FROM SECOND HOME TO PRIMARY RESIDENCE: MIGRATION TOWARDS RECREATIONAL PROPERTIES IN SWEDEN 1991–2005 DIETER K. MÜLLER & ROGER MARJAVAARA Department of Social and Economic Geography, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden. E-mails: dieter.muller@geography.umu.se, roger.marjavaara@geography.umu.se Received: October 2009; accepted May 2011 ABSTRACT Second homes are at the nexus of tourism and migration. Previous research has demonstrated that second homes are important domiciles after retirement. Nevertheless, few studies have addressed this issue specifically. Many households claim that they would use their second homes more often, and some even state that they would convert these homes into their new permanent homes. While this is a known phenomenon, its geographical outcome is rather unknown. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the conversion of second homes into primary residences. This is done with respect to timing and geographical patterns. A geo-referenced longitudinal population database allows for identifying converted properties and linking them to information of their owners’ households. This facilitates a discussion regarding the impact of conversions on planning and service provision in host communities, too. The analysis refers to the time period from 1991 to 2005. Key words: Second homes, Sweden, GIS, retirement migration, tourism, life course INTRODUCTION Second homes have often been scrutinised in the context of tourism (Coppock 1977). However, it is obvious that the phenomenon of second home use is dynamic and reaches far beyond the traditional boundaries of recre- ational tourism. Kaltenborn (1998), for example, argues that second homes in fact may be the true permanent homes since they carry different meanings, other than just being recreational domiciles. Instead, they may be inherited from previous generations and be intended to be passed on to the next genera- tion (Jaakson 1986). Second homes have hence been considered ‘homes away from home’ (Perkins & Thorns 2006), ‘places of escape’ (Stedman 2006), and ‘idyllic havens’ (McHugh 2006). Besides this debate on place attachment and meanings of home, the role of second homes in current patterns of mobility has been debated (Hall & Williams 2002; Hall & Müller 2004b). Williams and Hall (2000, p. 19) argue that second homes are at the intersection of tourism and migration, causing a ‘significant conceptual blurring’. Hence, Cohen (1974) classifies second home tourism as a marginal form of tourism lacking the dimension of novelty, and Johnston (2006) even claims that from an ontological perspective second homes cannot be included in tourism. In contrast, Jaakson (1986) highlights the lack of novelty in many other forms of tourism and also points to the role of second homes for explaining the development of tourism infrastructure. Even Strapp (1988) argues that second homes are Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie – 2012, DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9663.2011.00674.x, Vol. 103, No. 1, pp. 53–68. © 2011 The Authors Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie © 2011 Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA