Paper short abstract:

The paper explores challenges and opportunities for involvement with the host communities among Nordic long-term visitors and expatriates in Costa Blanca, based on an exit survey.

Paper long abstract:

Many people from North-Western Europe have quite long stays in Mediterranean Spain, partly related to phenomena such as seasonal movements and sabbatical holidays, to a large extent to their own houses or apartments. It has been suggested that some long-term visitors and migrants to Spain are part of international communities; developing transnational identities. Simultaneously, it has been maintained that many foreigners in Spain actively request the services of functional mediators from their home country and/or seek out compatriot enclaves, including associations established for and by expatriates. This paper explores challenges and opportunities for involvement with the host communities among long-term visitors and expatriates in Costa Blanca/Alicante. The paper includes the respondents' assessments of vital aspects of their (temporary) life in Spain, for instance their relations to local people in general, the authorities and various aspects of Spanish culture. The paper is mainly based on an exit survey of people who had stayed in the Alicante area for four weeks or more, on their departure to Norway.