systematic forecasting of the future from the present trends in society remains difficult, given the levels of uncertainty in societies across the globe. There seems to be an increase in those who consider themselves nomadic, artistic and off-the-grid, and they seem to be thriving at the margins of modern nation-states. To express the relationship of these manifestations to social structure in spatial terms, they are on the edges of structure, in marginality and from beneath structure (Turner, 1977). For Turner, those who ‘opt out’ of the social order, seek to acquire the ‘stigmata of the lowly, dressing like “bums,” itinerant in their habits, “folk” in their musical tastes, and menial in the casual employment they undertake. They stress personal relationships rather than social obligations’ (1977: 112). Therefore, the movement of backpackers, along with others, remains different from the physical movement of tourists, given their movement is over often overlooked channels, and is part of a process of accumulation of subcultural capital. Of little value outside specific cultural and contextual structures, scholars should further explore the capital within the fields that individuals have access to and seek to explore how status and forms of distinction are achieved. Will a new generation create (or revive) new sorts of commons and communities? Future Research

Research should consider the impact of COVID-19 on how backpacker plans were disrupted or postponed. While many backpackers finished trips early, others stayed in place, and were facilitated by their social and economic power. Research should consider how backpackers used their resources to turn the spaces in which they found themselves into the places in which they had to dwell (Halegoua, 2020). Did feelings of mutual dependency and moral density arise in those locations, and lead to bonds of attachment and belonging? What of backpackers who do stop, contribute and seek to belong, through spatial and temporal moorings and dwelling, and deciding to root more substantially to specific places and cultural arrangements? What new imaginaries triggers this choice? More scholarship is also required on the infrastructure and the array of actors and systems that enable, mediate, channel and manage backpacker mobilities across borders. Just as drifting infrastructure was impacted by various events such as the oil crises in the 1970s, and the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, research on the impact of the pandemic on backpacking and backpacker structures, social infrastructure, discourses, norms, routines and material, digital

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infrastructures should follow the pandemic. For example, the International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF) properties that supported drifting in the 1970s, morphed into independent hostels during a time of societal upheaval (Jobs, 2017). Research must also explore how state regulations, commercial intermediaries and sociotechnological platforms changed because of the pandemic, and the impact of those changes on backpacking. Airlines, transportation and accommodation providers, for example, may decide to only accept bookings from those who have vaccination records. If a country on an overland backpacker route (Hampton & Hamzah, 2016) remains closed to tourism, will backpackers re-route or choose a new route? Will the closure of hostels and transport options re-shape existing movement patterns, and how will first time and experienced backpackers as well as backpacker businesses respond to the infrastructural breakdown and glitches caused by COVID-19? Should or can backpacker mobility systems be built back better? More importantly, have the impulses, desires and imaginaries that propel people towards the backpacker role changed because of the pandemic? Individuals in countries with low vaccination rates, for example, may be less mobile in comparison to those who are vaccinated and can move with relative ease. Will China be slow to allow outbound movement? Given the growth of Asian and Chinese backpackers, will a new Silk Road route between China and Central Asia emerge, or will the Belt and Road Initiative offer infrastructure for new overland routes from China to Europe? While backpacking has been increasingly studied from the outside, more inside and mobile methods are required to explore why individuals become backpackers, the role of movement in the pursuit of authenticity, and how backpacker dispositions emerge and change over a temporal and spatial journey. More attention is required on the backpacker habitus and how it evolves and functions to make a certain worldview appear self-evident. As we live in a deeply polarised world, where identity and sense of belonging are deeply inter-connected with worldviews and opinions, more research is required on what triggers travel. While family, friends and co-workers are important influencers and possible initiators of travel, what of those individuals who have no such support, or belong to groups, tribes and communities whose viewpoints, politics and opinions are antagonistic to travel and cultural formations like backpacking? Do books, television shows, Instagram, podcasts and influencers trigger the decision to backpack, and how does this differ across different sociocultural contexts? How do individuals learn how to become backpackers and learn how to use information from the world around them to master their travel and social environments? Do they observe or imitate the behaviour of more experienced backpackers? We need to learn more about the insights learned over time, the changing nature of problem-solving

