From its drifter past to nomadic futures: future directions in backpacking research and practice

Abstract

While the label ‘backpacker’ didn’t originate in 1990 when first presented at an academic conference by the late Philip L. Pearce, its usage rose within an emerging academic discourse community that established shared interests, sources of information, terminology, and methods of communication, along with a certain level of expertise and knowledge on the subject. While the community internationalised and embraced interdisciplinary approaches, a review of the academic scholarship points to the communities increasing instability, as differential authoritative voices conflict over discursive conventions that regulate our understanding of backpacking. While once conceptual and theoretical developments in backpacker research were built through subject level consensus, distinctions within the community point to new hierarchies, with their own particular schools of thought and reinterpretations. As disparities, incongruities and deviations in backpacker research output emerge, this overview explores current research directions and identifies paradoxes, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Backpacker conceptualisation criteria: discussion, clarification and operationalisation proposal

“…The emergence of researchers’ interest from other European countries, such as Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Austria and Croatia, so far, on the fringes of the backpacker tourism topic, is relevant. However, the fact that Pearce’s (1990) definition remains an international reference, this spatial diffusion seems to have contributed to the increase and dispersion of new socio-cultural contexts that may have led to a certain unrooting of the backpacker label, as defended by O’Regan (2021) and to the diversification of criteria used in the operationalisation of the term backpacker.…”

Backpackers’ Tourism and Health: A Narrative Literature Review

“…A majority of the first articles published during and after the crisis tackle the disruption, or even interruption, of tourism including backpacker's travels but without specifically focusing on this category. However, it seems certain that the way in which a health issue has brought the tourist industry to a standstill, closed the borders, and immobilised backpackers will have consequences and should constitute a substantial body of literature in the future "as political, social cultural and technological changes caused by the pandemic give rise to feelings of depression, distrust, detachment and alienation, the search for a more authentic, truer self is likely to see individuals reposition themselves spatially, temporally and socially through travel and backpacking once more" [57].…”

Exploring the cultural legitimacy of backpacker ideology and identity

“…The idea of ‘traveling with purpose’ is a powerful expression of backpacker values and beliefs, particularly the idea that backpacker travel can develop the self. Recognising that backpackers engage in such actions to confer legitimacy is also important given that recent work considering future directions for research has highlighted the need to consider how backpackers maintain the identity (O'Regan, 2021).…”