
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 20 th 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.