Social-cultural sustainability of roots tourism in Calabria, Italy: A tourist perspective

Roots tourists are members of diaspora communities who visit their motherland during holidays searching for their roots and identity. This research aims to explore how roots tourism can contribute to a more sustainable development of destinations by focusing on its socio-cultural impact. It involves qualitative research, analysing roots tourism from the tourists’ point of view. 45 roots tourists who visited the Calabria region in Italy were interviewed. The findings of the research show that roots tourism can be seen as socio-culturally sustainable. This paper seeks to fill a gap in the literature on the effects of the development of roots tourism on the local socio-cultural fabric to evaluate them in terms of sustainability.