Great divides or subtle contours? Contrasting British, North American/Canadian and European backpackers

Abstract

[Extract] This chapter considers the conceptual issues of convergence and divergence in relation to backpacker tourism markets. Convergence implies that there is a rising homogeneity among tourists from different countries of origin; divergence suggests that strong differences between the groups will exist. Following an overview of existing studies of backpacking tourists in Australia, the chapter analyses recent survey data collected in Australia on backpackers from the United Kingdom, North America/ Canada and Europe. It is argued that within this set of travellers in Australia there are only subtle differences.