Retirement Migration or rather Second-Home Tourism? German ...

DIE ERDE 136 2005 (3) Contributions to Human Geography pp. 313-333

• Transnational retirement migration - Tourism - Second homes - Canary Islands

Toni Breuer (Regensburg)

Retirement Migration or rather Second-Home Tourism?German Senior Citizens on the Canary Islands

Altersmigration oder eher Zweitwohnungstourismus?Deutsche Senioren auf den Kanarischen Inseln

Dedicated to Jürgen Bähr on his 65th birthdayJürgen Bähr zum 65. Geburtstag

With 7 Figures and 4 Tables

Business transactions for property abroad are booming. Market analyses by German buildingsocieties promise enormous growth in the demand for privately used residences located intourist destinations throughout Europe. This increase in demand is caused primarily by inter-ested persons over age 50. This phenomenon is also fascinating from a scientific perspective:are we now experiencing a new form of amenity-seeking retirement migration in Europe too?What is it that makes middle-class senior citizens move to a foreign country in Europe in spiteof linguistic and cultural barriers, not to mention mature social ties to their home country? Arethe so-called "best agers" perhaps protagonists of a new European awareness? In individualinstances this must surely be the case. If we take a closer look, however, we see that theforeign residence is frequently only used as a second home on a seasonal basis. In this case thenew mobility should be seen more as a variation on international tourism than as a permanentmove. The characteristics and behaviour Patterns of senior German residents on the CanaryIslands provide revealing details for this scientific research.

1. The Question was initially not questioned in the relevant re-search on migration, possibly because the re-

The question arose as the result of a case study searchers had been led astray by formal charac-of European north-south retirement migration. teristics such as moving house, purchasingThe empirical investigations thus far performed estates abroad etc. Yet the first quantitative caseon retirement migration in Europe assume a defi- studies on international retirement migration havenite medium- to long-term migration. This theory shown that between 14 % (King et al. 1998) and

314 Toni Breuer DIE ERDE

30 % (Rodriguez et al. 1998a) of senior citizensliving abroad use their retirement residences reg-ularly for only up to 6 months a year. They wereassessed as a minority variant within the entirespectrum of retirement migration, occasionallywith reference to their assumed (but frequentlynot proven) high socioeconomic Status.

The empirical findings on the Canary Islandsquery the assumptions that have been made upto now; there are many arguments in favour of theassumption that a considerable proportion of thesenior migrants in foreign countries on the Euro-pean continent are deliberately using their sec-ond homes only on a seasonal basis. In the fol-lowing paper the differences between senior Ger-man migrants with permanent residence patternsand those with seasonal residence patterns willbe presented. The aim is to demonstrate the basicprinciples for a causal structure in the relation-ships linking the duration of use, the residentialsituation and socioeconomic characteristics, andthe behaviour patterns, and then to discuss thephenomenon of transnational second-home tour-ism on the basis of these results.

2. The State of Research

Research into international retirement migration(IRM) was initiated in Europe by F. Cribier(1979; 1980) who mainly focussed on internalmoves within France. Warnes, King and Wil-liams (Williams et al. 1997; King et al. 1998;Wames et al, 1999) extended this initial idea withthat of international retirement migration in thedirection of southem Europe from northern andWestern Europe. In the meantime a series of casestudies has been carried out on this subject,which vary with regard to both the countries oforigin and the destination countries, but whichall permit the conclusion to be drawn that IRMin Europe will continue to increase in signifi-cance in the future (O'Reilly 1995,2000; Vera-Rebollo 1997; Rodriguez et al. 2001; Rodriguez

2000; Casado-Diaz 1999; Salvh-Tomds 2002;Kaiser and Friedrich 2002; Breuer 2003).

There are plainly many parallels to the retirementmigration process in North America, so it seemedobvious to adopt the theoretical concepts whichhave been developed there. In the sense of US-American nomenclature, European retirement mi-gration is also amenity-seeking, i.e. it is not influ-enced by the direct economical, practical necessi-ties of working life but must instead be interpretedas a strategy for corning to terms with the transi-tion from professional life to retirement.

On the other hand, however, the structural differ-ences between European and North Americanretirement migration are considerable, to mentionhere merely the linguistic and cultural differenceswithin Europe. Given these differences, a retire-ment migrant in Europe generally selects a cultur-al region as his retirement home which is foreignto him and whose language he frequently doesnot speak well, if at all. The problems resultingfrom this are to a great extent responsible for thefact that the differences between European andNorth American retirement migration are greaterthan the factors they have in common (Friedrichand Wames 2000; Friedrich and Kaiser 2001).

The phenomenon of second homes has beeninvestigated extensively in both German andinternational geographical research. Up to thebeginning of the 1990s problems of spatial plan-ning associated with second homes develop-ments and aspects of the sustainable use ofresources were among the central research ques-tions (Ruppert 1973; Maieret al. 1973; Grimmand Albrecht 1990; Baumhackl 1991).

