Residential Tourists Research Articles

Fethiye: Turkey’s ‘Little Britain' – residential tourists’ identity and relationships

ABSTRACT This paper examines the Turkish resort town of Fethiye’s large British population of permanent residents, who have added to the physical and cultural character of the town. To understand why these individuals decided to relocate to Fethiye, and what their lives are like in the town, 17 semi-structured interviews with British residential tourists were conducted. The paper reveals a complex identity paradox, where many feel that the stigma surrounding the term ‘expat’, and what it means to be a ‘Brit abroad’, has impacted their identity, relationships and judgement of fellow residential tourists. The study also uncovers the motivational characteristics for their relocation, from which a strong financial element towards the choice of Turkey was revealed. Host–guest relationships are also explored, revealing largely positive attitudes towards the Turkish community.

Residential tourism and eudaimonic well-being: A ‘value-adding’ analysis

This study aims to explore the linkage between residential tourism and eudaimonic well-being. A “value-adding” approach is applied to this analysis with an extended interpretation. Residential tourism involves a prolonged stay in a destination and thus can lead to fundamental changes in environment, lifestyle, social networks, and values. Residential tourist experience is found to have profound impacts on individuals' eudaimonic well-being in the eight aspects of autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, the extension of youth, positive relations with others, self-acceptance, and inner peace. This study advances Ryff's (1989) eudaimonic well-being model and contributes to tourism and mobility research. Implications for residential tourists and destination managers are also provided.

Residential tourism and environmental dynamics in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico: Case study “Las Palmas”

The central purpose of this study was to expose in a synthesized way the characteristics of residential tourism and environmental dynamics in the housing subdivision “Las Palmas” of Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico. The applied methodology consisted of cabinet and field work, that included participant observation and application of 600 questionnaires to residents and residential tourists, this questionnaire was formed by 14 items. Results: a) an updated plan map of “Las Palmas”, b) characterization of the local residential tourism, c) environmental dynamic of the studied area and d) diagnosis of environmental character and residential tourism at an infra-local level. Conclusions: 1) second homes involves: a) the tourist as consumer of the house; b) the real estate market that offers in an attractive way this beach as destination and c) the entailment between the emitting and receiving space through "el Sol" highway (Cuernavaca-Acapulco); 2) use of the soil change from agriculturist to residential, has brought the modification of habitats; migration of birds and minor coverage of low deciduous forest and 3) “Las Palmas” represented favorable economic balances for real estate with the detonation of residential tourism through the West of the center of Acapulco.

Acculturation, shopping acculturation, and shopping motives of International Residential Tourists.

The pairing of tourism and shopping, and particularly the area of tourist shopping motivations, has led to a prolific output in terms of literature. However, the related studies are fundamentally descriptive and do not discuss the background variables in detail. The aim of this study is to develop and test an explanatory structural model of the influence of socio-demographics and acculturation on International Residential Tourist (IRT) shopping motivations. The results obtained confirm the influence of certain socio-demographic variables on acculturation, of the latter on shopping acculturation and in turn on shopping motivations. Likewise, the decisive role that nationality plays when defining the sense and intensity of structural relationships can also be verified. The model tested is foreseen to be of special interest to IRT destinations, as it allows shopping motivations to be predicted, meaning that the commercial offer can be strategically adapted.

Swimming Against the Current: The Migration of Elders to the South

Every day there are more elderly people who decide to live in a different country from their country of birth. This phenomenon of older migrants reveals a distinct counter-current from the economically more-developed Northern countries to the less-developed and developing South, therefore requiring a new and different theoretical analysis that does not fit into the pre-existing frameworks of labour migration and development. For some researchers, these migrants are considered residential tourists, who have no home or place of belonging neither in the developing and less-developed areas nor within existing theoretical frameworks. In order to conceptualize trends and identify the patterns of this phenomenon, this investigation will examine the migration of retirees and/or pensioners from the northern hemisphere who have settled in Vilcabamba (Southern Ecuador) through a theoretically informed engagement with key informants and a series of qualitative semi-structured interviews. It is hoped that this project will enable further research in this largely uncharted line of research on the flow of migration that ‘swims against the current’.

