Backpacker Tourism

Tourism is one of the major industries worldwide and it is considered a major factor for the economic development of many countries of the south, among them South Africa. Backpacker tourism has been a growing source of income lately in rural, coastal towns of the Transkei. But most of the Backpacker hostels are white owned and often the local people can only profit from the few jobs created as cleaners or tour guides. In the specific place of Coffee Bay, a strong feeling of disempowerment is widespread among young local men.
How is culture represented in these tours and how do the tourist and the local gaze influence it? How are the revenues distributed? How do the tourists try to grasp the unknown and often idealised surroundings?
In my presentation, I would like to talk about the results of this research, but also about methodological problems imposed by the fact that it turned out to be a two-sited research – inside and outside the hostel: Two different social contexts with strong, even spatially expressed boundaries.

This paper explores Israeli backpackers’ travel narratives, in which a profound self-change is recounted. These tourists are construed as narrators, whose identity stories, in which the powerful experience of self-change is constructed and communicated, are founded on, and rhetorically validated by the unique experiences of authenticity and adventure. The relation between the travel narrative, attesting to an external voyage toward an “authentic” destination, and the self-change narrative, attesting to an internal one, is examined in light of two major discourses in tourism: the semi-religious and the Romanticist. The paper addresses the sociocultural context, that of contemporary Israeli culture, against which the self-change narratives construct a collective notion of identity, and wherein they can be viewed as effective performances.

The shifting nature of backpacking and its increasing heterogeneity hinder attempts at deeper understandings required to keep pace with this dynamic phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to understand what is distinctive about the backpacker experience via a review of the backpacker literature and outline an agenda for future research. The unique contribution of the review is the insight into the backpacker experience, characterised by the pursuit of existential authenticity and freedom and manifested through social interactions within the backpacker culture. The review provided a meta-perspective of backpacking in which the search for experiences enabling existential authenticity and freedom remain consistent despite significant demographic, social, cultural and behavioural variation among backpackers. This relationship with experiences distinguishes backpacking from other forms of tourism. The paper highlights backpacker understandings of freedom to mean being free of temporal, spatial and social limitations imposed by their home societies. Backpackers experienced existential authenticity as involvement in the pursuit of self-development and self-identity. Heidegger’s “spielraum” (“playspace”) was applied to explain the ability of backpackers to experience this authenticity and to engage with the “other” including other backpackers in a safe manner.

Roman Husarski Jechać czy nie jechać? O etycznych problemach podróży do Korei Północnej W skali globu historia turystyki nie ma nawet 200 lat. Jednak wraz z modernizmem i wzrostem światowej klasy średniej w ostatnich dekadach zjawisko to nabrało niespotykanego dotąd przyspieszenia. Wszystko wskazuje na to, że proces ten w najbliższych latach stanie się jeszcze bardziej dynamiczny. Nie dziwi zatem, że wraz z upowszechnieniem się podróżowania, pojawiła się również potrzeba refleksji nad jego formą i konsekwencjami. Co raz więcej osób zadaje pytanie jak turystyka wpływa nie tylko na nas samych, ale również na odwiedzane narody. Zarówno temat odpowiedzialności, jak i etyki podróżniczej szerzej omawiany jest od stosunkowo niedawna. Niektórzy badacze jako moment przełomowy wskazują konferencję International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST) z 1992 roku, podczas której tematem przewodnim była etyka turysty i problemy związane z masową turystyką. W ostatnich latach pojawiły się również książki poruszające wspomnianą tematykę m.in. David Fennell Tourism Ethics, (New York 2006) czy Brent Lovelock, Kirsten Lovelock, The Ethics of Tourism: Critical and Applied Perspectives (New York 2013). Pomimo rozwoju literatury dotyczącej etyki podróżniczej wiele tematów wciąż pozostaje przedmiotem sporu. Jednym z nich jest podróż do krajów uważanych powszechnie za totalitarne, łamiące prawa człowieka, obłożone sankcjami przez ONZ itd. Chciałabym przyjrzeć się najpopularniejszym argumentom pojawiającym się w tej debacie w kontekście Korei Północnej. Kraju, który jest jednym z najbardziej zamkniętych i opresyjnych reżimów, a jednocześnie-najbardziej medialnym. Przedmiotem moje refleksji będą nie tylko same argumenty etyczne, ale również to jak sama podróż wpływa na sposób postrzegania kraju przez samych turystów. Esej wzbogaci również moje własne doświadczenie-państwo to odwiedziłem w 2014 roku. "Jadąc do Korei Północnej wspieram reżim Kimów" Klasycznym argumentem przeciwników podróży do krajów totalitarnych jest kwestia finansowa. Według nich pieniądze z turystyki trafią wyłącznie lub w przeważającej mierze w ręce dyktatora i jego współpracowników. Kapitał związany z tym przemysłem jest zapewne istotny dla rządzących. Turystyka to dziś potężny biznes. Obecnie szacuje się, że już aż dziesięć procent globalnego produktu brutto wytwarza właśnie turystyka i usługi z nią

