Return Migrants and Tourism Development: An Example from the Cyclades

A detailed anthropological case study of a small Cycladic island shows that a strict dichotomy between locals and outsiders in the study of tourism development is too simplistic. The role of return migrants in such development has been overlooked. Seasonally or permanently returning migrants stress either their local or their outsider identity as it suits their circumstances. They make use of a combination of local kinship network and island contacts together with urban experience and investment capital gained from migration, and establish and run the majority of tourist-related enterprises. Permanently returned migrants become active in local politics and may find themselves in conflict both with long-term residents and with other urban-based migrants over development plans.