Chilean diaspora in Sweden & the effects of social media platforms on their desire to travel back

Sammanfattning

This study examines what role, impact and relationship social media platforms have on second and third generation Chilean diaspora that are living in Sweden when traveling back to Chile. The study uses thematic analysis and 25 qualitative semi-structured interviews with second and third generation Chilean diaspora members, whose age is between 25 and 50 and who has traveled to Chile or are planning to travel there. Through the 25 interviews and the thematic analysis, three themes were identified which were push and pull factors, feelings when traveling back, and travel influenced by social media. The findings from the study, showed that both second and third generation Chilean diaspora have been motivated by and through social media platforms to visit Chile. It has been found that the priorities of second- and third- generation Chilean diaspora while traveling back to the homeland are different. As social media allows individuals to stay in touch with relatives and friends, it can affect their decision to travel to Chile again. By watching their relatives via video calls, their willingness to go to the country can be greater, which means that the term Visiting friends and relatives (VFR) has a strong connection with diaspora tourism, and this has had a huge impact on the second-generation diaspora. For the third-generation diaspora, their priority to travel to Chile has been a mix of both VFR and exploring the country more. The findings from the study even indicate that UGCs (User Generated Contents) such as pictures or videos that are shared on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube introduces new destinations in Chile, which persuaded both generations of the Chilean diaspora to visit Chile. But this will persuade most of those third-generation participants that have for example did not visit their homeland but want to do it to get more knowledge about their roots, or those who always traveled to the same city but want to explore more.