How Does a Travel Trip Affect Tourists’ Life Satisfaction?

Abstract

The goal of the research reported in this article was to develop a model describing how positive and negative affect associated with specific experiences of a travel trip influence tourists’ overall sense of well-being (life satisfaction). The model is based on the theoretical notion that a travel trip influences life satisfaction through tourists’ experiences of positive and negative affect associated with a recent tourist trip couched within various life domains (e.g., social life, leisure life, family life, cultural life, health and safety, love life, work life, and financial life). We conducted two studies. The first study was qualitative, designed to identify specific sources of positive and negative affect generated by the most recent tourist trip experiences in the context of various life domains. The second study involved a survey of tourists ( N = 264) to test the model in a formal manner. The data provided support for the overall model; the data also helped identify specific sources of positive and negative affect that play a significant role in tourists’ overall sense of well-being. Specific managerial recommendations are made for tourist operators based on the study findings.

Chinese outbound travel: Understanding the socioeconomic drivers

“…Such a social reality in China may continue to push Chinese nationals who can afford to take foreign country travels. On the theoretical side, the tourism literature has mainly focused on examining subjective well-being or HP as an outcome of tourism (e.g., Nawijn, 2010;Neal, Uysal, & Sirgy, 2007;Sirgy et al, 2011), except for some indications from early travel motivation studies (e.g., Dann, 1977), seldom has HP or life satisfaction been examined as a determinant for an individual to take tourism. In postmodern societies, HP or unhappiness could well serve as the reason for a foreign country travel.…”

“…In the tourism literature, HP, or alternatively subjective wellbeing, has been mostly studied as an outcome of tourism (McCabe & Johnson, 2013;Sirgy, Kruger, Lee, & Yu, 2011;Uysal, Perdue, & Sirgy, 2012). Seldom has HP been conceptualized as the explanatory factor of outbound travel.…”

Cultural Capital of Visitors, Classical Music Festival Satisfaction, and Quality of Life

“…The satisfactory festival experience is positively related to QoL or life satisfaction of visitors (Liburd & Derkzen, 2009;Kruger et al, 2013;Ballantyne et al, 2014), as are other tourism and leisure activities (Iwasaki, 2007;Sirgy, 2010;Sirgy et al, 2011). Music festivals include a variety of experiential attributes which are relevant to different life domains of tourists.…”

“…Music festivals include a variety of experiential attributes which are relevant to different life domains of tourists. Participating in festivals enhances satisfaction with important domains of life, such as social life, leisure and recreation, and art and culture -all of which relate to general QoL (Sirgy, 2010;Sirgy et al, 2011;Kruger et al, 2013). Festivals involve a variety of attributes that influence visitors' satisfaction, and tourist evaluation may distinguish between assessment of music programs and quality of operational services.…”

“…Regarding measures for QoL or subjective feelings of well-being, this study focused on evaluating festival visitors' general life satisfaction levels. Question items of QoL were adopted not only from OECD guidelines (OECD, 2013), such as life satisfaction, goodness of life conditions, and closeness to ideal, but also from existing festival literatures asking perceived happiness in life (Neal et al, 2007;Sirgy et al, 2011;Kruger et al, 2013;Lee et al, 2014).…”