Searching for Paradise? International Retirement Migration to Thailand A Case Study of Hua Hin and Cha-am

Transcription

1 Searching for Paradise? International Retirement Migration to Thailand A Case Study of Hua Hin and Cha-am Karl Husa, Christian Vielhaber, Julia Jöstl, Krisztina Veress, and Birgit Wieser 1. Southeast Asia A New Destination of the Retirement Tsunami from the Global North? Some Introductory Remarks In recent decades, the volume of all types of spatial mobility processes has continuously increased, not only on a global level, but in Southeast Asia as well. Not only the complexity of spatial patterns has increased dramatically, but also the number of population groups involved. In recent years, a particularly dynamic development has been seen in so-called international retirement migration. In the context of rapid demographic aging of the population in the developed world, some authorities of destination countries like the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) have even projected that a kind of retirement tsunami from affluent countries of the Global North seems to be under way (Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippines 2007, cited in Toyota and Xiang 2012, p. 712). The skyrocketing numbers of elderly migrants or long-term tourists who temporarily or permanently move to another place of residence that better meets their needs or enables them to realise their desired lifestyle has gotten growing attention in recent years, not only from academic disciplines, but also from business, politics, and the mass media. The recurrent advertisements placed in major dailies, mainly during the cold and dark months of the European winter, offering luxurious, but relatively affordable housing opportunities in distant climatically favourable destinations (see Figure 1a), are an indicator for the fact that age migrants have become important target groups for the economy of the destination areas. Moreover, advertisements for retirement homes abroad are increasingly aimed at the demographic structure of the target group, additionally highlighting the prospect of affordable healthcare services and the easy and relatively cheap availability of personal nursing (Figure 1b). In fact, the influx of older, usually no longer economically active people can significantly influence the economies and societies of the respective target areas. Much like touristic activities, the immigration of older, generally relatively wealthy, population groups is seen as an efficient form of foreign direct investment that makes an important contribution to the development of the destination country or region (Dixon et al. 2006). For example, immigrants rent or buy houses, consume goods and services, and thereby increase 137

2 Husa, Vielhaber, Jöstl, Veress, and Wieser Figure 1: Advertising Thailand as a retirement haven a) Advertising Hua Hin as a b) Billboard advertising in Thailand retirement paradise in Austrian newspapers Source: a) Kurier (daily newspaper), ; b) Photo: K. Husa, December the interest of other foreign investors in the target region. However, there can also be negative impacts on the destination area, like rising housing prices, a higher cost of living, and aggravated social tension between newcomers and natives in certain areas with booming retirement migration. 1.1 Changing Spatial Patterns Old and New Hotspots of the Global Retirement Migration Some of the traditional hotspots for migration of the elderly in recent decades were migration flows in the United States and Canada from northern parts of the subcontinent to warmer climate areas of the South on the one hand; and north-south retirement migration within Europe from cold northern countries to the Mediterranean in the south of the continent on the other. At the global level, however, a new trend has developed in recent years: a significant increase in retirement migration from Western industrialised countries to less developed target nations. Two distinct regions can be discerned: Retirement migration from North America to the Caribbean and some countries of Central America, and a growing influx of retirement migrants from the Global North to some countries of Southeast Asia. 138

3 International Retirement Migration to Thailand Within Southeast Asia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and more recently also Vietnam and Cambodia have become attractive destinations for long-stay tourists and retirees from affluent countries of the Global North. The economic importance of this flow is also demonstrated by the fact that during the last two decades, several governments in the region as well as economic developers have increasingly begun to promote their countries as ideal retirement destinations: Malaysia, for example, has started a retiree programme called Silver Hair in 2002, and introduced the so-called Malaysia My Second Home initiative in Thailand established a foreign retiree programme, which enables participants to obtain a one-year renewable visa. In the Philippines, a Special Resident Retiree Visa Programme is available to any foreigner older than 35 years (Gorvett 2010, p. 13), and moreover, the Philippine Retirement Authority has launched a global retiree recruitment initiative called Plan METJACK, an acronym for the main source countries or regions Middle East, Europe, Taiwan, Japan, America, China and Korea (Toyota 2012, p. 710). More recently, also Vietnamese and Cambodian developers have begun to promote popular tourist destinations in their countries like Na Trang, Vietnam, or Sihanoukville, Cambodia, as retirement options, although these countries are generally considered not to be completely ready yet to host larger numbers of foreign retirees (Gorvett 2010, p. 13), and government programmes for attracting foreign retirees are lacking. Particularly the Kingdom of Thailand, which was also the first country in Southeast Asia to start courting affluent retirees from Western countries, has become an increasingly attractive destination for retired Western and long-stay tourists in recent years, although this is also not a new phenomenon for the region. The settlement of a large number of Western foreign nationals goes back to the Vietnam War: many G.I.s stationed in Thailand during the Vietnam War remained there after the war was over and got married. These days, the influx of long-term tourists and retirement migrants has a significantly biased gender ratio in favour of men as well, a phenomenon that is not always evaluated positively. Almost everyone knows the stereotypical image of a somewhat overweight, mostly grey-haired man with sunburned face and arms with a beautiful Thai woman, half his size and age, at his side (Veress 2011, p. 203). Similar age- and gender-specific retirement migration characteristics are also found within Southeast Asia, in the Philippines and Cambodia. The reactions of the target countries governments to this phenomenon are very diverse, ranging from largely tacit acquiescence to attempts to regulate the phenomenon through severe and sometimes not very comprehensible measures. For example, in March 2011, Cambodia set an age limit of a maximum of 50 years for foreign men wanting to marry a Cambodian, and younger foreigners could only marry a local if they had a monthly income of more than 2,500 US dollars (these regulations were revoked at the end of 2011 because of their discriminatory character). The relevance of the female gender and the role of sexual relations have previously been given very little consideration in scientific 139

