Establishing the routes to rural in‐migrant proprietorship in a Canadian tourism region: A mobilities perspective

• Published in: Population, Space and Place
• Main Authors: Mitchell, Clare J.A., Shannon, Meghan
• Other Authors: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/psp.2095; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fpsp.2095; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/psp.2095

Abstract This article contributes to the ongoing conversation about in‐migration and rural economic change in the mobility era. It addresses the question: do rural in‐migrants' routes to proprietorship differ in developing tourism destinations? To answer this query, we analyse the migration movement, and postmovement performances, of rural Newfoundland and Labrador's in‐migrant tourism operators. We identify the dominant incoming groups (resident and seasonal counterurbanites and lateral migrants) and major destination choice motivations (family, amenity, and economics). We describe the business activities of in‐migrants' postmovement lives (early‐ and late‐stage) and the reasons for business operation (economic and noneconomic). By combining this movement and performance information, we uncover 12 business trajectories and new firm types. We find that counterurbanite and lateral migrant paths, and business types, differ, supporting the inclusion of both cohorts in future research. Our findings confirm and extend extant literature on rural in‐migration and tourism and reify the fluid relationship between movement and place in the mobility era.