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skills and the role of creativity and insight during the learning process. We need to examine encounters of conflict and collaboration between inexperienced and experienced (individuals recognised by those who enter backpacking as competent, credible and relevant) backpackers, and how such encounters continually reproduce, rejuvenate and even transform backpacking through new myths, gossip, stories, routes and understandings. Since backpacking is a formation that must continually shapeshift and transform to avoid co-option, how do backpackers engage in symbolic struggles and boundary making, to come to understand themselves as part of such a mobility project? Further work is required on how backpackers seek affirmation and approval, as dependent objective realities work their way into backpackers’ practical consciousness in the form of a habitus. How do different perceptual mechanisms come into relief in such a way that experienced backpackers begin to self-consciously manipulate the role, their accumulation of subcultural capital and symbolic resources helping them bend and change the field? Has the mainstream culture industry fully appropriated their identity and cultural expressions into large-scale production of cultural commodities (cinema, TV etc.), or is there still evidence of backpacker agency in media production and consumption (blogs, TikTok etc.)? Further work is required on hostels, hostel owners, managers and those backpackers who become cultural intermediaries (e.g. becoming hostel owners/managers themselves) and their dispositions towards the field. How do they act as gatekeepers, imbue hostels (as cultural products) with symbolic value and diffuse meanings to backpackers? Do their socially engaged practices help them retain symbolic power and act as authoritative sources of information and opinion? How and why do they reproduce and legitimise a belief in the value of the field, and therefore preserve the illusion of the field (Bourdieu, 1984)? Do hostels and other backpacker spaces still create forms of living that support socialisation, mutual sharing and interaction and how different are the new franchise and hostel-hybrids that seem to exploit the backpacker aesthetic for middle-class consumption? Do these hostel hybrids hire backpackers as temporary hostel workers to do cultural work, and mediate between economic, social and cultural values? Do they have the effect, intentional or not, of reinforcing and reproducing existing inequalities, by limiting access to locals and older backpackers, or do they reproduce stereotypical ideas of the other in the service of backpacker identity needs? Generally, the role of cultural intermediaries in designing affectladen experiences for backpackers has been under explored. While they legitimise mobility and experiential fantasies, myths and cultural scripts, what are the power dynamics implicit in backpacker mobility systems and moorings that allow some to move but not others?

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While various actors will inevitably seek to modify backpacking, more research is required on the impact of market and managerial actors, such as lifestyle entrepreneurs, governments, consultants and academics, on backpacking’s meaning and depth. Have capitalist cultural intermediaries or a tourism industrial complex trapped backpackers in a state of suspended animation and stripped backpacking of its original countercultural symbols, and rewritten it within educational and touristic discourses? Is the orthodoxy of hostel aesthetic design entangled with (global) cultural intermediate power dynamics and inequalities? Are new backpackers turned off by hostels that don’t follow this homogenous aesthetic, and does this force local accommodation providers to follow suit? More research is required on various types/ forms of hostels and mobility infrastructure in general, that can enable (or disable) the movement of people, things, ideas and information. While backpacker internet cafes have drifted away (O’Regan, 2008), are new ‘arrival’ infrastructures for backpackers emerging? As backpacking has significant inequalities of speed, risk, rights and status, more research is required to explore whether the field of backpacking contains mechanisms that lead to physical and imaginative exclusion, discrimination and inequality. Backpacking remains privileged, and is characterised by individuals who benefit from, maximise or exert privilege through movement. That privilege comes from wealth, race and place of birth, and allows backpackers to move without regard to material need, personal safety or fear of persecution. However, for females, the disabled, LGBTQQIP2SAA, locals, and even older backpackers, the infrastructure that underpins and supports backpacker mobility isn’t gender or racial blind. For example, backpacking has ‘been sexualised and gendered with a patriarchal heteronormativity that sought to challenge and constrain the freedom and mobility of young women’ (Jobs, 2017: 181). As movement is situated in the context of space and power (Kwan & Schwanen, 2016), scholars should be considerate of how ethnicity, class, race and gender shape mobility practices and social relations. Furthermore, despite progress, there is still little understanding of backpackers beyond the western context, with growing numbers of Indian backpackers, for example, travelling domestically and externally. More research is required on the many ways in which backpacker culture is affected and transformed both at the source and the destination. Do westerners on WHM visas in Australia construct hybrid identities and temporarily assert their place in backpacking out of privilege or to escape economic and political forms of exploitation? Further research is required on returning backpackers. While there is some initial research (Nabert, 2022; Phillips, 2019), do backpackers continue in the same life course or trajectory they had prior to the trip? Do backpackers have any issues with fitting ​​ back into ‘normal life’, or can they convert any subcultural capital into cultural and