Since the 1990s this subject has been receivingrenewed scientific attention as a phenomenon ofinternational significance because of an increasein purchases of second homes in foreign coun-tries on the European continent (Barke 1991;Odermatt and Elsasser 1991; Buller and Hoggart

200513 Retirement Migration or Seconid-Horne Tourism? - Canary Islands 315

1994; Flognfeldt 2002; Müller 2002). The above-mentioned Papers on European retirement migra-tion have also contributed important ideas here.Significant reasons for the international use of asecond home abroad include a growing, readilyavailable income, as well as a higher level of ex-perience in other countries gained through pro-fessional andlor tourist endeavours. The pre-sumed influence of the gradual extension of theEU and the resulting legal situation for interna-tional second-home tourism has not yet beenproven in a quantitatively useful way.

The problem of definitions is not going to be dis-cussed here in detail: it is specifically mentionedin the most recent edition of Bähr's textbook(Bähr 2004: 249ff.). Suffice it to say that a long-term change in one's place of residence is requiredas one of the constituent characteristics of migra-tion. Tourism, on the other hand, is defined as atemporary visit away from one's permanent placeof residence without a work-orientated purpose.The definitions used here in the title break up thissuperficially unambiguous scheme in several dif-ferent ways: "retirement rnigration" cannot be ex-plained using neoclassical theoretical concep-tions, according to which migrations are definedby economic considerations. As a general mle,all other motives are secondary to the motivationcomplex of gainful employment, however this fac-tor is no longer valid for rnigration which takesplace after people are retired.

Second homes are, after all, attributes of an in-dustry- and service-orientated society whichmust or would like to use more than one (main)residence for professional just as much as forleisure purposes. Accordingly, Ruppert (1994:580) distinguishes second homes with either aprofessional or a leisure function.

The expression "second-home tourism" leadsus on to very familiar problems of definition:Tourism is defined by mobility not forced bymotives of gainful employment; it implies a tem-

porary visit away from one's regular place ofresidence and is linked to the point of view ofrecreation or leisure. "Residential tourism"therefore contains an intrinsic contradiction.

However, it is not difficult to solve this problemof definition: Social changes in the post-Fordistsocieties have produced new lifestyles whichhave made the classical definitions become ob-solete. In the context of tourism, Williams and Hall(2000) refer to the use of several residences as a"peripatetic lifestyle". Retirement migration doesnot need to be triggered off by either economical-ly measurable push-pul1 factors or individuallyeffective "constraints". It can be explained by both"amenity" and "disengagement" theories.

For pragmatic reasons the entirety of the targetgroup under investigation will be defined as sen-ior migrants or (in the destination area) as "seniorresidents". Depending on the length of use of theretirement residence in the Course of time, thisgroup will then be split up further, as will be Seen.

3. The Empirical Case Study

In the empirical investigation, German or German-speaking senior citizens were interviewed on 4different islands of the Canaries between spring2001 and spring 2002; a standardised question-naire was used. For the sample interviewees wereselected who were at least 55 years old, no longeremployed full-time (senior citizens) and whoused a residence on the Canary Islands (either arented apartment or an apartment of their own)regularly for at least 3 months a year. In the end,the sample consisted of 316 usable question-naires. This makes it comparable in size withother relevant case studies (Rodriguez et al.1998a: n = 300; Kaiser 2001: n = 303; Williams etal. 1997, King et al. 1998: n = 949).

It cannot be determined in how far the sample isrepresentative because the respective total popu-


Tenerife

10km

Proportion of older Germans (> 55 years) in German resident population

| | 5 50% B 10,l-20,0% n.s. not speciiied

d ! 5,l-10,0% ^ 1 > 20,0%

Maspalomas Place of InteMew Teieda Municjpality § ] Int. Airport

Source: Instituto Nacional de Espana (Madrid). Census data 2001

German residents > 55 years

566 Pers.

400

200

100

50

10

Design: T. Breuer 2005

200513 Retirement Migration or Second-Home Tourism? - Canary Islands 317

Fig. 1 Population of German senior citizens on the Canary Islands (2001)Deutsche Senioren-Wohnbevölkerung aufden Kanarischen Inseln (2001)

lation is unknown due to the entry regulations inSpain as the result of the Schengen Conventionand also due to the inability of Spain to enforcethe registration regulations. The official popula-tion census of 2001 registered 6,540 Germans (resi-dential population) aged 55+ in the autonomousregion of the Canary Islands. The experts in theDelphi group estimate the actual number of Ger-man residents of this age group (with their ownresidence on the Canaries) at 54,000, while theGerman consulate in Las Palmas assumes thatthere are approximately 60,000. (In comparison: inthe whole of Spain a total of 77,732 Germans wereregistered as residential population in 2001). Thenumber of Germans residing in Spain without be-ing registered is therefore considerable.