The purpose of this study is to examine the emerging flashpacker sub-culture in relation to the backpacker culture. Cultural Consensus Analysis is employed to examine the potential cultural divergence between flashpackers and non-flashpackers. A mixed-mode dual-frame sampling procedure was employed for data collection, as surveys were administered through Facebook backpacker-groups and in hostels in Cairns, Australia. The results indicate that flashpacker and non-flashpacker groups have a shared cultural understanding of backpacking. In addition to the conceptual clarity of the emerging flashpacker, this study also provides some interesting insights into contemporary backpacker culture and the continuing convergence of physical travel with information and communication technologies.

Backpacker tourism is well-recognized by the tourism business as a tourist segment. Backpackers are normally motivated by cultural destinations and authentic experiences. Consequently, they can contribute to the economic development of local communities. This study aims to explore the demographic profiles and travel behavior of backpackers in the Khao San road area, Thailand. Additionally, impacts of the backpackers on tourism development are analyzed to deeper understand this group of tourists. The survey was carried out on 239 respondents and interviews were done with local stakeholders. The results are aligned with most previous research on backpacker’s profiles and behaviors and their effects on tourism development. From the findings, their longer stays and care about the local community can be beneficial to the sustainable tourism development. Plans and policies can be made accordingly to enhance the positive impacts and mitigate the negative ones.

This thesis examines the search for self in the context of lifestyle travellers. It has been suggested that maintaining a coherent sense of self has become problematic in late modernity as the socially constructed notion of a ‘true self’ has come to be regarded as concrete, whilst choice has increasingly replaced obligation or tradition as a basis in defining selves. Issues of self have been noted as especially important in the context of adopted lifestyles, as lifestyle can be a means through which individuals seek coherence in their lives. Furthermore, travelling to ‘find one’s self’ has a lengthy tradition in popular literature that has also been reflected in tourism studies where research has been conducted into backpacker and traveller identities.

Lifestyle travel is a post-traditional way of life wherein individuals are voluntarily exposed to an array of cultural praxes. Thus, the literatures on self, lifestyle and tourism point to lifestyle travel as a context where issues of self may be particularly relevant. Whilst there is a significant and growing body of research within tourism studies on backpackers, there is a dearth of information on individuals that travel as a lifestyle. Therefore, this thesis contributes to academic knowledge not only through its investigation into the search for self, but also by its conceptualisation of and empirical research into lifestyle travellers.

With criteria for defining lifestyle travellers based on of a fluid combination of self-definition of travel as one’s lifestyle and multiple trips of approximately six months or more, twenty-five semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried out by the researcher with lifestyle travellers in northern Indian and southern Thailand from July through September 2007. In keeping with the paradigmatic ideals of interpretivism, emergent themes were identified from within the qualitative material including meanings that the lifestyle travellers attached to the search for self, surrounding issues of avoidance and seeking that influenced why they travelled as a lifestyle and their future travel intentions.

