The Backpacker Market

Over the last several decades, backpacking has becomea mainstreamed travel phenomenon. The backpackermarket is one of the fastest growing segments oftourism. Backpackers often spend more money duringtheir trips than other mass tourists, and can have aneven greater local economic impact as they are morelikely to consume local tourism products andservices. As the backpacker market has grown, it hasbeen commonly examined as a single entity. Previousbackpacker studies are often limited to a particulardestination or region, and methodologically limitedto hostel-based or auto-ethnographical researchconducted by researchers who themselves arebackpackers. These traditional methodologies canoften only provide a glimpse of the overallbackpacker market. This book provides a transnationalexamination of the backpacker market through alifestyle segmentation. In order to overcome theinherent problems of backpacker mobility and thehostel-based research methodology, backpackers weretargeted through their self-identifying membership ofbackpacker specific online communities. The detailedprofile of the segments in this study will be usefulfor backpacker service providers.

Klappentext
Over the last several decades, backpacking has become a mainstreamed travel phenomenon. The backpacker market is one of the fastest growing segments of tourism. Backpackers often spend more money during their trips than other mass tourists, and can have an even greater local economic impact as they are more likely to consume local tourism products and services. As the backpacker market has grown, it has been commonly examined as a single entity. Previous backpacker studies are often limited to a particular destination or region, and methodologically limited to hostel-based or auto-ethnographical research conducted by researchers who themselves are backpackers. These traditional methodologies can often only provide a glimpse of the overall backpacker market. This book provides a transnational examination of the backpacker market through a lifestyle segmentation. In order to overcome the inherent problems of backpacker mobility and the hostel-based research methodology, backpackers were targeted through their self-identifying membership of backpacker specific online communities. The detailed profile of the segments in this study will be useful for backpacker service providers.