Searching for Authenticity and Experience: Backpackers Travelling in Australia

Abstract

This paper examines the concepts of both authenticity and experience as encountered by the group of independent budget travellers known as backpackers. The study undertaken for this research explores the salient issues related to undergoing the 'real' or 'true' experience while travelling within Australia. It is apparent that backpackers travel for longer than other tourists. Many of them see themselves as travellers and not tourists and do not wish to associate themselves, or their experiences, with the mass tourist industry. Therefore, they distance themselves from both the mores and norms associated with tourist marketing and contrived experience. From a sociological perspective, it is apparent that these backpackers actively construct their own versions of the 'authentic' in their travels throughout Australia. Through their distinctive mode of travel they separate themselves off from the mainstream, and thus, commodified tourist market. The backpackers' love of travelling and the exploration of other countries appears to be used as an escape from their own forms of mundane lifestyles in their home countries. "Experience" is the basic term in the rhetoric of modernity (MacCannell 1976: 68).

Full text

TASA 2001 Conference, The University of Sydney, 13–15 December 2001
Searching for Authenticity and Experience:
Backpackers Travelling in Australia
Wendy Hillman
School of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology, James Cook University
Abstract
This paper examines the concepts of both authenticity and experience as encountered by the group of
independent budget travellers known as backpackers. The study undertaken for this research explores the
salient issues related to undergoing the ‘real’ or ‘true’ experience while travelling within Australia. It is
apparent that backpackers travel for longer than other tourists. Many of them see themselves as travellers
and not tourists and do not wish to associate themselves, or their experiences, with the mass tourist
industry. Therefore, they distance themselves from both the mores and norms associated with tourist
marketing and contrived experience. From a sociological perspective, it is apparent that these
backpackers actively construct their own versions of the ‘authentic’ in their travels throughout Australia.
Through their distinctive mode of travel they separate themselves off from the mainstream, and thus,
commodified tourist market. The backpackers’ love of travelling and the exploration of other countries
appears to be used as an escape from their own forms of mundane lifestyles in their home countries.
"Experience" is the basic term in the rhetoric of modernity (MacCannell 1976: 68).
Introduction
This article seeks to highlight the problematic concept of 'authenticity' and to show how,
although backpackers are aware of the exageration surrounding authenticity, they actively
construct their own positive experiences despite the routine of travelling and the tiredness
they feel. In this way, backpackers are able to establish a connection between experience
and authenticity to form an encounter that is both worthwhile and memorable.
Pearce and Moscardo (1986) argue for an overarching concept of authenticity within
touristic experience. Using the events within these experiences in contact with the idea of
temporality and self, as put forward by Heidegger, they note:
For many social scientists, MacCannell's notion of authenticity which essentially highlights
the elements of spontaneity, worth and genuineness in tourist experiences offers a more
suitable operational definition than Heidegger's notion of being. It would seem appropriate
therefore to continue to use MacCannell's meaning of the term authenticity in the tourist
literature while adopting from Heidegger the notion that other people as well as places
should be considered as sources of authenticity (Pearce and Moscardo 1986: 125).
It is a contention of this paper that both touristic sites and individuals do constitute places
and actions concerned with the production of the authentic.