4 Husa, Vielhaber, Jöstl, Veress, and Wieser studies on retirement migration even though, in the context of Thailand, these are aspects that can hardly be ignored. In Thailand, one of the new focal points of international retirement migration is the region around the town of Hua Hin. The area is touted as the new retirement haven of Thailand, together with the tourist centre Cha-am. The region has a rapidly growing expatriate population, and a considerable portion of so-called farang, as Western foreigners are called in Thailand, has settled here after retirement. Of course, this phenomenon is not limited to Hua Hin. Other areas such as Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, and Chiang Mai, which are also important tourist centres, as well as some parts of northeastern Thailand show significant numbers of Western immigrants. The main argument for selecting Hua Hin as the focus of our study arises from the fact that the area is considered to be Thailand s new touristic centre of growth, especially since the tsunami in This growth is not only in the tourism sector the region is increasingly becoming a hotspot for farang immigration and the epicentre of a booming real estate market. The new-found attractiveness of this region on the Gulf of Siam was awakened in part by the shift of some of the above-mentioned sectors away from tsunamiaffected areas on the Andaman Sea coastal line in the south of the country to areas spared from the disaster. 1.2 The Searching for Paradise Project In light of all this, the Department of Geography and Regional Research at the University of Vienna and the Suan Dusit Rajabhat University in Hua Hin launched a joint research project entitled Searching For Paradise? International Retirement Migration to Thailand Part I, critically examining the nexus of long-stay tourism and the (semi-permanent?) immigration of foreigners on the one hand; and on the other hand broadening the currently still very inadequate empirical database on the extent, structure, causes, and consequences of the rapidly growing age migration trend to Thailand, using the Hua Hin / Cha-am region as an example. Empirical data collection was conducted between 2008 and 2010 in the form of two surveys: In the months of June, July, and August 2008, Krisztina Veress conducted an initial study (44 qualitative interviews) on a narrow range of topics, mainly targeting the relationship of (sex) tourism, the ready availability of attractive partners in the target area, and primarily male-dominated retirement migration. The more extensive and broader main study (112 respondents, consisting of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews) addressed, among other issues, the living conditions of migrants, their needs and desires, and potential integration problems, and was carried out by Julia Jöstl and Birgit Wieser from July to October In the present paper, mainly the quantitative aspects of the survey are presented, for the results 140

5 International Retirement Migration to Thailand of the qualitative parts of the survey referring to the experiences of the respondents in the study area, see Vielhaber et al. in this volume. The subjects of the surveys were Westerners who had lived in the study area for at least three months at the time of investigation. In contrast to the approach of other studies with a similar subject matter, no age limit was set for participation in the survey. In both research phases, data were collected by means of personal interviews, which were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using qualitative text analysis software (MAXQDA), whereas SPSS was used for the analyses of the quantitative data. At the time of writing, part II of the Searching for Paradise project with the title The Migration of Thai Women to Austria Ventures of Business and Love was still in progress, dealing with the counterflow to the flow of elderly Western males to Thailand: the marriage migration of predominantly young Thai women to Western countries, searching for paradise abroad (for first results see Butratana and Trupp in this volume). In addition to a few brief preliminary remarks on the relationship between tourism and migration and the related dilemma of definition, the primary focus of this paper is the analysis of the socio-demographic characteristics of migrants, the relevance of previous tourist experiences with the location, and other reasons for the choice of the study area as a migration destination. 2. International Retirement Migration A Booming Research Topic? 2.1 The State of Research A Brief Overview Literature on this relatively new field of migration research, known in English-speaking countries as international retirement migration, or IRM, has shown strong growth mainly in the last decade and now has a broad, yet still modest, basis. Early research interest on the topic emerged mainly from North America and in particular the United States, which can mostly be attributed to migration from the north of the continent to the south, concentrated in the so-called Frostbelt to the Sunbelt states of the South (cf. Biggar 1984; Longino, Jr. 1980; Sullivan and Stevens 1982). In Europe, interest in the topic also initially limited to the national context grew soon after (see Cribier 1978; Karn 1977). Compared to North American projects, European IRM research remained rather marginal for quite some time. The most important works on European migration of the elderly, likewise marked by a north-south movement, go back to the second half of the 1990s, although significant shortcomings in terms of missing data material and a lack of cross-border research still existed (King et al. 1998; Williams et al. 1997). The topic was broadened, albeit only modestly, when new retirement migration 141

