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PROCEEDINGS

Effective sustainable tourism management

Social and economic impacts

Cultural heritage

Environmental sustainability

GLOBAL

SUSTAINABLE

TOURISM

International Conference

15-19 November 2010 MBOMBELA – NELSPRUIT – SOUTH AFRICA

2010

Mbombela Local Municipality, PO Box 45, Nelspruit, 1200, Tel: +2713 759 2063, Fax: +2713 759 9097, Email: [email protected]

ii

Global sustainable tourism

to explore and debate issues relating to sustainable practices in tourism

Four parallel sessions:

1. Effective sustainable tourism management 2. Social and economic impacts 3. Cultural heritage 4. Environmental sustainability

ISBN: 978-0-620-46397-3 Editors: Mathilda van Niekerk, Ph.D. Willie Coetzee, Ph.D. Sue Geldenhuys, Ph.D.

iii

PUBLISHED BY TSHWANE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

ISBN: 978-0-620-46397-3

Global sustainable tourism

The materials published in this book may be reproduced for instructional and noncommercial use. Any use for commercial purposes must have the prior approval of Tshwane University of Technology. All full papers submitted to the International Conference of Global Sustainable Tourism are subject to a peer reviewing process, using subject specialists selected because of their expert knowledge in the areas.

Printed in South Africa, 2010.

Technical Editing:

Mr. R. F. Marcus

Me. M. van Onselen

©Copyright 2010 by Tshwane University of Technology, All Rights Reserved

733

BACKPACKERS AND SUSTAINABLE TOURISM: EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL

Laurie MURPHY, Ph.D.

Tourism, Sports and Events Discipline

School of Business

James Cook University, Australia

Email: [email protected]

Eric BRYMER, Ph.D.

School of Human Movement Studies

Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

There is conflicting evidence in the literature with respect to backpackers as contributors to

sustainable travel. This paper explores this market with respect to sustainable travel attitudes,

behaviours and preferences. More specifically it examined the motivations of backpacker visitors to

Australia, their preferences for environmentally friendly and volunteer tourism experiences, and

explored attitudes towards the influence of environmental impacts on the future of travel. The results

indicate that not all backpackers necessarily have a strong focus on the sustainability of their travel,

but that those interested in community and environmental volunteering have the greatest potential to

make meaningful contributions.

1. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

In recent years backpackers have been associated with ecosensitivity and a desire for eco-friendly

products (Mohsin & Ryan, 2003; Sicroff, Alos, & Shrestha, 2003; Wearing & Darcy, 1999;

Westerhausen & Macbeth, 2003). For example, Sicroff et al. (2003) considered the backpacker

market as fundamental to sustainable development in remote mountain areas in Nepal and China.

Zhu (2008) concluded that backpackers are innate ecotourists. Firth and Hing (1999) investigated

backpacker accommodation preferences and found that, when asked, many backpackers claimed

that they would prefer to stay in eco-friendly accommodation. An important finding in this study was

that one quarter of backpacker respondents stated they would be more likely to select an eco-friendly

hostel over another, if eco-friendly hostels advertised this feature.

734

According to Speed (2008), backpacker tourism has sometimes been characterised as ‗good‘ tourism

in comparison with mass market packaged tourism, however some destinations prefer to distance

themselves from travellers they consider to be low-budget drifters. Similarily, (Ooi & Laing, 2010)

claim that as backpacking rises in popularity, it is beginning to attract some dissatisfaction with its

growing resemblance to mass tourism.

Speed (2008) examined the tourist behaviour of 374 backpackers from an environmental perspective

and concluded that backpackers do not exhibit particularly ethical tourist behaviour as propounded by

the ethical tourism models. A small proportion of respondents did come close to model ethical

behaviour, whereas another small group appears to exist at the other end of the scale. In between

there is a range of other backpacker groups that one extent or another reflect some model ethical

behaviours. A significant proportion of respondents to the survey indicated that they would change

their behaviour if tourism providers were more responsible.

Backpackers have also been portrayed as irresponsible and environmentally insensitive (Scheyvens,

2002). Wearing et al. (2002) recognised that the desire to participate in eco-friendly tourism

behaviours did not always translate into action and found that even those backpackers who declared

a pre-existing tendency to live an eco-sustainable lifestyle often travelled without regard to

environmental issues.