2Wendy Hillman
For the quintessential backpacker the notion of experiencing the 'authentic' Australia is t o
have a positive and 'true' experience. This can be achieved through journeying to places
where only small numbers of other visitors and travellers gather or, after having
experienced the diversity of the culture on offer here. Some enjoyed being able to undergo
the same experience in different countries; for example, being able to scuba dive in every
country they visited. A small proportion took the gratification of travel as an end in itself
and fabricated it as their lifestyle, a way of life working and travelling to experience the
world. In other words, they had constructed their own meaningful experience out of daily
travel existence.
First, the connections between what is experienced as 'real' and thus 'authentic' by the
backpacker group are examined. Second, the idea behind being a 'traveller' as opposed to a
'tourist', and experiencing the world through self constructed authentic means is explored.
Sociology and Tourism
In his treatise, ‘From Traveller to Tourist: The Lost Art of Travel’, Boorstin (1961)
elaborates on the distinction between tourist and traveller. He declares the traveller to be
an active individual; who undertakes forays seeking adventure, experience and people.
Conversely, he considers the tourist to be inert; always expecting entertaining things t o
happen. The tourist undertakes ‘sight-seeing’, and envisages that everything will be done
to accommodate the presence of the touristic individual (Boorstin 1961: 85). The tourist
who is deposited at the destination point remains insulated because the tourist facilities have
been upgraded to resemble the home country. Today, it is possible (and probable) that the
hotel, or accommodation will be a clone of a tourist establishment at home. All the
modern conveniences will be of a western style, that is, air conditioning, lighting, heating,
plumbing and sleeping arrangements. But, an astute hotel management team will have
gone to considerable pains to maintain the ‘local atmosphere’ (Boorstin 1961: 97).
Veblen (1899 [1965]) grounds his analysis of leisure in the system of class structure,
bringing to the forefront ‘the uneven distribution of work in society’ and the prestigious
elements of leisure, that is, the way in which tourism is clearly consumed as ‘a symbol of
social status’ (MacCannell 1976: 11). As Rojek states:
To borrow a term from Marxism, Veblen [1899] sees leisure in consumer culture as
intrinsically alienating because it does not spring from real needs in the individual but from
the individual’s perception of what society requires of him or her (Rojek 1995: 74).
The work of Marx, as a conflict theorist, has gained both extensive approval and
evaluation and is a good springboard for a modern perspective on tourism. That is, it could
be argued that group tourism, a part of leisure overall, is nothing more than the middle
class’s place in the consumption of leisure. This includes their domination, exploitation,
commodification and Taylorisation of leisure at locales through the ‘group’ approach of
tourism, as it is marketed to them.
Therefore, estranged labourers remain alienated in their pursuit of recreation. So, instead of
progressing along a familiar path during leisure time, the alienated worker’s search is for a
not so alienating, more authentic reality. This is directly linked to MacCannell (1976),
who views the contemporary middle class as foraging the earth for the ultimate authentic
experience, which they have been denied in their alienated lives on a daily basis (Nash
1995: 36).

Searching for Authenticity and Experience: Backpackers Travelling in Australia 3
Methods
This research was undertaken using participant observation techniques and open ended, in-
depth interviewing strategies. Grounded theory was used as the methodological base.
Grounded theory is a common methodology for putting forth theory that is grounded in
data uniformly collected and analysed. Theory emerges during actual research, and it does
this through constant interaction between analysis and data collection. A salient feature of
this analytical approach is ‘a general method of [continual] comparative analysis’ (Glaser
and Strauss 1967: vii). Within the traditions of qualitative methodology and participant
observation (Bogdan and Taylor 1975: 1; Rosenau 1992: 116; Mason 1996: 39), the
subjects’ definition of the situation is the salient issue central to the construction of
theoretical models that are grounded in the actors’ viewpoint (Anderson and Littrell 1996:
35; Glaser and Strauss 1967).
Engaging the subjects’ viewpoint as a beginning, and further, taking what people ‘say’
sincerely, and constantly shifting from ‘theory’ to ‘evidence’ permits the researcher t o
obtain perceptions into the complications, inconsistencies and dilemmas that individuals
encounter in their everyday conflict with their restrictive sense of alienation from their
‘normal’ lives (Atkinson and Hammersley 1994: 252; Mason 1996: 45). However, it must
be noted that life is full of inconsistencies and contradictions and that qualitative methods
are one way of allowing these nuances to come to the fore.
Participants
This study of authenticity in tourism within the Australian tourist industry draws principally
on interviews with people, mostly women, from a wide range of nationalities and
backgrounds, who have travelled in Australia as backpackers. Their ages range from
approximately nineteen to thirty-five years old. This age range includes those individuals
who have recently completed their secondary or tertiary level schooling and are looking for
a way to progress to the next phase of their lives. In sum, women accounted for almost all
of my forty-one interviewees.
Experience is Everything
The idea that 'experience is everything', that 'authenticity' does exist, at least in the minds
of some backpackers, who believe that they have experienced the 'real' Australia through
undertaking the ultimate 'authentic' encounter for themselves emerged as a salient issue
from the data. For some of the travellers the actual engagement with what they are
experiencing is the reason that makes for a positive and authentic time away from their
'real' lives, that is, the ordinary, mundane things at home. There were certain things many
of them just 'had to indulge in', because they felt it was better and more 'true' to the manner
in which these events should be experienced. Further to this, Pearce and Moscardo argue
that:
MacCannell, in using the notion of authenticity, has focused on environmental or place-
related experiences. Heidegger's more general and wide reaching interest in the nature of
being reminds us that other people may be responsible for being what one is, and hence we
need to look to other people as sources of authentic experience (Pearce and Moscardo 1986:
124 - 125).
One Swedish couple I interviewed were going to Thailand on the way home. They had
heard about Chiangrai, in the north, further north than Chiangmai. They wanted to go t o
Chiangrai because not many tourists go there (see Dann 1996: 97). This is directly related
to the notion of 'sight sacralisation' as argued by Riley (1988) and also MacCannell (1976:

4Wendy Hillman
43) who believe that some travellers 'feel so strongly about the sight they are visiting that
they want to be alone in its presence, and they become annoyed at other tourists for
profaning the place by crowding around “like sheep”’.
Beezer (1994: 128) argues that travel is used as an 'escape' from the demoralisation of
western civilisation's emptiness through travelling the world and seeking out experience in
other 'exotic' places. Riley also emphasises the escape argument:
It is attractive to postpone the transition to the inevitable responsibilities associated with
adulthood in Western society and, for some, long-term travel delays "growing-up" as it is
defined in the West (Riley 1988: 326).
Butler asserts that the lengths to which women will go in their search for the authentic
experience outside the parameters of one's ordinary life are quite exceptional and many
companies away from home attempt to capitalise on this need (Butler 1995: 489). As
travellers they can become detached observers, even voyeurs (Berger 1972), and be able t o
walk away without taunting their sexuality.
According to Cohen, the majority of tourists have a need for familiar things around them,
to remind them of home. It can be anything, but something familiar is the key (Cohen
1986: 184).
Traveller versus Tourist
Backpackers see themselves as non-conformist traveller types. They do not correspond t o
notions of tourism largely held by the tourist industry. They believe that they are
travellers as opposed to tourists because they travel for at least six months and at times, for
much longer periods. For some of the backpackers their travel itineraries have set time
frames. For some, these vary from a few weeks up to twelve months (Buchanan and
Rossetto 1997: iii). For a few others travelling has become their way of life and the travel
can last for a number of years. One of the backpackers I interviewed had this to say about
the polarity between travelling and touring:
People who travel for six weeks or less are not travellers; they're tourists (Tom, 27,
Australia).
The distinction between traveller and tourist is developed by Riley (1988: 317) and Jarvis
(1994), who found in his study of backpackers as independent tourists that:
Backpacking tourism does not conform to both the public's and the industry's standard
image of tourism. For a start how could someone consider travelling for one year or more?
It is this basic lack of understanding of the motivations and characteristics of the backpacker
market that is preventing the Australian tourism industry (and other countries) from taking
full advantage of the opportunity that presents itself in the form of this market (Jarvis 1994
emphasis in original).
Some German backpackers told me that working commitments in Germany make long term
travel difficult because six weeks is about the time limit allocated to be away from your
place of employment; if you stay away longer than this then there may not be a job to
return to. Jarvis has explored this notion more fully and expands upon it by commenting:
The high percentage 39.6% of those who quit a full time job to travel corresponds to the
"rites of passage" theory that indicates that they utilise travel to mark a juncture in their life
be it the movement from study to work, or from one career to another. Alternatively, there
is a logical explanation to these findings, in that in order to travel for an extended period,
one must usually quit a job after saving enough cash. A fair proportion 7.8% were able to
obtain leave without pay as a solution to this problem (Jarvis 1994).