6 Husa, Vielhaber, Jöstl, Veress, and Wieser target areas such as Latin America (Papademetriou et al. 2006), especially Mexico and Central America, were studied, which are relevant as the preferred target areas primarily for citizens of North America (Dixon et al. 2006). Comparatively little research has been done on the area relevant to this study, the Asian region and Southeast Asia in particular. Erik Cohen (1984) conducted pioneering studies on the influx of male expats to Thailand, focusing on their lifestyles (slightly more than 30 subjects, none over 45 years of age) who lived in Bangkok from 1981 to 1983 and whose life revolved mainly around alcohol, drugs, and sex. Koch-Schulte (2008) has also recently done an interesting work on farang migration to Thailand on the basis of an extensive case study in Udon Thani, with research mainly focusing on the planning and decision-making processes of older Western migrants in the target area. Works by Howard (2008, 2009) also need to be mentioned, which are based upon an online survey about motivation, experience, and the subjective well-being of Western immigrants to Thailand. Another recent study by Phiromyoo (2011) presented some insights into the so far littleunderstood relationship between tourism and the long-stay accommodation market. Lastly, there are also a few studies focusing on the growing influx of Japanese retirees to Thailand, particularly in the area of Chiang Mai (see Toyota 2006; Miyazaki 2008), and to Malaysia (Ono 2008). In this context, the recent research by Toyota and Xiang (2012) is especially innovative, focusing on the emerging transitional retirement industry, referring to business operations that are related to the international migration of foreign, mostly Japanese, retirees to countries in Southeast Asia. 2.2 Migration of the Elderly and Retirement Migration New Types of Mobility? A Short Overview of the Definition Dilemma According to Hall and Williams (2002b), since conventional forms of mobility are often associated with labour migration and economic push and pull factors, then migration of the elderly and retirement migration fall under the new forms of mobility that arise less from economic necessity and more from personal leisure preferences and preferred lifestyle. Migration of the elderly is therefore a particular form of so-called consumption-led migration as opposed to production-led types of spatial mobility (Table 1). More recently, consumption-related moves have also been summarised under the broader category of amenity migration or lifestyle migration, with amenity migration being defined as the movement of people for pleasure rather than economic reasons (Chipeniuk 2004, p. 327) or as the movements of people, capital, information and objects associated with the process of voluntary relocation to places that are perceived as providing an enhanced or, at least, different lifestyle (McIntyre 2009, p. 4, cited in Williams and McIntyre 2012, p. 218). Since retirees depend neither on employment nor on any other local economic structure and are in most cases already freed from family responsibilities such as caring for children due to their advanced position in life, the elderly have fewer restrictions on their decisions (McHugh et al. 1995). However, these types of mobility are by no means new 142

7 International Retirement Migration to Thailand Duration of trip Table 1: A typology of permanent and temporary moves Reason for move Production-related Consumption-related Permanent relocation Labour migration Housing adjustment Amenity-led migration, Lifestyle migration Retirement migration Temporary (at least one overnight stay) Business travel Long-distance commuting Family visits Excursions Vacations Seasonal work Seasonal migration Extended recreational travel (Long-stay tourism) Conferences and conventions Study and residential courses Hospitalisation Incarceration Diurnal move Commuting Shopping Recreation Source: Bell and Ward 2000, p. 94, modified by authors. in the true sense of the word. The novelty lies instead in the increased frequency and the broad geographical range of recent decades (Hall and Williams 2002b). The challenge of differentiating and classifying the individual forms of migration of the elderly is a difficult and not always clear-cut undertaking. In particular, the differing terminology of English and German literature makes the one-to-one use of terms much more difficult. In Anglo-American literature, one generally finds the term international retirement migration as the main designation for migration across international borders at an advanced age. Williams, King, and Warens (1997, p. 220) define international retirement migration as follows: Highly selective migration process which redistributes (retired) individuals and their concomitant incomes, expenditures, health and care needs across international boundaries. German-language literature uses different terminologies such as internationale Ruhesitzwanderung (Friedrich and Kaiser 2001; Schneider 2010), Altenwanderung, or Altenmigration, which are all variations relating to migration of the elderly and retirement migration (Breuer 2003). In this paper, the terms migration of the elderly and retirement migration will be used mostly interchangeably, whereby the latter seems to best describe the research target group. IRM implies a process of settling down to rest, which includes a withdrawal from the labour force. Today, of course, this is a hard line to draw, since not all people 143