However, the spatial distribution Pattern for theGerman residential population in Spain can beelaborated from the figures officially publishedby the Spanish authorities. A comparison of thesample with the data from the cities' registrationoffices demonstrates the spatial congruence.According to this, the German senior residentsare concentrated in those coastal areas of theCanary Islands which are also preferred byinternational tourism (Fig. I). These findingsagree with the results of the case studies byWilliams et al. (1997), King et al. (1998) andRodriguez et al. (1998a, 1998b). The vast major-ity of the people interviewed on the Canariescome from the West German federal states. Sofar, the former East German states have not yetplayed any part worth mentioning as areas of ori-gin (cp. Figs. 1 and 2 in Breuer 2004). Thisdifference was not expected in such clarity.

The questionnaire on which this study was basedfollows the questions developed by King,Wames, Williams and Rodriguez to a great ex-tent, for reasons of compatibility. The questions

were asked by interviewers who gave the inter-viewees the written questionnaires and, as a gen-eral mle, entered the replies on the questionnairesthemselves, in the presence of the interviewees.In contrast to British senior citizens in southemEurope, German senior citizens clearly avoid na-tional associations such as societies, clubs etc.,with the result that it was unexpectedly difficultto gain access to the persons questioned. It wastherefore necessary to organise extensive cam-paigns in the local German-speaking media (pressinformation, radio interviews) in order to gain aminimum of confidence for the interviews. Successwas achieved by means of access through churchorganisations and also through associations ofapartment-owners, and in individual instanceseven through doctors' surgeries (waiting-rooms)and public libraries. In order to maintain the ano-nymity of the persons questioned, the interviewswere not carried out in their apartments. A lack ofrepresentativeness of the sample may be conceiv-able among those senior citizens who live scat-tered over a wide area and at a distance from themunicipal and touristic centres as also amongthose elderly people whose movements are re-stricted, who have hardly any social contacts andcould therefore not be approached (the few exist-ing old pople's homes and nursing homes on theCanaries were however visited for the interviews).According to the facts known up to now these twosub-groups can be regarded as minorities.

In addition to the quantitative investigation,qualitative interviews, supported by guidelinesand tape-recorded, were camed out with repre-sentatives of the target-group. Here a distinc-tion was made between permanent residents andseasonal residents. The interviews (n = 27) wererecorded with the agreement of the interview-ees in their home surroundings, transcribed af-terwards and evaluated, using ATLAS.ti.


% of interviewees

100 -

90 -

80

70 -

60

Estimates of y 75-percentilelocal experts -| median

(Delphi, 3 rd round) l 25-percentile

Results of the questionnairesurvey actual rnonthly residenteduring the year

50 -

40 -

30 -

20 -

10 -

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Source: Own survey; n = 296 Design T Breuer POOP

Fig. 2 Senior citizens' monthly residential presence on the Canary IslandsMonatliches Nutzungsrnuster von Alterswohnsitzen aufden Kanarischen Inseln

200513 Retirement Migration or Second-Horne Tourism? - Canary Islands 319

The fieldwork was rounded off by a Delphi studyinvolving local experts, German church represent-atives, doctors, teachers, medical attendants, re-presentatives of the German press and employeesat the German consulate, who have to deal with thetarget-group of German senior residents on theCanary Islands in their professional work. Threerounds of intemiews were carried out (I st round:n = 17; 3rd round: n = 14). The fundamental (andwell-known) criticism of the Delphi technique(Häder and Häder 2000) also applies in this presentcase, i.e. the delicate question of classification ofthe interview Partners as "experts". These"expertsWare anything but a homogeneous group;they interact with the target group from very dif-ferent perspectives so that each expert has a high-ly selective perception of the situation. In addition,they are migrants themselves, though for .profes-sional reasons and frequently for a limited penodof time. There is no solution to this contradiction.

However, in spite of all the (necessary) criticism ofthe method, it can nevertheless be assumed thatthe combination of methods applied guarantees aminimum degree of representativeness of the re-sults obtained. This is also confirmed by the com-parison with comparable empirical case studies.

