View source for Backpacking (travel)

{{Short description|Low-cost, lightweight, independent and often international travel}}
{{About|backpacking while traveling||Backpacking (disambiguation){{!}}Backpacking}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
[[File:Urban_backpacking.jpg|thumb|Backpackers in Vienna]]
<!-- PLEASE READ: This page does not concern details of individual trips. WRITE OBJECTIVELY!]] -->'''Backpacking''' is a form of low-cost, independent travel, which often includes 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 become a mainstream form of tourism.
While backpacker tourism is generally a form of [[youth travel]], primarily undertaken by young people during [[gap year]]s, it is also undertaken by older people during holidays, a career break, or at retirement, or by [[digital nomad|digital nomads]], as part of a [[Simple living|minimalist lifestyle]].{{Cn|date=January 2024}} As such, backpackers can be of any age, but are typically aged 18 to 30.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Bunda |first=Robert |date=2014-05-02 |title=The Business of Beds: An Exploration of Hotel and Hostel Business Strategy |url=https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/srhonors_theses/350 |journal=Honors Scholar Theses}}</ref>
==Characteristics==
Backpacker tourism generally, but does not always, include:<ref>{{cite book | url=https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-international-encyclopedia-of-travel-and-tourism/i2343.xml | title=Backpacker Tourism | first=Catherine | last=Kelly | year=2017 | doi=10.4135/9781483368924 | isbn=9781483368948 | via=[[SAGE Publishing]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ooi |first1=Natalie |last2=Laing |first2=Jennifer H. |title=Backpacker tourism: sustainable and purposeful? Investigating the overlap between backpacker tourism and volunteer tourism motivations |journal=[[Journal of Sustainable Tourism]] |date=9 March 2010 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=191–206 |doi=10.1080/09669580903395030 |bibcode=2010JSusT..18..191O |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249023759 |via=[[ResearchGate]]}}</ref>
* Traveling internationally for long periods of time on a tight budget.<ref name=":1" />
* Willingness to forgo luxury, suffer hardships, and be resourceful in order to make such a journey possible.<ref name=":1" />
* Traveling via [[public transport]] or [[hitchhiking]], using inexpensive lodging such as [[hostel]]s or [[homestay]]s, and other methods of lowering costs.
* A longer duration trip when compared with conventional vacations.<ref name=":1" />
* Working in other countries for short stints, depending on [[work permit]] laws. It can also be undertaken by [[digital nomad]]s, people who work using technology while living a nomadic lifestyle.
* A search for [[authenticity (philosophy)|authenticity]]. Backpacking is perceived not only as a form of [[tourism]] but as a means of education. Backpackers want to experience what they consider the "real" destination rather than a packaged version often associated with mass tourism.
* The desire to take part in or craft a narrative around traveling.
* An interest in personal growth and discovery, as well as a desire to experience new culture, meet new people and foster a new perspective on the world. This is more significant considering that many backpackers are at a transitional point in their lives; such as between education and employment.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:7143 - Zürich - City Backpacker.JPG|thumb|Bunk beds in a hostel in [[Zürich]]]]
==History==
People have travelled for thousands of years with their possessions on their backs, but usually out of need rather than for recreation. Between 3400 and 3100 BCE, [[Ötzi]] the Iceman was traveling in Italy with a backpack made of animal skins and a wooden frame, although there are some thoughts that this may actually have been his snowshoes.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} In the 7th century, [[Xuanzang]], a Chinese Buddhist monk, travelled to India with a hand-made backpack.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}
In the 17th century, Italian adventurer [[Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri]] was likely one of the first people to engage in backpacker tourism.<ref>{{cite news | title=The Inventor of Traveling - The First Backpacker in the World? | date=July 2007 | url=http://www.infohostels.com/notizia.php?chiave=200 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212000017/http://www.infohostels.com/notizia.php?chiave=200 | archive-date=12 December 2007 | url-status=live}}
</ref>
The modern popularity of backpacking can be traced, at least partially, to the [[hippie trail]] of the 1960s and 1970s,<ref name=Diversity>{{cite journal | title=Backpacking: Diversity and Change | journal=Tourism and Cultural Change | year=2003 | first=Erik | last=Cohen | volume=1 | issue=2 | pages=95–110 | doi=10.1080/14766820308668162| s2cid=144370135 }}</ref> which in turn followed sections of the old [[Silk Road]]. Some backpackers follow the same trail today.<ref>{{cite news | first=Jennifer | last=Conlin | title=IN TRANSIT; Traveling to the Ends of the Earth, at Ground Level | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/travel/11transbus.html?sec=travel | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=11 February 2007 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> Since the late-20th century, backpackers have visited [[Southeast Asia]] in large numbers.