8 Husa, Vielhaber, Jöstl, Veress, and Wieser who are of retirement age are actually retired, and not all those of working age still work. The transitions are blurred, and one cannot necessarily assume that all those who migrate at an older age are retired. The definition of retired takes on a whole new dimension, and retiring from professional life due to old age no longer necessarily means the end of all economic activities. In fact, it may even represent a new beginning. These tendencies are buoyed by changes in the labour market and longer life expectancies. Work can also be a single component of the new life phase, whether it is for self-actualisation or from economic necessity (Terlecky and Bryce 2007). For this reason, retirement does not necessarily go hand in hand with physical age. Since Thai law makes it very difficult for foreigners to obtain a work permit, however, an extended stay in Thailand does actually entail a cessation of employment at least officially. In summary, it can be noted that a number of attempts to define the phenomenon of migration of the elderly does exist, however, they diverge considerably from each other, as O Reilly aptly expressed: Blurring the distinction between migration and tourism, they migrate, oscillate, circulate or tour between their home and host countries. [ ] Any attempt to categorize their moves fails as the individuals themselves periodically alter their migration patterns and thus their legal status. (O Reilly, 2007, p. 281). 2.3 The Connection Between Migration of the Elderly and Tourism Spatial mobility processes of the elderly can be categorised into different types and are often closely related to similar fields. The matter becomes even more complicated if we have a look at the overlaps and the relationships between migration and tourism (see also Williams and Hall 2000). Both social phenomena are defined within a space-timeframework, and both have been subject to sometimes-chaotic conceptualisation. Migration is usually defined spatially as movement across the boundary of an areal unit, and it is generally agreed that there will be some permanence to a move described as migration (cf. Boyle et al., cited in Williams and Hall 2000, p. 6). The first of these is an arbitrary criterion given the diversity of processes that have produced boundaries. The second criterion is equally problematic, for there is no theoretically grounded definition of permanence (Williams and Hall 2000, p. 6). The definition of tourism, however, proves to be not less problematic. Hall and Page (2006, pp ) highlight three main features of tourism: The journey and the stay take place outside the normal place of residence and work [...], the movement to tourist destinations is of a temporary short-term character, with the intention of returning home within a few days, weeks or months, and destinations are visited for purposes other than taking up permanent residence or employment remunerated from within the places visited. 144

9 International Retirement Migration to Thailand So instead of taking up permanent residence, there is greater emphasis on the intention of returning home, but again we have the problem of arbitrary time limits. Thus, Williams and McIntyre (2012, p. 216) propose to conceptualise tourism [ ] as a temporary or cyclical form of migration and placed on a time / space continuum with other types of human movements of varying duration from day trips (e.g. shopping, commuting, and visiting) through those of longer duration (e.g. vacations, staying at second home) to permanent relocation, all of which can be viewed as part of this continuum of migratory activities [ ]. A closer look at the characteristics of retirement migration suggests a strong correlation with touristic mobility. Especially when discussing lifestyle migrants or amenityseeking migrants, who are attracted by the amenities of the destination country, the connection between tourist and migrant becomes obvious, since both types of travel are driven by the same motivational factors. The overlap becomes especially clear when one takes into account the fact that the target areas of mass tourism and international migration of the elderly coincide to a great degree. Due to this strong overlap, the clear distinction of different mobility types on a scale ranging from tourism to migration is considered by many authors to be the core difficulty (Hall and Williams 2002b; Williams et al. 1997). For example, a special type of retirement mobility, which strongly blurs the borders of tourism and migration, is the Japanese rongusutei (long-stay tourism), officially organised, long-term trips for Japanese retirees. This particular type of mobility, organised by the Japanese Long-Stay Foundation for Japanese pensioners on behalf of the Japanese government since 1992, is defined as follows: [ ] A style of staying abroad for a relatively long time in order to experience the life and culture in a place of destination and contribute to the local society while leaving the economic resources in Japan. (Ono 2008, p. 151). The factors that have led to the increased spatial mobility of recent decades are similar to those generally ascribed to the development of mass tourism. Hall and Williams (2002b; see also Veress 2011) outline the main causes behind the increase in different types of spatial mobility of the elderly as follows: Demographic and social changes, such as changes in family life cycles, increasing prosperity, and higher living standards, the overall greying of the world s population, and other factors are the most important developments in recent decades that contribute to the dramatic increase in the mobility options of populations. Economic growth in developed countries during the 1950s and 1960s has led to considerable income increases. This has led to increased consumption, a rise in recreational activities, and a boom in tourism, in particular mass tourism. Improvements in transport and communications, the use of more efficient technologies, and cost reductions are resulting in a convergence of space and time. Political changes, combined with the relaxation of visa requirements and other barriers, have facilitated mobility processes in many parts of the developed world. In the 145