Wearing et al. (2002) concluded that the mismatch between awareness, intentions and behaviours

when travelling was most likely resulted from of a lack of awareness about accredited products in host

countries. Similarly, Cooper (2001) identified environmental problems deriving from backpacker

visitation to World Heritage listed Fraser Island in Australia which ranged from littering and lack of

proper disposal of wastes, through to destruction of bush habitats and sand dunes.

The main cause of the negative environmental impacts was identified as the lack information and

training given to backpackers on how to behave in the environment. Scheyvens (2002) reported that

backpackers have even been associated with local cultural and environmental harm. Consequently,

she advised care when connecting backpacker travel to extreme positive or negative environmental

735

impact. Instead Scheyvens recommended that local communities could benefit from backpackers if

supported by infrastructure and governments.

Ooi & Laing (2010) identify volunteer tourism, with its ideals of making a positive contribution to the

social, natural and economic environment in which it is situated, as an increasingly sustainable form

of travel. In their survey of 249 backpacker respondents, 57% indicated that they were motivated to

participate in volunteer tourism.

When compared to those motivated only to backpack, those motivated by backpacking and

volunteering placed more importance on strong cultural experiences that allow for opportunities to

interact with the local people and community and the ability to broaden knowledge and learn about

different cultures, people and lifestyles. It was also found that opportunities for increased personal

growth and development, with the opportunity to learn more about oneself through increased

awareness and broadening of the mind, as well as re-evaluating not only personal values but the way

in which one perceives life and the world, were more influential than other motives.

In summary, backpackers have sometimes been portrayed as environmentally sensitive travellers

who prefer eco-friendly accommodation and products when the choice arises. There is also evidence

that backpacker travellers drop any desire for sustainable practices and ethics when travelling. The

identification of backpacker interest in volunteer tourism by Ooi and Laing (2010) highlights the

potential for the development of a new direction for backpacker tourism. They claim that the

incorporation of volunteer tourism into the backpacking experience may help to shape the

backpacking in an increasingly beneficial and sustainable way.

The inclusion of volunteer tourism within the backpacker experience may facilitate sustainability

through the process of assisting the local communities and people upon whom backpacker tourism

strongly relies while providing authentic and meaningful experiences for the individual backpacker

(Ooi & Laing, 2010). Additionally, Pearce (2008) suggests that backpackers could be viewed as an

indicator group, reflecting global consumer attitudes to sustainability.

736

In their attitude and behaviours in such domains as willingness to spend money, use of resources,

sensitivity to local customs, sexual behaviour and respect for local regulations, backpackers manifest

the values of a global young adult culture. Thus the green attitudes and behaviours of backpacker

travellers might provide a window into the future of the environmentally sustainable attitudes of young

people.

Given, the somewhat contrasting views regarding backpacking and sustainable travel, the aim of this

paper is to further explore this market with respect to sustainable tourism attitudes, behaviours and

preferences. More specifically the study examines the motivations of backpacker visitors to Australia,

their preferences for environmentally friendly and volunteer tourism experiences, and explores their

attitudes towards the influence of environmental impacts on the future of travel, particularly with

respect to their own travel intentions. It also examines whether backpackers can be differentiated on

the basis of the level of interest they exhibit towards volunteer tourism, and if so, the implications

regarding sustainable travel behaviours.

2. METHODOLOGY

The data presented in this paper was collected as part of a wider nationwide survey of backpackers in

Australia funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism. Surveys were

distributed by research assistants to backpacker in hostels at eight locations around Australia in

December 2008 and January 2009. In total, 1555 surveys were collected from approximately 50

hostels (see Table 1). There were 453 recorded refusals, with the most common reasons due to

language difficulties and not wanting to complete the survey.

Surveys were distributed on various days of the week and times of the day, however the sample

cannot be claimed to be random and it is biased towards those who predominantly stay in hostel

accommodation. The hostels were chosen to include both YHA and other hostels, a range of more

expensive and cheaper price points, and branded as well as independent hostels.

