Residential tourism development seems to be an unstoppable phenomenon in the Costa Blanca region (Alicante, Spain). The number of second homes owned by overseas citizens is steadily increasing, and the projections show that this trend will continue in the next few years. Our goal is to find out what European citizens' main reasons for choosing this region are. Tourists usually speak about the 'Spanish lifestyle' as the area's main appeal, but what do they mean by that? We will see how 'siesta', relax, sun, sand and sea are the key elements of this successful destination. We have chosen a qualitative approach to probe into the motivations of these tourists-residents. The results will be discussing are included in the research 'Overseas residential tourism in Alicante', about their needs and problems. ; This work is a part of wider research into the motivations, needs and future expectations of European Union residents in the Alicante province. R&D Project: "Overseas residential tourism in Alicante" funded by the Valencia Region Government and directed to Dr. Tomas Mazón.
La crisis humanitaria provocada en 2020 por la pandemia COVID-19 propaga una ola de incertidumbre que afecta directamente a las estructuras sociales del capitalismo. Las medidas tomadas por los gobiernos en los meses de marzo y abril con el objetivo de minimizar el número de muertes causadas por el coronavirus generan un colapso temporal del sistema turístico mundial. En este escenario, las élites de la industria turística española reaccionaron con rapidez fijando su posición: la recuperación de la prosperidad en la economía turística pasaría irremediablemente por la transferencia masiva de recursos públicos desde el Estado al sector empresarial. Esta lógica argumentativa es analizada a partir de los razonamientos esgrimidos por la patronal turística. La reflexión se sitúa en el marco de un proceso de transformación social más amplio: la consolidación del capitalismo neoliberal a escala global. ; The humanitarian crisis caused in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic has spread a wave of uncertainty that directly affects capitalism's social structures. The measures taken by governments in March and April to minimise the number of coronavirus deaths generate a temporary collapse of the global tourism system. In this scenario, Spanish tourism industry elites reacted quickly by establishing their position: the recovery of prosperity in the tourism economy would inevitably happen through the massive transfer of public resources from the State to the business sector. This argumentative logic is analysed based on the logic put forward by the tourism employers. The reflection lies within the framework of a broader social transformation process: the consolidation of neoliberal capitalism on a global scale. ; A crise humanitária causada em 2020 pela pandemia COVID-19 espalhou uma onda de incerteza que afeta diretamente as estruturas sociais do capitalismo. As medidas tomadas pelos governos em março e abril, para minimizar o número de mortes por coronavírus, levaram a um colapso temporário do sistema turístico global. Nesse cenário, os principais atores do setor do turismo reagiram rapidamente definindo a sua posição: uma recuperação da prosperidade na economia turística que passaria por uma transferência de recursos públicos do Estado para o setor empresarial. Esta lógica argumentativa é analisada com base no raciocínio apresentado pelos empresários espanhóis do setor do turismo. Assim, A reflexão está associada a um processo mais amplo de transformação social: a consolidação do capitalismo neoliberal em escala global. ; Instituto de Investigaciones en Turismo
El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar las relaciones que se establecen entre turismo, ideología y poder. En concreto, se quiere profundizar en la comprensión de los argumentos que legitiman o cuestionan la consideración del turismo como un derecho social. La explicación que se propone se fundamenta en la revisión de documentos publicados por organizaciones que tienen un rol significativo en el sistema turístico. Finalmente, se caracterizan y comparan las posiciones de tres bloques ideológicos: neoliberal, del capitalismo social y altermundista, que pugnan por imponer su definición de la realidad turística y su valoración de lo que debería ser. ; The objective of this work is to study the relationships between tourism, ideology and power. We want to deepen the understanding of the arguments that legitimize or question the consideration of tourism as a social right. The explanation is based on the review of documents published by organizations that have a significant role in the tourism system. Finally, three ideological blocks are featured and compared: neoliberal, welfare capitalism and altermondialist, which struggle to impose their definition of tourist reality and their assessment of what it should be.
