Back-Home tourism in Extremadura, Spain: Spending patterns and motivation

Abstract

“Back-home tourism”, “Tourism of return” or also typified as “Countryman tourism” is a category little considered by experts, academics and legislators in rural development, however in the last decades it is gaining prominence and special benefits are attributed to the unpopulated rural areas of the south of Europe. This tourism returns to their roots, in many cases where they have a second home or where they can share the home of relatives or friends. This tourism seeks an imagined habitat based on personal experience where family life is essential to repeat the visit and it is characterized by a consumption practice with nuances different from generic rural tourism. In this paper we try to identify the con-sumption patterns and motivations of this segment of the tourism market.

El “turismo de vuelta a casa”, el “turismo de retorno”, es un tipo de “turismo rural” considerada por expertos, académicos y legisladores como importante en desarrollo rural, en especial, para las áreas rurales despobladas del sur de Europa. Se trata de un tipo de viajeros que vuelve a sus raíces, en muchos casos donde tienen una segunda vivienda o donde comparten casa con los familiares o amigos oriundos. Este turismo busca un hábitat imaginado, basado en experiencias personales donde la vida familiar es esencial para repetir la visita, y se caracteriza llevar a cabo prácticas que presenta matices diferenciales respecto al clásico turismo rural. En este artículo tratamos de identificar los patrones y motivaciones de este segmento del mercado turístico.