Title  Tourism and migration. Impact of visits to Portugal by emigrants
Author  Sílvia Fernandes Ribau Cirino
Supervisor  Carlos Costa
Year  2008
Institution  University of Aveiro
Degree  Masters
Area  Tourism management and development
Keywords  Tourism management, tourism, population dynamics, Portuguese emigration
URI  http://hdl.handle.net/10773/1567

Abstract

Human mobility is a characteristic of mankind, present throughout the centuries in different forms dictated by the evolution of peoples and life in society. Although migratory flows have been part of human history for many centuries, tourist movements have only been democratized and taken on significant proportions since the 20th century. In this context, the main aim of this work is to contribute to knowledge in the area of human mobility and, more precisely, in the areas of tourism and migration, and the interconnections between these two concepts. Visits to the country of origin of emigrants are an increasingly significant part of the migration project and contribute to a considerable increase in the tourism market named Visits to Family and Friends (VFA). The importance of the links between emigrants and the land of origin, as well as their direct contributions to the growth of tourism, are clearly demonstrated in this research. The emotional, social, political, economic and commercial ties that bind a given region to its community living abroad contribute to an increase in emigrants' remittances and lead to an increase in the frequency of visits to the country of origin. Consequently, the volume of tourist flows, as well as the revenue from human flows originating from emigration, generate the development of international tourism. Portugal, a country with a long tradition of emigration and which benefits directly from this phenomenon, is the subject of this study. The study focuses more precisely on the behavior of emigrants from the municipality of Ílhavo. The main characteristics of these emigrants' return trips are determined, as well as the importance of the intensity of the links maintained with their land of origin for the growth of inbound tourism at regional and national level.