GI erman Second Home Owners in the Swedish Countryside Dieter K Müller <."• * i-y: V -•S-Ç.W European Tourisn Research Institute VETENSKAPLIGA •SOKSERIENI Si German Second Home Owners in the Swedish Countryside On the Internationalization of the Leisure Space Akademisk avhandling som med vederbörligt tillstånd av rektorsämbetet vid Umeå universitet för vinnande av filosofie doktorsexamen framlägges till offentlig granskning vid kulturgeografiska institutionen, Umeå universitet torsdagen den 14 oktober 1999, kl 10.00 hörsal D, Samhällsvetarhuset av Dieter K. Müller fil. kand. German Second Home Owners in the Swedish Countryside On the Internationalizaion of the Leisure Space Dieter K. Müller, Department of Social and Economic Geography, Umeå University, Sweden Abstract: Between 1991 and 1996 the number of German second home owners in Sweden increased from about 1,500 to more than 5,500. The purpose of this thesis is to give a comprehensive description and analysis of the German cottage purchases in Sweden, 1991-96. In detail, the motives of the cottage buyers, the circumstances, the geographical patterns of cottage ownership, its diffusion, the integration of the cottage owners, and their expenses in the receiving areas are investigated. The analysis is based on two main sources; (a) an unique database UMCOBASE covering all second homes in Sweden; (b) a survey among 91 German second home owners. Second home ownership is considered as touriste product and as semi-permanent migration to the countryside. These perspectives have in common the importance of the role of the positive image of the countryside. Differences in property prices and climate may also attract second home owners to a specific area. It is argued that changes in the German society form a considerable driving force. Stress and life in the large metropolitan areas as well as the political situation after German reunification contribute not only to this interest for second home living, for the countryside, but also for Sweden, often seen as a shining example. Many German images of Sweden are based on popular writings and movies of the Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren. Sweden provides the German cottagers with the requested environments and the availability of housing, cheap property prices, and rather short distances make the interior parts of southern Sweden an ideal destination for the mixture of households with different individual motivations and preferences mainly from Hamburg and Berlin. The internationalization of the economy and the globalization of culture make it easier to purchase a second home abroad. In this case, the growth of German second home ownership in Sweden can be considered as a colonization of the Swedish countryside. The diffusion of cottage ownership is enhanced and directed by the innovators who due to their social networks attract new cottagers to the same area. A very important precondition for the increased German interest in Swedish cottages was the decline of the Swedish currency in 1992 allowing purchases at a cheaper price. The fact that the real estate agencies focused on the German market may be another reason for the increase, and also for the distribution of German cottage ownership within Sweden. The German second home patterns are also analyzed employing multiple regression analysis. It is shown that the distance between ferry harbors and second homes is a major restriction for the distribution of German cottage ownership in Sweden. Even future growth will take place in areas where German cottage owners are present today. The multi-functionality of the countryside caused competition regarding land-use and decision-making power between rural residents, tourists, and agents of other interests. Even if second home tourists and the permanent residents share a lot of interests, integration into the local community can be difficult. It is argued that the German cottagers are leisure gentrifiers consuming the countryside as a leisure resource only. Second home owners are faithful tourists who visit the second home area frequently and stay for a long time. This entails that they also spend a considerable amount of money in the host community. Hence, some jobs in the research area are more or less dependent on the expenditures of the German cottage owners. Despite being motivated, most German cottagers have problems integrating into the host community. The German cottagers seem to adapt to this situation by meeting with each other and by applying a conservative eco-strategy, thus converting their surroundings into their imaginary Swedish countryside. The post-war societies in the western world are characterized by rapid changes. The recent interest in second homes can be read as a rejection of modern