4. The Findings: Patterns of Seasonal Use

The duration of the use of the retirement residencesduring the course of the year shows a marked sea-sonal pattern of behaviour. In Febmary and Marchmore than 93 % of all the senior citizens interviewedcan be found in their retirement homes, whereas inJuly it is only just 30 % (Fig. 2). If we compare thefindings with the corresponding estimates of theDelphi experts (expressed without knowing theresults of the sample), they offer impressive evi-dence of the representativeness of the sample. Itis possible that March and April are a little over-represented in the sample because the majonty ofthe intemiews of the senior citizens took place inexactly these months. Apparently the Canary Is-

lands have a special Status in this respect whichcan be explained as follows: The subtropical cli-mate of the Canaries cannot be found on the SouthEuropean mainland nor on the islands of the Medi-terranean. Senior residents find the frost-free mildwinters particularly attractive, with their averagetemperatures of at least 15"C, in the coastal regionsclose to the ocean. The bi-polar seasonality in theuse of the retirement home, with a maximum pres-ence in the winter months and a minimum pres-ence in summer is therefore the result of a verydeliberate reaction to the average regional climaticconditions in the destination area. The extent towhich regional differences in the climate are per-ceived can be Seen in the example of the island ofTenerife: On islands with a higher relief energy,the difference between luff versus leeward side ofthe north-eastern trade winds creates a divisionin the climate between those areas that are exposedto the north or the south respectively. Admitted-ly, it is only in Tenerife that there are large tounstsettlements in both the north and the south. Thiscan be explained on the one hand by the leadingrole this island has played in the construction ofhotel resorts and holiday-home settlements, whichwere built for a market of Western European con-sumers (Riede1 1971; Breuer 1988), and on the oth-er hand by the subsequent move of the interna-tional airport from the north (Los Rodeos) to thesouth (Reina Sofia). With a corresponding north-south differentiation of the seasonal pattern of useby the test persons, many revealing differences canbe Seen in detail: The south, on average hotter anddrier (around Playa de las Americas or LosCristianos), is given preference in the wintermonths (compared to the north). The north aroundPuerto de la Cmz, which is altogether slightly morehumid, attracts more retired residents in the hotmonths of high summer, in contra..t. The behaviourpattern in the transitional seasons is correspond-ingly asymmetrical: The south maintains its hold ofthe senior residents longer as winter Comes to anend, and as the summer heat dies away the seniorcitizens return earlier in the course of the year totheir homes in the north of Tenenfe (Fig. 3).


% of respondents100,

90

40

30

20

10

Northern Part (Pto de la CruzOrotava, Los Realejos...)

I Southern Part (Adeje,ie, Arona..

100,

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Source: Own Sulvey; n = 188Design: T. Breuer 2002

200513 Retirement Migration or Second-Horne Tourism? - Canary Islands 321

Fig. 3 Different pattems of German senior citizens' monthly residential presence in the northem andsouthem parts of Tenerife I Unterschiedliche zeitliche Nutzungsmuster von Altersresidenten imNorden und Süden Teneriffas

A simple categorisation of the senior residents ac-cording to the duration of their use of the residenceon the Canary Islands produces a clear picture:50.5 % of the Gerrnan senior citizens use their apart-ments on the Canary Islands for 3 to 6 months ayear, and this exclusively during the winter months(cp. Fig. 2). Only 30.6 % stay there for 10 monthsand longer. A mere 18.9 % of the persons ques-tioned said they had a regular period of presenceof between 7 and 9 months. The conclusion is thatat the most 30.6 % of the sample may be regardedas "permanent residents" (in the broader sense).All others use their retirement homes purely on aseasonal basis; 50.5 % of the sarnple must be de-scribed as "seasonal residents" (i.e. with a regularpresence of a maximum of 6 months).

It was possible to support the result of the unex-pectedly large number of "seasonal residents"with further statements: 65 % said that they hada residence in Germany (as owner-occupiers), and71.3 % expressed that they stayed in their ownapartment (either rented or owned) when they vis-ited their home country. Only 20.7 % no longerhave any other residence apart from the one onthe Canary Islands. In this respect the results ofthis case study differ fundamentally from compar-able studies in the Mediterranean region, wherethe proportion of seasonal residents to perma-nent residents is almost the reverse in some tar-get areas (Casado-Diaz et al. 2004).

5. Characteristics and Behaviour Patterns ofSeasonal and Permanent Residents

However, the German senior residents questioneddiffer not only with regard to the duration in whichthey use their residence abroad. It is instead pos-sible to identify a whole series of significant differ-

ences in the characteristics and behaviour of thetest persons, depending on the length of their an-nual period of use. The following statements em-phasize the difference between the "seasonal resi-dent~" on the one hand and the "permanent resi-dent~'' on the other. The rnidway category betweenthese two basic types is given only marginal atten-tion owing to a profile-sharpening comparison.

The two groups differ for example in their differentresidential preferences. As a mle, the seasonal resi-dents still own an apartment in their home country.For this reason, when they stay on the Canary Is-lands they are satisfied with a smaller residence withan average of 66 m2; as many as 70 % of them livein apartments or blocks of flats. Only 40.4 % of thepermanent residents live in this type of accommo-dation, whilst 36.5 % live in detached houses (sea-sonal residents: 11.3 %). Correspondingly, theirresidential floorspace per person of approx. 100 m2

(on the average) is much larger than that of the sea-sonal residents. Conceming the fumishings of theresidence, a garage for their car is apparently moreimportant for the permanent than for the seasonalresidents, but with swirnming-pools the reverse isthe case (cp. Fig. 4). On the other hand, contraryto our expectations, no significant differences couldbe discemed as far as the ownership of the resi-dence on the Canary Islands is concemed (78.8 %of the seasonal residents are owners, as against74 % 6f the permanent residents).