Impacts of US Residential Tourism in Northwest Mexican Coastal Destinations: the cases of Mazatlán, Sinaloa; Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur and Puerto Peñasco, Sonora

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to present an analysis of the social and environmental impacts generated by residential tourism in three destinations in northwestern Mexico. In the theoretical framework a critical review of this tourism modality is presented, as well as its main statements. To achieve the objective, non-participant observation was made, and official sources of the federal government were consulted. The results show that residential tourism in this region generates important negative social, cultural, political and environmental effects, such as social polarization, hoarding of natural resources, privatization of public spaces and degradation of the ecosystem. The study allowed to identify these effects and compare them between the three destinations.
 Keywords: Residential Tourism. Social and Cultural Impacts. Political Impacts. Environmental Impacts. Mexico.
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 Environmental: In many cases these tourists demand spaces near the coast and places where biodiversity is very fragile.
 In this paper the objectives were to analyze some impacts of residential tourism from United States in three coastal destinations in northwest Mexico: Mazatlan, Sinaloa; Puerto Penasco, Sonora and Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur. Using a non-participant observation methodology we describe the social and environmental impacts in the region. Using a quantitative methodology (survey) and relying on data provided by the National Migration Institute in each of the three entities, we also describe the demographic composition of these residential tourists.

Otherness and closeness: residential tourism and rural gentrification processes

PurposeThis essay looks at how various forms of residential tourism or lifestyle migration, produced by people arriving from the cities and territories of the so-called Global North, have triggered complex processes of social-spatial modification in the landscapes and rural environments of Vilcabamba, Ecuador, a small Andean village of approximately 5,000 inhabitants in the southern part of the canton of Loja. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachResidential tourism in rural areas is a phenomenon that can be investigated by combining socio-economic studies with spatial analyses to define the specific characteristics of territories and environments affected by this phenomenon. In the case of Vilcabamba, the relationships and conflicts between imaginations, spaces, ecologies and desires have taken the form of a complex “implicit project”, a “palimpsest-project” intended as a set of territorial descriptions, interpretations and transformation actions triggered by a plot featuring migrant tourists, activists, eco-institutions, schools, artisans, intellectuals and artists. Though weakly connected to one another, these subjects nonetheless produce substantially coherent actions.FindingsTwo main hypotheses are given as: the first is that in particular rural contexts, such as the Andean area around Vilcabamba, dwelling practices and economies related to residential tourism have triggered processes through which these areas have progressively become peripheries to distant metropolitan territories and are reconfigured as sets of specialised places. The second hypothesis is that Vilcabamba and its rural surroundings can be viewed as a particular “contact zone” in which different types of residential tourists and local dwellers interact, together with different economies of tourism. In this case the reference is, on the one hand, to the logics and discourses of the so-called extractive tourism, a concept that describes the processes of “extracting” and converting local cultural characteristics, and “indigenousness”. To support these hypotheses, the result is the construction of a spatial representation of the ways in which specific practices of residential tourism are territorialised, and how they modify the meaning and functioning of rural spaces.Originality/valueWhat is new in the paper is the attempt to define a spatial representation of transnational spaces trying to highlight relationships between extractive tourism and remittance urbanism.

A place in the sun: the British housing market’s (de)construction of Andalusia

Andalusia has become one of the main destinations for British residential tourists, attracted by leisure, a mild climate and the search for a better lifestyle. Prompted by its interest in selling houses, the real estate industry has devised an image of the Andalusian landscape that is, to all intents and purposes, partial and biased. The purpose of this research is to assess the importance of the elements and features that characterise this particular vision of this Spanish region, paying particular attention to more rural inland areas. For this, an empirical study has been conducted based on content analysis of real estate websites targeting British buyers. This study has revealed that: (i) the misrepresented and romantic projection of the image of Andalusia still persists to a certain extent. Among the main elements and attributes that characterise the landscape are all those that emphasise the region’s sublime, picturesque and exotic nature; other main landscape qualities and unique areas, specifically, any that today enjoy natural or cultural legal protection due to their heritage value, are less important in this cultural construction; (ii) the various parts of Andalusia are treated unequally. Malaga province and the rest of the Baetic Mountains are much better represented than other areas (the Guadalquivir Valley and the Sierra Morena mountains). This imbalance sometimes results in a distorted construction of the territory. This way of conceiving Andalusia puts Malaga at the heart of the region, and the further from the Costa del Sol, the more peripheral the regions become; (iii) the complexity of the landscape as a cultural expression is reduced to a set of simplified features that can be easily digested by a social group focused not on experiencing, but on consuming the landscape.