737

TABLE 1: Total surveys collected

Survey Location Number of surveys

Sydney 271

Alice Springs 189

Melbourne 69

Gold Coast 226

Adelaide 254

Perth 247

Tasmania 267

Canberra 32

Total 1555

A range of questions were included in the survey, those relevant to this presentation of the data

include demographic and trip-related variables, travel motivations, interest in a range of future travel

trends, suggestions for environmentally friendly tourism products, and perceptions of the impacts of

environmental concerns on the future of travel. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS. Answers

to open-ended questions were analysed using Leximancer, a text mining software that can be used to

analyse the content of textual documents and to visually display the extracted information in a

browser. The information is displayed by means of a conceptual map that provides an overview of the

material, representing the main concepts contained within the text and how they are related. In

interpreting the data, Leximancer‘s ability to code and index concepts, and to navigate through the

data to find excerpts of text relating to specific concepts was utlised. Within Leximancer, concepts are

developed and linked through a systematic examination of the proximity with which words appear in

the transcribed text.

Importantly, Leximancer distinguishes between words and concepts, with concepts being the most

semantically significant words. Leximancer builds its analysis by using word occurrence and co-

occurrence frequency to produce a word co-occurrence matrix from which concepts are identified.

Leximancer then builds a list, called a thesaurus, of closely related words, associated by proximity to

a particular concept. Measurement of direct links between concepts establishes the strength of

relationships between concepts.

The more times one concept co-occurs directly with another, the stronger the relationship will be.

Second, a more complex picture emerges when Leximancer identifies information about the words

738

that are semantically related to a concept and produces a thesaurus for each concept. Leximancer

then compares one concept‘s thesaurus with those of other concepts (Rooney, et al., 2010).

3. FINDINGS

The average age of respondents (n=1555) was 27 (median = 25) of which 54% were female and 46%

were male. A majority of backpackers in this survey came from Europe with most heralding from the

U.K. and Germany (see table 2). Germans tended to be the youngest (25 on average), particularly

when compared to respondents from Australia/NZ (32 years old on average). Also a greater

proportion of German (64.5%) and Asian (67.6%) respondents were female.

TABLE 2: Nationality

Nationality

United Kingdom 22.5%

Ireland 6.6%

Germany 15.2%

Other Europe* 18.3%

Scandinavia 5.7%

Australia/NZ 7.3%

North America 6.2% Asia** 9.4% Other*** 8.9% *eg. France, Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium ** eg. Korea, Japan, Taiwan *** eg. Israel, India A total of 55% of respondents were working full time before leaving on this trip. When asked about

their level of education, 44% stated that they had graduated from college or University, 22% reported

completing some college or University and 20% had graduated from high school. For those surveyed,

a working holiday was the principal trip type (44%), followed by extended holiday from work/study

(24%). Of those respondents who indicated that they were on a working holiday visa, 25.1% also

indicated they were on a gap year trip either before or after college (Figure 1).

739

FIGURE 1: Overview of the major trip types Note: total >100% as some respondents ticked working holiday visa and another trip type.

FIGURE 2: Travel motivations (1=not at all important, 7= extremely important)

Respondents were asked to rate their motivations for travel based on a list of 14 ‗major reasons‘ as

identified in the literature. The score ranged from not at all important (a score of 1) to extremely

important (a score of 7). A score of 4 and above indicates an important motivation (see Figure 2).

Overall, the most important travel motivations for respondents were to experience something different

(6.33), gain a new perspective on life 5.77), get away from daily routines and pressures (5.76), and to

meet new people (5.70). Being close to nature was mid-range in terms of importance (4.89).

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

having romantic relationships

being safe and away from crowds

experiencing fashionable well known places

strengthening current close relationships

connecting to past good times

being close to nature

developing my abilities & accomplishments

enjoying daring/adventurous thrills

being independent

developing my knowledge of visited place

meeting new people

getting away from daily routine/pressure

gaining a new perspective on life

experience something different

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

short package trip

short holiday from work/studies

extended holiday from work/studies

gap year before college/university

gap year after college/university

study abroad

working holiday visa

740

3.1 Environmental attitudes and concerns

Backpackers were asked to identify some specific environmentally friendly tourism products that they

would enjoy experiencing while in Australia. A total of 636 suggestions were made and the most

common themes related to more eco or environmentally friendly hostels, transportation and tours (see

Figure 3).