10 Husa, Vielhaber, Jöstl, Veress, and Wieser past, obtaining a passport was considered a privilege in many countries of the world, now it is a right in democratic societies in any case. Ultimately, the improved physical condition of the elderly plays a crucial role, in conjunction with the availability of economic resources. The fact that opportunities for consumer-oriented, amenity-seeking migrants were first generated by the tourism industry (Hall and Williams 2002a) indicates that mass tourism is often a precursor to subsequent migration processes and also suggests the plausibility of considering these two phenomena in conjunction. The places frequented by tourists and retirement migrants overlap as well. In light of this, it can be said that the relationship between prior voyages as a tourist and later migration plays an important role and influences the decision to migrate. So-called tourism-induced migration thus arises in succession to mass tourism (Gustafson 2002; Stallmann and Espinoza 1996). The growing association with possible migration destinations resulting from repeated visits as a tourist can be an important promoting factor of mobility, with tourism potentially leading from temporary to permanent migration. Many authors agree that few migrants attracted to a target area choose a place they have not previously visited as a tourist (Hall and Williams 2002b). 3. Farang Retirement Migration to Thailand The Statistics Estimating the quantitative extent of international retirement migration to Thailand is a difficult task. Because of restrictive visa and residency regulations, it is not easy for foreign nationals to stay in the country legally for long periods of time. Census surveys carried out every ten years provide fairly reliable statistics regarding the number of foreigners officially residing in the country. In the 2000 census, the number of foreigners from Western countries living in Thailand was stated as 192,000 people, however, this only includes foreigners with an official residence permit having lived in Thailand for at least three months prior to the census date, and is not restricted to merely retirees. The results of the 2010 census show a further increase in the number of foreigners to approximately 260,000 Westerners (Europeans, North Americans, Australians, and New Zealanders), tellingly three quarters of them male. Specific statistics on the actual magnitude of retirement migration are not available, but in 1998 Thailand introduced special retirement visas, an analysis of which would enable arriving at some basic conclusions about the size of this immigrant group. In order to obtain such a Non-Immigrant O-A Long-Stay Visa for a Retired Person, the applicant must be at least 50 years of age, and deposit an amount equal to at least 800,000 Thai baht (approximately 19,000 euros at the time of writing) at a Thai bank. Employment is strictly prohibited and the retirement visa must be renewed annually. Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to obtain data on the number of retirement visas granted by the Thai 146

11 International Retirement Migration to Thailand immigration department either the data have not yet been evaluated, or there is a lack of willingness to share them. Howard (2008), who encountered similar difficulties in obtaining official statistics, pursued an alternative means of data collection in his study of retirement migration in Thailand. He tried to calculate the number of Western foreigners in the country through their respective embassies yet likewise met with little success. Using all available sources of information, Howard (2008, p. 151) estimated the number of Western foreigners (farang) residing permanently in the country in the early 2000s to be at somewhere around 98,000 people (for more recent estimates of Thailand s total foreign population, see Huguet and Chamratrithirong 2011; Scortino and Punpuing 2009). Of these, he estimated that approximately 10 to 15 percent (or around 10,000 to 15,000 people) could be considered retirement migrants. Other sources estimate the total number of retirees across Asia in 2010 at approximately 100,000 persons, with Thailand definitely being the big apple in the market (Gorvett 2010, p. 13). Basically, however, it can be assumed that the number of foreigners in Thailand is much higher than expressed by official statistical sources. Many farang stay in the Kingdom of Thailand for years with tourist visas, by leaving shortly before visa expiration and immediately re-entering with a new tourist visa. Recently, however, the popular practice of so-called visa runs has been made more difficult by new immigration regulations enacted by Thai authorities. 4. Hua Hin and Cha-am as a Focus of International Retirement Migration A Case Study As study areas of the current project, the town of Hua Hin, situated approximately 200 kilometres south of Bangkok on the western Gulf of Thailand in the province of Prachuap Khiri Khan and the beach town of Cha-am, which is primarily known for its coastal strip, Cha-am Beach (located 20 km north of Hua Hin in Phetchaburi province) were chosen. Both of these once traditional fishing villages are now the oldest and most exclusive beach resorts in Thailand. Hua Hin s regal atmosphere has always made it an important holiday and weekend destination for the Thai upper class, which consists mainly of wealthy Bangkok families. The fact that Hua Hin has been hailed as Thailand s new retirement haven in recent years can be traced back to the high attractiveness of the area. When comparing the qualities of the study area with Longino and Fox s (1995) top-ten list of site conditions for successful retirement migration destinations, we obtained the picture depicted in Table 2. A major advantage of the region is certainly its easy accessibility from Bangkok, which favours domestic weekend tourism in particular. However, it is also one of the fastestto-reach beach destinations for international tourists arriving at the Bangkok airport. In 147

