Diaspora tourism is often considered a form of "homecoming," but for the children of immigrants who are born in the new country, the question remains as to whether they perceive their parents' homeland as "home" or destination. Moreover, advancements in transportation and communication technologies allow contemporary immigrants to maintain transnational ties to their homeland, which in turn may affect the nature of diaspora tourism.The purpose of this study is to understand the lived experience of second-generation immigrants when they travel to their ancestral homeland, and explore the extent to which second-generation transnationalism shapes their diaspora tourism experiences. Using a phenomenological approach, twenty-six second-generation Chinese-Americans who had the experience of traveling in China were interviewed. Four themes were identified from semistructured interviews: Language and Appearance, Search for Authenticity, Family History, and Sense of "Home." Proficiency in their parental language was found to be a main cause of negative experiences, yet occasionally a source of pride and attachment. Their search for authentic experiences was not unlike other tourists, while familial obligations sometimes limited their experience. Traveling back to the homeland not only allowed them to understand their parents and family history, but also reflect upon their life through experiencing contemporary China. Lastly, as the transnational attachment of second-generation immigrants was not rooted in a specific locale, they could feel connected to the homeland without actually visiting their family's place of origin. Findings contribute to transnationalism and diaspora tourism literature by comparing first and second-generation immigrants and identifying the difference between contemporary transmigrants and classic diaspora groups with regard to their diaspora tourism experience.
Diaspora tourism refers to the travel of people in diaspora to their ancestral homelands in search of their roots or to feel connected to their personal heritage. Whereas most tourists become attached to a destination after repeat visits, the tourist-destination relation in diaspora tourism is unique because tourists with immigrant origins often feel connected to the people, culture, and heritage of the destination before actually visiting the place. This study explores the relationship between secondgeneration immigrants' attachment to their ancestral homeland and their journey back "home," focusing on whether or not the second generation could feel at home in their parents' country of origin versus their current country of residence. This study employs secondary data from two studies on second-generation immigrants in the US: the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study and the Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles study. Findings revealed that there was an association between the number of diaspora tourism trips and feeling at home in their parents' country of origin. Second-generation immigrants who considered both America and their ancestral homeland as home took the highest number of trips, and their transnational attachment to two countries reflected the dual loyalty and identity of people in diaspora. In addition, those who experienced extended stays were more likely to feel at home in their ancestral homeland. Whereas such relationship was not necessarily causal, both length and frequency of diaspora tourism trips were found to be associated with immigrants' connection to the land of their ancestors.
Nostalgia has been identified as an essential factor to understand sport tourists’ behavioral intentions. However, a measurement model to examine nostalgia has not been developed in the field of sport tourism. The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable Nostalgia Scale for Sport Tourism (NSST) to measure sport tourists’ nostalgia. A multilevel analysis was used in order to avoid biases caused by common characteristics within a travel group. The scale conceptualized sport nostalgia as a five-dimensional construct reflecting sport tourists’ nostalgia of sport team, environment, socialization, personal identity, and group identity and showed adequate psychometric properties in assessing sport-specific nostalgia. The NSST scale developed here can be a useful tool for future empirical studies aiming to better understand sport spectator nostalgia and identify the role of nostalgia in sport tourism.
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