Introduction
Researchers worldwide have been studying the concept of backpacking tourism for a long period of time, expanding the existing knowledge about this sphere. Nevertheless, backpacking as a movement is constantly undergoing changes which lead to new iterations and trends. Essentially, the needs and desires of the modern backpacker are different from those which were relevant a decade ago. Therefore, there is a necessity to study the existing situation and to explore the new trends popular among the members of the backpacking community. Knowledge about the most topical trends in the realm of backpacking can be important for different industries, but especially the hospitality one. Thus, the current research focuses on determining the latest trends in the sphere of backpacking tourism and identifies ways how they can be adopted by hospitality businesses. Yet, in order to conduct quality research, it is crucial to analyze the existing academic literature on the topic of backpacking and hospitality. The current literature review will focus on three main research objectives: establishing the attractiveness of backpacking for younger generations, identifying hostels’ methods of making travelers’ experiences special, and analyzing solutions for the long-term sustainability of backpacking trends.
Objective 1: Backpacking and Younger Generations
Backpacking is a relatively new phenomenon which emerged several decades ago, which explains the lack of academic research on the topic in the 20th century. The concept of drifter-tourism introduced by Cohen (1973) in the 1970s was one of the first attempts of researchers to explore the topic of unconventional tourism. The idea of drifter-tourism referred to a least institutionalized type of tourism, which was characterized by a high level of individualism (1973). Drifters described by Cohen can be considered the predecessors of modern backpackers since they both possess the qualities of autonomy. At the same time, today, backpacking can be viewed as institutionalized tourism and has already established itself as one of the conventional ways of travel. Moreover, according to Cohen (1973), were usually affluent young people who wanted to have new experiences in life. Modern backpackers include people of all ages, yet the younger generation individuals remain the majority. Additionally, since backpacking has become an institutional type of travel, it is considered by many people a lifestyle (Cohen, 2011). According to the research of Cohen (2011, p. 1535), many backpackers describe their activities as their way of life and call themselves “lifestyle travelers.” Essentially, backpacking has become a phenomenon which is extremely popular in the tourist community to the point where some people consider it their primary occupation.
One of the issues related to modern backpacking concerns the popularity of backpacking among different generations. According to the research by Diekmann & Hannam (2010), backpacker tourism is dominated by younger people who do not have many resources to spend on their travel activities. At the same time, there are also young people who engage in backpacking tourism while still spending considerable sums of money on it. Therefore, a debate exists in the academic sphere concerning the nature of backpacking and the ways in which it should be referred to. Some researchers view the backpacking undertaken by affluent individuals as a separate phenomenon which they call “flashpacking” (Diekmann & Hannam, 2010). Another debate is related to the idea of backpacking being an activity usually performed by younger people. On the one hand, Băltescu (2009) and Kowalczyk-Anioł & Nowacki (2016) consider backpacking to be an activity which is mostly intended for the people representing Generation Z and Generation Y. On the other hand, Brochado & Rita (2016) contend that backpacking is no longer a matter of age or income but rather specific travel preferences of people. Nevertheless, by relying on the existing research, it can be stated that backpacking continues to be in demand among new generations of tourists.
The sphere of backpacking is constantly subject to the influence of various factors which directly affect the preferences and needs of backpackers. A study conducted by Richards and Wilson (2003) almost two decades ago indicated that the majority of people who considered themselves backpackers wanted to travel to seek new experiences and connect with other travelers. Yet, in the modern world, the motivations of people, especially younger generations, to engage in backpacking can change depending on certain trends and events. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most disruptive factors for many spheres, including tourism. The study conducted by Nair & Sinha (2020) demonstrated that, after the start of the pandemic, many people began choosing their travel destinations based on the level of health and hygiene, as well as discounting. Additionally, the decision to travel to a certain place of modern tourists can be influenced by the current sustainability trends. The research by Abdulrazak & Quoquab (2017) highlighted the fact that nowadays, people, even those living in poorer countries, become more concerned about the sustainability of their consumption. As a result, new-generation tourists can potentially choose backpacking as a more sustainable travel alternative which does not have a significant impact on the environment.
Another factor explaining the popularity of backpacking among the younger generations is the emergence of social media. Kit-Yeng et al. (2020) conducted a critical literature review on the topic of social media’s role in the promotion of tourism and discovered that the travel industry was transformed by social networking platforms. Kit-Yeng et al. contend that the natural urge of people to share their experiences with others was facilitated by social media, enabling them to demonstrate their travel-related content to their audience. Kowalczyk-Anioł & Nowacki (2020) discovered that sharing travel-themed content online positively affected the desire of Generation Y people to participate in similar activities. Nevertheless, the role of social media in the motivation of people to travel is a controversial issue because there can be additional factors which need to be considered. For example, the research by Magno & Cassia (2018) focused on analyzing the impact of social media influencers’ travel suggestions on the desire of their audiences to follow the recommended activities. The study discovered that the perception of the influencer’s trustworthiness and the quality of their content were considerable factors affecting their audience members’ intention to follow the recommendations of the bloggers. Thus, while it can be concluded that generations’ travel choices can be impacted by social media, there are still certain aspects which must be taken into consideration.
Objective 2: Hostels’ Approaches to Customer Experience
The hospitality industry is one of the main beneficiaries of tourism, and there are special businesses designed for targeting backpackers and their needs. The most prominent form of a backpacker-oriented hospitality business is the backpacker hostel. O’Regan (2010) made a considerable contribution to the research on the backpacker hostels and discovered that such locations were considered places for experience seeking and the reinforcement of the backpacker identity. Essentially, hostels have an important symbolic meaning for backpackers, which fosters their community values and a sense of unity. The research of Lam & Singh (2018) demonstrates that hostels, unlike other hospitality locations, play a role in promoting intercultural competence among host communities. Thus, hostels are viewed as places where people belonging to different cultures can exchange their knowledge and share their unique experiences. Brochado & Rita (2016) studied the topic of hostels’ service quality from the perspective of backpackers. The researchers found that the majority of backpackers named social atmosphere as one of the key components of service quality in hostels. Therefore, it is possible to state that hostels, in order to attract backpackers, need to ensure that they possess a special atmosphere for their clients.