Of the test persons questioned, 71.6 % live in so-called "urbanisations", in other words in resortsplanned for tourists which have been developed andbuilt with private capital. In the Spanish destinationareas of international tourism they became a charac-teristic aspect of the tourist idixtructure as long agoas the early 1960s (cp. Zahn 1975). An initial hypo-thesis states that owing to the tounst-onentated plan-


Settlement Type

Town

Urbanisation

Traditional village

Countryside

Residence Type

Detached houselvilla

Apartment/flat

Housing Equipment

Pool

Garage

Central heating

Phone

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Mean Floor Space (m2)

permanent residents (> 9 monthslyear)

seasonal residents (> 3 monthslyear)

Source: Own survey; n = 309

üesiin:T. Breuer 2002

Fig. 4 Annual residential presence and housing conditions / Jährlicher Wohnaufenthalt und Wohnbedingungen


100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

% of respondents

3 - 6 months• • 6 - 9 monthsM > 9 months

136 absolute number

6

4

1

12

_

1

1

136

1Countryside Traditional Town Large-scale touristic

village developmentfinca nistica nlicleo rural ciudad urbanizacion

Source: Own survey; n = 306 Design. T. Breuer 2002

Fig. 5 Annual presence in retirement residence by type of locationZusammenhang zwischenjährlichem Wohnaufenthalt und Wohnumgebung

ning concept these "urbanisations" were not de-signed for the needs of elderly inhabitants resid-ing there permanently (Breuer 2000). This hypo-thesis must be revised to a certain extent now as ithas been shown that the residential surroundings

in the urbanisations can also meet the requirementsof elderly inhabitants in certain respects: Urbani-sations are charactensed by the fact that the apart-ments are very easily accessed by public transport(87.1 % of the test persons expressed this), which


Social Activities

Clubslassociations

Marriedniving together

2 persons in household

Neighbours of Same age

Spanish neighbourc

Spanish friends

Meeting friends at leastonce a week

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100%

Ties to Horne Country

Residence in home country

No property in homecountry

Visits to home countryonce a year

Phone contact at leastonce a week

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100%

Permanent residents (> 9 monthslyear)

Seasonal residents C> 3 monthslyear)

Source: Own su~ey; n = 309


Fig. 6 Annual presence and social activities 1 Jährlicher Wohnaufenthalt undsoziales Umfeld

compares well with the accessibility of the town service is markedly worse (57.5 %). The urbanisa-(100 %) and of traditional village centres (89.5 %). tions also show advantages as far as easy directIn scattered settlements in rural districts the bus access to the apartment door is concemed.


Tab. 1 Motivation for moving - differences between seasonal and permanent residentsMotivationen für den Umzug - Unterschiede zwischen Saisonresidenten und Dauerresidenten

Climate

Health problems

Easy access by air

Crucial event in life ("trigger" effect)

Cost of living

Children / family

otive "ver ant" for tlhe move

Seasonal residents I

85.6

52.5

40.5

22.0

7.0

2.0

Permanent residents (%)

68.0

42.3

28.9

41.4

25.8

11.7

If we consider the fact that it is primarily seasonalresidents and not even half of the permanent resi-dents who live in such urbanisations the initialhypothesis loses its explanatory power even morebecause seasonal residents can compensate - atleast for a period of some months - for any possi-ble difficulties in the surroundings of their apart-ments which are not appropriate for the elderly.

To summarise, we must note here that in urbani-sations the seasonal residents are very much inthe majority. Here the permanent residents areonly a minority. In the rural districts it is exactlythe reverse: Given a much smaller number ofcases altogether, it is only in exceptional circum-stances that seasonal residents live in afinca,in isolation, i.e. in scattered settlements in ruraldistricts, while these residential surroundingsare preferred by permanent residents. This rela-tion can also be Seen in the average monthlylength of the visits: in the country it is 9.77monthslyear, and in urbanisations, on the otherhand, only 7.03 monthslyear (cp. Fig. 5).

The basic principles of the motivation structuresfor the selection of a retirement residence insouthern Europe are sufficiently well-known: cli-

mate (to state it more explicitly: light and warmth)and also health (as precautionary health meas-ures andlor for the relief of already existing ill-nesses) are the factors which are most frequent-ly given as the reasons that trigger off the estab-lishment of a retirement residence (cp. Fig. 6).In detail, however, the reasons stated for movingto the Canary Islands vary according to the lengthof the senior citizens' annual visit (cp. Tab. I). Theseasonal residents show a distinctive touristmentality. They rate such factors as climate,health and easy access higher than the perma-nent residents. As they can use at least twohomes, they are generally financially secure. Forthis reason, in contrast to the permanent resi-dent~, they do not attribute any particular sig-nificance to the partially lower cost of living (noheating expenses; no winter clothes etc.).

