Open AccessHow Prospective International Retired Migrants Use Tourism for Decision Making
Author(s) -
Belém Barbosa,
Cláudia Amaral Santos,
Marcia María Cappellano dos Santos
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
tourism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.337
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1849-1545
pISSN - 1332-7461
DOI - 10.37741/t.69.4.2
Subject(s) - tourism , destinations , extant taxon , order (exchange) , qualitative research , business , marketing , geography , demographic economics , political science , economic growth , sociology , economics , finance , social science , evolutionary biology , biology , archaeology
Despite the current importance of international retirementmigration for both academics and practitioners, the extant literature on thetopic is still scarce and mostly focused on short-period migration flows fromwealthy and northern countries to cheaper and warm-weather destinations. Thisarticle aims at shedding light on the role of tourism in prospective migrants’decision-making process, considering the framework provided by the push-pullmodel, which is often used to explain both migration and tourism. A qualitativestudy was conducted, comprising ten in-depth interviews with 45+ year-oldBrazilian citizens who intend to move to Europe after retirement. Results showthat tourism is important for prospective migrants to evaluate possiblemigration destinations, as some of the most relevant migration pull factors(e.g., safety) are easily assessed during tourism experiences. Participants inthis study also carefully plan tourism activities prior to their decision tomigrate in order to get a more realistic notion of what the destination is likefor residents. Overall, this study demonstrates that tourism is particularlyimportant for several stages of migrants’ decision-making process.