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economic capital? Do they do things differently from before and retain the potential to move if desire is reignited? Is subcultural capital accumulated unconsciously and bodily converted into an integral part of the individual’s conscious reflection? Scholars are unsure as to its bearing on individuals, and whether their dispositions are performable in the field beyond which they originated. This is in comparison to the range of actions undertaken by gappers, Working Holiday Makers (WHM) and volunteers whose practices can be seen as coded in relation to the dominant culture of their society, such as schools, parental taste, employers, universities, or one’s own cultural and economic capital. The practices largely reinstate a hierarchy consistent with the middle class, who desire capital, which is durable, credential, institutionalised and transferable. While these practices are subject to standardisation, packaging and commodification, will backpacking, associated with unproductive non-work, transgression and the logics of thrift and frugality, still find space and remain a practice that cannot be fully commodified? Will the pressures of time, and the availability of low-cost airlines in Asia, India and South America, alter routes and the concept of overland travel, or will the subcultural capital associated with the discomfort and friction of such forms of travel remain? Finally, how will climate change impact destinations and routes, destinations, with rising summer temperatures, making some uninhabitable. Some destinations might be prone to severe weather events, damaging infrastructure and transport routes? Asian backpacker research

While backpacking research has somewhat understood that individuals are conditioned by their culture, social structures and power, the life course of the younger generation in Asia is now intertwining with significant social and political changes. Framed by some as the ‘Asian Century’ (Sin et al., 2021), economic and education expansion, the rise of the internet, marketisation, urbanisation and globalisation have brought rapid changes that have greatly affected quality of life and living circumstances in India, China, Taiwan and Korea. As Asian independent travel emerged in the 1990s, the backpacker label became a convenient and accepted shorthand for those with slightly different travel behaviours, personality traits, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles. While anchored by the backpacking label, few studies could identify what made Chinese, Korean and Japanese backpackers’ mobility-related practices or productions legible as backpacking. While researchers focused on unique linguistic, historical, social and cultural values, there was less focus on the ‘knowledges, stories, traditions, comportments, music, books, diaries, and other cultural expressions’ (Clifford, 1992: 108) that should emerge and accompany these backpackers. While backpackers from

