Backpacking is a form of low-cost, independent travel, often staying in inexpensive lodgings and carrying all necessary possessions in a backpack. Once seen as a marginal form of travel undertaken only through necessity, it has since become a mainstream form of tourism. While backpacker tourism is generally a form of youth travel, primarily undertaken by young people during gap years, it is also undertaken by older people during a career break or retirement. Backpackers tend to be from Europe, the English-speaking world and Asia.
Characteristics
Backpacker tourism generally, but does not always, include:
Using inexpensive lodging such as hostels or homestays.
A longer duration trip when compared with conventional vacations.
An interest in meeting locals as well as seeing sights.
An interest in meeting other travelers.
Backpacker tourism may also include working in various countries for short stints, depending on work permit laws. It can also be undertaken by digital nomads, people who work using technology while living a nomadic lifestyle.
A search for authenticity. Backpacking is perceived not only as a form of tourism, but a means of education. Backpackers want to experience what they consider the "real" destination rather than a packaged version often associated with mass tourism.
History
People have travelled for thousands of years with their possessions on their backs, but usually out of need rather than for recreation. In the 17th century, Italian adventurer Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri was likely one of the first people to engage in backpacker tourism. The modern popularity of backpacking can be traced, at least partially, to the hippie trail of the 1960s and 1970s, which in turn followed sections of the old Silk Road. Some backpackers follow the same trail today. Since the late-20th century, backpackers have visited Southeast Asia in large numbers
Benefits
A 2018 study of over 500 backpackers conducted by researchers at Sun Yat-sen University and Shaanxi Normal University in China and Edith Cowan University in Australia showed that for Westerners, backpacking leads to acquired capabilities like effective communication, decision-making, adaptability, and problem solving, all of which contribute to an increase in self-efficacy, and for Chinese backpackers, acquiring skills like time and money management, language development, stress management, and self-motivation provided the biggest increase in self-efficacy. For many low-income communities in the developing world, the economic benefits of hosting backpackers outweigh their negative impacts. Since backpackers tend to consume local products, stay in small guest houses, and use locally owned ground transport, more of their expenditure is retained in-country than in conventional mass tourism. businesses that cater to backpackers are usually locally owned and profits tend to be retained within the country rather than flowing overseas to international hotel groups.
Criticism
Backpacker tourism of the hippie trail has been criticized for possibly encouraging urban liberal minorities while insulting Islamic traditionalist theology, possibly leading to the Islamic reawakening in the late 1970s. Even though one of the primary aims of backpacking is to seek the "authentic", the majority of backpackers spend most of their time interacting with other backpackers, and interactions with locals are of "secondary importance". Backpacker tourism has been criticized for the transformation of some sleepy towns, such as the creation of the Full Moon Party on Ko Pha-ngan in Thailand, which includes "scores of topless teenagers urinating into the ocean".
Variants
Flashpacking and Poshpackingrefer to backpacking with more money and resources. The words combine backpacking with flash, a slang term for being fancy, or posh, an informal adjective for upper class. Begpacking combines begging and backpacking in reference to individuals who beg, solicit money during street performances, or vend as a way to extend their overseas travel. The trend has drawn criticism for taking money away from people in actual need, with one known begpacker barred from entering Singapore. Begpacking is most common in Southeast Asia and is a growing trend in South America and South Korea.