Better recycling in hostels was also a common theme. Alternative forms of accommodation (eg.

camping) and tours (eg walking, cycling) were also mentioned. Tours providing experiences and

better links with aboriginal communities were also identified. One respondent suggested that ―more

options could be offered to pay extra for things like carbon offset or paying a fee that goes to

aboriginal communities.‖

FIGURE 3: Suggestions for Environmentally Friendly Tourism Products

Backpackers were asked about how concerns and attitudes about the environment might influence

future travel (see Figure 4). Respondents indicated that concern about sustainability and

environmental impacts would very likely result in: travel, especially international travel, becoming

741

more expensive; many more carbon offset programs; and different kinds of travel becoming more

important (e.g. train and coach will become more important than car and air).

Respondents also thought that backpacking will thrive as backpackers will become very responsible

travellers. Interestingly there was an equal split between those that perceived that travelling with a

backpack would not change over the next 5 years and those that considered that there would be

considerable change in 5 years.

FIGURE 4: Perceived impacts of Increasing Environmental concerns (1=strongly agree

to 5=strongly disagree)

When asked about future travel plans, 64% reported that they were very likely to travel outside their

home country within the next 2 years, and 76% were likely to travel outside their home country within

5 years. The top ‗must see‘ destinations were South America (9.1%), New Zealand (8.9%), Africa

(8.7%), USA (8.2%) and returning to Australia (7.6%). The main draw cards for wanting to travel to

these countries in the future were the nature-based and cultural attractions and experiences. In terms

of barriers to future travel, respondents own financial capacity (3.97), the increasing cost of travel

(3.69) and family/career commitments (3.59) were the only items rating above neutral on the scale

(Figure 5). The environmental impacts of long haul travel were not considered to be a substantial

barrier to future travel.

Mean

1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0

Backpacking as we know it will die

Governments will control the right to travel more

People will have only 1-2 big international trips

in their lifetime

People will limit travel closer to home

Considerable change within 5 years

Not much change within 5 years

Backpacking will thrive as backpacker travellers

will become very responsible travellers

Different kinds of travel

Many more carbon offset programs

More expensive travel, especially internationally

Mean

742

Seven emerging travel trends were also rated in terms of level of interest (1=very interested to 5=not

at all interested); community volunteering, environmental volunteering, interests in spirituality, interest

in improving health, travel to learn about justice and political issues, travel to experience intense

physical adrenalin experiences, and travel to develop one‘s personality and be different for a while

(Table 3). The typical desired activities associated with these trends, and the preferred country in

which to participate in them, were also collected from those respondents who indicated that they were

somewhat or very interested.

FIGURE 5: Barriers to Future Travel (1= not at all, 5= very much)

TABLE 3: Level of interest in trends Most interest:

1. travel to develop one‘s personality and be different for a while (2.57) 2. travel to experience intense physical adrenalin experiences (2.61) 3. volunteering skills and services to an indigenous or local community (2.65)

Moderate interest: 4. volunteering your skills and services to an environmental cause or study (2.82) 5. travel to improve your current physical health and wellness (2.84)

Minor interest: 6. travel to learn about justice and political issues (3.53) 7. taking an interest in spirituality and possibly other religions (3.63)

Of relevance to this exploration of backpackers and sustainable tourism, the desire for volunteer

travel was of some importance, with 40.8% of respondents indicating that they were somewhat or

very interested in volunteering. Overall, volunteering in indigenous and local communities was the

third most desired future travel trend.

1 2 3 4 5

terrorism

natural disasters

war and political instability

environmental impacts of long haul travel

health and hygiene issues

family/career commitments

increasing cost of travel

financial capacity/situation

743

The top five countries listed as appealing places in which to volunteer in indigenous and local

communities were Africa (44%), Australia (20%), South America (10%), Thailand (5%), India (4%)

and Cambodia (4%). Figure 6 provides a visual summary of the key themes identified in the desired

activities open-ended responses. On closer examination of the key concepts that comprise these

themes and their linkages, further insight into the desired experiences is provided.