Residential Tourists’ Perceptions of Quality of Life: Case of Alanya, Turkey

Researches on tourism investigating quality of life have become an important study area for tourism scholars over the last few decades. Thus, focus points have started to evolve from the macro impact of tourism to the micro impact on individuals and their well-being. The aim of this study is to determine factors that have an impact on the perception of quality of life of the residential tourists. To this end, correspondence analysis and log-linear model are employed that visualize the results and reveal significant factors and interactions terms. According to findings, some demographic factors such as gender, duration of living in Alanya and nationality have an impact on quality of life perception of residential tourists. Besides, supportive evidence for adaptation level theory, used for explaining the effects of big life events on quality of life perception, was found.

Seniors in international residential tourism: looking for quality of life

This research was conducted in golf resorts, questioning tourists living in Portugal. Principal component analysis highlighted determinants of quality of life (QOL) of senior residential tourists. An ordered probit model evaluated what matters most to seniors seeking to achieve their desired level of well-being. Aesthetics of locations, perceived value, medical assistance, socialization, and community involvement contribute to decisions to establish a second residence in Portugal – either to ensure a good QOL at retirement or permit longer periodic stays. Results show that quality of neighbourhoods explains their aesthetic value and suggest that local social relationships matter. Beauty, security, and safety are equally important. This is one of the first studies suggesting that aesthetics in neighbourhoods explain QOL of senior residential tourists.

The ‘Existential Authenticity’ and the Re-recognition of Tourist Attraction: The Cultural Practices of Residential Tourists in Bali

The ‘Existential Authenticity’ and the Re-recognition of Tourist Attraction: The Cultural Practices of Residential Tourists in Bali

Residential tourists and the half-life of European cosmopolitanism in post-crisis Spain

This article examines British homeowners in Spain after the 2008 economic crisis and their struggles to navigate Spain’s troubled real estate sector. It argues that foreign residents previously embraced European cosmopolitanism but disputes over illegal home construction soured their opinion of European Union (EU) integration. Using ethnographic research and interviews, the article shows how these homeowners contested the idea that EU cohesion policies produced uniform legal systems related to housing and urban development. It also shows that while cosmopolitanism was often spurred at the level of formal politics, cosmopolitan ‘practices’ were subtly endorsed to delineate between those who had agency, and were successfully dealing with the crisis, and those who seemed to be floundering. The article confirms contemporary studies of EU regional polarization and the stalled project of creating ‘social Europe’, while showing how personal conceptions of mobility are highly linked to class.

Literary Festival Tourism in Montserrat

BackgroundRESEARCHERS HAVE DOCUMENTED THE RAPID TRANSFORMATION of the economy of the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat from agriculture in the 1950s to an emerging services sector including construction and in the 1960s.1 These developments created an environment that encouraged the introduction and growth of residential tourism.2 Residential tourists are those persons who live abroad but own homes on Montserrat.William H. Bramble, union leader and champion of the working classes, became a member of the Legislative Council in 1952. On assuming office, he concentrated on dismantling the sharecropping or metayage system which he felt exploited the labourers by not adequately compensating them for their work on the estates. This resulted in a movement away from agriculture in general, and cotton production in particular, and many estates fell idle. Alan Gunne-Jones notes the dramatic decline in the number of agricultural workers from a high of 4,030 in 1946 to 1,859 by 1960.3 Bramble became Montserrat's first Chief Minister in 1961, and his development strategy of facilitating foreign investment encouraged real estate speculators from North America to purchase many of the idle estates, particularly those along the west coast, which were then subdivided into serviced lots. These were subsequently marketed to North Americans who wanted either winter or retirement homes in an idyllic tropical setting. This led to a building boom in Montserrat and other infrastructural developments.Between 1960 and 1970, over five thousand acres of former estate lands were transferred from planters to development companies. Three real estate development companies directly involved in the development and promotion of residential purchased most of this land.4 The real estate investors persuaded the owners of the lone hotel then in existence, the Coconut Hill Hotel, to develop a resort hotel where potential homeowners would be able to stay. The Vue Pointe Hotel was opened in 1961. The following year, the Emerald Isle Hotel, another local investment initiative, was opened. These developments established the role of resort as an adjunct to residential on the island.The Montserrat Report for the Years 1963 and 1964 mentions the opening of the golf course and goes on to highlight that tourism also did much to assist in improving the economy of the island and its expansion was so rapid that consideration was being given to the appointment of a full-time Secretary to the Tourist Board.5 Only one house geared at the residential tourist market was built in 1963, but by 1966, there were forty-three occupied dwellings. By 1968, the number had risen to 150.6The banking business also boomed. The single commercial banking institution on the island, the Royal Bank of Canada (there since 1917), constructed a new building, opened in 1965, in recognition of the need to expand to handle the burgeoning services sector. Barclays Bank International opened its Montserrat branch in 1965. One year later, the Montserrat Building Society, with a mix of local and foreign shareholders, opened its doors for business.With the presence of residential tourists on the island came the need for other services. Interestingly, some of the new homeowners set up businesses to meet these needs. According to Gunne-Jones,Connie from Pennsylvania opened up Connie's Beauty Shop; Ernst Herman, an importer from Boston, established the Empire Shop which stocked French, German and Italian wines (and eventually included books in its inventory) and the Reierstads from Hong Kong opened two stores stocking jewels and furniture from Barbados. Glover & Mitchell (Mont) Ltd, a British grocer also opened a branch in Montserrat, and Dehaven Butterworth from New Jersey opened a soft-freeze ice cream shop.7Residential encouraged the development of ancillary services, which provided jobs for Montserratians and brought the island out of abject poverty and persistent underdevelopment. …