El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar las relaciones que se establecen entre turismo, ideología y poder. En concreto, se quiere profundizar en la comprensión de los argumentos que legitiman o cuestionan la consideración del turismo como un derecho social. La explicación que se propone se fundamenta en la revisión de documentos publicados por organizaciones que tienen un rol significativo en el sistema turístico. Finalmente, se caracterizan y comparan las posiciones de tres bloques ideológicos: neoliberal, del capitalismo social y altermundista, que pugnan por imponer su definición de la realidad turística y su valoración de lo que debería ser. ; The objective of this work is to study the relationships between tourism, ideology and power. We want to deepen the understanding of the arguments that legitimize or question the consideration of tourism as a social right. The explanation is based on the review of documents published by organizations that have a significant role in the tourism system. Finally, three ideological blocks are featured and compared: neoliberal, welfare capitalism and altermondialist, which struggle to impose their definition of tourist reality and their assessment of what it should be.
La crisis humanitaria provocada en 2020 por la pandemia COVID-19 propaga una ola de incertidumbre que afecta directamente a las estructuras sociales del capitalismo. Las medidas tomadas por los gobiernos en los meses de marzo y abril con el objetivo de minimizar el número de muertes causadas por el coronavirus generan un colapso temporal del sistema turístico mundial. En este escenario, las élites de la industria turística española reaccionaron con rapidez fijando su posición: la recuperación de la prosperidad en la economía turística pasaría irremediablemente por la transferencia masiva de recursos públicos desde el Estado al sector empresarial. Esta lógica argumentativa es analizada a partir de los razonamientos esgrimidos por la patronal turística. La reflexión se sitúa en el marco de un proceso de transformación social más amplio: la consolidación del capitalismo neoliberal a escala global. ; The humanitarian crisis caused in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic has spread a wave of uncertainty that directly affects capitalism's social structures. The measures taken by governments in March and April to minimise the number of coronavirus deaths generate a temporary collapse of the global tourism system. In this scenario, Spanish tourism industry elites reacted quickly by establishing their position: the recovery of prosperity in the tourism economy would inevitably happen through the massive transfer of public resources from the State to the business sector. This argumentative logic is analysed based on the logic put forward by the tourism employers. The reflection lies within the framework of a broader social transformation process: the consolidation of neoliberal capitalism on a global scale.
El auge de la turismofobia se convirtió en el año 2017 en un tema estrella en la discusión pública, especialmente durante el periodo estival. En este trabajo se investiga este fenómeno a partir de la identificación y exploración de los discursos fundamentales producidos en los medios de comunicación. Con este propósito se analiza una muestra de 40 noticias publicadas en diferentes periódicos. El objetivo que orienta el estudio busca aclarar cuál es el verdadero potencial del concepto como herramienta heurística para orientar la investigación del turismo. Tomando como punto de partida esta idea, el presente trabajo pretende contribuir a la elaboración de un marco analítico desde el que pensar, definir y orientar el estudio de la turismofobia. ; In 2017 "tourismophobia" rise was a trending topic in public debate, especially in summer. This question is here investigated from the identification and exploration of the mainstream mass media discourses. For this purpose, a sample of 40 news items published in different newspapers is analysed. The purpose of the study is to clarify the true potential of the concept as a heuristic tool to guide tourism research. This paper aims to contribute to the development of an analytical framework as a starting point to think, define and guide the study of "tourismophobia".