Although there were multiple perspectives on how the search for self was conceived and approached, searching for self was voiced as a critical motivating factor for the majority of the lifestyle travellers. With a common view among most of the respondents of self as an internal object to be developed, many lifestyle travellers had been or were still on a Romantic modern quest of searching for their true self. Escapism, freedom and learning through challenge were identified as important themes surrounding the search for self, as lifestyle travellers described varying degrees of success in escaping their home societies and finding increased free space and time to learn about and challenge their ideas of self. Paradoxically, most of the lifestyle travellers sought to experience an inner self that dominant sociological views posit does not exist. The tension of searching for a unified sense of self in a world of relational selves is highlighted as not only problematic for the interviewees, but also for previous tourism studies that have premised their contributions on the existence of an inner self.

Although the concept of lifestyle is gaining speed as a theoretical tool in the social sciences, it has not yet been used as a level of social analysis within the field of tourism. This presentation uses theory on lifestyle to conceptualise and subsequently empirically illustrate a tourism niche that has also received scant attention within the academe, that of lifestyle travellers. Lifestyle traveller is a social category representing individuals with extended engagement in corporeal mobility as a style of life, in this case through the mode of backpacking. I illustrate the practice of tourism as a lifestyle through empirical material drawn from ethnographic interviews carried out with backpackers in northern India and southern Thailand in 2007. The findings suggest that certain individuals move beyond the practice of backpacking as part of a transitional phase or time-out from ‘normal’ life and instead style their lives around an ongoing involvement with backpacker tourism. This practice of tourism as a lifestyle choice intersects with issues of identity and expressivity that come to the fore in late modernity. A theoretical implication of this research is that former related, but arguably outmoded, social categories within tourism, such as that of E. Cohen’s (1972) ‘drifter’, should be replaced by a contemporary description of lifestyle travellers.

Aspects of popular culture (for example, Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road) can act as cultural icons and role models for the backpacker phenomenon. Representations of backpacking in the cinematic and literary worlds are plentiful, not just in overt terms of central ‘backpacker’ characters, but also influential authors and travel journalists who may inspire the potential backpacker with their narratives and images of far-flung places. Such cultural icons arguably play a role in shaping identities through the images they inspire. The writings of literary nomads such as Bruce Chatwin, Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson, for example, can influence backpackers not just in terms of their choice of travel destinations, but also in terms of travelstyles, self-representations and aspirations. This chapter aims to understand some of the influences of travel writing on backpacker subculture(s) and travelstyles by examining literary backpacker icons – renowned authors and travel writers.

Este trabajo es una etnografía que habla de un grupo de locos, jóvenes que viajan por períodos extendidos y trabajan con “arte” callejero: malabaristas, músicos y artesanos. El trabajo de campo para esta investigación tuvo lugar entre 2017 y 2018 en varios puntos de
Ecuador y Colombia. Como metodología utiliza la etnografía multilocal, la observación participante y la realización de entrevistas semi-estructuradas. Los datos adicionales los recopilé durante los últimos tres años a través de mi propia participación en la escena del
viaje de los locos. Se concentra en un estilo de viaje que transita el espacio liminal de dejar ser joven y comenzar a ser adulto, que además encara los riesgos de viajar sin dinero y su implícita marginalidad. Primero que todo, el trabajo explica las nociones teóricas utilizadas
a lo largo del trabajo. Luego, presenta un marco histórico y social. En seguida, la descripción etnográfica de sus lugares y prácticas con el fin de entender el significado que le dan al viaje. Por último, aborda el viaje como un momento ritual de importancia ontológica asociado a un peregrinaje contemporáneo. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es
comprender las narrativas y prácticas de los locos en sus viajes en torno a sus búsquedas, transformaciones personales y negociaciones con los valores, prácticas y estilos de vida dominantes en sus sociedades parentales. Pretende aportar al estudio del viaje de los locos en el orden que lo entiende como un fenómeno en el que el viaje se inscribe de manera ritual, que ha sido poco estudiado en y desde Latinoamérica.

