Explaining the complexity in the tourism-migration conceptual framework

ABSTRACT

A wide range of expressions have been used to refer to residential mobilities related to leisure, a complex phenomenon whose conceptual boundaries continue to be difficult to determine under the conventional theories of tourism or migration. This study seeks to carry out a comprehensive and unbiased literature review to develop insights on an intricate context with contentious opinions about the operability of terms and a lack of precision regarding conceptual delimitations. By analysing the use of expressions over time, the regions involved, the research methods applied, and the themes covered, the contributions are a clear overview of the terminology employed and an overall picture of the research thus far covered. As a result, a polarized academic debate with two research trends is unearthed: on the one hand, the studies mainly preoccupied about emigrants’ issues; and on the other hand, those essentially concerned with the effects triggered on destinations.

KEYWORDS:

• Lifestyle migration
• retirement migration
• amenity migration
• residential tourism
• tourist-residential mobilities
• structured literature review

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Q1 Journals and number of articles included (Accessed 1 October 2021): Annals of Tourism Research (4), Applied Geography (2), Asian Studies Review (1), Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society (1), Current Issues in Tourism (5), Ecology and Society (1), European Societies (1), Gerontologist (3), Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions (1), Global Networks-A Journal of Transnational Affairs (2), Globalization and Health (1), Habitat international (3), Health & Place (1), Journal of Destination Marketing & Management (1), Journal of Environmental Management (1), Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (10), Journal of Peasant Studies (1), Journal of Rural Studies (13), Journal of Sustainable Tourism (1), Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing (1), Journal of Travel Research (1), Journal of Gerontology Series B (1), Land Use Policy (2), Landscape and Urban Planning (6), Ocean & Coastal Management (1), Population and Environment (2), Population Space and Place (14), Progress in Human Geography (2), Qualitative inquiry (1), Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism (4), Service industries Journal (1), Sociological Review (1), Sociology (1), Tourism Economics (2), Tourism Geographies (4), Tourism Management (7), Tourism Management Perspectives (1) and Urban Studies (4)

2 Migration Research Hub of the International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion network, accessed 1 October 2021, <https://migrationresearch.com/taxonomies>

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Consejería de Fomento, Infraestructuras y Ordenación del Territorio, Junta de Andalucía, Spain [Grant number UMA 20.01].