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various nations may not share a single code, their efforts should yield a recognisable style of performance. Israeli backpackers, for example, integrate Israeli culture, traditions, media, history, military service and language to develop their own set of dispositions that are a structural variant of the western backpacker habitus (Maoz, 2007). Further research is required on subfields in which non-western backpackers operate, and whether Chinese backpackers, for example, are conscious of the norms by which western backpackers operate, how they define the cultural field and whether they are struggling for the same capital. The existing rules of the game, which reinforce the unequal distribution of capital, may lead to power relations in the field, status-based discrimination and even symbolic violence. While western backpackers, with economic capital, which includes, access to disposable time, have access to capital, and therefore exposure to learning opportunities, Asian backpackers, with less disposable time, may be disadvantaged. Factors, such as nationality, class, parental support, sex and age, events and contingencies in the broader social cultural, political and economic context, as well as travel visas, travel and accommodation costs, employment opportunities and wages, do play a key part in backpacking and participation in cultural formations (Thorpe, 2012). Therefore, the sociocultural, economic and political environment from which backpackers come is an important research consideration, with Wantono and McKercher (2020: 20) arguing that individuals from ‘capitalistic and democratic Taiwan’, for example, are more likely to embrace backpacking as a liberating pursuit in comparison to those from communist China. While backpacking is an individual desire, it also originates in knowledge about the role. It can thus be enlarged or reduced in knowledge, or simply displaced from the screen of consciousness. Knowledge inequalities hamper the capacity of individuals to engage in decision-making processes that govern ideas of present and future mobilities. As choices are partially a product of one’s primary socialisation (Flaherty, 2012), do certain societies lack a broad range of life-course options from which to choose, regardless of one’s position in them? During 2021, stories about opting out, or the ‘lying flat’ culture, were censored in China. The rigid defence of social norms built to channel youth towards work and marriage in China means that any large-scale national movements, displacements seen to cause disruption, are likely to see government intervention (Harrington, 2021). While we should not underestimate the social, political and cultural forces contained within a society, and their impacts on life transition and trajectories, for too long, accounts of independent Asian backpackers have been framed by accounts of Confucianism, collectivism and various values and dispositions gained from their cultural history. In addition, more research is required to ascertain whether Asian backpackers can detach from the social structure if they backpack

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domestically. If they remain trapped within their original doxa, which are their foundational, unconsidered cultural beliefs, they may not feel a sense of belonging in long-term travel. A ‘tacit acceptance of the supremacy of some choices, that is, attitudes and behaviours, at the expense of others’ (Korp, 2008: 23) is a ‘silent act of social domination through the tacit application of a taken-for-granted (doxic) world-view’ (2008: 23), given there is strong ‘doxic’ agreement about what are the advantages of backpacking and what counts as the ‘right way’ to travel. Rather than invest and accept backpacking as it is and allow ‘the solicitations of the field in a roughly coherent and systematic manner’ (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992: 18) to influence their original habits, norms and doxa (which, if allowed shift, would constitute an evolving backpacker habitus), their original doxa may act as a barrier to secondary socialisation. If the social field and its resources of capital are perceived, recognised and legitimated as power, then the already established doxa is challenged and disputed. While many may feel ‘this is not for us’, and fail to seek recognition, acceptance and status, the original doxa may have the potential to give rise to alternative common action that merely draws from backpacker discourse. However, if we apply the backpacker label to acceptable and structured beliefs about tourism experiences and interactions dominated by one’s own social culture and values, we may instead be describing ‘new tourists’, who are flexible, independent, educated, experienced and affluent (Poon, 1993). If researchers cannot identify a controlled disintegration or subjugation of old values, norms, habits and doxa as they integrate into a new field, they may not be discovering backpackers. Instead, they are finding a distinct type and form of tourism linked to the search for micro-adventures, their conventional pursuits driven by normal tourist motivations, such as novelty, escape/relaxation, interaction with others, and self-development (Pearce & Lee, 2005). For example, can an individual be a backpacker if they travel with friends and do not perceive themselves to be free from societal constraint, and fail to subjugate work, school and home-based routines? Can they learn how to behave in ways that don’t accord with the general expectations of others by benefiting from anonymity, and from a sense of existential authenticity (Poria, 2006)? Do backpackers require temporal agency, spatial distance from their homes as well as psychological distance from friends and family, to engage in learning an ongoing process? For example, many studies apply the backpacker label to individuals who lack the time to withdraw from economic necessity or lack the unrestrained freedom to travel cheaply over long periods because they are bound by national culture and by social and cultural restrictions imposed upon them. Rather than ‘Chinese backpackers’ for example (cf. Kimber et al., 2019; Zhu, 2009), they may equally be identified as postmodern ‘post-tourists’ (Feifer, 1985; Li, 2017). That is not to say

