TITLE:
From a Specialized Tourist Resort to a Multifunctional Tourist-Residential Territory: Residentialization and Territorial Transformation in Saly (Senegal)
AUTHORS:
Mohamadou Lamine Bara Samb, Mamadou Samb
KEYWORDS:
Residentialization, Territorial Change, Tourism Urbanization, Residential Tourism, Lifestyle Migration, Mature Destination, Saly, Senegal
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Service Science and Management,
Vol.19 No.5,
October
10,
2026
ABSTRACT: Saly was created as a seaside resort, yet part of its recent development is now tied to people who stay for several months each year or who have settled there more permanently. This article examines how these residential practices have contributed to the transformation of a destination originally planned around tourism. The analysis draws on material collected during doctoral fieldwork between 2021 and 2024, including semi structured interviews with European residents, local inhabitants, tourism professionals, health workers and institutional actors, together with direct observation, documentary sources and spatial evidence. The trajectories described by residents show that settlement generally followed earlier tourist experience of Saly. Repeated visits provided familiarity with the destination before longer stays, housing rental and, in some cases, property ownership became part of everyday life. The effects extend beyond individual residential choices. Field observations and interviews point to the spread of villas and residential areas, changes in land use, greater demand for services used throughout the year and new concerns for local institutions. Health care is particularly revealing because ageing residents staying for long periods have needs that differ from those associated with short tourist visits. These changes have not displaced tourism, which remains central to Saly’s economy and identity. Tourism and residence are now present in the same territory and shape its use in different ways. We use residentialization to describe this gradual increase in residential use and the changes observed around it. In Saly, the result is not the end of the resort model, but a place where tourism continues while residential life has become a durable part of local organization.