12 Husa, Vielhaber, Jöstl, Veress, and Wieser Table 2: Amenity factors of the Hua Hin region General criteria Thailand / the Hua Hin region 1. Low crime rate yes 2. Good hospitals partly, in big urban centers and tourist areas yes 3. Low costs of living yes 4. Pleasant climate more or less (at least warm all year round) 5. Low taxes yes 6. No or low income tax yes (compared to Europe) 7. Friendly neighbours yes 8. Vicinity of big cities yes (for Hua Hin / Cha-am) 9. Low real estate prices no longer in many urban and tourist areas, partly rapidly soaring; still cheap prices up-country (Isaan) 10. Attractive cultural and social environment yes Source: Longino and Fox 1995, and own survey. terms of climate, the region s protected situation in the Gulf of Thailand makes it one of the most fortunate areas in the nation. Precipitation is tolerable throughout the year and the area is one of the driest in Thailand, with pleasant temperatures all year round. In comparison, the annual precipitation in the Hua Hin area is approximately 1,000 mm, while tourist centres such as Phuket have over 2,500 mm, and the average annual rainfall in the eastern Gulf of Thailand even surpasses 4,000 mm. As Thailand s first golf centre and one of Asia s leading golf destinations with over ten different golf courses, the area is known as golfer s paradise (Hastings 2008a). A particular characteristic of the region is also its relative calm compared to other tourist destinations: overall, the nightlife and mass tourism infrastructure of Hua Hin and Chaam are modest compared to Phuket, Pattaya, and Koh Samui (still), especially in Cha-am. An important additional stimulus for the development of tourism in the region was the 2004 tsunami, which affected the area very positively and noticeably increased the number of overnight stays (Veress 2011, pp. 216f). Apart from the rapid increase in tourism, the 2004 tsunami on the Andaman coast also affected the real estate business as a development impetus: In 1995, the total supply of residential units (i.e. condominiums, landed property units, and plots of land) was less than 2,000 units; the number of units increased to almost 19,000 by mid-2013 (Figure 2). Especially in 2006 and 2007, a surge in supply of condos and in landed development projects was noticeable. However, the global financial and economic crises of the last few years and the debt crisis in the Eurozone have had a somewhat calming effect on the real estate business in the region recently, and especially foreign buyers were affected. Condos are by far the most important source of supply in the Hua Hin / Cha-am region, with most of them located in the Cha-am and Hua Hin coastal areas. In contrast, landed 148

13 International Retirement Migration to Thailand development, which only really took off after the tsunami 2004 with many developers moving from the Andaman coast to the safer side along the Gulf of Siam, is mainly concentrated in the Hua Hin and Cha-am inland areas further away from the beaches, where land prices are still lower. The main target groups of house and villa development are foreign buyers, or as a Thai developer aptly put it in an interview in December 2012: The beach belongs to us [the Thais], but the hills belong to the farang [ ]. (Thai developer, Hua Hin, December 2012) Figure 2: The Hua Hin, Cha-Am and Pranburi residential market*): Supply of condominiums, landed property units and plots of land, (first half year) 10,000 Historical supply by property type and year 8,000 Units 6,000 4,000 2, Year Condominium Landed development Land plot H *) Only multiple housing developments, individual housing is excluded. Source: Colliers International Thailand Research However, the share of Thais has also been steadily increasing in recent years, especially after the 2011 flood in Bangkok and the central parts of Thailand, when many residents from these areas tried to temporarily move out of the flooded areas and started buying second homes in safe areas outside Bangkok. At present, most large-scale housing and villa projects, many of them gated communities, are located in the hills. Although there is no beachfront, they represent an attractive market segment, due to lower prices, the sea view, the cooler climate in the hills, and the vicinity of several first class golf courses (Colliers International Thailand Research 2013). 149

14 Husa, Vielhaber, Jöstl, Veress, and Wieser 4.1 The Size of the Foreign Population of Hua Hin and Cha-am There are very different estimates regarding the size of the foreign population from Western industrialised countries in the Hua Hin area. The data of the 2010 population and housing census shows a total of 2,015 Western foreigners (from Europe, USA, Australia, and New Zealand) for both the changwats Phetchaburi and Prachuab Khiri Khan, with an estimated gender bias of almost 84 percent males. A common, often quoted figure is that slightly over 3,000 Western foreigners are in extended stays in Hua Hin (Expat Hua Hin 2009). According to Jira Pongphaiboon, former mayor of Hua Hin, in 2008 at least 1,000 homes were owned by foreign families and couples who used them as more or less permanent residences. The records of the Immigration Office in Dan Sinkorn show that, in 2010, around 7,000 expats lived in the Hua Hin area (approximately 4,000 in Hua Hin and 3,000 in Cha-am) and it can be assumed that these numbers have continued to rise significantly. In general, it can be concluded that official figures greatly underestimate the number of immigrants from the West. This problem arises from the lack of reporting requirements for those without annual visas. Despite strict residency regulations, it is nonetheless possible for many immigrants to evade reporting requirements or even to draw out their ordinary tourist visas for an extended period of time. In addition, those who submit their visa application in other parts of Thailand (mainly Bangkok) are not included in local statistical surveys. For these reasons, the higher estimates of up to 15,000 Westerners residing in the Hua Hin and Cha-am areas are very likely realistic (see also Jöstl and Wieser 2011). Data on the age and gender structure of this elusive population are even more difficult to obtain. Local estimates vary, and range from assessments that around 90 percent of Western migrants are men who migrated to Thailand alone to a 50:50 ratio of migrant single males and couples who came together. The bottom line is that older male expatriates with a Thai partner are ubiquitous and clearly shape the local image. However, it is also a fact that there is a considerable number of foreign couples, mostly from Scandinavia, who spend the European winter months here. During these months, the city is virtually flooded with foreign seasonal migrants and, in this period, Swedish is considered to be the second official language. The typical expat scene in the Hua Hin area is a largely male-dominated community. This becomes especially clear when reviewing the various information sources for this sector, such as online forums like the HHAD ( Hua Hin After Dark ), the largest online network in the region at the time of writing (2013) with 4,500 members and 2,250 daily visitors, and regional foreign-language newspapers such as Tip or Observer. A look at the Questions and Answers page or at forum posts makes it clear that this is a place where men in particular gather their information and actively participate. In addition to everyday problems of expatriate life, topics are largely focused on male issues like the bar scene and problems with Thai women. In this way, the male expat community often coincides with the tourism infrastructure. Tying into this, Seabrook (1996) coined the term sexpatriates to designate expats who consume certain pertinent services in addition to the usual tourist amenities (Bishop and 150