Backpackers are pioneers of mobility, who provide a unique domain for critical tourism research. The lineage of backpacker ideals, including pursuit of authentic experiences, independence, escape and social interaction, can be traced back to the 'tramps' of the 1880s and the 'drifters' of the 1970s. The recent emergence of the 'flashpacker' suggests a cultural divergence from 'traditional backpackers'. Flashpackers are 'digital nomads', members of a 'new global elite' that symbolize the ongoing convergence in society of technology, physical travel, and daily life. The enduring ideals, history of mobility and the emerging flashpacker subgroup provides a rich context from which to the study the relationship between contemporary society, tourism and technology. This dissertation represents a critical turn in backpacker research, building upon the perception of backpacking phenomenon as a metaphor for the complex mobilities of the global contemporary culture. The New Mobilities Paradigm provides the theoretical and methodological basis for this study. Cultural Consensus Analysis from the field of cognitive anthropology was applied in the analysis of the backpacking culture and the apparent emergence of the flashpacker subculture. A survey was administered in Facebook backpacker groups, in Cairns, Australia, and key informant flashpackers (n=493). Findings from the CCA suggest that backpackers share a common cultural model and that flashpackers and non-flashpackers do not operate from separate cultural models. The findings suggest that even though flashpackers appear to be an emerging independent subculture, they in fact share the same cultural ideals of traditional backpackers. The only major difference is the usage and importance of technology for flashpackers. This study further examined the virtual spaces of backpacking through a mobile-virtual ethnography and in-depth e-interviews with eight flashpackers. Findings provide important insight into the usage and meanings associated with social media for backpackers, the virtual infrastructure of the backpacker culture, and the role of social media as a mediator of the backpacking experience. Micro and macro level analysis of the virtualization of backpacker culture are examined through the conceptualization of the virtual backpacking spaces via the notion of the blogosphere and statusphere and through the analysis of the socio-technographics backpacker behavior.

This article examines the growth of Community-Based Tourism within the broader discipline of tourism. New topics in the field have emerged such as responsible tourism, pro-poor tourism, sports tourism and moral impacts of tourism. This phenomenon also reflects the multi-disciplinarity of tourism. In this article, using the Title, Abstract and Keywords (TAK) for instances in which the words (Community-based Tourism, Community Tourism and Community-Based Eco-Tourism) to subsume Community-Based Tourism (CBT), a search was made in various databases and found that CBT as a sub-specialty of tourism started to emerge in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The number of articles published specifically on CBT has been growing phenomenally. The major contribution of this article is that we now know the evolution of CBT and we also now know its trajectory of growth which has been upward. While the number of articles on CBT is growing, there is no journal dedicated solely to CBT.

More than a decade has passed since the concept of ''tourist gaze'' at the ''mad'' locals behind bars was introduced. This paper argues that tourists too can become the ''mad'' behind bars, closely watched by the locals. This new concept outlines the local gaze, which is made up of images and stereotypes about the tourist. The former gaze is reflected in the tour-ists' behavior, but it also influences the local gaze, a situation which in turn affects the behaviour of both the host and guest populations. The gazes interrelate and are thus termed ''the mutual gaze''. The article will contribute to the discussion of host-guest relations in the under-researched area of backpacker tourism. Keywords: backpackers, gaze, staged authenticity , host and guest. Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Résumé: Le regard mutuel. Plus de dix ans ont passé depuis l'introduction du concept du «regard touristique» envers les habitants «insensés» derrière les barreaux. Cet article soutient que les touristes peuvent aussi devenir les «insensés» derrière les barreaux, regardés de près par les habitants. Ce nouveau concept expose les grandes lignes du regard local, qui consiste en images et stéréotypes du touriste. Le premier regard se reflète dans le comportement des touristes, mais il influence aussi le regard local, une situation qui à son tour modifie le com-portement des habitants et des visiteurs. Les regards s'entrelacent et s'appellent donc «le regard mutuel». L'article contribuera à la discussion des relations entre touristes et habitants dans un domaine peu documenté du tourisme de routard. Mots-clés: routards, regard, authenticité théâtrale, habitants et touristes. Ó

