This is the second volume of the ongoing research programme on backpacking developed by the Backpacker Research Group (BRG) of the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS). The BRG aims to act as a platform for the discussion and debate between researchers of backpacker travel worldwide. It follows on from the success of the first volume The Global Nomad (Richards & Wilson, 2004) and seeks to further shape this relatively new area of tourism research.

The idea for the book was initiated at a meeting at Kasetsart University in Bangkok in September 2005 attended by 31 members of the BRG including researchers from the UK, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Israel and Malaysia. Drafts of the chapters contained in this volume were presented at this three-day meeting and these generated continued discussion and updates on the nature, meaning and significance of backpacker tourism. The meeting also enabled feedback to be given to the contributors to this volume and helped to develop the concept of the book.

This book, however, is not an exhaustive account of backpacker tourism research and nor is it meant to be. There are clear areas of theoretical, methodological and geographical research on backpacker tourism still to be covered and we point to this in the concluding chapter of the volume. Furthermore, at the time of writing new meetings of the BRG are being planned in Malaysia and India. Information about the ATLAS BRG activities can be found on the Internet (www.atlas-euro.org).