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that Chinese backpackers do not exist but, if researchers apply only certain type/form backpacker characteristics, given the constraints and limitations they perceive in the discourse, they may instead be undermining the discourse rather than decentring backpacking discourse from its western articulations. The presence or absence of one backpacking feature in a different cultural context may have a different or even opposite interpretation if individuals draw from their own doxa background and cultural schemas of interpretation for evaluation and interaction. As such, backpacking cannot effectively work as a form of categorisation if discursive expansion means including individuals who do not mobilise themselves to reflexively align with a set of global practices, regulating principles and schemes of perception, thought and action that connect them spatially or temporarily with others in the pursuit of a common cause. Scholars must ask how these travellers, along with flashpackers, gappers and those on working holiday visas, relate to the backpacking field, if at all, given fields are developed in the doxa. Even if they, and the different forms of capital they bring, are not recognised by backpackers, and judged illegitimate, they can influence cultural intermediaries and therefore the field. Many young people in China are unable to break the constraints of the social structure and narrow definitions of social success. Bound by intra-family relationships, parenting styles and investment in child education, many young people feel the full weight of their parents’ (and grandparents’) expectations to excel at school, secure a stable job, marry and have children, all before the age of 30 (Liu, 2016). Intergenerational gaps and argumentation are challenging Confucianism, collectivism, communitarianism and tradition, since these give to gruelling educational and work schedules, stifling workplace hierarchies, socioeconomic inequality and increased job competition. These challenges are giving rise to new lifestyles, communities and tribes. Some youths are embracing a ‘laying flat’ attitude about being submissive in work and life by opting for a simple, frugal life. These changes have led to narrative accounts of Chinese hippy enclaves in Yunnan province (Fu, 2019), intentional communities in Fujian province (Wang, 2021) and the emergence of alternative lifestyles such as hermit culture (Lin, 2019; Porter, 1994), ‘Sang culture’ (self-deprecation and pessimism) (Tan & Cheng, 2020), ‘Foxi culture’ (a general apathy toward career, society) and ‘Buddhist youths’ (having no desires, no needs and no expectations) (Wang, Z., 2020). Anthropologist Xiang Biao argues that China has produced a ‘involuted’ generation (Liu, 2021) of individuals with eroded spirits. Likewise, in Korea and Japan, workplace authoritarianism, sexism, long commutes and the entrenched positions of a small number of conglomerates are also leading larger numbers of individuals to rethink values that merely serve the established elites. Very little is known about the pamphlets, zines, discussion boards and websites

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enabling individuals to question themselves and their roles in society and triggering travel. While the overarching logic of many papers on Asian backpackers reflects the hegemonic articulation of Confucianism as values, as well as concepts such as collectivism and face-saving, there are new accounts of movements that challenge these social and cultural constraints (Faulon, 2019; Zhang et al., 2018). However, uncritical use of the backpacker label means that the same insularities evident in western backpacker studies are now seen in studies focusing on Asian backpackers (Chang, 2021). Rather than mere discursive expansion, to include all Asian independent travel under the backpacker label, more research on Asian backpackers who transcend both the physical borders of nation-states and the social boundaries of race, class, gender, ethnicity and other classifying markers is required. What drives them to detach and opt out from home centres to experience a new range of social and body norms? In addition, more focus is also required on the inequalities in the distribution of social resources and in material and social spaces, all of which might block Asian backpackers seeking to become backpackers (Dutta & Shome, 2018). Finally, while this section uses Asian backpackers as shorthand (Khoo-Lattimore et al., 2018), there is a wide divergence in type and form characteristics in Asia amongst, Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian etc., backpackers. Backpacking Futures

The pandemic has caused diverse interruptions to the ongoing production of backpacker mobilities, as parts of backpacker infrastructure break down and fracture. This means that everyday processes and local-level mechanisms through which backpacker mobilities are initially crafted and maintained have been decimated. However, different events and circumstances have affected the flow of pilgrims and tourists since the late Middle Ages because of revolutions, wars and plagues. Drifting declined in the mid-to-late 1970s due to deflation, recession, a resurgence of neo-conservatism in many western countries, cold war conflicts, military dictatorships, and proxy ‘hot’ zones in many regions. Budget independent travel continued in some form, however, in the late 1970s and early 1980s (Adler, 1985) and re-emerged as international budget travel and backpacking in the latter part of the 1980s (Cohen, 1982). The recovering global economy, reduced airfares, the fall of communism, a robust jobs market and fading memories of some of the more ‘anti-social’ practices associated with drifting saw the phenomenon grow once again, primarily through travel to Australia, Thailand and the Philippines. The period also saw a host of subject positions

