Turismo e inrnigrantes extranjeros de origen comunitario: el desarrollo de empresas turísticas en el litoral catalán

Abstract

This paper examines EU foreign entrepreneurs in the tourist industry in the coastal areas of Cataluña (Spain). Thanks to the completion of 113 interviews with foreign tourism entrepreneurs during 1996 and 1997, some cultural and social aspects of north-European citizens with small tourism businesses are analyzed -for instance their business motivations, qualifications, previous experience in the tourism sector and sources of capital to start the business-. As with the reasons for moving to this egion, firm formation and the manner in which these tourist businesses are run is found to be motivated less by work and economic reasons than by lifestyle considerations.They must be seen as an issue of «consumption" instead of one of work and the production of services. The results suggest that international migration theory offers little to explain these migration inflows of European migrants with tourist businesses into the coastal areas of Cataluña.