life, because the cottage might be the continuous place in life. It is argued, however, that the second home is attractive because it blurs the strict separation of everyday life and tourism. Keywords: Tourism, second homes, countryside, Sweden, Germany, tourist motivation, innovation diffusion, integration, gentryfication, GIS GERUM Kulturgeografi 1999:2, Department of Social and Economic Geography, Umeå University, Sweden and ETOUR European Tourism Research Institute, Mid-Sweden University, Östersund Sweden . ISSN 1402-5205 ISBN 91-973441-4-1 Content 4 Between Germany and Sweden 45 4.1 Germans in Sweden 45 4.2 German Tourism 47 4.3 Societal Life in Germany 50 4.4 The Swedish Countryside 53 4.5 In-between Germany and Sweden - the German Cottagers 58 5 Images of Sweden 65 5.1 Sweden within the German Book-Market 65 5.2 Other Printed Images of Sweden 69 5.3 Tourists' Images of Sweden 75 5.4 Other Images of Sweden 77 5.5 The Response of the Tourist Industry 78 Part I: Concluding Remarks 81 PART II: Selecting a Second Home 85 6 The Diffusion of Cottage Ownership 87 6.1 Lebensraum and Carrying Capacity 87 6.2 Diffusion Processes 88 6.3 Internationalization 91 6.4 The Cottage Selection Process 92 7 Foreign Interests in the Swedish Second Home Market 97 7.1 The Swedish Second Home Stock 97 7.2 The Legal Framework 100 7.3 Patterns of Foreign Cottage Ownership 103 7.4 Gatekeepers for Foreign Cottage Purchases 107 8 The German Second Home Pattern 111 8.1 Research Strategy 111 8.2 Location Variables 112 8.3 The Regression Models 124 Part H: Concluding Remarks 135 iv Content PART III: Experiencing Second Home Life 139 9 Changes in the Countryside 141 9.1 Tourism and Regional Development 141 9.2 Second Homes and Physical Changes 144 9.3 Second Homes and Economic Change 145 9.4 Second Homes and Social Change 148 10 Expenses by German Cottagers 157 10.1 The German Cottagers 157 10.2 The Expenses 160 10.3 The Spatial Pattern of German Cottagers Expenses 172 11 German Cottage Owners and the Rural Community 177 11.1 German Second Home Owners' Attitude towards Swedes and Småland 177 11.2 German Second Home Owners' Activities in Småland 182 11.3 The Reactions of the Receiving Community 184 11.4 Stepwise Counterurbanization or Temporary Leisure Activity 188 Part HI: Concluding Remarks 195 CONCLUSION: The Internationalization of the Leisure Space 199 12 Second Home Life Abroad 201 12.1 Second Homes as First Homes 201 12.2 Going Abroad 203 Summary 205 Sammanfattning 208 Zusammenfassung 211 References 215 V Content Appendix A: The questionnaire 227 Appendix B: Location variables 233 Appendix C: Map of Sweden 237 Appendix D: Color figures 239 vi List of Figures Page INTRODUCTION Chapter 1: 1.1 German second home ownership, 1991 and 1996 4 1.2 Outline and structure of the thesis 7 1.3 Typical cottages owned by Germans 11-12 1.4 The Swedish second home stock in northern Sweden, 1996 14-15 1.5 Two second home areas 16 Chapter 2: 2.1 The research area in Sweden 21 2.2 The regional context of the research area 23 PARTI Chapter 3: 3.1 Motives of tourist travel: a conceptual model 34 3.2 A conceptual model of the decision making process 44 Chapter 4: 4.1 German citizens and persons born in Germany, 1997 46 4.2 German second home purchases and the value of the Swedish currency 54 4.3 The actual price in thousands of 1995 year's DM-value and the annual changes of the number of purchases 55 4.4 Population change, 1991-1996 57 4.5 Share of population aged 65 or older, 1991 57 4.6 Areas outside the urban hinterlands 58 4.7 The residences of the German second home owners 60 4.8 German second home owners according to their distance to the ferry harbors 59 4.9 Distance between second home and harbor for households living in different parts of Germany 62 Part I: Concluding remarks 1.1 A conceptual model of origin - destination relationships 82 vii List of figures PART II Chapter 6: 6.1 A theoretical colonization model 91 6.2 Theoretical distribution of cottage ownership in relation to the cottagers' origin 94 6.3 Theoretical distribution of cottage ownership in relation to a constraint, e.g. a ferry line, and the owners' origin 95 Chapter 7: 7.1 Cottage stock change by municipality, 1991-96 98 7.2 Cottage turnover and average price level, 1991-95 99 7.3 Regional cottage-turnover, 1991-96 100 7.4 Second home owners abroad, 1991-96 105 7.5 Cottage owners in Europe according to their countries of residence, 1991-96 106 7.6 Patterns of cottage ownership by residents of selected countries (Appendix D) 239-•244 Chapter 8: 8.1 Cottage distribution and population distribution in Sweden by distance from ferry harbors 113 8.2 German second home ownership by distance from ferry harbor 114 8.3 Seashores, lakeshores and distance to harbors 115 8.4 Water and forests represented