The most common theme was teaching and the related concepts referred to teaching English in

Africa. The teaching concept was also linked to building schools and working with children and

indigenous children. These concepts were also linked to volunteering in third world countries. Living

in and experiencing life in aboriginal communities was another key theme.

FIGURE 6: Key themes for indigenous and community volunteer travel experiences

Volunteering skills and services to an environmental cause or study was considered to be of

moderate importance, fourth overall. The top five countries listed as appealing places in which to

volunteer for environmental causes and studies were Australia (26%), Africa (21%), South America

(12%), Mexico (6%) and USA (4%). The main themes in the desired experiences in this case were

744

working in animal conservation, particularly with endangered species (Figure 7). This included

working to stop the hunting of endangered animals in Asia, working with endangered gorillas in

Uganda and habitat restoration and species monitoring. Another theme and related concepts focused

around general environmental ‗clean up‘ campaigns, including the marine environment and helping to

clean up after natural disasters.

FIGURE 7: Key themes for environmental volunteer travel experiences

3.2 Differences between those interested in Volunteering and those not Interested

Respondents were categorised into two groups based on the level of interest they expressed in either

volunteering in indigenous/local communities or to an environmental cause or study. Those who had

combined ratings on these items of 4 or less (ie. somewhat interested or very interested in

volunteering) were placed into one group (n=539) and those with ratings 5 or more were allocated to

the not interested in volunteering group (n=781). Statistical tests were then carried out to investigate

differences between the two groups on key variables.

There was no relationship between age and interest in volunteering, however, females (47.6%) were

significantly more likely to express an interest in volunteering than males (32.9% [(χ2=28.936,

p=.000)]. ‗Volunteers‘ were more educated, with 51.4% having graduated from college compared to

41.3% of non-volunteers (χ2=19.356, p=.001). They were also more likely to be from ‗other‘ Europe

and the UK and less likely to be from Ireland (see Table 4). There were no significant differences

between the two groups with respect to trip type.

745

TABLE 4: Nationality Differences: Volunteers and Non-Volunteers

Nationality (χ2=19.040, p=.015) Volunteer Travellers Non-volunteer travellers

United Kingdom 28.0% 22.0%

Ireland 4.8% 8.1%

Germany 12.8% 16.5%

Other Europe* 21.7% 16.8%

Scandinavia 5.0% 6.4%

Australia/NZ 7.4% 7.3%

North America 6.5% 7.0% Asia** 8.2% 9.9% Other*** 5.6% 6.0%

The respondents who expressed an interest in volunteering placed significantly (at the p<.05 level)

more importance the following travel motivations; experiencing something different (6.46 vs 6.26),

gaining a new perspective on life (6.02 vs 5.58), developing my skills and abilities (5.24 vs 4.78),

meeting new people (5.87 vs 5.59), being independent (5.82 vs 5.49), developing my knowledge of

the places visited (5.80 vs 5.47), and being close to nature (5.44 vs 4.51).

In terms of future travel intentions, there was no difference between the two groups in terms of their

likelihood of travelling in the next 2 or 5 years. Volunteer travellers, however, were significantly more

concerned about the environmental impacts of long haul travel [2.97 vs 2.38 (t=8.864, p=.000)]. There

were no significant differences with respect to the other concerns. In terms of the impact of

sustainability issues and environmental impacts on the future of travel (see Table 5), volunteer

travellers were more likely to agree that there will be considerable change to travel with 5 years (2.83

vs 3.03), that there will be more carbon offset programs (2.42 vs 2.58), that there will be different

kinds of travel (2.52 vs 2.77) and that backpackers will become very responsible travellers (2.74 vs

2.86).