"Backpacker tourism is now common across much of South-East Asia with key destinations such Bangkok’s Khao San Road or the Perhentian islands of Malaysia attracting significant numbers of young tourists. The region hosts the longest-established, and arguably largest, backpacker trail in terms of numbers travelling. This paper - based upon fieldwork in the region since the mid 1990s - examines this niche form of international tourism and begins by introducing the scale and scope of backpacker tourism. First, the origins are discussed, particularly the overland trail to India in the 1960s and 1970s, and the link to the subsequent emergence of backpackers in the 1980s and their diffusion across South-East Asia.

The main part of the paper considers the economic development impacts of hosting backpacker tourism in South-East Asia including economic leakage and linkages, employment, local ownership and participation. Brief case studies of the local development of backpacker tourism are presented from Indonesia and Malaysia, before the paper ends by examining recent changes to the backpacker market, the implications for host countries in South-East Asia, and further research challenges."

An extraordinary study of the politics of representation, this book explores the discursive construction of a ‘city of intensities‘.

The author analyses representations of Calcutta in a wide variety of discourses: in the gossip and travellor-lore of backpackers and volunteer charity workers; in writing - from classic literature to travel guides; in cinema, photography and maps. The book shows how the rumours of westerners contribute to the elaboration of an imaginary city; and in doing so, circulate in ways fundamental to the maintenance of international order.

A provocative and original reading of both Heidegger and Marx, the book also draws upon writers as diverse as Spivak, Trinh, Jameson, Clifford, Virilio, Bataille, Derrida, Deleuze and Guattari. As such it is essential reading for students and scholars in cultural studies, anthropology, development and sociology

Did your boyfriend just break up with you due to constant fights? Whatever your problem is with your boyfriend, there will always be ways on how to get back with him. Constantly asking yourself about what's the fastest way how to get my ex boyfriend back and fix our relationship for good, you should get up and find ways to get him to come to you and beg for you to take him back.

Increasing youth travel has led to young people being labelled as ‘nomads’. This paper examines the phenomenon of youth nomadism in the tourism literature as well as examining recent empirical evidence. A review of the literature around youth nomadism identifies two major themes: analyses of the growth and development of youth travel niches, such as backpacking, volunteer tourism and educational exchange, and broader approaches linked to the rise of the mobilities paradigm. A major global survey of youth travel (34,000 respondents) indicates three major travel styles related to different forms of ‘nomadism’: the backpacker, the flashpacker and the global nomad. The traditional backpacker can be seen as a form of ‘neo-tribe’, gathering in self-sufficient enclaves. In contrast, the flashpacker, or ‘digital nomad', utilizes existing digital and logistic infrastructure to maintain a fluid, individualized lifestyle. The global nomad, or ‘location independent traveller’, tries to integrate with the local community, while trying to avoid the strictures of ‘system’.

Based on WTO estimates youth travel now accounts for between 20 and 25% of all international tourist trips. The market is growing, though with falling birth rates in much of the developed world, this is not as a result of demographic change. Growth has been prompted by increased participation levels in tertiary education, labour mobility and overseas study programmes, the emergence of backpacking as an element of global youth culture and changing concepts of youth fullness. The blurring of distinctions between work, study and travel are leading to a hybridisation of youth travel motives. The cultural aspects of youth travel and backpacking including the desire to mix with other like-minded people is an aspect of the market that merits particular attention by destinations interested in this market.

The modern backpacker is arguably an integral part of the postmodern ‘new world order of mobility’. Backpackers are to be found in every corner of the globe, from remote villages in the Hindu Kush to the centres of London or Paris. They carry with them not only their emblematic physical baggage that gives them their name, but their cultural baggage as well. Their path is scattered with the trappings of the backpacker culture – banana pancakes, bars with ‘video nights’ and cheap hostels. This paper reviews the empirical evidence relating to backpacking generated by the New Horizons research programme of the World Student Youth Education Travel Confederation (WYSETC).

