Personal crisis as a catalyser in a Movement Continuum of tourism lifestyle mobilities

Abstract

Various professional, economic, and personal reasons underpin current migration flows. This article integrated the concepts of lifestyle travelling and lifestyle migration by bringing the tourism-migration nexus to the fore to analyse lifestyle issues of individuals that impact their decisions to be mobile. Sixteen in-depth semi-structured interviews with young Russian migrants, a ‘modern’ population with different perspectives about opportunities to travel and migrate than their USSR predecessors, were conducted with a focus on their life experiences, mobility ‘careers’ and starting points of migration. Thematic analysis and iterative engagement with data led to the creation of the Movement Continuum. This Movement Continuum connects different stages of movement ranging from the first trip, long-term travelling, permanent migration, and the final decision to settle down. The paper suggests the continued need for a better understanding of the importance of lifestyle in mobility and migration journeys. It identifies those moments of crisis in the mobility and migration journey that affect an individual’s intentions to stay on the move and/or to migrate. The findings complement discourses around the role of personal crisis in migration, mobilities, and tourism and highlight the necessity for further research regarding the better exploration of the relationship between lifestyle travel and lifestyle migration in tourism geographies.