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Backpackers: The next generation?
to Cohen’s (2004c) terms organized mass tourist and individual mass tourist –
people travelling within fairly controlled “environmental bubbles”. Several
contextual patterns emerged that centred on three key words: sights, money,
and time. The comments reflected these subjects’ views that tourists had specific
sights they had to see, that they had more money than do other travellers
(specifically, more than the interviewees themselves), and that they had less
time to spend on their holidays. For example,
They DO Thailand; they DO the beaches. ‘Tick box travelling’, we call it
(Edward).
Tourist – somebody who’s come for a shortish amount of time. They may
wish they had longer, but they want to say they’ve been to see ‘Milford
Sound’ or other ‘must see’ things and places (Louise).
No one interviewed perceived of him- or herself as a tourist, though one woman
admitted, “I don’t consider myself a tourist, but I am, of course” (Birgitta). This,
despite the fact that some of the individuals responding were relatively new to
travel themselves, and on relatively short trips (3-5 weeks). One woman, who
meticulously pre-plans and pre-books every detail of her four to five week trips,
still avoided the self-definition of tourist (Helen).
These findings are similar to research involving primarily younger backpackers.
The “tourist” label is most popular amongst those under age 20; well-travelled
respondents used that term least (Richards & Wilson, 2004a). However, unlike
Richards and Wilson’s study, in which almost 64% of people referred to
themselves as a “backpacker”, no one in this research was comfortable defining
him- or herself as such.
The girl where I was buying my ticket asked, ‘Are you a backpacker?’
And I turned slowly and looked behind me, but there was no one there. So
I said, ‘I guess I am’ (Brian).
Even though these people were using backpackers’ accommodations, the word
“backpacker” was difficult to relate to, identified primarily with age,
inexperience, and “someone who travels as cheaply as possible” (Helen).
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