Norwegians in Spain: a Society in Limbo
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FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, NORWEGIAN SCHOOL OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT MASTER’S THESIS STUDY PROGRAM: THESIS IS WRITTEN IN THE FOLLOWING SPECIALIZATION/SUBJECT: Master of Science in International Hotel and Migration / Human migratory behavior Tourism Leadership (The assignment is not confidential) TITLE: Norwegians in Spain: A society in limbo AUTHOR ADVISOR: Student number: Name: 210422 Stian Gulliksen Jens Kristian Steen Jacobsen ………………… ……………………………………. ………………… ……………………………………. ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF 2 BOUND COPIES OF THESIS Stavanger, ……/…… 2011 Signature administration:…………………………… NORWEGIANS IN SPAIN: A SOCIETY IN LIMBO 2 Foreword The purpose of this study was to analyze attitudes and behavior of a selection of Norwegian migrants on Costa Blanca, Spain. The foremost intention through the course of this study was to give an insight into the perspectives of realities that is portrayed by these individuals as migrants in a foreign country. The Norwegian migrants were interviewed on a face-to-face basis on location in Spain in relation to anti-tourist attitudes, social differentiation, authenticity and conflicts and relationships. A big thank you goes out to my supervisor Jens Kristian Steen Jacobsen who guided me through this process with his knowledge, advice and the scientific papers that have inspired me to research this area. I would like to thank all the people who participated in my study and The Norwegian Church Abroad (Sjømannskirken) that welcomed me and allowed me to interview their employees and guests. I would also like to thank the professors, lecturers, administration and the library of University of Stavanger who have taken their time to give us knowledge and help throughout our studies. I also would like to thank Revisorkollegiet AS for allowing me to stay at their property during my research in Spain. And last, but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends who have supported me throughout my studies. NORWEGIANS IN SPAIN: A SOCIETY IN LIMBO 3 Abstract Since the 1950’s Spain has been an attractive country for vacationers, meanwhile, a part of tourism evolved and since the 1980’s Norwegians and other North Europeans have migrated to the coasts of Spain. The comfortable, healthy climate and the relaxed way of life have attracted thousands of Europeans in the last decades. The rapid growth caused Spain to build urbanizaciones, which developed into ghetto-like communities that were designated solely for foreign tourists and migrants. To this day, Norwegians have created their own communities with their own Norwegian goods and services in Spain. This thesis will focus on Norwegians that have migrated to Costa Blanca, with special emphasis on Torrevieja and L’Albir. The Norwegians were interviewed in relation to how they perceived their anti-tourist attitudes, social differentiation, authenticity and conflicts and relationships with other groups in Spain. The research showed that less experienced migrants generally have both inward and outward directed anti-tourist attitudes while experienced migrants have directed their anti-tourist attitudes inward. Mainly experienced migrants perceive social differentiation from tourists, while the research also indicated social stratification among migrants in the community. The majority of the Norwegian migrants did not have an authentic ‘Spanish’ life in Spain, as only a few very experienced migrants were heavily integrated and spoke fluent Spanish. The majority of migrants also perceived to have a good relationship with the resident Spaniards and the Norwegian tourists. They however perceived the Spanish to be severely lacking English capabilities and the tourists to be drinking too much alcohol and have outrageous behavior. The study indicates that experience and the capability of speaking Spanish are the most important aspects in influencing the attitudes and behavior shown by the migrant Norwegians on Costa Blanca. NORWEGIANS IN SPAIN: A SOCIETY IN LIMBO 4 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 6 1.1. Spain & its history of tourism .............................................................................................. 6 1.2. Migration.............................................................................................................................. 7 1.3. Explaining the dominant forms of migration ....................................................................... 9 1.4. Stereotyping ....................................................................................................................... 12 1.5. Explanation of ‘In limbo’ .................................................................................................. 13 1.6. Norwegians in Spain .......................................................................................................... 14 1.7. The Norwegian Church Abroad & The Norwegian Club Costa Blanca ............................ 18 1.8. Purposes and objective ....................................................................................................... 18 2. Theoretical framework .............................................................................................................. 20 2.1. Anti-tourism ....................................................................................................................... 20 2.2. Social differentiation .......................................................................................................... 22 2.3. Authenticity ........................................................................................................................ 23 2.4. Conflicts ............................................................................................................................. 26 2.5. Liminality ........................................................................................................................... 28 2.6. The tourist bubble .............................................................................................................. 30 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 32 3.1. Design ................................................................................................................................ 32 3.2. Sample methods ................................................................................................................. 33 3.3. Achieved sample ................................................................................................................ 34 3.4. Data Collection .................................................................................................................. 35 3.5. Reliability and validity ....................................................................................................... 40 3.6. Data analysis ...................................................................................................................... 42 NORWEGIANS IN SPAIN: A SOCIETY IN LIMBO 5 3.7. Limitations to the study ..................................................................................................... 43 4. Implementation and results ....................................................................................................... 45 4.1. Background information .................................................................................................... 45 4.2. Anti-tourist attitudes .......................................................................................................... 52 4.3. Social differentiation .......................................................................................................... 69 4.4. Authenticity ........................................................................................................................ 81 4.5. Conflicts and relationships ................................................................................................. 97 5. Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 117 5.1. Anti-tourist attitudes ........................................................................................................ 117 5.2. Social differentiation ........................................................................................................ 119 5.3. Authenticity ...................................................................................................................... 120 5.4. Conflicts and relationships ............................................................................................... 124 6. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 126 7. References ............................................................................................................................... 130 8. Appendices .............................................................................................................................. 134 8.1. Appendix 1 - Total experiences ....................................................................................... 134 8.2. Appendix 2 – Pictures and comments from L’Albir, Costa Blanca ................................ 141 List of tables: Table 1: Tourism-related migration forms ……………….…. 8 Table 2: Summary