Pai—A Backpacker Enclave in Transition

Based on a longitudinal study of Pai in northwestern Thailand, this article explores some little-researched issues in backpacker studies, particularly the distribution of benefits from backpacker tourism, relations between backpackers and other tourists and the dynamics of backpacker enclaves. Though the claim that communities are the main beneficiaries of backpacker tourism is confirmed, in Pai it is not the native Shan people, but rather different kinds of in-migrants to the community, who primarily benefit from backpackers. Contrary to the backpacker ideology, in Pai there is no antagonism, or even separation, between backpackers and individual foreign tourists; the main dividing line is between foreigners, staying mostly in guesthouses, and the growing number of domestic tourists and excursionists, staying in resorts. The efforts of the authorities and private entrepreneurs to up-grade local tourism, leading to improvements of the local infrastructure and the establishment of increasingly more luxurious resorts, raises the question of the future viability of the backpacker enclave in Pai. It is suggested that, in contrast to beachfront enclaves, which tend to be directly invaded by tourist developers and to disappear, in a mountainous area such as Pai, the enclave will not be so invaded and may continue to coexist, albeit in a modified form, with luxurious resort development. This raises the question of factors influencing the different trajectories of development of backpacker enclaves, which remains open to further exploration.