Backpacking in the Internet Age: Contextualizing the Use of Lonely Planet Guidebooks

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore how influential Lonely Planet (LP) guidebooks are to backpackers. Findings revealed LP to be of moderate influence, acting in a supplementary role to word of mouth information. The most important information source was word of mouth information amongst backpackers, followed by word of mouth information from locals, LP guidebooks and the Internet. Due to the difficulties of isolating LP guidebook use from these other information sources, systems thinking was applied in which these four most influential sources of information were conceptualized as subsystems which combined to comprise a larger backpacker information system. LP was then used as the starting point for a wider exploration of information usage amongst backpackers, incorporating the influence of the Internet and word of mouth information. Recent studies reveal that Internet usage amongst tourists has substantially increased during the past few years, demonstrating the speed with which the guidebook industry and backpacking is changing.

Keywords:

• backpackers
• Lonely Planet guidebooks
• systems thinking
• word of mouth
• information sources