El proceso de unificación europea ha facilitado la aparición de nuevos flujos migratorios entre los distintos Estados. Uno muy significativo lo forman los noreuropeos (británicos y alemanes, principalmente) que se trasladan a los países mediterráneos. En este artículo se analizan los problemas que enfrentan los inmigrantes residenciales noreuropeos en el sur de España a la hora de establecer vínculos con la sociedad española. Con este fin, se lleva a cabo un estudio en el municipio de San Miguel de Salinas, ubicado en el sudeste del país. La perspectiva metodológica articula la investigación cuantitativa con la cualitativa. Los hallazgos obtenidos muestran cómo la barrera idiomática esconde en realidad un entramado de relaciones entre aspectos socioespaciales, políticos y económicos. Se configura así un sistema que dificulta el establecimiento de interacciones entre los residentes españoles y los noreuropeos, generando además procesos de fragmentación social. ; The unification of Europe has brought about the emergence of new migration flows between the EU Member States. A particularly significant flow is that of northern European citizens (mainly British and German) towards Mediterranean countries. This paper explores the problems that residential migrants from northern Europe face in southern Spain when they try to create a bond with the host society. With this aim in mind, we carried out a study in the town of San Miguel de Salinas, located in the southeast of Spain. Our methodological approach combined quantitative and qualitative research techniques. The findings show how the language barrier hides in fact a number of interconnected sociospatial, political and economic aspects. As a result, a system takes shape that hinders the interaction between Spanish and northern European residents, and gives rise to processes of social fragmentation. ; Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el Proyecto GV/2011/037 "Dualización socio-espacial de turistas y residentes europeos: implicaciones para las políticas locales". Ayuda para la realización de proyectos de investigación para grupos de investigación emergentes de la Conselleria de Educación de la Generalitat Valenciana (España).
Este estudio se fija en los ciudadanos noreuropeos asentados en la provincia mediterránea de Alicante que tienen un estatus más cercano al de un inmigrante que al de un turista. La importancia que ha cobrado esta corriente inmigratoria ha provocado cambios profundos en muchos municipios. El objetivo es estudiar el papel político de estos ciudadanos en aquellas regiones en las que su presencia es más significativa. El análisis se basa en datos demográficos y de participación en las elecciones municipales de 2011 y en un trabajo cualitativo que ahonda en la comprensión de los procesos informales de participación política. El hecho de que la influencia de los residentes noreuropeos en las instituciones políticas locales no haya crecido al mismo ritmo que su peso demográfico se debe tanto al desinterés de los extranjeros por participar en la vida pública como al interés de las élites políticas por desincentivar dicha participación. ; This study focuses on the northern European citizens living in the Alicante province (on Spain's Mediterranean coast), who are more like immigrants than tourists. This migration flow has become so significant that has brought about profound changes in many towns. Our objective is to examine the political role of these citizens in the regions where they are more present. Our analysis is based on demographic data and data on participation in the 2011 local election, as well as on a qualitative approach that delves into the informal processes of political participation. The fact that the influence of northern European residents on local political institutions has not grown at the same rate as their demographic weight is a consequence of both their lack of interest in public affairs and the interest of political elites in deactivating that participation. ; Proyecto GV/2011/037.Dualización socio- espacial de turistas y residentes europeos: implicaciones para las políticas locales. Ayuda para la realización de proyectos de investigación para grupos de investigación emergentes de la Conselleria de Educación.
