Cody Morris Paris

The Social Affordances of Flashpacking: Exploring the Mobility Nexus of Travel and Communication

Abstract The proliferation of digital devices and online social media and networking technologies has altered the backpacking landscape in recent years. Thanks to the ready availability of online communication, travelers are now able to stay in continuous touch with friends, family and other travelers while on the move. This paper introduces the practice of ‘flashpacking’ to describe this emerging trend and interrogates the patterns of connection and disconnection that become possible as corporeal travel and social technologies converge. Drawing on the concepts of ‘assemblages’ and ‘affordances,’ we outline several aspects of this new sociality: virtual mooring, following, collaborating, and (dis)connecting. The conclusion situates this discussion alongside broader questions about the shifting nature of social life in an increasingly mobile and mediated world and suggests directions for future research at the intersection of tourism and technology.

A Quantified Triple Bottom Line for Tourism Experimental Results

The tradition of tourism businesses and regional tourism industries is to measure their value to the host community by jobs, wages, and tax revenues even though every member of that community is affected on a daily basis through a broad variety of impacts. This article demonstrates a conceptual approach for measuring the relative importance of the major dimensions of community quality of life that can be influenced by the tourism industry in order to calculate an indication of overall impact on the well-being of community residents. Furthermore, we have formulated an example conjoint model that values this overall performance in monetary units. This model is successfully implemented using samples of college students and tourism industry professionals in the United States and Cyprus. A monetary version of triple bottom line impacts is calculated for the impacts of changes to a specific hypothetical tourism business. Recommendations are made for the extension and application of this approach to implementing sustainable tourism.

The Role of Social Media in Promoting Special Events: Acceptance of Facebook ‘Events’

This study examines Facebook ‘events’ as a medium for promoting special events to consumers. This study proposes a Social Technology Acceptance Model, an extension of the TAM model, to examine the influence of trust, expected relationships and perceived enjoyment in forming consumer attitudes towards Facebook and consumers intentions to attend an event. Data was collected through an online survey administered through special event organizer’s Facebook ‘Pages’. Findings of the study suggest that users’ trust and expected relationship through Facebook had a significant effect on users’ acceptance of Facebook and their intended offline behaviour to attend the event. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Fair Trade Learning: Ethical standards for community-engaged international volunteer tourism:

The purpose of this paper is to articulate a set of ethical standards for international volunteer tourism. The standards are focused on promoting Fair Trade Learning (FTL) principles in the management and operation of volunteer programs. Because of the unique social mission, research, and evaluation capacities of higher education, we propose first applying these principles specifically to international volunteer programs operating at the university–community nexus. These standards have emerged through a collaborative, in-person, and online process during the last 2 years with input by numerous concerned global citizens, international education practitioners and researchers, nongovernmental organization representatives, and community members. The document shared below represents current “best practice” for maximizing the benefits and minimizing the negative impacts of volunteer tourism programs for both host communities and volunteers.

Understanding the statusphere and blogosphere: an analysis of virtual backpacker spaces

The continued commoditization of attention suggests that researchers shift their questions to focus on how information is consumed, shared, created, and applied. In this context, a greater understanding of the virtual infrastructure could provide some insights into the mediation of the tourist experience by social media, the uses and meanings associated with certain types of social media, could have great implications for tourism marketing and management. The main objective of this paper was to understand the spatial structure of the virtual space of backpacking through the mobile-virtual ethnographic examination of four types of social media (Facebook, blogs, YouTube, and Twitter) by eight tech-savvy backpackers. The findings are discussed within the context of two main virtual spaces: the Statusphere and the Blogosphere.

Cruise line industry and Caribbean tourism: guests' motivations, activities, and destination preference

This study examines passengers� motivations for taking a cruise vacation, their travel-related activities while on vacation, and their preferences to return to each destination for a land-based vacation. The study is based on a survey of cruise passengers on a 10-day itinerary with six ports-of-call from Miami, Florida to the Caribbean. Five underlying dimensions of cruise passengers� motivations were found: Convenience/Ship Based, Exploration, Escape and Relaxation, Social, and Climate. The findings of the study indicate that while the majority of respondents participated in shore excursions and a diverse range of activities in port, they had mixed rankings of destinations on the itinerary. Generally, passengers ranked the more developed destinations higher, spent more money in port, and traveled further from the port area. Furthermore, destinations that were ranked high were also those that respondents indicated preference to return for land-based holidays, suggesting that the satisfaction with a port destination and the activities participated in could influence passengers� intent to return.

A comparison between Asian and Australasia backpackers using cultural consensus analysis

This study tests the differences in the shared understanding of the backpacker cultural domain between two groups: backpackers from Australasia and backpackers from Asian countries. A total of 256 backpackers responded to a questionnaire administered in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Krabi Province (Thailand). Cultural consensus analysis (CCA) guided the data analysis, to identify the shared values and the differences in the backpacker culture of the two groups. The findings revealed that while the two groups share some of the backpacker cultural values, some other values are distinctively different from one another. The study provides the first empirical evidence of the differences in backpacking culture between the two groups using CCA. Based on the study findings, we propose some marketing and managerial implications.

The Virtualization of Backpacker Culture

Backpacking is a culture symbolic of the increasingly mobile world. The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of the stabilization and creation of the social structure of the backpacking culture that has resulted from the convergence of technology and ideology. Using theory from the field of evolutionary anthropology, the backpacker culture is examined as an integrated system composed of technological, sociological, and ideological sybsystems. Age cohort analysis is used to examine the differences between age groups in terms of their online information search, participation in backpacker specific forums, usage of social networking sites, and the virtual connection to the backpacker culture. While previous studies have considered the mainstreaming of backpacking as the main barrier to examining backpacking as a culture, the results of this study suggest that the convergence of backpacker ideology with the advances in communications technologies have created the social structure to support the mainstream backpacker culture of today.

Surveying “difficult-to-sample” backpackers through Facebook? Employing a mixed-mode dual-frame procedure

The emergence of social media has created a new medium for administering surveys for tourism research. While social media has great potential for tourism researchers, several aspects need to be considered. In the case of backpackers, a traditionally “difficult-to-sample” group, destination-based surveys, email surveys, survey links posted in online forums, and social media sites such as Facebook have all been used to administer surveys. The purpose of this paper is to present the case for a mixed-mode dual-frame sampling procedure as an optimum for targeting backpackers. The sampling procedure discussed in this paper included self-administered surveys through backpacker-specific groups on Facebook.com and self-administered surveys at backpacker hostels in Cairns, Australia. This paper argues that for this particular group, combining offline and online sampling modes allows the research to minimize errors while maximizing the diversity. Additionally, this paper provides some insights and recommendations into administering surveys through Facebook for tourism researchers.

Disconnected and Unplugged: Experiences of Technology Induced Anxieties and Tensions While Traveling

The purpose of this study is to explore the experience of being disconnected while traveling for technologically savvy travelers. This paper will explore how new technologies ‘separate’ travelers from the physical and embodied travel experience, and how experiences and tensions caused by being disconnected or unplugged are negotiated. For this study, travelers’ experiences were elicited through a series of online interviews conducted primarily through email and Facebook. Pearce and Gretzel’s (Int J Tourism Sci 12(2):1–20, 2012) technology-induced tensions and recent literature on internet/technology addiction provide a conceptual framework for the analysis.