Encountering begpackers

ABSTRACT

‘Begpacking’ refers to the practice of tourists begging, busking or selling trinkets at their travel destinations to finance their travel. Instances of begpacking have recently caused condemnation in mainstream and social media, fuelled by the perception that begpackers come from the rich Western world to take advantage of host communities in Asia. We undertake exploratory research of this phenomenon via qualitative research with begpackers in situ, combining this with social experiments in which a researcher-begpacker simulates begpacking to seek out reactions from the host community. We use our findings to characterise and conceptualise begpackers, and to investigate the interaction between begpackers and the host community. Finally, we discuss differences in perception of the phenomenon by media, the local community and the begpackers themselves.

KEYWORDS:

• Begging
• backpacking
• begpacking
• equity theory
• social experiment
• Hong Kong

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Denis Tolkach is Assistant Professor at School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Prior to moving to Hong Kong he has undertaken teaching and research in Australia and Timor-Leste. Tolkach has been teaching a variety of subjects in the hospitality and tourism field. His main interests are in tourism and development, community-based tourism and nature-based tourism.

Matias Thuen Jørgensen is Assistant Professor at Roskilde University, Denmark. He has a Ph.D. in Tourism Management from the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include system and network approaches to the study of tourism, destination management and marketing, as well as emerging tourism markets (China in particular) and the relations between these new outbound markets and the destinations that receive them.

Stephen Pratt is a Professor and a Head of School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, the University of the South Pacific. He has previously worked as Assistant Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests are wide ranging and include sustainable tourism development and film tourism. He is co-creator of the popular YouTube channel, The Travel Professors. The aim of this channel is to provide brief overview of current trends and issues in tourism and relate them to academic research.

Wantanee Suntikul is Assistant Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her core research interest and expertise are in cultural tourism destinations, political and social aspects of tourism development, religion tourism, heritage tourism, and gastrodiplomacy and tourism. She holds projects in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, China, Hong Kong, Macao and Bhutan. Suntikul is a Joint Editor-in-Chief of the journal Tourism, Culture & Communication.

ORCID

Denis Tolkach http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8820-7764

Matias Thuen Jørgensen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6202-1654

Stephen Pratt http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6550-132X

Wantanee Suntikul http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3834-850X