Expats Make Some Destinations Rethink How They Define a Traveler

Expats, those who leave their own countries and move to others for new jobs, self-discovery, or even retirement, are a unique traveler demographic that shares characteristics with both traditional leisure travelers and local populations. Some countries consistently show up on lists or rankings of best places to live and work, such as Ecuador and Switzerland, but do these destinations generally care about marketing their attractions and offerings to expats, or consider the more than 50 million global expats a valuable market? That answer is a mixed-bag at best since there are several variations of the definition of an expat. "Although expats are very welcomed in Ecuador, the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador does not include them as a target segment of its promotion strategy, mostly because the Ministry of Tourism is working to obtain more information and data on the segment as well as the impact they have on public and private services, the economy, culture and the increase