Diaspora Tourism and Homeland Attachment: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

Diaspora tourism refers to the travel of people in diaspora to their ancestral homelands in search of their roots or to feel connected to their personal heritage. Whereas most tourists become attached to a destination after repeat visits, the tourist-destination relation in diaspora tourism is unique because tourists with immigrant origins often feel connected to the people, culture, and heritage of the destination before actually visiting the place. This study explores the relationship between second-generation immigrants' attachment to their ancestral homeland and their journey back "home," focusing on whether or not the second generation could feel at home in their parents' country of origin versus their current country of residence. This study employs secondary data from two studies on second-generation immigrants in the US: the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study and the Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles study. Findings revealed that there was an association between the number of diaspora tourism trips and feeling at home in their parents' country of origin. Second-generation immigrants who considered both America and their ancestral homeland as home took the highest number of trips, and their transnational attachment to two countries reflected the dual loyalty and identity of people in diaspora. In addition, those who experienced extended stays were more likely to feel at home in their ancestral homeland. Whereas such relationship was not necessarily causal, both length and frequency of diaspora tourism trips were found to be associated with immigrants' connection to the land of their ancestors.