Searching for Authenticity and Experience: Backpackers Travelling in Australia 5
Some had a specific short time frame in which to do as much as possible due to working
commitments at home. This point is also noted by Jarvis (1994) who reports that many
travellers were working in full time employment before departing for Australia. However,
one backpacker that has taken the lifestyle on board and at the moment, travelling defines
her life. She has been travelling the world for a long time. 'Yeah, two and a half ... almost
three years' (Anita, 28, Mexico). This is substantiated by Riley who points out:
It was not uncommon to meet people who had been away from home for three or four years.
The longest time for any of the subjects of in-depth interviews was seven years (Riley 1988:
320).
Connected directly to this is the notion of tiredness, which emerged as a theme throughout
the course of the interviews. Travelling and sightseeing are, on the one hand, supposedly
forms of leisure, designed to give people a break away from the usual and mundane strains
of life. On the other hand, it is supposed to rejuvenate them for a return to work and home
with their everyday trials. However, the theme of tiredness emerged from the data as
something that has not been written about previously in other studies and I discuss it here
because it was mentioned throughout the study by the backpackers without any enticement.
According to two female backpackers:
You have to lug your backpack around, and my back's not good. So, I do feel tired. But I
like it because I'm doing it for myself and I don't have to think about anyone else. This is
the first time, ... I like it (Regina, 35, England).
That's why I wanted to stop somewhere because I get too tired to travel and I need to rest
myself. But not too long because I want to get to know the people and if there's any
arrangements for travelling together. You always travel and you meet people and you always
have to say goodbye and I'm too tired to do that. I want to stop somewhere ... have a rest
(Beris, 28, Tunisia).
This theme of tiredness is also highlighted by Urry in his discussion on modern leisure and
travel:
If people do not travel, they lose status: travel is the marker of status. It is a crucial element
of modern life to feel that travel and holidays are necessary. 'I need a holiday' is the surest
reflection of a modern discourse based on the idea that people's physical and mental health
will be restored if only they can 'get away' from time to time (Urry 1990: 5).
This notion can be seen as a temporary rejection of the work ethic through trying to 'find'
oneself and partaking of activities and experiences that others are not doing (see Veblen
1899 [1965]).
Travelling and backpacking can also be related to the notion that work is directly
connected to leisure and that when you leave home it is really to go and explore other
people's or culture's forms of work through sightseeing. That is, looking at the very thing
that you left home to escape from or avoid (Redfoot 1984: 295). As MacCannell argues:
Modernity is transforming labour into cultural productions attended by tourists and
sightseers who are moved by the universality of work relations - not - as this is represented
through their own work (from which they are alienated), but as it is revealed to them at their
leisure through the displayed work of others (MacCannell 1976: 36, italics in original).
Travellers and tourists can be seen as separate categories because tourists do not stay away
from home as long as backpackers and travellers. The prime motivation for the tourists t o
get away is the escape from work and all its pressures. Whereas some backpackers do n ot
see themselves as conforming to a work ethic criteria.
Backpackers do not conform to the norm with regard to touristic 'types'. They tend t o
travel much further and for much longer than 'ordinary' tourists (Buchanan and Rossetto

6Wendy Hillman
1997; Jarvis 1994; Murphy 1998; Riley 1988). However, these are not hard and fast
categories but, it is apparent that backpackers do use the dichotomy.
Conclusion
In this paper I have shown that backpackers do not believe they conform to the norms
associated with the contemporary tourist. They consider themselves travellers and n o t
mere tourists. Through travelling independently they are able to construct their own
meanings about their experiences, places they visit and people they meet. This is done so
as to give credibility to their travel and make their journey 'authentic'.
Tiredness, as a category, emerged from the data as a salient, previously unexplored theme.
This finding is directly related to the connection or polarity between work and leisure and is
definitely an interesting category that emerged from my data collection. It shows that
even though people 'go away' to relax, recuperate and unwind, in effect, this type of
travelling can have the opposite effect. However, this does not affect the notion of the
authentic and its connected experiences in any way, and may even add to the experience,
which also separates the backpackers off from other 'tourists'.
It would appear that the majority of backpackers are in love with travelling and use this t o
their advantage to explore other countries, and as an escape from their own humdrum
forms of western society. Leaving home is a legitimate way for individuals to ‘find’
themselves.
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