This study began four years ago as a modest ISTC project to compile a review of existing studies on the characteristics of the modern student traveller and research on the student travel market.  The ISTC sought help from the world’s leading travel research authorities and came up with the same answer each time; that there was almost no market research on this sector.
But it was an accepted fact that students and young people are the fastest growing travel niche,  accounting for one in five international travellers.  They are served by a multi billion-dollar specialist  niche industry that has grown and become increasingly sophisticated in meeting their specialist demands and is arguably the most successful niche market in the travel industry.
It was time for a study on the global phenomena of Student and Youth travellers.
Greg Richards, then co-ordinator of ATLAS, had a similar interest.  Over the next three years, ATLAS worked with the ISTC on ‘Today’s Youth Travellers: Tomorrow’s Global Nomads’, the first
ever global study of student and youth travellers conducted using primary research. ATLAS created the ‘Backpackers Research Group’, an international network of academics involved
in studies of student and youth travel, which exploded the myth that there was little or no research
on this market by assembling the first comprehensive bibliography of research work on the young
independent traveller.  This body of work covers the psychological, economic, market and personal
development impact of the young traveller and is used as an important context to ‘Today’s Youth Travellers: Tomorrow’s Global Nomads’. Savvy, informed by the Internet and motivated to equip themselves for life in a global society, young people stay longer, spend more than the average tourist and mix their travel experiences with adventure, study, work and relaxation.  No longer the ‘lone drifter’, they travel to become a part of the ‘on the road’ global community of millions of young travellers, united and inspired by their ‘not a tourist’ self-identity. Societal support for the value of student and youth travel is increasing.  Educational institutions, potential employers and parents – many of whom were the last generation of young travellers – recognise travel as an important personal development experience and a way of creating greater international understanding in our world.

El viaje, en sus múltiples formas y concepciones, ha atravesado todas las sociedades, occidentales y no-occidentales, y todos los grupos humanos desde lo colectivo y lo individual. En la sociedad contemporánea factores como la globalización, el capitalismo, la urbanización, el desarrollo de tecnologías de comunicación y la relativa facilidad en el acceso a medios de transporte hacen que los movimientos poblacionales se tornen más frecuentes, con diversad de motivos y objetivos. A su vez, en este marco, emerge en los sujetos la necesidad de generar una identidad propia y de individualizarse mediante la elección de modos de vida específicos.
Algunos individuos eligen el viaje como su modo de vida, se desarraigan de un territorio fijo para desplazarse de forma semi o no estructurada por tiempo indefinido, financiándose mientras viajan y sin otra proyección a futuro más que la de seguir viajando. Su elección es considerada un proyecto de vida individual que integra prácticas, disposiciones, apariencias y discursos específicos.
El siguiente trabajo busca entender cuáles son los discursos y prácticas asociados a este tipo de viajeros. Se abordan tres ejes en particular: los elementos subjetivos que configuran sus elecciones, las prácticas y representaciones respecto al espacio y el tiempo, y las vivencias y representaciones del trabajo y la subsistencia. La investigación realizada es de carácter etnográfico, lo cual implicó trabajo de campo con los viajeros en los lugares que ellos frecuentan, tanto en Uruguay como en otros países.

PALABRAS CLAVE: viajes, modos de vida, nomadismo, viajeros, turismo, sociedad contemporánea.

Backpackers are becoming an increasingly emblematic part of the global travel scene and backpacker enclaves are more and more visible in tourist destinations. This paper analyses the role of iconic literary nomads – both travel writers and writers who travel – in the shaping of ideologies specific to the international backpacker subculture. Adopting Schein’s (1985) concept of culture as consisting of the ‘layers’ of assumptions, norms, rituals, heroes/heroines and symbols, the writings of seven ‘literary nomads’ are evaluated and contextualised within different ideologies and practices connected with the backpacker ‘scene’. The paper underlines the visibility of backpacker ideologies in the work of the famous iconic writers analysed.

