Economically Detached? Second Home Owners and the Local Community in Poland

Abstract

Given that agriculture has been to a significant extent losing its role as the key economic stimulus for rural communities, an explicit need to search for new income, employment and development opportunities arises. Because second homes have become popular and a common element of the European rural space, they may contribute considerably to rural restructuring through the rise in households' incomes and increasing labor opportunities not only in tourism-based communities but also in formerly agricultural depopulating areas. In this article, the main research objective is to identify and evaluate economic relationships between second home owners and the local people in Poland. These were examined in terms of scale (number of actors involved) and the object of transactions (agriculture produce, other articles of everyday use, building materials, services) as well as in economic value. Therefore, the key aim of the study is to answer the question whether the flow of capital resources to rural areas from outside is significant or marginal—that is, whether it should be considered as a development precondition with a significant influence on rural economy or rather as a factor of little importance, restricted to certain types of areas or groups of stakeholders or providing only an additional income.