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Traveling without money : deserving ‘drifters' or panhandling 2.0?
Tomazos, Konstantinos Murdy, Samantha
Tomazos, Konstantinos
Murdy, Samantha
Abstract
The controversial phenomenon of travelling without money, known as ‘beg-packing’, challenges conventional notions of travel. Our study explores the evolving landscape of beg-packing, including its digital manifestation as ‘e-beg-packing’. We explore the connection between drifters and beg-packers, emphasizing strategies like selling photos, staying with locals, and eliciting sympathy. To do so, we delve into how beg-packers construct narratives on crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe and the public perception of the practice on Instagram. The study indicates that beg-packers face stigma akin to drifters, with comments favouring working and saving for travel, raising questions about deservingness and privilege. Gratitude plays a role in donor perception, with an expectation of continuous updates fostering social media relationships. However, the potential for exploitation and vulnerability in e-beg-packing requires further exploration, especially concerning the limits of reciprocity and boundary-setting. In conclusion, this study embraces a multifaceted approach to dissect beg-packing, revealing its diverse nature and offering new insights into the relationship between reciprocity and travel. We present insights into trends, motivations, financial needs, and public sentiment, shedding light on the complexities of this phenomenon. By understanding the complexities of this practice, we aim to foster a more grounded and effective response to this evolving travel phenomenon.
Keywords
Beg-packing, e-beg-packing, reciprocity, netnography
Date
2024
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
Issue
Page Range
1-14
Article Number
ACU Department
Peter Faber Business School
Faculty of Law and Business
Faculty of Law and Business
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or builtupon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or builtupon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.