Comunicación presentada en 2nd International Workshop on Lifestyle Migration and Residential Tourism, Madrid, March 23-25, 2011. ; The process of modernisation that began on Spain's Mediterranean coast in the 1960s is a paradigmatic example of urban planning and tourism development focus on the production of urban land demanded by both the national and international real estate markets. The evolution from farming and fishing societies to societies whose economic development is based on the property-related activities has concurred with new social processes, such as the growth of international residential tourism, and intra-European lifestyle migration from central and northern Europe towards the Mediterranean region. In Spain's Mediterranean region, this framework of new mobility forms and multi-residential lifestyles has been incorporated into an urbanisation process based on the construction of second homes on a massive scale in environments with potential tourist appeal. The geographical manifestation of these dynamics has produced new urban enclaves detached from the traditional urban centres. The distance between such settings alludes to both the irregular distribution of social groups on the territory, and the lack of relationship between these groups. Our first goal is to approach the matter from a quantitative perspective that may allow us to identify the extent of these trends towards the concentration of people with distinct socio-demographic characteristics, in housing estates socially and spatially away from the traditional urban centres on Spain's Mediterranean coast. Second, we aim to understand, from a qualitative perspective, the circumstances of the European citizens living in those urbanizaciones. Through the analysis of quantitative data from Spain's Office for National Statistics we can appreciate how the convergence of the tourism function of the second homes with the migration of northern European retirees to coastal areas in southern Spain has generated configurations of the territory, in which new forms of geographical and social distance can be identified. We have identified trends towards the development of apparent parallel societies with their own cultural features as a result of the concentration of people of the same nationality in a space away from other areas where most of the residents are Spaniards. The qualitative research explains how British nationals that decided to purchase a property in these areas seek to go back to the local human scale in sunny scenery. In a way, they are trying to recreate a pleasant rural community life on the Mediterranean. The British common culture and a similar socio-demographic profile facilitate the development of a framework of shared expectations about the relationships in the neighbourhood. The fact that the housing estate is geographically 'isolated' reinforces the tendency towards homogeneity. Our analysis shows the discontent of foreign residents with the problems of the housing estates. The intensification of such state of affairs may lead to conflicts of interests because the residents of these housing estates demand services that often differ from those demanded by the residents of the traditional urban centre. Thus, a national minority whose common denominator is a shared cultural tradition establishes ties that become increasingly stronger. Then they realise that they share the same economic and political interests. ; The research reported here was funded by a University of Alicante research grant: "La segregación socio-espacial de turistas y residentes europeos en el Mediterráneo y las Islas Canarias. GRE09-19"
Presentación realizada para International Workshop "Theorizing Lifestyle Migration", Conceptual approaches for the study of leisure-oriented movements and residential tourism, Madrid, 28-29 enero 2010. ; Some of the main schools of thought that concern themselves with the meaning of postmodernism make reference to the renewed value of tradition and the appearance of new lifestyles around environmentally healthy spaces away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities. To put it in other words, aesthetic values from a more or less real past are evoked and applied in a new social context. A yearning for landscapes and lifestyles difficult to find in their usual environments has grown among the citizens of the most developed European societies. This has contributed to the development of new types of tourism and the increase of residential mobility. In the processes of international retirement migration from northern Europe towards the Mediterranean coast we can recognize new lifestyles related to phenomena that sometimes have to do with tourism and sometimes with migration. The causes and consequences of this have become apparent in different manners in many regions over the world, and have aroused the interest of the international academic community. Host societies require the definition of criteria that would allow them to classify these people either as tourists or immigrants, since the funding and management of their resources depend on it. Over the last decades, the Costa Blanca (province of Alicante, Spain), has become one of the most appealing regions for retired people within the European Union. The onset of this flow dates back to the 1960s, and it started a phenomenon that had been almost non-existent until then. We propose a typology based on a face-to-face in-home survey with a sample of 872 European citizens in the Alicante province. The fact of being registered with their local council, and whether they own or rent the property they occupy turn out to be the explanatory variables of the relationship between long-stay tourism and lifestyle migration. Our research has resulted in a typology made up of four categories: "permanent residents", "temporary residents", "second home owners" and "tourists". This typology has analytical value but its main purpose is to become a useful tool.
