Younger travellers have traditionally fit the mould of a typical backpacker, and Millennials are no different in leading today’s charge in embracing backpacking culture.
“Backpacking” essentially, is when you travel carrying your belongings for the length of a trip in a backpack, and stay in hostel-like accommodation while exploring different activities in the surrounding area.
Tourists from around the world used to be backpacking their way around our country, but South Africans are now swelling the ranks of explorers, shouldering backpacks and striking out for an adventure.
According to experienced backpackers, backpacking offers travellers a sense of freedom and a unique, authentic way of experiencing an area.
Certainly, for those who love an active lifestyle and like challenging themselves with the unconventional, backpacking holds a growing allure.
“At a time when the average South African is feeling the economic pinch, people are looking for cheaper ways of travelling for leisure.
“If it appeals to you, then backpacking is a fun-filled, affordable option,” says head of marketing and communication at online booking platform Jurni, Tshepo Matlou.
South Africa’s backpacking culture has been reinvigorated and repackaged. A booking platform like Jurni, for example, has lots of accommodation options to choose from.
For example, it hosts Curiocity Packagers, which merges the concepts of backpacking and boutique hotels to ensure safety and comfort through “design-led” accommodation.
This means it offers white linens with 4-5 star graded bedding, as opposed to hostel quality accommodation – a far cry from the old hostel-dwelling kind of backpacking prevalent years ago.
Bheki Dube, who owns the backpacking company, which has branches in Johannesburg’s Maboneng precinct and Greenpoint in Cape Town, describes the current backpacking scene in South Africa as both innovative and affordable.
“We’ve seen that Millennials are more about the experience than just booking accommodation. They are active and connected, and share their activities online when we host them.
“It’s a fun lifestyle and we’ve seen demand pick up. When we started in 2013, we had a split of 80% international customers and 20% locals. Now, it’s an even split, with local Millennials really embracing the backpacking experience,” notes Dube.
“We offer design-led accommodations, with an option to backpack for R200 a night at the dormitory, or hire a private room for R1 000 a night at the same facility. We are also heavily focused on experiences and travel, with a programme ready for our guests every morning to evening.
‘’For example, people can take part in a Maboneng city tour, a Soweto tour, or they can join in on a city cycle run and related activities. These activities are hugely successful among Millennials,” he adds.
Activities at backpacking facilities typically include a braai, live performances by local artists, campfire storytelling sessions and related experiences.
Some hostel settings, where you pay overnight, also have areas where you can pitch a tent for the full experience.
For anyone who owns or runs a back-packing facility, Matlou advises that they should leverage activities and experiences around their area.
“Collaborating with local travel activity businesses creates a sustainable ecosystem for all involved. The more you can tell your guests about what they can do in the area, the more value they’ll feel you are offering them.”
He also recommends that accommodation owners carry a lot of information around safety – both of the traveller and their personal property, including cars – in their online listing description.
“Backpackers want an assurance of safety, and by highlighting what you offer, such as lockers to store valuables in, could mean the difference in whether a traveller books or not,” Dube concluded.
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