Studies across the social sciences are making increasing use of an evolutionary perspective. Yet, despite its potential, the application of evolutionary psychology in tourism research is scant. Evolutionary psychology is arguably one of the most useful approaches to understanding the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the tourist's psyche. This research highlights, explains, and empirically demonstrates the vast untapped potential of this perspective for post-COVID-19 tourism research. The authors develop an Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm , which is based on biological epistemology and theory to address questions in post-COVID-19 tourism research. This paradigm is brought to life through a developed ocean and islands model, and its utility for future research endeavors on the Coronavirus pandemic is empirically demonstrated in two studies.

Individuals have demonstrated an attraction toward foreignness, which, arguably, constitutes a central reason to travel. Drawing on research from social and evolutionary psychology, the authors provide the first investigation of tourism xenophilia (TXI), which we define as individuals’ attraction toward the perceived foreignness of destinations. Across three studies, the authors conceptualize, develop, and apply a reliable, valid, and parsimonious TXI scale. The results show that TXI explains several important tourist and resident behaviors, such as willingness to engage with locals, willingness to stay at a bed-and-breakfast, intention to try local food, resident hospitality, support for immigration policies, and travel to foreign destinations. The authors also empirically investigate three key antecedents of TXI: promotion focus, boredom proneness, and mind-wandering. Finally, implications for academics and practitioners are discussed.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that tourists do not only choose tourism destinations based on objective quality criteria. Rather, tourists may be drawn to certain destinations for reasons such as feelings of connection or affinity. This article provides a first examination of tourism affinity (TAFF) and its effects on tourism behavior. Tourists who are high on TAFF feel sympathy, admiration, or attachment toward a given country. In addition to examining TAFF, we also test the impact of tourism animosity (TANI) on a variety of resident and tourism behaviors. The results show that TAFF is a positive driver of several tourism-related outcomes, such as word of mouth and resident hospitality, while TANI drives general intention to visit and provide word of mouth but is a barrier to closer interactions. In addition, goal compatibility, relative power, and moral obligation drive TAFF while relative power drives TANI.

Paradoxical at first sight, some tourists engage in activities involving negative emotions and even physical pain. Tourism scholars have begun investigating this phenomenon and have called for more of such research. Against this background, the authors introduce to tourism the notion of benign masochism, defining it as a trait describing a person’s tendency to embrace and seek pleasure through safely playing with a stimulating level of physical pain and negative emotions. In doing so, the authors root benign masochism in the notion of play from evolutionary psychology and develop a benign masochism scale that is able to predict various tourism outcomes, including willingness to visit a haunted house, to go on a challenging adventure holiday, and to visit a nuclear disaster site. The authors conclude by discussing theoretical and managerial implications as well as limitations and future opportunities for research.

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