European trends in spatial mobility 317Timothy, D.J. and Michalkó, G. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 65 (2016) (4) 317–320. From a Eurocentric point of view, Europe has long functioned as the caput mundi of human mobility – a home and destination for hunt- ers and gatherers, conquerors, colonizers, learners and scientists, pilgrims, tourists, emigrants and immigrants. From Europe’s ancient frontiers and marches to today’s precisely delineated and demarcated state boundaries, borders have long affected eco- nomic, social, military and political relations between ancient and modern states. During the past half century, however, globalization processes, including the supra-nationaliza- tion of Europe, have changed inter-state re- lations and human mobilities perhaps more than any other force in recent history. These geopolitical vicissitudes have had a clear and concise ‘de-bordering’ effect, particu- larly since the Schengen Convention of 1990, which paved the way for the abolishment of intra-Schengen Area border inspections and the establishment of a shared visa regime (Timothy, D.J. 2001; Timothy, D.J. and Saarinen, J. 2013). This de-bordering process has accelerated mi- gration to Europe and between states within Europe, as well as stimulated tourism as an economic growth engine (Etzo, I. et al. 2014). Because of its relative location, high stand- ard of living, colonial history, and generous immigrant and refugee benefits, Europe has become a magnet for migrants from Africa and the Middle East across the Mediterranean Sea and through Asia Minor. This pattern of migration, especially since 2013, has generat- ed a great deal of pressure on Europe, which has flared many debates and spurred legal challenges continent-wide. While much pub- lic opinion, thanks largely to the media, con- centrates on arrivals from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, intra-regional migration in Europe receives much less media attention. There are many migratory flows between European countries in the form of amen- ity (quality-of-life) migration (Gosnell, H. and Abrams, J. 2011), labour migration (Andrijasevic, R. and Sacchetto, D. 2016), student migration (Wells, A. 2014) and re- turn migration (Illés, S. 2015). Together, these form a relatively new and dynamic phenom- enon enabled and encouraged by the estab- lishment of the European Union and its as- sociated ‘freedom of movement’ treaties, such as the 1985 Schengen Agreement and the 1990 Schengen Convention. Simultaneously, the entry of Europe’s former socialist states into the EU and Schengen Area, and the concur- rent permeation of these countries’ citizens into the Western European labour market, has significantly broadened the scope and scale of intra-European migration (Andrijasevic, R. and Sacchetto, D. 2016), just as economic hardships in Mediterranean Europe have in- duced large-scale migrations northward. Besides migration, tourism is one of the most widely researched configurations of cross-border human mobility. Migration and tourism share a number of symbiotic rela- tionships, which result in several manifesta- tions of tourism supply and demand (Hall, C.M. and Williams, A. 2002; Coles, T.E. and Timothy, D.J. 2004; Illés, S. and Michalkó, G. 2008; Lew, A.A. et al. 2015). Europe has European trends in spatial mobility Dallen J. TIMOTHY1 and Gábor M I C H A L K Ó2 1 School of Community Resources and Development, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Avenue, Suite 550, Phoenix, Arizona, USA 85004. E-mail: dtimothy@asu.edu 2 Geographical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1112 Budapest, Budaörsi út 45; Department of Tourism, Corvinus University of Budapest. H-1093 Budapest, Fővám tér 8. E-mail: michalko.gabor@csfk.mta.hu DOI: 10.15201/hungeobull.65.4.1 Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 65 2016 (4) 317–320. Timothy, D.J. and Michalkó, G. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 65 (2016) (4) 317–320.318 been the most visited region in the world for many decades, and the connections between tourism and migration are very apparent. First, migration stimulates a wide range of tourism types, including ‘visiting friends and relatives’ (VFR) tourism, second-home tourism, religious tourism, diaspora tourism and roots tourism. Secondly, it provides a heritage resource base for tourism, including ethnic neighbourhoods, cultural landscapes, heritage cuisines and ethnic foods, festivals, and other culture-based resources (Coles, T.E. and Timothy, D.J. 2004). Third, one of the most salient reasons people migrate abroad is to seek work in the tourism sector. Labour migrants are eager to find employ- ment and often provide affordable labour for the service industries, including tourism. Finally, there is a long history of people be- ing attracted to foreign locales (e.g. the UK to Spain) for entrepreneurial reasons, including setting up hospitality-related businesses. Migration and tourism are two of the most salient manifestations of human mobility, but so are short-distance and same-day cross- border trade, work, healthcare and shop- ping trips (Michalkó, G. and