Tourists with migrants' eyes: the mediating role of tourism in international retirement migration

The main aim of this article is to explore the relationship between tourism experience and international retirement migration. Despite the current trends in international tourism and the marketing efforts of some destinations to attract retired foreigners, contributions in the literature about prospective migrants' decision process are still rare, particularly regarding long-term migration and beyond the traditional north-south flows from the wealthy countries to warmer and more affordable destinations. Building on migration theories and models, including the recently proposed push-pull plus model, this article includes a qualitative study with 12 Brazilian citizens with varying degrees of intention to migrate to Europe after retirement. Results show that tourism acts as an important facilitator of prospective migrants' decision process, functioning as a mediating driver of future migration, by enabling to gather information and to experience the living conditions in the destination. Overall, this article demonstrates that the push-pull plus model is particularly interesting to capture prospective migrants' dynamic decision process. Implications for managers and future research suggestions are also provided.