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opening, many of them variations of practices associated with the counterculture, such as skateboarding and surfing. Just as drifting did not die during that period and was soon reborn as backpacking, budget travel remains a ‘mobility fantasy’, and backpacking remains a globally recognised alternative cultural formation, that will continue to draw dispersed individuals who see movement as a vehicle to explore new subjective experiences. It indicates that ‘[u]topian desire doesn’t go away […]. in fact never really went away’ (McKay, 1996: 6). However, restrictions on long-stay visas and a focus on quality tourism are emerging as regulatory and tourism authorities look past backpacking’s appropriateness and usefulness (O’Regan, 2021). If, however, the stability of stable sociomaterial arrangements, such as backpacker hostels, remains in doubt, due to closures, there may be a slow recovery. In addition, COVID-19 may be used as an opportunity to reset tourism. Authorities may seek to focus on high-value, capital-bearing individuals. However, the motivation to escape will continue to drive contemporary movement, with individuals responding to the pandemic by acting on a shared imaginary that continues to be culturally shared and socially transmitted. Instead of asking ‘Is this moral?’ or ‘Does my family approve?’, individuals may increasingly find their own way in a world, where moral guidelines have weakened (Elwell, 2003). Backpacking will continue, if actors continue to seek to influence the ‘rules of the game’, with backpackers themselves along with varied cultural intermediaries negotiating normativities that shape its future. The conflict, collaborating collaboration and competition between inexperienced and experienced backpackers for the possession of or use of some limited capital ensures that backpackers themselves will continually reproduce, rejuvenate and even transform backpacking through new destinations, routes, myths, gossip, stories, routes and understandings. It is a formation that must continually shapeshift and transform to avoid co-option. However, the future is unwritten, with the possibility of new cold wars, border closures, societal upheavals and economic instability leading to new representational and narrative logics driving new imaginaries and ways of escape. However, these imaginaries, and others arising out of spaces created in the current crises will continue to be bombarded with echoes of the past (Roux-Rosier et al., 2018). From off-the-grid living to utopian spaces and intentional communities, some of these imaginaries are born from out of visions of future societal collapse and growing scarcity. Others, inspired by the counterculture, draw on the desire for community, sustainability and liveability. Other spaces and tribes are based on nostalgia and founded on imaginary golden ages. However, backpacking retains values pursued in defining good and will attract those striving for a better and more ‘authentic’ way to travel. While many will continue to question these

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values and the ‘myth’ that backpacking is either authentic or a better way to travel, backpacking will continue to be imagined and desired by people from across the globe. Conclusion

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Index

Achievers 57 Alcohol 6, 230, 242, 244, 246, 248, 259 Alienation 5, 13, 14, 58, 276 Anomie 273–274 App(s) 9, 10 Asian backpackers 61, 164, 170, 285, 288 Authenticity 1, 3, 6, 7, 13, 28, 58, 118, 125, 205, 257, 281, 286

segments 46, 56–59 subculture 47, 162, 262 sustainable behaviour 7, 15, 80, 87, 245, 263, 280 style 21 type-related attributes 41, 44, 46, 49, 50, 59, 61, 62, 163, 288 Backpacker bubble(s) 5, 137–138, 146 Backpacker Research Group (BRG) 41 Backpacker tourism 91, 243, 246, 247–250, 257, 262 ‘Badges of honour’ 243 Banana Pancake Trail 5 Begpacker(s) 15, 49 Budget accommodation 44, 51, 100, 162, 224, 234, 243 Budget travel 7, 44, 45, 50, 52, 54, 57, 60, 100, 168, 170, 171–172, 258, 288, 289