Timothy, D.J. 2001). As noted earlier, the topic of mobility is one of the most researched contemporary themes in human geography (Merriman, P. 2009; Staeheli, L.A. 2016). There are mount- ing pressures associated with migration to and within Europe, growing trends in cross-border tourism and trans-boundary labour, increasing supranational trade and cross-frontier utilitarian shopping, a need for more cost-effective and convenient forms of transportation (e.g. ride sharing), and the cre- ation of new spaces and places of mobility. Therefore, it is incumbent upon geographers and other social scientists to continue exam- ining and debating the spatial and regional dimensions of human mobility and to dis- seminate knowledge through publications, scientific workshops and conferences. This special issue of the Hungarian Geographical Bulletin does just that by focus- ing on spatial mobility trends in Europe. This issue is comprised of papers presented in the ‘Globility’ sessions at the 2015 EUGEO Congress in Budapest, Hungary (Photo 1). With the support of the International Geographical Union (IGU), the Commission on Global Change and Human Mobility (‘Globility’), was founded in 2000 to specialize in human movement in border areas and hu- Photo 1. Participants of EUGEO 2015 Congress (Budapest) in the „Changing world, changing human mobilities: global convergence and divergence” session 319Timothy, D.J. and Michalkó, G. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 65 (2016) (4) 317–320. man spatial mobility in general. Today, the 150 members from 50 countries hold their annual scientific meetings at different locales through- out the world to present research and deliber- ate about a wide range of issues in numerous conference sessions focusing on a trans-disci- plinary understanding of spatial mobilities. In 2015, the EUGEO Congress in Budapest hosted the meetings of the IGU GLOBILITY Working Group. Scholars from a wide range of countries presented some 35 papers on many aspects of human mobility and global convergence in a changing world. The pa- pers in this issue reflect some of the prima- ry themes presented and discussed at the EUGEO Congress, such as the ‘brain-drain’, retirement migration, labour migration, re- turn migration, the push and pull factors of international refugees coming to Europe, transportation innovations, tourism, cross- border economics and collaboration, de- bordering processes and ‘Europeanisation’. The paper by Lados and Hegedűs in this theme issue deals with Hungarian return migration and the effects of identity change through the migratory process. The authors examine the post-return migration experiences of Hungarians who had gained significant ex- perience, skills and assets abroad and those who had not. Higher-skilled returnees faced fewer socio-economic obstacles to reintegrat- ing into Hungarian life, while those who had gained fewer skills were less content with their life back in the homeland. As such, low-skilled migrants appear more likely to re-emigrate abroad in the future than those who are more satisfied with their renewed life in Hungary. Montanari and Paluzzi examine the role of ‘Europeanisation’ in increasing people’s relocation from various EU countries to Italy. Their regional approach to assessing the spa- tial patterns and concentrations of European migration to Italy considered the influential variables of labour needs, age, nationality and tourist behaviour, including amenity mi- gration. Gallo and Staniscia used a similar spatial clustering and mapping approach to examine the out-migration of Italian youth to other EU countries and the possible reasons for such patterns. They argue that the emigration of large numbers of young people in search of economic progress, adventure and lifestyle change may destabilize the social and econom- ic sustainability of the countries and regions of origin. Similarly, Siska-Szilasi, Kóródi and Vadnai examine the socio-spatial manifesta- tions of Hungarian out-migration to other parts of Europe and North America. Their work highlights many of the socio-economic push factors in Hungary that cause people to emigrate, as well as the pull factors in destina- tion countries that draw Hungarians there— work, already emigrated friends and relatives, and perceptions of a more stable future. Also examining migration patterns, Kocsis and his colleagues take a meta-European per- spective in surveying the historical geogra- phy of migration patterns and their causes from Europe, to Europe, and within Europe. In particular, they look at the demographic implications of these mobility trends and provide a spatio-temporal analysis of recent and current patterns. The authors provide valuable insight into the current trend in mass migration to Europe from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and the concrete sense of hopelessness, despair and persecution that overshadow these contemporary movement patterns more so than the more socio-eco- nomic tendencies of past generations. In their study of ride sharing in Hungary, Bálint and Trócsányi touch on many socio- spatial aspects of human mobility. Ride shar- ing is an increasingly important part of the new sharing economy (Heo, C.Y. 2016) and has major implications for employment com- muting, commerce, and tourism. The authors examine price sensitivity, settlement size/hi- erarchy and critical mass of passengers and drivers, as well as demographics and educa- tion levels, in mapping the spatial configu- rations of ride sharing. While most of their data were confined to Hungary, their work also illustrated the potential of ride sharing to become a key part of the sharing economy for international travel as well. In their study of worker and retiree mi- grants in Spain, Parreño-Castellano and Timothy, D.J. and Michalkó, G. