International Migration, Self-employment and Restructuring through Tourism in Sparsely Populated Areas

Abstract

Previous research has shown that different forms of migration in general, and tourism-related international migration in particular, could act as potential drivers for various forms of rural transformations. This paper investigates self-employment in tourism among foreign-born people in rural Sweden. The questions addressed in this paper are: What is the magnitude of self-employment, and what types of business do in-migrants run, in rural areas? A discussion on the extent to which in-migrants to rural areas contribute to rural restructuring through self-employment in tourism follows. The results are analyzed by drawing on theories connected to restructuring and ideas of the “new economy”. The longitudinal, individual and geo-referenced database ASTRID with official Swedish register data is used to identify foreign-born people self-employed in tourism in Sweden. Self-employment is more common for in-migrants coming from culturally proximate Western countries, followed by Asia and the Middle East. The length of time in Sweden plays a significant role in the incidence of self-employment in tourism, with restaurants dominating as the type of establishment. It can be discussed how much restaurants help invigorate the economy of rural areas, and how much they contribute to rural change and transformation in qualitative terms.

Key Words:

• international mobility
• the new economy
• rural development
• self-employment

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Swedish research council Formas for providing the means to perform this study. Furthermore, the authors' gratitude extends to the reviewers for their valuable comments for improving the paper.