Nevertheless, the social atmosphere is not the only factor which can be considered important in hostel customer experience. Brochado & Rita (2016) also discovered that the quality of staff and city connections also played a major role in the hostel experience of backpackers. Additionally, as it was mentioned earlier, despite the fact that the spere of backpacking is dominated by younger generations, there are also older people engaging in such an activity. Lima & Vincente (2017) conducted research and found that guest satisfaction with hostel service quality depended on the age of clients. The main finding of the study was that the older generation guests considered cleanliness and price the main factors of their satisfaction. In the case of the younger guests, their satisfaction was more affected by the staff’s friendliness and competence (Lima & Vincente, 2017). Thus, when designing their services, hostels must ensure that their customer experience is appropriate for people of different ages.
The hospitality industry is constantly transforming in order to be better positioned to respond to the new trends on the market. The previously discussed rise in the utilization of social media among tourists and backpackers also affects hostels. Diekmann & Hannam (2010) highlighted the fact the number of hostel bookings occurring using the Internet was steadily growing in 2010. Paris (2009) and Hyatt et al. (2020) noted that at the beginning of the 2000s, the global backpacker community began actively adopting online forums as places for communication. Today, social media constitute major channels for marketing which hostels need to utilize to attract their clients. Kit-Yeng et al. (2020) discovered that it was effective for hospitality businesses to engage in promoting their services on social media. Thus, modern hostels need to make use of the currently existing technologies such as social media to draw the attention of tourists, including backpackers.
Sustainability and Social Impact of Backpacking Trends and Changes
The new trends in the spheres of tourism and backpacking bring changes which have to be analyzed from different angles, including sustainable development and social impact. Sustainability is a new trend which also affects hospitality businesses and backpackers, influencing their behaviors. Agyeiwaah et al. (2021) discovered that backpackers generally engaged in sustainable behavior rather than the unstainable one and viewed backpacking as sustainable. Iaquinto & Pratt (2019) found that the nationality of backpackers did not predict their behavior in terms of sustainability. Moreover, as indicated by Ooi & Laing (2010), many backpackers also intentionally engage in volunteer tourism which encourages sustainable tourism experiences. Essentially, hospitality businesses can create special sustainable tourism products specifically for backpackers who wish to both travel and work as volunteers.
As noted previously, the majority of backpackers consider their activities sustainable, yet tourism still remains a controversial topic. Holden (2017) explored the impact of mass tourism on the environment and discovered that the growth of the global tourism industry was associated with certain negative effects on nature. At the same time, there are also studies which demonstrate a positive role of tourism in terms of sustainability. Hoang (2018) presented an analysis of the impact of tourism development on local livelihoods and land cover change in Northern Vietnam. The results of the study demonstrated that the introduction of tourist activities to the region led to an increase in the living standards for the local populations and contributed to forest regrowth on previously abandoned fields. According to Han (2021), long-term environmental sustainability in tourism and hospitality is possible only through the adoption of environmentally-sustainable consumption patterns and practicing eco-friendly consumption. Thus, in order to ensure sustainable development of tourism and hospitality, people need to be taught to embrace an eco-conscious mindset.
Another important topic which needs to be discussed in relation to hospitality and tourism is their social impact. Hospitality is known for its high-level customer experience, which often gets used in other spheres, including medicine. For instance, the research of Cheng et al. (2021) showed that the adoption of hospitality techniques in telemedicine positively affected the reduction of isolation and anxiety among patients. Backpackers also can contribute to the sustainable development of the places they visit by engaging in social tourism. Diekmann & McCabe (2010), Eusébio et al. (2017), and Minnaert (2014) explored the phenomenon of social tourism and discovered that in Europe, it was extensively utilized by numerous countries. Despite the fact that the social tourism programs of European countries are different, they all incorporate sustainability by declaring environmental and cultural protection. There are also so-called social firms which can be successfully used to create social value, including in the sphere of sustainability (Lazzarini, 2019). Thus, governments also can participate in the promotion of sustainable development of the tourism and hospitality industries.
Methodology Sources
The current research relies on several academic sources, which form the basis of its methodology. The first framework is the Thematic Analysis (TA), a tool which is utilized by researchers for conducting qualitative data analysis. According to Braun et al. (2017), TA is utilized extensively in psychology and other spheres and constitutes a flexible tool. According to Cassell & Symon (2011), qualitative research is often viewed as one which hard to assess due to the lack of quantitative metrics. Nevertheless, there are approaches such as the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which are well-suited for research involving detailed, first-person accounts of participants’ experiences, which is relevant for the current study (Noon, 2018). Thus, TA and IPA can be considered appropriate tools for conducting qualitative research.
Conclusion
The literature review has demonstrated that backpacking has evolved over the past decades but still remains a popular activity among the younger generations. Although backpacking is enjoyed by people of different ages, the majority of backpackers are people belonging to Generation Y and Generation Z. In order to respond to the needs and desires of the modern backpackers and attract new clients, hospitality businesses, including hostels, need to utilize new technologies and ensure proper atmosphere and staff competence. Backpacking can be used as a means for the promotion of sustainability and social value creation. The main gap in the existing knowledge is the lack of information about the backpacking trends in the post-COVID-19 period. The primary idea for future study can be the exploration of the contemporary trends in the sphere of backpacking and how they can be adopted by the hospitality industry.
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