15 International Retirement Migration to Thailand Robinson 1998). Other common lingo in the scene includes the so-called butterflies, a term for expats who spend most of their time in bars drinking and have a new girlfriend every few weeks or months. Another characteristic term for members of this group, used mainly by locals, is VOMIT. This acronym stands for Vile Old Man In Thailand and is thus, in combination with the original meaning of the word, a double negative judgment of the older expat sector (Veress 2011, pp. 220f). 4.2 The Socio-Demographic Profile of Western Foreigners While there is already an extensive body of empirical evidence on the structure, history, and causes of retirement migration within North America and Europe, we so far know very little about the socio-demographic characteristics of the farang that migrate to Thailand, as well as about their primary motives for migration and living conditions in the target area. Unlike the popular stereotypes about the high socio-demographic selectivity of migrants and their very special interests in the country that are passed on in countless anecdotes, the actual results of the Hua Hin study paint a somewhat different picture. Age and Origin In the present study, subjects were selected according to the snowball sampling method and in contrast to similar studies (cf. Howard 2008) no age limit was set a priori. Nonetheless, the results speak for themselves: Although the age range of subjects (of which 91 percent were male) stretched from 29 to 76 years, four-fifths of the expats interviewed (81.3 percent) belonged to the 50-plus generation. The average age of respondents was around 59, with 60- to 70-year-olds being by far the most represented age group with 42 percent (Figure 3). This means that the age structure of immigrants to Hua Hin / Cha-am essentially reflects the results of similar studies. In the preliminary study for this investigation, Veress (2009) calculated an average age of 61 years; the average age of participants in Howard s Internet survey (2008), which addressed expats of 50+ years of age in all of Thailand, was about 60 years of age. Compared to studies of migration of the elderly in the Mediterranean region, it is notable that migrants to Thailand tend to be slightly younger (the average age of migrants to the Mediterranean region is usually well over 65 years; cf. King, Warnes, and Williams 2000). This may be attributed to the fact that retirement migration to Thailand is still a relatively recent phenomenon: it did not take off until much later than, for example, to Spain, meaning that the aging process of the migrants themselves does not yet have a significant impact on average age. Looking at the respondents in the study area, they can be differentiated into the three most common countries or regions of origin: Great Britain, Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, 151

16 Husa, Vielhaber, Jöstl, Veress, and Wieser Figure 3: Age distribution of respondents in Cha-am and Hua Hin Age Group Below Percent Source: Survey 2010, cf. Jöstl and Wieser 2011 (N = 112). Figure 4: Country of origin of respondents in Cha-am and Hua Hin Australia, New Zealand 4.5 USA, Canada 10.7 Scandinavia (SW, FI, NOR, DK) 20.5 Germany 11.6 Switzerland 16.1 Great Britain 21.4 Other W-European Countries Percent Source: Survey 2010, cf. Jöstl and Wieser 2011 (N = 112). 152

