Settled Tourists: Second Homes as a Part of Tourist Life Stories

• Published in: Scandinavian journal of hospitality and tourism 2007-08, Vol.7 (3), p.281-300
• Main Author: Tuulentie, Seija
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Lapland; life stories; second homes; Sense of home; tourist experiences
• ISSN: 1502-2250; 1502-2269
• DOI: 10.1080/15022250701300249

In a society of mobile life-styles, tourism has been fundamentally connected to the idea of being on the move without any firm attachment to any one place. However, it seems that being a tourist may often involve seeking a close relationship with one specific place or region, and wanting to "go steady" with that place or region. Thus, visitors may over time transcend their typical positions and make a place or a region their regular haunt or even "home". The question posed in the paper is how do people become so attached to their tourist destinations that they eventually want to buy a second home or even move to such a location? The article also discusses the changes in second-home traditions from simple summer cottages to fully-equipped second homes and time-shares situated in regions with which the owners have no social connections, but which have beautiful landscapes and other amenity values. Based on life-story narratives of Finnish second-home owners, who mainly got their first contact with the region as tourists, the results show that tourist experiences can be cumulative in a person's life course and place attachment and the sense of home develop in the course of many visits to same place.