The economic backstage of the landings of emigrants on the island of Lampedusa. An exemplary case of migration industry

This article focuses on Lampedusa as an exemplary case study of eco-nomic transformation brought about by migration, as well as the creation of a ‘mi-gration industry’.On the basis of interviews with key informants and a reconstruction of the secondaryliterature, it shows how migration has given international visibility to the island,starting from the first arrivals of emigrants in the 1990s, through the increase inlandings during the so-called ‘Arab Spring’, and up to the present. This has fed var-ious processes of conversion from an economy based on fishing towards an economybuilt around relatively recent tourism. Furthermore, it highlights how the national,European and international policies of migration governance have contributed tocreating an industry based on consumption by the military, police, volunteers, healthand humanitarian personnel present on the island and the impact this has had on thelocal service sector.