Turismo, urbanismo y colonialismo en Tánger, 1880-1939

Este artículo examina el ocio, los viajes y el turismo durante el período de mayor expansión urbana de Tánger. Varios factores favorecieron las posibilidades de Tánger para desarrollar una economía basada en los viajes y el ocio, entre ellas, el clima, su localización geográfica, la disponibilidad de una masa laboral procedente de Marruecos y el sur de Andalucía y el papel de la ciudad como sede euro-marroquí para la inversión, el comercio y la diplomacia. La ciudad era conocida por miles de viajeros y turistas residenciales desde finales del siglo XIX, lo que fomentó un optimismo considerable por lograr un mayor crecimiento de esta zona. Sin embargo, durante los años treinta una sucesión de problemas políticos locales e internacionales impidieron la consolidación de la ciudad como un gran destino turístico.

Extranjeros jubilados: ¿residentes no empadronados o turistas residenciales? Metodología para la cuantificación de la población no empadronada

Ante el problema de subregistro de los extranjeros jubilados que vienen a vivir a las zonas litorales e insulares españolas este artículo propone una metodología para evaluar la población no empadronada. La variable base para la cuantificación de la población flotante es la generación de los residuos sólidos urbanos, validándose dicha medida mediante el nivel medio de ocupación de las viviendas al distinguir entre los distintos tipos de población flotante (turistas hoteles, viviendas…). La propuesta se aplica en el municipio de Benahavís de la Costa del Sol.

Exploring the Shopping Motivations of International Residential Tourists

Over the last few decades, so-called “international residential tourism” has increased considerably, creating a new consumer base in tourist destinations, particularly in southern Europe, whose shopping motivations are unknown. As a rule, existing literature has focused its attention on studying consumer motivations in their places of residence, references to the study of the international residential tourist's (IRT's) shopping motivations being very limited. It is in this context that this study examines the main contributions related to IRT shopping motivations. Taking as a starting point empirical research carried out in two top international tourist destinations, the study analyzes and contrasts the applicability of general theoretical contributions to this specific IRT segment. The results obtained confirm the existence, although not without its variations, of certain stability in the main aspects relating to shopping motivation, allowing the foundations to be laid for the incorporation of shopping motivation as a variable for the segmentation of IRTs. Both for tourist resort managers and retailers in the area, having access to a valid scale for measuring these motivations may be of great help to them in being able to categorize IRTs in accordance with their shopping motivations. In this way, they will have a broader knowledge of the market and how it is made up and it will facilitate the implementation of marketing policies aimed at improving the planning of commercial areas, as well as help them to adapt their product range and communication to the segments that are of most interest to their companies and destinations.