Backpacker activities undertaken by 6–7 age range 44, 45, 52–53, 55–56 behaviour 2, 22, 25, 26, 48, 56, 58, 59, 100–103, 119, 127, 131, 137–138, 154, 157, 174, 190, 192, 201, 204, 217, 224, 244, 246, 277, 284, 286 characteristics of 3, 14, 20, 44, 46, 47–52, 56, 61, 99–102, 113, 119, 124, 139, 151–152, 174, 205, 287, 289 culture 124–125, 127–128, 130, 138, 140, 283–284 diversity 1, 11, 167–169, 172 form-related attributes 44–45, 52, 59 habitus 8–10, 13, 14, 18–26, 46, 48, 50, 59, 163, 281 ideology 8, 58, 138, 162, 163, 169, 222–223, 230, 234, 239 impetus for travel 4, 15, 28, 60, 130, 144–145, 273 information before 8, 10, 129, 281 institutionalisation of 2, 4, 20, 163, 174 lifestyle 47–48, 125 non-institutionalised 4, 46, 174, phenomenon 1, 5, 6, 17, 44, 57, 81, 91, 92, 99, 101, 115, 125, 134, 144, 146, 148, 149, 156, 157, 158, 161, 162, 163, 164–165, 180, 181, 187, 191, 244, 258, 277, 288

Career break 15 Chinese backpackers 14, 27, 99, 101, 113–114, 116–117, 125–126, 138–139, 281, 285, 286–287 Climate Change 90, 271–272, 284 Colonisation 1, 5–6, 154, 279 Conceptual framework 47, 48, 58, 222 Confucianism 102–103, 288 Contemporary backpacking 223 Contemporary Chinese culture 99–102, 118, 126, 128, 138 Contemporary Israeli culture 46, 145, 155, 285 Contemporary Western culture 99, 139, 151, 154 Counterculture 1, 6, 9, 10, 16, 17, 44, 165, 171, 179, 223, 245, 276, 277, 283, 289, 289 Destination management organisations (DMOs) 254 Deviant behaviour 6, 22, 278, 279 Digital nomads 50, 52, 53

297

298 Index

‘Donkey friends’ 45, 99–103, 125, 133–135, 167 Drifters 10, 25, 100, 245, 278 Drug(s) 15, 146, 242, 244, 245, 246, 247, 256, 261, 277 Duration of trips 44, 55, 127, 133, 148, 149, 169 Enclave 5, 10, 11, 12, 19, 21, 25, 50, 53, 60, 76, 81, 85, 91, 100, 125, 140, 146, 148, 151–153, 161, 163, 245–246, 260, 288 Escape 17, 24, 44, 102, 103, 107–108, 117, 119, 124, 179, 180, 182, 190, 222, 223, 230, 234, 238, 243, 275, 276–280, 289 Escapers 57 Experienced/tactical backpackers 22–26, 54, 57, 133, 135, 136, 137, 208, 227, 235, 237, 281–282, 289 Explorer(s) 57 First-time/strategic backpackers 18–22, 60, 131, 132, 161, 289 Flashpacker 4, 49, 51, 57, 136, 154, 157, 169, 287 Freedom 6, 11, 46, 48, 55, 157, 169, 171, 183, 210–211, 273, 275, 278, 286, 290 Freedom campers 48 Gap year backpacker/gappers 15, 49, 51, 54, 57, 60, 131, 276 Generational shifts 3, 4, 55, 166, 173, 256, 279, 280 Generation X, Z and millennials 15 Global elite 5 Global nomad(s) 45, 278 Globalisation 1, 4, 5, 139, 234, 245, 284 Grand Tour 130, 134 ‘Great Resignation’ 275 Grey nomads 49, 144 Gringo Trail 221 Hedonistic, Hedonism 6, 117, 129, 155, 157, 223, 242–245, 252, 253, 256, 259, 261–263, 278 Hippie(s) 99, 223, 277 Hostels 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20–21, 25, 43, 50, 52–60, 81, 88, 91, 101–102, 107, 118, 163, 221, 234–235, 246–247, 281–283 Internet 76, 89, 101, 117, 19, 166, 167, 235, 247, 273, 283, 284 Internet cafes 223, 283

