Features: Would you use a backpacker tracker?

It’s the backpacker nightmare. Imagine every move you make being scrutinised by anxious parents back home. In the airport bar before you’ve even departed? Hopping over to that full moon party you promised you wouldn’t go to? Missed your flight because you were in the club until 5am? A new GPS tracker means your family will know everything.

 

Why get one?

One company which manufactures GPS trackers is Gapyear Trackers. Their three models of trackers offer travellers a discreet way to put there parents at ease whilst also potentially being a life-saver.

The device allows friends and family to log onto a private mapping website and get the location of the traveller as well as their previous routings. The tracker also has an SOS button which can be used in an emergency to send out a distress text message to five pre-chosen phone numbers.

Gapyear Tracker cites the case of a traveller in Australia who was rescued after a bus crash as an example of how vital the devices can be. Without a phone signal and stuck in the desert, the traveller was found after police traced the recent movements of her GPS tracker.

Is it worth it?

Gapyear Tracker charges £189 for its cheapest tracker. This is clearly not an expense most budget travellers would be happy to pay for, especially as the money could be used towards hotels, travel or even a bungee jump.

‘Anything over £100 would be too much for me. I’d rather spend it on a nice hotel or enjoying myself when I’m away,’ says David Clifford, a gap year student planning on travelling to Thailand.

‘Most of the places I’m going to are big cities, so I don’t think a tracker would be that important to me. I’m also taking my mobile phone, so I’m sure my parents could just use that if they needed to contact me,’ he adds.

The professional’s view

Rory Greenfield is Cover Manager at STA Travel in Manchester. He says that a backpacker tracker is unlikely to be a big seller with the company’s target audience.

‘I don’t think that a GPS tracker would be top of most travellers’ lists. Most places have decent internet connections these days and good travel insurance will cover you in most scenarios. The only way I could see it taking off is if worried parents insist on buying the tracker for their kids,’ he says.

‘Most gap year travellers are after getting away from home and family and trying out new experiences. There is something a little creepy, if well intentioned, about a GPS tracker which pinpoints your every movement.’