Kevin Hannam is Chair of the ATLAS Backpacker Research Group (BRG). He is currently Professor of Tourism Development at the University of Sunderland, UK. He has published widely on tourism theory and is co-author of the text Understanding Tourism and co-editor of the journal Mobilities.

Anya Diekmann is coordinator of ATLAS Europe. She is Assistant Professor at the IGEAT and co-director of LIToTeS (Laboratoire interdisciplinaire Tourisme, Territoire et Sociétés), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Her publications include work on social tourism and aspects of cultural tourism with a particular focus on heritage and ethnic tourism.

Building on previous work on backpacking, this book takes the analysis of backpacker tourism further by engaging both with new theoretical debates into tourism experiences and mobilities as well as with new empirical phenomena such as the rise of the 'flashpacker' and alternative destinations. Chapters include material on flashpacking, the virtualization of backpacker culture, the re-conceptualisation of lifestyle travellers, backpackers as volunteer tourists, as well as backpackers' experiences of hostels, mobilities and their policy implications. It sets a new benchmark for the study of independent travel in the contemporary world.

1. From Backpacking to Flashpacking: Developments in backpacker tourism research - Kevin Hannam and Anya Diekmann

2. Not such a rough or lonely planet? Backpacker tourism: an academic journey - Mark P. Hampton

3. Flashpacking in Fiji: Reframing the 'global nomad' in a developing destination - Jeff Jarvis and Victoria Peel

4. The Virtualization of Backpacker Culture: Virtual Mooring, Sustained Interactions, and Enhanced Mobilities - Cody Paris

5. Re-Conceptualising Lifestyle Travellers: Contemporary 'drifters' - Scott Cohen

6. Backpacker Hostels: Place and Performance - Michael O'Regan

7. Euro-railing: A Mobile-Ethnography of Backpacker Train Travel - James Johnson

8. Budget Backpackers Testing Comfort Zones in Mongolia - Claudia Bell

9. Lesbian Identities Backpacker Travel Experiences in New Zealand - Linda Myers

10. Backpackers as Volunteer Tourists: Evidence from Tanzania - Kath Laythorpe

11. Backpackers in Norway: Landscapes, ties and platforms - Gareth Butler

12. Town of 1770, Australia - The Creation of a new Backpacker Brand - Peter Welk

13. A Clash of Cultures or Definitions? Complexity and backpacker tourism in residential communities - Robyn Bushell and Kay Anderson

14. Towards Strategic Planning for an Emerging Backpacker Tourism Destination: The South African Experience - Christian Rogerson