International residential tourist shopping styles

In recent decades, the so-called international residential tourism has increased considerably, creating a new consumer base in tourist destinations. While the importance of tourism shopping is widely recognized and tourist destinations are aware of its contributions, little is known at present about the actual behaviour and shopping styles of international residential tourists (IRTs). Bearing this in mind and taking as a starting point research carried out in two top international tourist destinations, this study analyses IRT shopping styles. The results obtained indicate the existence of seven different segments presenting specific socio-demographic characteristics and represent progress in research into IRT shopping styles. They may also be of interest not only to managers of retail outlets where IRTs do their shopping but also to tourist resort managers when devising their product range.

Bar talk in Bali with (s)expat residential tourists

Bali, Indonesia, is a popular destination for retiree migrants. Most people who settle there have experienced Bali as holiday makers. It is this lifestyle mode they hope to continue in their later years, with little concern about impacts on the local culture. For this project, the goal was to investigate various aspects of their new lives: their decisions to relocate, their daily activities, finding and participating in a new community, engagement with local people, and how their personal happiness had changed through the move. This paper focuses on just one group of residential retirees, single Australian men. During fieldwork, it quickly became apparent that the ‘official’ personal stories the respondents recounted excluded some of their actual agendas and activities in Bali. The face-to-face interviews with a female researcher did not comfortably facilitate this. In ‘unofficial’ bar conversations, another layer of narrative took place, excluding the researcher and giving rise to ethical considerations regarding the use of those unsolicited commentaries, often about sex tourism. The inclusion of those tales and explicit dialogues into this account of expats in Bali is not merely incidental, but pivotal to understanding this category of residential tourist. This study responds to calls for research into the nature and impact of privileged mobility in the age of globalization. It contributes an investigation of both macro and micro issues regarding the growing practice of residential tourism for retirees in Bali. At the same time, it highlights the limitations of fieldwork interviews; far more revealing material was collected informally. This gives rise to considerations of ethical issues when undertaking such research.

The Linkages between Real Estate Tourism and Urban Sprawl in Majorca (Balearic Islands, Spain)

Financial capitalism has driven profound changes in urban land use patterns in Majorca, at the Balearic Islands (Spain). This archipelago is a major tourist destination located in the Mediterranean basin, with 4,492 km2 of surface area, 1,113,114 inhabitants and 12,316,399 tourists (2011), of whom 29.9% came from Germany, 24% from the UK and 19% from the rest of Spain. Neoliberal state regulation has favored the elite’s financial interests in the real estate sector through transport megaproject investment and lifting regional planning restrictions which prevented urban growth. Urban sprawl is becoming increasingly significant for inland Majorca, where intensive tourist resorts had not previously been developed. Urban growth distribution patterns are studied, firstly of suburban development both for tourists and for residential purposes, and secondly of exurban sprawl distribution for isolated dwellings. Recent regional planning relaxation guided by the free market economy and roll-with-it politics aims to promote this urban sprawl as a neoliberal answer to the current crisis of capitalism. In this way, a new model of capital investment in urban spatio-temporal fix, such as countryside villas with swimming pools, is shifting the urban model of this island. The paper identifies the site-specific spatial, temporal and planning pathways through which the actions and decisions of residential tourists and developers buying property in Majorca have driven urban sprawl and vice versa.

Residential Tourism and Multiple Mobilities: Local Citizenship and Community Fragmentation in Costa Rica

Current patterns of “move-in move-out” hypermobility are perfectly exemplified by residential tourism: the temporary or permanent mobility of relatively well-to-do citizens from mostly western countries to a variety of tourist destinations, where they buy property. The mobility of residential tourists does not stand alone, but has broader chain effects: it converts local destinations into transnational spaces, leading to a highly differentiated and segmented population landscape. In this article, residential tourism’s implications in terms of local society in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, are examined, starting from the idea that these implications should be viewed as complex and traveling in time and space. Mobile groups, such as residential tourists, can have an important local participation and involvement (independently of national citizenship), although recent flows of migrants settle more into compatriot social networks. The fact that various migrant populations continually travel back and forth and do not envision a future in the area may restrict their opportunities and willingness for local involvement. Transnational involvement in itself is not a problem and can be successfully combined with high local involvement; however, the great level of fragmentation, mobility, temporariness and absenteeism in Guanacaste circumscribes successful community organizing. Still, the social system has not completely dissolved.