sustainability Article Return Migration and Tourism Sustainability in Portugal: Extracting Opportunities for Sustainable Common Planning in Southern Europe Rossana Santos 1,2 , Rui Alexandre Castanho 2,3,4,5,* and Sérgio Lousada 2,5,6 1 College of Technologies and Management, University of Madeira, 9000-082 Madeira, Portugal; rossana.santos@staff.uma.pt 2 CITUR-Madeira-Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, 9000-082 Madeira, Portugal; slousada@staff.uma.pt 3 Faculty of Applied Sciences, WSB University, 41-300 D ˛abrowa Górnicza, Poland 4 Environmental Resources Analysis Research Group (ARAM), University of Extremadura, 06071 Badajoz, Spain 5 VALORIZA-Research Centre for Endogenous Resource Valorization, 7300 Portalegre, Portugal 6 Faculty of Exact Sciences and Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering and Geology (DECG), University of Madeira, 9000-082 Madeira, Portugal * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 25 September 2019; Accepted: 11 November 2019; Published: 17 November 2019 Abstract: This study contributes to the knowledge of decision-makers on how tourism, small and medium-sized enterprises, return migration, and cooperation strategies can contribute to growth and sustainable development in rural areas. More specifically, it uses the Portuguese case to answer the following question: can the expectations and perceptions of emigrants provide directions for sustainable tourism development and common planning in order to contribute to rural development? The results obtained in a study developed in Portugal, through the application of a questionnaire survey of 5157 Portuguese emigrants, confirm the validity of this question. It is concluded that there are the emigrants at an active age (29–39 years old) and with a house in a rural area that have a greater propensity of returning, investing, and gaining employment in the area of tourism in Portugal, and they also have more training and professional experience in this area.