For the permanent residents, on the other hand,the so-called "trigger" effect plays a remarkablyimportant role: Over 40 % of the permanent resi-dents interviewed gave a "crucial personal eventin their lives" as a significant motivation for thedecision to move, while this aspect was only tickedby 22 % of the seasonal residents. Earlier casestudies have apparently not paid sufficient atten-


Tab. 2 Links with the home country - differences between seasonal and permanent residentsVerbundenheit mitdem Heimatland- Unterschiedezwischen Saisonresidenten undDauerresidenten

Telephone contact at least once a week

"Journey home" at least once a year

No home in Germany any longer

Residence in Germany

Links with the home country,

Seasonal residents (%)

80.1

98.0

14.2

90.3


66.0

50.5

66.0

42.7

tion to this "trigger" effect, which in extreme in-stances can result in a headlong departure and thetruncation of all links to one's home country. Thequalitative interviews illustrate the complexity ofthis effect in more detail: The spectrum of the real"triggers " extends from early retirement due to ill-ness to serious personal disruptions such as adivorce or the death of one's lifetime companion.

Other differences are to be seen in the seniorres idents ' social sphere of action. Contact

with their home country, for example, is madein a converse ratio to the length of the annu-al visit; in other words, the shorter the peri-od of time in which the retirement home on theCanary Islands is used, the more frequent thetelephone contacts (cp. Tab. 2). The majori-ty of the permanent residents no longer pos-sess a house or a home in Germany. After all,14.8 % of the permanent residents stated thatthey "never" go to their home country (0.6 %of the seasonal residents).

Tab. 3 Social contacts - differences between seasonal and permanent residentsSoziale Kontakte - Unterschiede zwischen Saisonresidenten undDauerresidenten

No friends

Spanish friends

Meet up with fnends at least once a week

Spanish neighbours

Neighbours of similar age

Married / living together

Active in clubs

Social contacts

Seasonal residents (%)

10.0

32.6

86.0

30.6

74.5

68.1

55.6


12.5

60.0

72.8

65.3

41.8

47.4

39.2


Tab. 4 Perception of disadvantages and suggestions for improvement -differences between seasonal andpermanent residents I Wahrnehmung von Nachteilen und Verbesserungsvorschlägen -Unterschiedezwischen Saisionresidenten und Dauerresidenten

Rising cost of living: not a disadvantage

Separation fiom the family: not a disadvantage

Authorities 1 bureaucracy in Spain:not a disadvantage

Quality of roads: improvement urgently needed

Safety: improvement urgently needed

Protection from more constructionaldevelopment: improvement urgently needed

Disadvantages and suggestions for improvementconfirmed by:

seasonal residents (%)

31.8

47.2

24.8

35.8

13.9

41.9

permanent residents (%)

46.4

60.8

35.1

22.1

9.7

37.9

Considerably more seasonal residents thanpermanent residents live with a lifetime partnerin a two-person household. Permanent resi-dents tend to live alone and participate less incircles of people with the Same kind of inter-ests. Apparently some seasonal residents de-cide not to make the annual winter trip to thesunny south any longer after the death of theirlifetime companion. These findings are sup-ported by the statements by local experts andalso by the test persons themselves: In variousreturn scenanos a significantly greater numberof permanent residents than seasonal residentssay that they Want to keep their present retire-ment home in the Canaries in the event of theirpartner needing medical care or dying.

Other differences can be Seen in problem aware-ness and the corresponding problem-solvingstrategies. When asked about the biggest disad-vantages of life in the Canary Islands, the Span-iards' lack of environmental awareness (in partic-ular their attitude to rubbish and its disposal) isnamed most frequently as an "enormous disad-vantage". Contrary to expectations, complaints

about disturbances by holiday tourism (or thenoise it causes) were made relatively rarely byGerman senior citizens in the quantitative inter-view~. Personal problems and dissatisfaction withthe surroundings of the residence, on the otherhand, were mentioned much more often in thequalitative interviews, and then usually only afterthe questions were repeated (cp. Breuer 2003).This is a well-known socio-psychological phe-nomenon. The decision to take up a retirementresidence abroad results in a certain self-selectedneed for justification towards a third party (Romeiß-Stracke 1998), which becomes apparent in inter-views in the form of rose-tinted statements. Thesemust be interpreted with the appropnate care.