"Scholarship on backpackers speculates some individuals may extend backpacking to a way of life. This article empirically explores this proposition using lifestyle consumption as its framing concept and conceptualises individuals who style their lives around the enduring practice of backpacking as ‘lifestyle travellers’. Ethnographic interviews with lifestyle travellers in India and Thailand offer an emic account of the practices, ideologies and social identity that characterise lifestyle travel as a distinctive subtype within backpacking. Departing from the drifter construct, which (re)constitutes this identity as socially deviant, the concept of lifestyle allows for a contemporary appraisal of these individuals’ patterns of meaningful consumption and wider insights into how ongoing mobility can lead to different ways of understanding identities and relating to place.

Keywords: lifestyle consumption; backpacker; mobility; drifter; identity"

Gap years are a popular rite of passage amongst school-leavers who opt to take a year out from education in order to travel around the world. Volunteer organizations became one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry, offering students the opportunity to see the world, grow up, and think about future prospects and reflect upon the question: “What do I want to do with my life?”. Therefore, gap years and voluntourism can be considered as a liminal phase in one’s life. However, the reputation of volunteer tourism (often coined: voluntourism) is under pressure as students start to turn their backs on these gap year experiences for various reasons: because they doubt the value of their help to local communities, to earn money to pay increasing university fees, etc.

This poses a question whether ‘gappers’ and ‘voluntourists’ are not becoming unwanted travelers, who consider themselves (unjustified?) cosmopolitans1? An increasing body of scholars argues that gap year volunteer tourism might well have good intentions, but does more harm than good. Eventually the question can arise whether this phenomenon is not a postmodern form of pilgrimage, mainly achieving personal aspiration levels in sacred liminoid, and whether it is not ego-centric rather than altruistic?

This paper wants to address various themes of the course ‘Anthropology and Travel’ (KU Leuven) such as rites of passage, tourism, spiritual journeys, (im)mobility, unwanted travelers, cosmopolitanism, and critique towards the convergence of gap year volunteer tourism.

The growth of smart tourism technologies such as social media, smartphones and travel-related websites, in travel planning has been pervasive. This phenomenon has developed numerous phenomenon, which includes the neo-backpacker or so called "The Flashpacker". Even though it has become a world marvel, academic studies for flashpacker are still very limited and almost untouched especially in Indonesia. This article reviews and analyses the research and publications focusing on Flashpacker and its development. Through a comprehensive literature review, this paper identifies what we know about flashpacker and recommends a future research agenda on the phenomenon. The article suggests that research on flashpacker is still in its infancy. As the largest archipelago in the world, it is critical to encourage comprehensive investigation into the influence and impact of flashpacker. It is also essential to foresee how it can impact the tourism promotion and marketing strategy on all aspects of the tourism industry, especially in developing island tourism destinations in Indonesia.

Community-based tourism (CBT) offers both opportunities and challenges in the quest
for holistic community development. The evolution and development of CBT projects
can follow different trajectories. This conceptual paper’s main contribution is the
formulation of a comprehensive model of the development of CBT. The model
suggests that CBT projects can be initiated from within and outside the community by
the private, public and non-governmental sectors or a combination of these using a topdown
or bottom-up approach. It also posits that CBT projects can take a formal or
informal character depending on the conditions leading to their initiation. The paper
highlights the benefits and constraints to the scaling up or down of operations linked to
informality. It supports further research in analyzing the various aspects associated
with the shift from formality to the informality of CBT projects and vice versa

