IMPROVING THE BACKPACKER MARKET AND THE POTENTIAL FOR MALAYSIAN TOURISM

IMPROVING THE BACKPACKER MARKET AND THE POTENTIAL FOR MALAYSIAN TOURISM

Backpacker’s Motivation
by Nur Faizah Nawi (SX132776HAFF04)

(Credited to: https://www.bkrm.com/en/blog/across-the-globe-a-backpackers-playlist)

Travelling abroad to a foreign place may be difficult for some traveler to make decision on how to balance their trip between recreations, exploration and erudition. Even though it can be particularly worthwhile for travelers to loosen and rest, specially enjoying the beautiful scenery of a beach, the knowledge might not be as inspiring when guided by professionals and tour guide experts on the history, nature, and freedom of the place. Yet upon the wonderful aspects of a foreign culture is an adventurous experience of a person’s life, it is definitely erratic to be able to get all the pleasure and distinctiveness of a culture without the advice and guidance from the expert.

The Backpacking Style

The backpacking style gives the other options for traveler to get the vantage experience in travelling.  Backpacker is categorized as self-organised, predominantly young which will travels on a long multi-destination journeys and with flexible itineraries who want to experience the unique local lifestyle and meeting people, and do the recreational activities. They travel alone or in a small group.  This mode of travel incredibly frugal for those who travel with limited budget, and they may refer to the experience person about the place or do some research as a preparation to travel. This independent travel will use a backpack that easily to bring, use of public transport, and inexpensive stay such as hostel. This style of travel giving the biggest benefit afforded is freedom, and peculiarity associated with discovering the best parts of a location by wandering the streets, exploring with tourism books and maps, and interacting to the locals themselves. This enables the traveler to make their own plans and choices as per their interest, without a tour group or guide suggesting plans. However, in most situations, freedom comes with a price; with lack of expert knowledge will increase the risks that come with unsupervised travel.

What motivate traveler to go backpacker?

Encourage to find their true selves

These people believed that these tourist destinations imagined and encountered as places where a self can be transformed. Apart from that, tourism provides the potential for a new form of identity, which will allow the individuals to define themselves referring to their individual experiences of the world, rather than through patterns offered by their society. For them, via backpack helps in develop the process of personal growth, and think in different perspective, which will allow travelers to transcend their daily lives and thereby find their ‘true selves’.

Authenticity vs personal fulfillment

Apart from that, there are many backpackers combine their travels with work abroad, voluntary or paid, or either refill the funds, or enhance their career projections, but does not look into offering with respects to authenticity. This concludes that the higher physical authentic involvements person has, the better the level of personal achievement.

Generally, backpackers should not be seen as having just one reason for travel. As, there are various people board on journeys for various reasons, and these experiences mean different things to them.  

Other reason

In addition to, they would like to explore other cultures, excitement, gain knowledge, relaxation and meet people. There is only a relatively small proportion of people travel for more altruistic motives, as such giving something to the destination they visited, indicate that people are search for understanding of other cultures without enthusiastically involved in the native community.

Strategies to Enhance Backpack Sector in Malaysia Tourism

In Malaysia, the evolution of the backpackers has been evolved. There is a potential market for this sector. Therefore, it is a must to create strategies to form a sustainable upcoming for this travel style whether by foreigner or citizens themselves.

Cooperation

There is a need to have support from all communities of interest to shape the future of backpacking in Malaysia. Specifically, it is crucial for cooperation between Malaysia governments, backpacker businesses and research bodies in reviewing, endorsing and taking actions, to run the strategies. There are short term and long term strategies.

Short term strategies

The backpacker sector company should maintain a technology watch and research agenda with a specific annual task to report on technology variations. They should assist for skill building workshops and industry communication opportunities including informative web sites and training sessions for backpacker operators. Technology and social communication improvements were seen as a force that the sector needs to resolve in terms of training and skill development.

Stimulate the partnerships through a Volunteer Backpack summit. In conjunction with the workshop between the backpackers, they should meet to discuss on the mutual opportunities, and included the social and community interest groups as well as environmental agencies.

International trends of volunteering are significantly expanding, however Malaysia not the preferred destination for volunteering. The full creation of the nature of these volunteering chances could be discussed and actions plans introduced by get together volunteer and aid societies and backpacker interest groups to furnace desirable experiences for travelers that may benefit locations and societies.

Long term strategies

Construct joint government and industry training courses, knowledge services and special workshops for operators to focus on new communication technologies. This is a continuation of the need for Malaysian businesses to conscious on the differences in technology use by the market, and the methods that communication and technology to be efficiently used

Next, improve the quality control mechanisms to reinforce the image of Malaysian backpacking industry through a national standards committee. This method should be combined into the national tourism endorsement outline precisely for the backpacker world. Other than that, for backpacker attention, specifically focusing on cleanliness, accommodation quality, sustainability issues and activity professionalism. This is the approach regarding the pricing issue to ensure acceptable quality standards where consumers can foresee the level of comfort, facility and service for the amount they are being charged.

Apart from that, this is the responsibility of Malaysia Tourism to provide the information gaps reported by backpackers on what to do and where to do it. By providing people and faces through the published online information will assist travelers. 

Conclusion

As a final point, marketer could create strategies based on the things that motivate the backpackers. There is a lot of way to improve and inspiring those backpackers from foreign country to come to Malaysia. This will improve the Malaysian tourism itself.

References:
SEGMENTING
THE ASIAN TRAVELLER
A WHITE PAPER
International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) ‘Leaders Forum’

June 4, 2012 in Shanghai, China