...it's all about NUMBERS!.

It's impossible to know just how many backpackers there are out there but every year 239,000 students take a gap- year from just the UK universities alone and over 566,000 backpackers from around the world visit Australia every year pouring a massive US$2.5 billion into the local economy! Backpacking has grown far beyond its 'hippy trail' origins!

So what 'collective' impact are we having through our journeys? Is independent travel really more sustainable than mass tourism? Does the old adage ' Take only photographs, leave only footprints ' still apply when my Tuk-Tuk driver is on Facebook?

More than footprints? is a 40,075km journey ONTO the beaten track to talk to local NGOs, local stakeholders, local media and, most importantly, local people to find out what we're doing wrong, what we're doing right, and to find out how we can make a more positive contribution to those places we visit.

Our next journey starts in September 2010 and you can follow More than footprints? here at Day12.com. You can also follow us on our Facebook Group and we'll be publishing the results in our online magazine following the journey.

On the next few pages you'll find everything you need to know about our plans and how YOU can get involved. More than footprints? is funded by people buying kilometres to help us find out what the people who LIVE along the backpacker trail have to say about sustainable backpacking. Many thanks to everyone who's bought a kilometre so far. Now tell your friends!

The Day12 Project
Making the tourism industry work
for local people, not just
the other way round
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