Tourism and interregional migration in Sweden: an explorative approach

Are places with a successful tourist industry also successful when it comes to attracting migrants? In the present paper this hypothesis is empirically tested on interregional migration in Sweden. The paper draws on recent interest in, and research on, the relationship between tourism and migration. This line of research could be seen as an extension of traditional quality of life studies on migration, and the hypothesis partly rests on the notion that what people do in their spare time is increasingly emphasised and valued, which might very well affect population redistribution. Two complementary empirical data sources are used to test the hypothesis. The main focus is on the statistical analyses where tourism-related and other more traditional variables are used to estimate the effects on migration. In addition, survey responses from 74% of the Swedish municipalities are used to find out whether the local authorities have noticed any relationship between tourism and migration. The results indicate that tourism indeed exerts a positive influence on migration, but the effects vary quite significantly among different age groups as well as when a 'metropolitan effect' is taken into account. The results show the need for further inquiries of tourism and migration, if the hypothesis is to be thoroughly confirmed. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.