Resumen
En la sociedad contemporánea la globalización, el capitalismo, las tecnologías de comunicación y la relativa facilidad en el acceso a medios de transporte hacen que los movimientos poblacionales se tornen más frecuentes. Algunos individuos eligen el viaje como su modo de vida, se desarraigan de un territorio fijo para desplazarse de forma semi o no estructurada por tiempo indefinido, financiándose mientras viajan y sin otra proyección a futuro más que la de seguir viajando. Su elección es considerada un proyecto de vida individual que integra prácticas, disposiciones, apariencias y discursos específicos. En este artículo se realizó un recorrido teórico y etnográfico que expone e interpreta algunas de las prácticas, discursos y representaciones de los viajeros que adoptan el viaje como modo de vida. En particular, se hizo énfasis en cómo se autorepresentan e identifican como sujetos viajeros y de qué forma se vinculan con otros, tanto viajeros como «locales». Palabras clave: viaje-modos de vida-nomadismo – vínculos – viajeros. Abstract Globalization, Capitalism, communication technologies and the relatively easy access to means of transport make the population movements in contemporary society more frequent. Some people choose to travel as a way of life. They uproot from a fixed territory to travel in a semi or non structured way for an indefinite period of time, beeing funded on their trip and without any other future projection but to continue travelling. Their choice is considered to be an individual project of life that integrates practices, dispositions, appearances and discourses. This article aims at a theoretical and ethnographic journey that presents and interprets some of these practices, discourses and representations of the travellers that consider travelling as a way of life. In particular, emphasis is made in how they perceive and identify theirselves as travellers and how they connect to other travellers and locals.

Despite recognition that Chinese backpackers travel in small, self-organised groups, studies have yet to examine how group dynamics affect the travel experience. Multi-sited ethnography and netnography were deployed to follow Chinese backpackers in Europe to explore their group dynamics. The findings reveal that Chinese backpackers sustain hierarchical group relations by applying cultural attributes of 'respect for authority' and 'keqi'. A conflict-free status is achieved by following the codes of 'guanxi' and 'conformity'. Harmony is practiced to either develop harmonious relationships or resolve potential discord. This study contributes to the literature on harmony by synthesising relevant cultural attributes to understand their applications in group dynamic. It furthermore contributes to the literature on backpacker tourism and self-organised travel group dynamics.

This article explores the link between the proliferation of skyscrapers and hotel establishments. In the Middle East, particularly in Qatar, the skyline is replete with tall buildings that serve multiple functions: hotels, residences, offices, and combinations of these. This article uses relevant secondary data to analyze how Doha and Abu Dhabi transformed their built environment through the construction of skyscrapers as a symbol of their wealth, of their participation in the world's informal skyline competition and their national pride. Tourism growth in these two cities— both of which have invested in urban planning and have made deliberate efforts to develop tourism as a means of diversifying an oil-based economy—has been phenomenal. Skyscrapers have become a tourist attraction in themselves, and tourism growth has spurred the construction of more skyscrapers for multiple purposes. Thus contemporary architecture has transformed these cities into world-class tourist destinations. Heritage and contemporary architecture arguably have equal power to attract tourists. By using architecture to influence tourism outcomes, Doha and Abu Dhabi have succeeded in transforming themselves into formidable global players in tourism, offering not only the traditional three S's (Sea, Sun, and Sand) in the Emirates but also skyscrapers and shopping as attractions. The article recommends that a skyscraper should ideally be multipurpose in order to cater for a wide variety of client needs. Cet article examine la relation entre la prolifération des gratte-ciel et les établisse-ments hôteliers. Au Moyen-Orient, en particulier au Qatar, l'horizon est saturé par de grands bâtiments aux multiples fonctions : hôtels, résidences, bureaux et toutes les combinaisons de celles-ci. Cet article utilise des données secondaires pour analyser comment Doha et Abu Dhabi ont transformé leur environnement bâti par la construction de gratte-ciel, présentés comme des symboles de leur richesse, de leur participation à la compétition informelle mondiale autour des skylines et à leur fierté nationale. La croissance du tourisme a été phénoménale dans ces deux villes, qui ont toutes deux investi dans l'urbanisme et ont agi fortement pour développer le tourisme afin de diversifier leur économie pétrolière. Les gratte-ciel sont devenus une attrac-The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 20, no 1 (2017) 42-65

To cite this article: Oliver Mtapuri & Andrea Giampiccoli (2013) Interrogating the role of the state and nonstate actors in community-based tourism ventures: toward a model for spreading the benefits to the wider community, South African Geographical Journal, 95:1, 1-15,