This book, with 15 chapters divided into 4 parts, is the product of the research programme on backpacking developed by the Backpacker Research Group (BRG) of the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS). The BRG was initiated in Hainan in October 2000 by a few ATLAS members who shared the general feeling that backpacker research was becoming an important field of enquiry, but that the research field was unstructured and ill-defined. The idea of forming the BRG, therefore, was to act as a platform for discussion and debate between backpacker researchers worldwide and to develop common research programmes and publications.