Introducción: En este estudio se investigan los efectos de la crisis económica en los flujos migratorios internacionales. Específicamente, se realiza un análisis comparado sobre los comportamientos en la movilidad residencial de los principales grupos de residentes a partir de las Estadísticas de Variaciones Residenciales (EVR) de 2005 a 2010 en Alicante.Método: Se analizan los microdatos de las EVR para comparar las entradas y salidas de inmigrantes procedentes de los países que aglutinan a las personas que se trasladan orientadas por motivos más cercanos a la esfera del ocio que a la del trabajo, con el grupo de nacionalidades que concentra a la mayoría de los inmigrantes laborales que llegaron atraídos por las ofertas de empleo generadas con la expansión del sector inmobiliario.Resultados: Entre los años 2007 y 2009 se redujeron mucho las variaciones residenciales de entrada en la provincia Alicante desde el extranjero, mientras que se incrementaron las variaciones relacionadas con las salidas. Aunque existen diferencias en el balance de entradas y salidas según la zona de la provincia, la nacionalidad y la edad de los migrantes, la crisis parece asociarse con una tendencia a la reducción del número de residentes extranjeros en general.Discusión o Conclusión: Se concluye que la crisis no sólo ha generado un éxodo de los ciudadanos con menos recursos económicos, también ha provocado la salida masiva de aquellos otros inmigrantes cuya presencia en España se asocia con el consumo. Introduction: The economic crisis effects on the international migration flows are examined in this study. Specifically we carry out a comparative analysis of the residential mobility patterns of the main groups of residents from the Residential Variation Statistics since 2005 to 2010 in Alicante.Method: We compare the cluster of immigrants from countries where people move for leisure-oriented reasons and the group of nationalities that concentrates most labour migrants, attracted by the jobs that the expansion of the real state sector generated.Results: Between 2007 and 2009, there was a large reduction in the entry of foreigners to Alicante province. At the same time, our analysis shows that more foreigners left the province. Although there are differences in the balance of entries and departures by region, nationality and age of migrants, the economic crisis appears to be associated with a clear negative generalized balance affecting all profiles of foreigners.Discussion or Conclusion: We conclude that the crisis has not only led to an exodus of citizens with less economic resources, it has also caused the mass departure of those other immigrants whose presence in Spain is associated with consumption.
Is the residential tourist model a type of development which is accepted by society? This question will be answered using the qualitative analysis of the discourses made by the main social actors involved in the dynamics of this process in the host societies. The information has been gathered via 45 in-depth interviews from the stakeholders who are directly involved (hotel managers, managers of travel agencies, estate agents and housing developers), as well as those who are indirectly involved (presidents of trade associations, bank managers) and those in administration (Tourist office staffs, councillors from all of the political parties). Our field of research is the Costa Blanca on the Spanish Mediterranean coast where residential tourism has been recognised as the dominant tourist typology when compared with other development models. Three basic thematic areas can be identified around which the information has been arranged: the economic, geoenvironmental and the socio-cultural dimensions. The dominant discourse tendency produces arguments which are closer to legitimation of the residential tourism model than to resistant. ; Supported by two R&D projects: 'Legitimation problems of residential tourism: action proposals from an analysis of social perception' (SEJ2006 14620/SOCI) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and 'The social perception of residential tourism development: its ideological context within the host societies' funded by the R&D Valencia Government Programme (AE/2007/070).
La construcción de urbanizaciones en las periferias de los municipios bajo el pretexto del desarrollo turístico ha transformado la configuración territorial de multitud de poblaciones en las regiones mediterráneas españolas. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar los discursos que los políticos con responsabilidades directas en los respectivos ayuntamientos producen a la hora de explicar las interrelaciones creadas entre los procesos de fragmentación socio-espacial fraguados en el periodo de expansión, el incremento de la inmigración europea procedente de países con un PIB per cápita mayor que el de España y los efectos ocasionados por la crisis económica iniciada entre 2007 y 2008. ; Urban sprawl development on the outskirts of the towns –under the pretext of residential tourism growth– has altered the territorial configuration of many towns in the Spanish Mediterranean regions. This paper's aim is to analyse the discourse that politicians –with direct responsibilities in some towns of the province of Alicante– produce in order to explain the interrelation existing between the processes of socio-spatial fragmentation –generated during the housing boom expansion–, the increase of the European immigrants coming from countries with a GDP per capita higher than Spain, and the effects caused by the economic crisis that started in 2007-2008.
