The study's two primary goals are to determine the main travel motives of Malaysian backpackers and to examine the variations in travel motivations across three categories of backpackers: first-time, repeat, and serial. The results were collected using a self-administered online survey adopting a convenience sample technique. The non-normally distributed data were examined using exploratory factor analysis, median score assessment, and Kruskal-Wallis H tests on a sample of 249. Stimulation is the most crucial factor motivating backpackers, while recognition is the least important. The study also found that backpackers' motivation varied with travel experience. Due to limited research on Asian motivational travel determinants, notably among Malaysian backpackers, this study's motivational features are drawn from other countries. Future research should focus on non-Western motivators impacting backpackers. There is a need for more research on Asian tourism, notably Malaysian backpackers at various stages of their travel careers.
TopIntroduction
Over the last two decades, with mass tourism at its core, backpacking has been an uncommon aspect of travel, significantly distinct from the conventional modes of leisure travel (Ee and Kahl, 2016). Previous studies have suggested that backpacking tourism is a phenomenon that contributes significantly to the economies of developed as well as developing countries (Scheyvens, 2002, 2006; Richards and Wilson, 2003). This is because backpackers typically spend a substantial sums of money at their destinations. These expenditures may translate to economic benefits to the host population. Among others, this may be due to backpackers’ longer or extended duration of stay (Alves et al., 2016).
Backpackers are categorically distinct from mass tourism. Since backpackers are passionate about finding new tourism vistas, they are frequently seen as pioneers of new locations and travel trailblazers, rendering them as an extremely interesting category of tourists. They are frequently self-organized and travel in a flexible manner to a variety of areas (Jensen and Hjalager, 2018). The majority of experts defined backpackers as those who value low-cost lodging, extended vacations, itinerary simplicity, meeting other travellers, and partaking in a variety of activities (Chen, Bao, & Huang, 2014; Loker-Murphy & Pearce, 1995; Pearce & Foster, 2007).
Previous research on backpacking tourism mostly adopted Euro-centric perspectives (Cohen & Cohen, 2015) for travelers from developed countries (Allon & Anderson, 2010; Brenner & Fricke, 2007; Chitty, Ward, & Chua, 2007; Huxley, 2004; Nash, Thyne, & Davies, 2006; Pearce & Foster, 2007). Several earlier studies, however, have emphasised the significance of intensifying and broadening the scope of the research to include demographics such as Asian backpackers (Cai, Cohen, & Tribe, 2019; Cohen, 2006; Teo & Leong, 2006; Winter, Teo, & Chang, 2009). Recent efforts examined backpackers from Asia (Bui, Wilkins and Lee, 2014; Cai, Cohen and Tribe, 2019; Yang, Yang and Khoo-Lattimore, 2019; Wantono and McKercher, 2020), which may contribute to a deeper understanding of Asian independent youth travelers or tourists’ culture, norms, and behaviors.
Interestingly, the definition of a backpacker is not in consensus due to conflicting views of “scholars who contest the conflicting claims to its origin, the entrepreneurs who seek to extend it as a label, to the backpackers who wish to distance themselves from it” (O’ Regan, 2018, p. 193). In this study, a backpacker is viewed as an independent traveler who prefers budget accommodation, longer holidays, itinerary flexibility, predominantly under 40 years of age, likes meeting other travelers, and involve themselves with social and participatory holiday activities (Pearce, 1990; Loker-Murphy and Pearce, 1995; Pearce, Murphy and Brymer, 2009).
Since its inception, the backpacking phenomenon has evolved continuously in response to changes in the social-historical context, affecting physical institutional arrangements and travel habits, such as destinations visited and attractions, as well as who to travel with (Uriely, Yonay and Simchai, 2002; Miao and Bao, 2007). Moreover, it involves intangible psychological characteristics, including the motives of travelers, their attachments to home cultures, and the significance they give to their journeys (Filep, 2014; Pearce & Foster, 2007).