Submit a Manuscript to the Journal
Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism

For a Special Issue on
Post-pandemic Perspectives on Second Homes and Multilocal Living

Second homes have seen sustained investigation since the mid-1990s and all manner of studies have been conducted across the world addressing issues such as policy and planning, conflict, mobilities, migration and the impacts of international second home ownership. Since the Covid-19 pandemic second homes have been refocussed as a topic worthy of investigation. The rapid introduction of online-communication technologies demonstrating the possibilities for remote work, particularly for individuals within service sector industries, has challenged work/home dichotomies and turned second homes into increasingly frequented nodes in the spatial and temporal living arrangements of their owners. This has consequences for their owners but also for people in host communities. It also calls for a critical re-thinking of ‘multilocal’ living facilitated through second home ownership and its impacts on individuals, communities, service providers, and property markets.

While the Covid-19 pandemic turned certain localities into so-called “Zoomtowns”, it is obvious that the impacts of second home tourism do not occur equally in space and time and hence, a nuanced and critical view is increasingly mandatory. A comprehensive decline of international transportation and a (temporary) deglobalization of travel implied a halt to international second home tourism through a discontinuation of transportation links. The role of international second home ownership is thus in change with consequences for various stakeholders, and even the recent war in the Ukraine identifies international second homes as refuge and investment.

While one of the long-term outcomes of the pandemic seems to be an increasing interest in second homes, it is reasonable to wonder how the latter rimes with global concerns regarding climate change and sustainable development. Research on the way in which the environment impacts second homes and the way in which second homes impact the environment is still remarkably understudied compared to other themes. This surprises not least considering popular second home location along coastlines and on mountain slopes. Moreover, second home as part of households’ overall consumption are poorly understood.

Even the economic dimensions of second homes within broader tourism economies as well as within local and regional economies have recently been rarely assessed and theorized. Particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic a re-evaluation of economic linkages and geographical impacts appears urgent, as does a fresh perspective on governance and administrative arrangements regulating second homes and influencing their owners’ relation to local communities.

While all these changes appear disruptive, the overall lack of historical perspectives in second home research also calls for an examination of previous development and change of second home tourism. Originally recognized as bourgeois phenomenon, research has demonstrated that second homes indeed have been available to wider groups of society, not least outside the European north. A deeper historical understanding of second home ownership is also required to understand previous disruption to second home tourism and multilocal living arrangements.

Although second home tourism has been a stronghold of Nordic tourism research, there is a growing recognition of its role and importance even beyond the Nordic realm. This special issue seeks therefore to relate Nordic and global experiences of second home tourism, also enabling an assessment of different geographies on this touristic phenomenon. Furthermore, the utilization of alternate and new data sources and methodologies is encouraged to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the second home phenomenon and all its dimensions.

Against this background the objective of this call for papers is to facilitate scientific debate on the changing geographies of second homes in terms of novelty regarding future studies, but also to revisit topics that are essentially understudied. The editors welcome innovative theoretical and methodological contributions with solid empirical foundation. Topics may include, e.g.:

• Economic geographies of second homes
• Economic value of second home ownership to local communities
• Second homes in economically marginal locations
• Second home and community relations
• Second homes and climate change
• Second home impacts on the environment
• Second home governance, planning and regulation
• Second home as property and investment
• Historical studies on second homes
• Covid 19 and the advent of Zoomtowns
• Crisis and second home tourism
• Mobilities and second homes
• Multi-local living and second homes
• International second home tourism
• Identity issues, place attachment, and translocalism
• Participation and social exclusion
• …

An abstract of 500 words should be sent to the guest editors via email ([email protected]) before 30 September 2022. The authors of a selection of abstracts fitting well with the aims of the current call, are then invited to submit full manuscripts via the journal’s submission system for double-blind peer review. Full paper manuscripts included in the special issue are of 6,000–7,000 words inclusive of tables/references/figure captions/footnotes/endnotes and feature innovative theoretical thinking and original research. For this special issue Nordic contributions as well as contributions from other parts of the world are welcome.

Key dates

• 30 September 2022: Deadline for abstracts
• 31 October 2022:  Notification of acceptance of abstracts
• 30 June 2023: Submission of full papers
• 30 November 2023: Submission of revised papers
• 31 January 2024: Completion of special issue

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