Second Homes and Potential Impacts on Rural Tourism Businesses Development

This study suggests that second homes self-building by Portuguese emigrants in places of origin may encourage the return and tourism businesses development in rural areas in Portugal. These second homes resulted from the great wave of emigration that occurred between mid-1950s and mid-1970s and the connection of emigrants to its roots. Since those territories are socially depressed, with only populations of up to 2000 inhabitants, tourism can be a driving force for economic activity thanks to its cross-cutting economic and social dimensions and the high ratio of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises operating directly or indirectly along the tourism value chain”. The owner-builders of second homes still have preserved the rural organization of the houses and most of them also have other cultivated lands scattered through the village that are maintained when in Portugal for holidays. Therefore, 5,157 Portuguese emigrants were surveyed through the application of a questionnaire to assess the impact of their return on tourism development. Results show that the new generation of Portuguese emigrants (of the working age) consider second homes of the owner-builders their cultural legacy (from family) and can encourage them to return and rent accommodation units in there (if with financial benefits).