17 International Retirement Migration to Thailand Finland, and Denmark), and Switzerland (also see Figure 4). In almost all studies on international retirement migration carried out in Thailand, the British were shown as the largest group of immigrants (cf. Howard 2009; Koch-Schulte 2008; Veress 2009), which is confirmed by the results of this study as well: about one-fourth of the respondents in Cha-am were of British origin and about one-fifth in Hua Hin. As a result, the British community is the most present and visibly active in the city, something that also affects the local food supply: English beer and English breakfast can be found everywhere. The results of the sample data of our survey although no claims of representativeness can be made show the following ranking for the overall study area: Great Britain (21 percent), Switzerland (16 percent), Germany (12 percent), Netherlands (8 percent), Norway (8 percent), Sweden (7 percent), and USA (7 percent). All other nationalities make up less than five percent. Unlike with the age distribution, the countries of origin of migrants in Hua Hin and Chaam differ greatly. In Cha-am, for example, there is a very large population of Norwegians, which account for around 16 percent and are the second largest expatriate group, while in Hua Hin, the Norwegian community is almost negligible (3 percent). In Hua Hin, the Swiss share first place with the British (19 percent); while in Cha-am, the Swiss are at number three with only 11 percent. In addition to British and Swiss nationals, there is also a sizable amount of German citizens living in Hua Hin. Familial and Household Structures A closer look at the marital status of the respondents (see Table 3) shows that a majority of respondents has been divorced once (42 percent) or more than once (12.5 percent). This is, however, concurrent with the current divorce rates of most Western countries. The majority of divorces occurred prior to arrival in the study area and separation was generally from a Western partner; only in about eight percent of the cases in this study had respondents been divorced from a Thai woman. In terms of the current marital status at the time of the survey, somewhat less than onethird of expats (30 percent) was married to a Thai, and slightly over one-fourth (27 percent) was living together with a Thai partner. Overall, 25 percent cohabitated with partners from their home country and the proportion of singles (about one-fifth of the respondents) was also relatively high. The familial and household structures of migrants in the Hua Hin / Cha-am region are thus markedly different from that found by other studies on international retirement migration in Thailand. In the Udon Thani-study by Koch-Schulte (2008) a town in north-eastern Thailand almost all expats were in a relationship with a local from the region and generally lived together with their families. In Howard s nationwide online survey (Howard 2008, 2009), only about three percent of respondents reported being married to a non-thai. Women who migrated alone remain a rarity in the area studied: in the present study, only two such cases were recorded, and the remaining eight female respondents moved to the 153

18 Husa, Vielhaber, Jöstl, Veress, and Wieser Table 3: Current marital status of respondents in Cha-am / Hua Hin Marital Status Answers Percent of respondents (112) Number Percent Single, never married Currently living alone Widowed Once divorced Divorced several times Divorced from Thai parnter Cohabitation with Western partner Cohabitation with Thai partner Married to Western partner Married to Thai partner Total (Multiple responses possible) Source: Survey 2010, cf. Jöstl and Wieser 2011 (N = 112). region with their husbands. As the study results show, compared to Thailand as whole, the Cha-am / Hua Hin region thus exhibits a well-mixed structure of Thai-farang relationships, Western couples, and singles. This differs to a certain degree from the almost exclusively male farang clientele and overwhelming dominance of cross-cultural partnerships in other locations such as Pattaya, Phuket, and some areas of Northeast Thailand. Table 4 shows whether the interviewees had children and, if so, how many. More than one-third was childless, while the majority had one or more children in the home country. In most cases, children were already grown up and on their own, a situation that often makes the move to Thailand an unclouded enjoyment of retirement possible for many expats. Contact with the children, who generally stayed in the home country, was not particularly close, with many expats even having settled any financial concerns with their children before immigrating to Thailand. A common notion often found in studies on the motives of male amenity migration to developing countries is that elderly males sometimes move to countries like Thailand or the Philippines in search of a second youth or romance. The fact that at least every eighth of our respondents in spite of his rather advanced age has children of his own with his new Thai partner might be assessed as an indicator for the validity of this idea. These children are usually very young or of school age and live in the common household. Great value is placed on bilingualism, maintaining strong roots in both cultures, and a good education. It can be assumed that the number of children from mixed relationships will rise and we can thus expect some new and interesting developments. It is also common to integrate any existing children of the Thai partner from previous relationships into the new family (this is the case for about 14 percent of respondents), although the Western 154

19 International Retirement Migration to Thailand Table 4: Number of children of respondents in Hua Hin / Cha-am Number of children Answers Number Percent Percent of respondents (112) None child children and more children Own child (children) with Thai partner Stepchild (children) with Thai partner Total (Multiple responses possible; no adjustment of rounding differences) Source: Survey 2010, cf. Jöstl and Wieser 2011 (N = 112). partners regard any children brought into the marriage as their own (see also Zimmermann in this volume). Social Status In the public opinion of the societies of origin, the migration of older men from Western societies to countries such as Thailand and the Philippines was until recently associated with primarily negative attributes such as social problems in the country of origin, isolation, partnership difficulties, sex tourism, low educational level, etc. Regarding farangmigration to Thailand, in particular the expatriate populations in places like Pattaya or Patong on Phuket Island as well as the regular clientele of certain entertainment districts of Bangkok, have a similarly negative image. In the course of preliminary research for this project, locals and farang residents who had already lived in the region for some time both expressed similar fears of an increase in farang immigration to the study area in numerous conversations. The main fear revolved around the possibility of enhanced social inequality between the two study areas of Cha-am and Hua Hin. According to the expats surveyed, Cha-am is the quieter, but also cheaper and less refined, sister city of Hua Hin. Malicious expat tongues in Hua Hin say that Cha-am is the resort of those who cannot afford Hua Hin. However, the study results do not confirm these fears by any means, and the education level of expatriates can overall be described as quite high. Academics made up the largest group in Cha-am and Hua Hin alike (38 percent), followed by those with a relatively high degree or successfully completed vocational training (34 percent) (Figure 5). Howard (2009) was able to constate similarly positive results: in his nationwide online survey, nearly 39 percent of participants had a bachelor s degree, and 26 percent had an even higher degree. 155