Coelho, Ana SofiaMartins, Márcio Ribeiro2026-03-252026-03-252024Coelho, A. S., & Martins, M. R. (2024). Innovation in urban tourism marketing: Mapping the backpacker’s journey. In L. Medina, E. Coelho, & A. Lopes (Eds.), Livro de atas do Congresso Internacional de Turismo – ITC’24: A imagem e a sustentabilidade dos destinos turísticos (Book of proceedings of the International Tourism Congress – ITC’24: The image and sustainability of tourist destinations). Universidade Técnica do Atlântico.978-989-36413-0-9http://hdl.handle.net/10198/36300The tourism industry plays an important role in the Portuguese economy, particularly contributing to the increase of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and job creation. Additionally, the rapid development of new technologies and the use of social networks means that tourists are increasingly well-informed and their behavior is changing and adapting to new realities. Among various types of tourism, the growing demand for urban tourism stands out, and although it is a little-studied phenomenon, backpacker tourism is revealed as a market segment that needs to be better understood. Backpacker tourism can be defined as “the activities developed by a complex and heterogeneous group of travelers, made up predominantly of young people who travel for longer periods than usual and with flexible and informal travel itineraries” (Martins & Costa, 2021, p.1). This article aims to demonstrate a backpacker journey mapping model. Backpacker journey mapping is also known as mapping the tourist's points of contact with the service provider (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). This proposed model will be a strategic tool that can be able to be used by managers, or tourism professionals, to offer and promote the services´ innovation that are more suitable and desired by Backpackers.engMarketingInnovationConsumer BehaviourBackpackerUrban tourismconference paper