TABLE 5: Differences in Environmental Concerns between volunteer and non-volunteer

Respondents

Affect environmental concerns on the Future of Travel (1=strongly

agree to 5=strongly disagree) Volunteer Travellers

Non-volunteer travellers

Not much change within 5 years (t=.-.364)* 2.99 2.78 Considerable change within 5 years (t=-3.172)* 2.83 3.03 More carbon offset programs (t=-2.970)* 2.42 2.58 More expensive international travel (t=.267) 2.42 2.41 Different kinds of travel (t=-4.126)* 2.52 2.77 People will limit travel closer to home (t=-.488) 3.22 3.25

746

People will have only 1-2 big international trips in a lifetime (t=.794) 3.29 3.24 Governments will control the right to travel more (t=.018) 3.50 3.50 Backpacking as we know it will die (t=.289) 3.97 3.95 Backpacker will become very responsible travellers (t=-2.036)* 2.74 2.86 *p≤ .05

2. DISCUSSION

The results of this exploration of backpackers and sustainable tourism issues reinforces the findings

from previous research to the extent that it indicates that we should not assume that all backpackers

are interested in or contribute to sustainable travel. For the overall sample, the primary motives

related to personal experiences, with the motives relating to knowledge, nature and developing

abilities in the mid range in terms of importance. Similarly, they were most interested in future travel

experiences which focus on their own personality development through having different and adrenalin

experiences. However the third and fourth most popular future trends were volunteering in

indigenous or local communities and for environmental causes and studies. The potential for

volunteer tourism opportunities to contribute to sustainable tourism, which was highlighted by (Ooi &

Laing, 2010), is reinforced by the findings which indicated that those respondents interested in

volunteering placed more importance on key travel motives relating to developing new perspectives,

knowledge and skills and being close to nature. They were also more concerned about the influence

of the environmental impacts of long haul travel and that travel would undergo considerable changes

as a result. Importantly they were more likely to agree that backpackers will become responsible

travellers.

The more specific results relating to environmentally friendly tourism products indicated that, overall,

there is a level of interest in such offerings, with 636 suggestions made. The results also indicate that

the greatest potential lies in making hostel accommodation more environmentally friendly by

improving recycling, for example. Alternative forms of accommodation and transport could also be

considered and, importantly, links to aboriginal communities were desired. Evidence presented in the

literature review that lack of information may contribute to poor behaviour and that advertising of

environmentally friendly initiatives might influence purchase, tends to indicate that increasing the

provision and promotion of environmentally friendly tourism products could lead to greater uptake by

backpackers.

747

The desired experiences relating to volunteering focused on Australia and Africa in particular.

Respondents interested in volunteering were keen to work with children in areas such as teaching

and building schools. The desire to connect with and contribute to aboriginal communities was also

evident. Animal conservation was the most popular theme with respect to environmental volunteering,

and again Australia and Africa were appealing destinations. In order to capitalise on the potential of

volunteer tourism, it is important that tourism operators work more closely with destination

governments and relevant agencies to facilitate the development of appropriate products and

experiences. It is important to facilitate access to these experiences to maximise the potential appeal

to backpackers, given that while there may be some who are champions of sustainable tourism, there

are others who may only be persuaded down that path through the provision of information and

appealing experiences. Also, destinations which position themselves as leaders in this type of

experience might decrease the likelihood of those who exhibit less sustainable behaviours from

visiting.

3. CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

The results of this research contribute towards sustainable tourism by improving our understanding of

backpackers and their potential as sustainable travellers. It is important for destinations to

acknowledge that not all backpackers have the potential to necessarily contribute to sustainable

tourism development. Rather, the challenge with this market lies in attracting the segment that are

more aware of how their travel behaviour does impact destinations and concerned about what they

can do to contribute to enhancing the communities and environments they are visiting. There would

appear to be some potential for destinations to develop opportunities for volunteer tourism – both

community and environment based – and to market these opportunities to potential backpacker

visitors. The promotion of such opportunities will enhance the destination‘s ability to attract that

portion of the backpacker market who are concerned about the impacts of travel and willing to

participate in activities which contribute to sustainability, as opposed to those focusing on more

personal and social travel motives. The provision of quality, meaningful and transformative volunteer

experiences to backpackers which result in personal growth and development, could then facilitate

the development of a strong cohort of youth who can act as ambassadors for more sustainable and

responsible travel. These ambassadors could then contribute to the creation of a broader

748

understanding of sustainable travel opportunities for backpackers and enhance the appeal of

participating in such travel.

749

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