Q method finds anti-refugee sentiments on Yemeni migration to Jeju

Tourism and migration are conceptually linked in terms of the geographical movement of people. In 2018 a large group of Yemeni refugee migrants arrived in Jeju Island, South Korea because of an unforeseen confluence of political and economic pressures in Yemen and a combination of a visa-free policy and cheap airfare from Malaysia to Jeju. They are now semi-permanent residents on the island with no option to re-migrate. A multidimensional set of theoretical themes including social exchange and role identity among stakeholders; power and alienation; and trust and social responsibility are used to evaluate residents’ subjectivities toward Yemeni refugee migrants to Jeju. This is applied to the theoretical interpretation of the public discourse on Yemeni migration to identify residents’ attitudes using Q method. Four clusters of subjectivity are found, grouped around an anti-refugee sentiment. Interaction with and responsibility for this refugee immigrant population is largely rejected. Practical implications are that structural changes in policy or attitude changes through education are necessary to secure any form of social sustainability for the resident-refugee relationship in Jeju. The implication is that the set of theoretical themes used in this study offers a valuable path to finding empirical solutions to the refugee migration problem in tourism research.