Peter Möller

Young Adult Transition in a Tourism Dominated Rural Area

Rural peripheral areas generally have an ageing and declining population, few possibilities for education, limited labour market opportunities, and a net loss of young adults. However, some peripheral rural areas hosting large-scale tourism industry has faced a different development. But despite the fact that the loss of young adults is important for the development of these areas, the adult transition in a tourism context has not been so well addressed. In this paper the adult transition in Sälen, a large-scale winter tourism destination, is explored. The analysis is based on life history interviews with focus on how young adults experience the ability to make a living (year-round) in the tourism-dominated area. The way in which they perceive their current and possible future life in Sälen is important when they make decisions about how and where to shape their futures. The findings imply that the flows of people passing through Sälen, as tourists and young seasonal workers, are important both socially and economically for the young adult inhabitants, which in turn contributes to a more secure adult transition and to Sälens attractiveness among young adults.

The (un)importance of the closure of village shops to rural migration patterns

This study investigates the importance of local service provision for the survival of rural areas. EU Rural Development Policy includes support to village shops as a means to sustain population. Shop closing is assumed to negatively affect migration to and from the area served. We analyse quantitative data on all Swedish village shops and the migration patterns in their market areas before and after shop closure. No significant effect of shop closure on either in- or out-migration can be established, regardless of whether larger or smaller market areas are employed or whether migrants with more urban shopping habits (i.e. commuters and families with children) are excluded. Complementary interviews in three villages where the last shop has closed verify the results.

Tourism’s localised population effect in the rural areas of Sweden

ABSTRACT This paper examines how population change among young adults in rural areas is affected when tourism is the dominant industry. The relation between tourism and population change is often implicitly assumed but has not been well examined on a broader societal level. Existing studies have indicated that the effect of tourism on population change is limited in geographical range, and therefore a fine geographical resolution is useful. This analysis is based on yearly information on each individual who resided in Sweden in any year between 1990 and 2010, with 100-metre grid cells as the finest geographical resolution. Since young adults constitute a large part of all migration that takes place, they are the focus of this study. The findings show that the net population change among young adults is clearly more positive in tourism-dominated areas (TDAs) than in non-TDAs, and this becomes more significant the more remote the areas. Further, there is a better gender balance and a younger population in TDAs. Stayers and return migrants can partly explain the positive population change in TDAs, but as shown in previous research, there is a higher turnover of population in TDAs, and in-migration seems to be the key to positive population change.

Young adults’ perceptions of and affective bonds to a rural tourism community

Many rural areas, in Sweden and worldwide, experience population decline where the young leave for education and work in urban areas. Employment has declined in several rural industries, such as ag ...