Language 12, 23, 46, 47, 51, 116, 139, 146, 153–154, 161, 168, 285 LGBT 11, 226, 283 Lifestyle 17, 99, 108, 109, 114, 117, 126, 138, 139, 147–148, 163, 170, 182, 187, 193, 207, 208–209, 245, 246, 277, 278, 287 Lifestyle entrepreneurism 242 Lifestyle migration 47, 147, 275, 278 Lifestyle travellers 48, 108, 109, 126, 147, 163, 208, 277 Liminal 58, 155, 189, 245 Lonely Planet 2, 4, 5, 9, 17, 21, 135 Low-cost airline 5, 166, 167, 284 Low-cost 278 ‘Mass backpacking’ 7, 25 Mass tourism, similarities and differences to backpacking 4–5, 7–8, 44, 163, 171, 178, 202, 234 ‘Mobility fantasy’ 289 Mobilities paradigm 72, 75 Neo-Tribe 47–48, 125, 277 Netnography 58, 59 Non-institutionalised tourists 4, 45, 46, 174, Non-Western 3, 13, 14, 116, 164, 285 ‘Off-the-beaten-track’ 44, 169, 179, 221 Orientalism 5, 8 ‘Overseas experience (OE)’ 59 Peace Corp 50 Personal development 244 Post-tourists 286 ‘Predominantly young’ 15, 44 Public transport 101, 102, 163 Revolution 288 Rites of passage 15, 132 Road status 10, 21, 24, 49, 60, 82, 124 ‘Round the World’ (RTW) 7 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic 73, 91, 116, 140, 144, 158, 213–214, 240, 252, 258, 262, 271, 272–276, 279–280 Self-identification 13, 54, 55, 104 Short-term backpacker 57 Silk Road 281 Smartphone 5, 9, 10, 99, 273 Social function 244

Index 299

Social identity 12, 17, 24, 57, 99, 104 Social interaction 11, 54, 85, 102, 107, 117, 126, 183, 193, 222, 223, 224, 235, 238, 240 Social media 57, 58, 76, 117, 149, 166, 167, 168, 172, 174, 181, 207, 208, 238, 252, 263 Social Network 211 Socialisation 12, 13, 14, 18–21, 51, 59, 166, 179–181, 203, 285, 287 Solo/independent travel 7, 17, 46, 99, 115, 135, 179, 181, 245 Soviet Hippies 9, 277 Students 15, 50 Study backpacker 49, 74 Subcultural capital 10, 12–13, 21, 25, 28, 46, 49, 50, 60, 279, 280 Subfield(s) 14, 61, 285 Symbolic Power 10, 15, 21, 25, 282 Technological gadgets 171 TikTok 3, 117, 282 Traditional backpacker 57 Transformation 2, 9, 28, 124, 126, 131–32, 134, 139, 181, 193, 201–206 Transport 5, 10, 20, 24, 44, 52, 74, 100, 102, 136, 153, 154, 163, 169, 223, 236, 237, 243, 281 Travel career 56, 161, 211 Travel planning and organisation 135–136, 170, 193

Travel experience 23, 44, 61, 125, 128, 136, 140, 155, 179, 190, 201, 202, 204, 206, 217, 223, 234 Travel guidebooks 2, 4, 9, 11, 17, 18, 19, 101, 107, 117, 136, 161, 174, 193, 226 Travel itinerary 44, 45, 52, 124, 131, 135, 136, 146, 169, 223, 257 Travel motivations 44, 58, 99, 102, 107–108, 117, 125, 132, 134, 150–151, 286 Travel Blog 3, 10, 21, 130, 135, 136, 149, 161, 203, 205, 208, 215, 217, 236, 251, 282 UNESCO 180 Virtual ethnography 75 Volunteering 7, 49, 50, 51, 201, 202, 205, 234, 276 Wanderers 45 War in Ukraine 271–273 Weibo 117 Word of mouth (WoM) 10 Working holidaymakers (WHMs) 49–51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 61, 73, 74, 77, 283, 284, 287 World Youth Student Educational Travel Confederation (WYSE Travel Confederation) 3, 4, 53, 55 Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF) 281 Youth tourist 45