In spite of these reservations, there are clear differ-ences between the permanent and the seasonalresidents: The seasonal residents are more awareof the everyday problems and disadvantages whichlife on the Canary Islands bnngs about, and theysay so. Analogous to this, they also speak out morefrequently about urgently necessary improvementmeasures (cp. Table 4). With the permanent resi-dents there is a greater readiness to tolerate or to


Arguments for Seasonal Use only

Family ties to Gemany

Social wntacts in Gemany (visits)

Medicaliospital treatrnent inGennany

Maintainance of housing inGemany

Homesickness

The green "Geman summe?

Avoiding total immersion inSpanish living conditions

Hot-dry summer dimate in theCanary lslands

LMng in W o different worlds"

Maintainance of health insurancein Gennany

Larger flatlhouse in Gemany

Escape from tourist resorts duringhigh season

Avoiding all-year-payment of rentin the Canary lslands

Diculties with Spanish way of li

r *

I I1 2

Less imporlant

Source: Own suivey; n = 296 (Delphi, d rd round)

cp

I IQ-'TD Q-

eg E r*-

Estimates oflocal experts

(Delphi, 3rd mund)

I I I3 4 5

lmportant Main reason


Fig. 7 Retirement homes in the Canary Islands: arguments for seasonal use onlyGründefür die nur saisonale Nutzung eines Alterswohnsitzes aufden Kanaren

accept the negative side of their retirement homes(or the surroundings of the homes).

The explanation of these differences is plain: Bothgroups of senior residents very clearly recognisethe obvious everyday problems and disadvan-

tages of their retirement homes. The seasonalresidents, however, can more readily tolerate cer-tain shortcomings or avoid serious problems(such as a planned hospitalisation) for the lengthof their time-restricted visit by returning to Ger-many. This possibility is not available to many

200513 Retirement Migration or Seconc%Horne Tourism? - Canary Islands 329

of the permanent residents (whether subjective-ly or objectively is not relevant). For this reasonthey seem to come to an arrangement with them-selves mentally with regard to certain disadvan-tages of their retirement homes in Spain.

6. Discussion of the Findings

The seasonal residents clearly prefer the winterhalf-year for their stay. They can therefore bedescribed as "overwinterers" (Breuer 2004),analogous to the American "snowbirds". Amore extensive explanation for the unexpected-ly great extent of the merely seasonal use of re-tirement homes in the Canaries is provided onlyto a very restricted extent by the Statements ofthe target group in the standardised interviews:During their visits to their home country thesenior citizens, above all, cultivate contacts totheir families and friends, and go to the doctor.Homesickness and the desire to See the "greenGerman summer" were named as subsidiary rea-sons for the seasonal visit to Germany. Theseresults are confirmed by the Delphi experts, whoin particular quote the family ties to Germanyas the most important reason for the seasonaluse of second homes (cp. Fig. 7). More exten-sive explanations are provided by the qualita-tive interviews: Obviously, the unusual terri-torial situation of the Canary Islands must notbe underestimated; it is only here that seniorcitizens find a well-balanced, pleasant winterclimate without having to leave the economicregion of the EU and European culture. Thislatter aspect, for example, was mentioned by theinterviewees in a direct comparison with otherpotential destination areas in Turkey or theAmerican state of Florida.

We can therefore definitely say that the so-calledretirement migration can at best be classified pri-marily formally as transnational migration. Fromthe functional point of view, the seasonal forms,in particular of the use of a second home, do not

represent migration. And even the assignation tothe category of "permanent residents" (with anaverage regular length of use of the second homeof more than 9 months) is worth further discus-sion. There are still a great many instances in thisgroup of test persons who own a home in Ger-many. Even if the rational explanation for keepingup the residence in the permanent residents' homecountry is an economical one, it can if necessarybe used as a "stepping-stone" (Williams et al.2004) for a possible retum home. From that pointof view, even 30 % may be exaggerated as thepercentage of permanent residents.

European retirement migration lacks nearly all thecharacteristics which have been observed in themore recent migration research on transnationalmigration. The Papers from Pries (1998 and 2001)through Bürkner (2000) to Müller-Mahn (2002)are concemed with working migrants. Also, theaspect of the social networks, which was firstwritten about in ethno-sociology (Schweizer1996), is at best only partially relevant in the caseof the amenity-seeking seasonal retirement mi-grants. The seasonal use of a retirement resi-dence has an exclusively consumer-type charac-ter. The aspect of "social integration", for exam-ple, is thereby of secondary importance or - inthe individual instance - irrelevant.

It can without doubt be said of the "overwinter-ers" that that they are trying, apparently success-fully, to combine "the best of both worlds" (Ro-driguez 2000) by the deliberate use of different resi-dences in complementary natural regions. For thisreason the behaviour of the senior citizen second-home Users can be described as "touristic". Con-sequently, the seasonal use of second homes musttherefore be Seen as a circulation rather than as amigration. In this context, the seasonal use of sec-ond homes is not a Segment in a continuum whichbegins with a short-term tourist holiday visit andends with the permanent retirement residence, butinstead it represents a final state which is regard-ed as optimal by more than half of the German


senior residents in the Canaries. By doing thisthey are putting into practice a "peripatetic" life-style in the sense of Williams and Hall (2000). Theuse of a second home is thereby the expressionof a lifestyle which was practised in many instanc-es before the retirement age was attained.