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 65 (2016) (4) 317–320.320 Domínguez-Mujica investigate the multi- farious trends associated with these forms of human mobility. Among other things, they focus on pensioners who had worked previ- ously in Spain and remained there to spend their retirement years and the reasons for this behaviour. Many of these ‘lifestyle immi- grants’ had worked in tourism and other ser- vices, including owning their own businesses, and had decided to remain in Spain’s busiest coastal tourism regions after retirement for quality-of-life and socialisation reasons. The treatise by Gellér-Lukács, Töttös and Illés speculates on the implications of the freedom of movement between the United Kingdom and the rest of the EU following the BREXIT vote of June 23, 2016. Taking a futuristic, scenarios-based approach, Illés looks at the immigration policy portions of the initial negotiation documents and tries to predict some of the likely outcomes of the UK’s departure. His examination of the current situation underscores the potential repercussions of the ‘re-bordering’ process that has become quite evident in others parts of Europe and North America. These 8 papers represent a sustained effort to understand human mobility in an increas- ingly ‘borderless’ Europe. Today, more than ever, geographers must continue to play a key role in understanding the causes, ef- fects and manifestations of different types of migration and other mobility patterns and paradigms. This is especially the case in light of forecasts that Europe’s share of inter- national tourist arrivals compared to other regions will decline in the future while its position as a foremost destination for refu- gees and other immigrants will continue to swell (OECD 2016, UNWTO 2016). Because of Europe’s current refugee crisis and mi- gration predicament, we have seen the be- ginnings of the re-bordering of a continent that had until 2014 been an example of how a multi-nation region can de-border itself to facilitate freer human mobility (Wilson, T.M. and Donnan, H. 2012). Only time will tell how current geopolitical trends will affect future human mobilities in Europe. R E F E R E N C E S Andrijasevic, R. and Sacchetto, D. 2016. From labour migration to labour mobility? The return of the multinational worker in Europe. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 22. (2): 219–231. Coles, T.E. and Timothy, D.J. eds. 2004. Tourism, Diasporas and Space. London, Routledge. Etzo, I., Massidda, C. and Piras, R. 2014. Migration and outbound tourism: Evidence from Italy. Annals of Tourism Research 48. 235–249. Gosnell, H. and Abrams, J. 2011. Amenity migra- tion: diverse conceptualizations of drivers, socio- economic dimensions, and emerging challenges. GeoJournal 76. (4): 303–322. Hall, C.M. and Williams, A. eds. 2002. Tourism and Migration: New Relationships between Production and Consumption. Dordrecht, Springer. Heo, C.Y. 2016. Sharing economy and prospects in tourism research. Annals of Tourism Research 58. 166–170. Illés, S. 2015. Circular human mobility in Hungary. Migration Letters 12. (2): 152–161. Illés, S. and Michalkó, G. 2008. Relationships between international tourism and migration in Hungary: Tourism flows and foreign property ownership. Tourism Geographies 10. (1): 98–118. Lew, A.A., Hall, C.M. and Timothy, D.J. 2015. World Regional Geography: Human Mobilities, Tourism Destinations, Sustainable Environments. 2nd Edition. Dubuque, Iowa, Kendall-Hunt. Merriman, P. 2009. Mobility. In International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography. Eds.: Kitchin, R. and Thrift, N., Amsterdam, Elsevier, 134–143. Michalkó, G. and Timothy, D.J. 2001. Cross-border shopping in Hungary: causes and effects. Visions in Leisure and Business 20. (1): 4–22. OECD 2016. International Migration Outlook 2016. Paris, OECD Publishing. Staeheli, L.A. 2016. Globalization and the scales of citizenship. Geography Research Forum 19. 60–77. Timothy, D.J. 2001. Tourism and Political Boundaries. London, Routledge. Timothy, D.J. and Saarinen, J. 2013. Cross-border co-operation and tourism in Europe. In Trends in European Tourism Planning and Organisation. Eds.: Costa, C., Panyik, E. and Buhalis, D., Bristol, UK, Channel View, 64–74. UNWTO 2016. Tourism Highlights 2016. Madrid, World Tourism Organization. Wells, A. 2014. International student mobility: ap- proaches, challenges and suggestions for further research. 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