[[File:Backpackers on the Stehekin Valley Road (67af5853ef7b4a11acda1e392a4ff4cd).JPG|thumb|Backpackers in the [[Lake Chelan National Recreation Area]], Washington, US]]
===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.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/backpacking-better-more-successful-person | title=How a Backpacking Trip Could Make You a More Successful Person | first=TALIA | last=AVAKIAN | work=[[Travel + Leisure]] | date=3 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title=Backpacker Personal Development, Generalized Self-Efficacy, and Self-Esteem: Testing a Structural Model | first1=Ganghua | last1=Chen | first2=Songshan (Sam) | last2=Huang | first3=Xianyang | last3=Hu | journal=[[Journal of Travel Research]] | volume=58 | issue=4 | pages=680–694 | date=3 May 2018| doi=10.1177/0047287518768457 | s2cid=150169280 }}</ref>
Mark Hampton of the [[University of Kent]], writing for ''[[The Guardian]]'', argued in 2010 that 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.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/24/backpacker-travel-benefit-poor-countries | title=Backpacker tourism can be beneficial for poor countries | first=Mark | last=Hampton | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=23 September 2010}}</ref>
===Criticism===
Backpacker tourism of the hippie trail has been criticized for possibly encouraging urban liberal minorities while insulting [[Traditionalist theology (Islam)|Islamic traditionalist theology]], possibly contributing to the Islamic reawakening in the late 1970s.<ref>{{cite news | first=Rory | last=MacLean | title=Dark Side of the Hippie Trail | url=https://www.newstatesman.com/node/164904 | work=[[New Statesman]] | date=31 July 2006 }}
</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KmlYvgEACAAJ | title=Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India | first=Rory | last=MacLean | publisher=[[Ig Publishing]] | date=2009| isbn=9780978843199 }}</ref>
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".<ref name=Diversity/>
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".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/sep/06/gap-year-thailand-full-moon-party | title=Gap years: Wasted youth? | first=Patrick | last=Kingsley | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=6 September 2010}}</ref>
== Variants ==
'''Flashpacking''' and Poshpacking refer 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 [[Begging|beg]] (ask directly or indirectly for money), solicit money during [[street performance]]s, or vend (sell postcards or other small items) as a way to extend their overseas travel.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Bernstein | first=J.D. | year=2019 | title=Begging to travel: Begpacking in Southeast Asia. | journal=Annals of Tourism Research | volume=77 | pages=161–163 | doi=10.1016/j.annals.2018.12.014 | s2cid=158997574 }}</ref> The trend has drawn criticism for taking money away from people in actual need, with one known begpacker barred from entering Singapore.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Infamous professional beggar Benjamin Holst denied entry into Singapore — twice {{!}} Coconuts |url=https://coconuts.co/singapore/news/infamous-professional-beggar-benjamin-holst-denied-entry-into-singapore-twice/ |access-date=2023-08-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329837273 | title=Begging to travel: Begpacking in Southeast Asia | first=Joshua D. | last=Bernstein | date=2019}}</ref> Begpacking is common in Southeast Asia and is a trend in South America and South Korea.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/shortcuts/2019/jul/22/young-entitled-and-over-there-the-rise-of-the-begpacker | title=Young, entitled, and over there: The rise of the begpacker | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=22 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title='Begpacking' Phenomenon Draws Scrutiny in South Korea|url=https://thediplomat.com/2019/07/begpacking-phenomenon-draws-scrutiny-in-south-korea/|last=Gibson|first=Jenna|website=thediplomat.com|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-23}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{Wiktionary-inline|backpacking}}
* {{Wikivoyage-inline|Urban backpacking}}
<!-- PLEASE READ [[Wikipedia:External links]] before adding links here!
Commercial links not expanding on the article do NOT belong here.
EXTERNAL LINKS SHOULD FILL THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
* Be based wholly about the domain of backpacking (independent travel) and not other forms of travel.
* Be non-Commercial with no external, banner/other ads or be linked to a commercial organization in anyway.
* Be recognized as expanding on the article and field of the article.
* Be maintained and up-to date.
* BLOGS, TRAVEL-LOGS, TRIP BASE SITES - and similar do not belong here, nor does anything commercial such as Lonely Planet et al. -->
{{Tourism}}
{{Adventure travel}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Backpacker tourism}}
[[Category:Backpacking|*]]
[[Category:Youth hostelling]]
[[Category:Hitchhiking]]
[[Category:Types of travel]]
[[Category:Ötzi]]