It is well-known, however, that the traditional so-cial class-formations are not of much help whenregistering lifestyles. Since there is as yet no"generally acknowledged theory of lifestyles ...the processes of the evolution of lifestyles mustbe examined in its interaction with the spatialenvironment" (Helbrecht 1997: 13).

In this case of the age group of senior citizens,the seasonal use of second homes may perhapsbe interpreted as a strategy for "successful age-ing" (Breuer 2004). In the context of the identifi-cation and, more importantly, the scientific regis-tration of lifestyles, the phenomenon of secondhomes has as yet hardly been taken into account.Here, the terminological framework must first ofall be improved. Does the expression "secondhome" merely describe a second residence in aneutral sense or does it contain an indication ofrank? In the case study presented here the inter-viewees usually See the focal point of their life intheir home country, and the second home abroadis used in a complementary way. The opposite isnot simply possible, but in fact actually occurs ina number of cases, where a second home in Ger-many is only used for occasional visits. In otherwords, the primatily simple identification of a sec-ond home (not conditioned by a work context)with a holiday residence has also in reality alreadybeen replaced by dissimilar, more complex formsof use inside and outside one's working life.

In conclusion, it can be said that the expression"retirement migration" is inaccurate and mislead-ing in many instances in the European context.In addition, the expression "second-hometourism", too, describes the actual situation un-satisfactorily. If we regard the circulation of sen-

ior citizens, who use their second homes on aseasonal basis, as the expression of an inde-pendent lifestyle, we are still left with the prob-lem of scientifically measuring the term "life-style", and also with the task of documenting inan operational way the spatially effective con-sequences of exactly this "peripatetic" lifestyle.

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Summary: Retirement Migration or rather Second-Home Tourism? German Senior Citizens on theCanary Islands

The subjects of this field study are retired Germancitizens aged 55 and older with residences on theCanary Islands. Within the study sample, more thanhalf of the persons interviewed only use theirretirement residences on a seasonal basis. There areconsiderable differences between seasonal and per-manent residents. These differences are demon-strated by the formal characteristics of the resi-dence or the environment of the residence, and byspecific preferred pattems of behaviour. The presentarticle reaches the conclusion that the basic reasonfor "retirement migration" is frequently not a long-term relocation of one's residence but rather asecond-home tourism which can be regarded as avariation on a strategy for "successful ageing".

Zusammenfassung: Altersmigration oder eherZweitwohnungstourisrnus? Deutsche Senioren aufden Kanarischen Inseln

Gegenstand der empirischen Untersuchung sinddeutsche Rentner-Residenten im Alter von 55 undmehr Jahren, die auf den Kanarischen Inseln eineeigene Wohnung besitzen. In der Stichprobe nutztmehr als die Hälfte der Befragten den Alterswohn-sitz nur saisonal. Zwischen saisonalen und perma-nenten Residenten gibt es beachtliche Unterschie-de. Sie sind an formalen Merkmalen der Wohnungbzw. der Wohnumgebung ebenso zu belegen wie anbestimmten Verhaltenspräferenzen. Der Artikelkommt zu dem Schluss, dass hinter der so genannten

„Altersmigration" häufig keine dauerhafte Wohn-sitzverlagerung steht, sondern ein Zweitwohnungs-tourismus, der sich als Variante einer Strategie zum,,erfolgreichen Altern" deuten lässt.

Risumi: Migration des retraitis ou plut6t tourismerksidentiel ? Les retraitis allernands aux Iles Canaries

L'objet de cette etude empirique est constitue pardes residents allemands h la retraite 3ges de 55 ans etplus, proprietaires d'un logement aux Iles Canaries.Dans I'echantillon, plus de la moitie des personnesinterrogees n'habite ce domicile, achete pour laretraite, que de facon saisonniere. Entre residentssaisonniers et permanents, on observe des differen-Ces notables. Celles-ci concement les caracteristi-ques formelles du logement ou de I'environnement dulieu de residence, de m6me que la preference accordeea certains comportements. L'article en arrive h laconclusion que bien souvent, ce qu'on appelle « mi-gration des retraites » ne recouvre pas Une mobiliteresidentielle durable, mais plut6t une forme de touris-me, ayant pour destination Une residence secondaireet pouvant etre interpretee comme variante d'unestrategie pour reussir sa retraite.

Prof. Dr. Toni Breuer, Institut für Geographie derUni versität Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany,[email protected]

Manuskripteingang: 22.03.2005Annahme zum Druck: 07.07.2005

Retirement Migration or rather Second-Home Tourism? German ...

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