Why Are International Visitors More Satisfied with the Tourism Experience? The Role of Hedonic Value, Escapism, and Psychic Distance

Abstract

Previous studies have consistently observed that international visitors are more satisfied with the tourism experience than their domestic counterparts. To date, however, no study has provided empirical evidence of the mechanism that could explain this phenomenon. Building on the experiential paradigm, we conducted two empirical studies (a field study and an online experiment) showing that the reason foreign (vs. domestic) visitors exhibit higher levels of satisfaction lies in the greater hedonic value that these tourists derive from their experience. Moreover, the greater hedonic value observed among international foreign visitors is due to the deeper feeling of escapism they experience by traveling abroad. We also demonstrate that this effect is explained by the concept of psychic distance, whereby going abroad leads to a greater perception of psychic distance, and subsequently escapism, hedonic value, and satisfaction with the tourism experience.

Searching memories of pleasures in local cuisine: how nostalgia and hedonic values affect tourists' behavior at hot spring destinations?

“…According to Hirschman and Holbrook (1982) and Holbrook (1996) , emotional arousal is the basis for tourists' decision-making. That is, the emotional and hedonic values that tourists derive from travel experience profoundly influence tourists' satisfaction (Ponsignon et al, 2020) and continued usage or revisit intentions (Ozturk et al, 2016;Petrick et al, 2001). Food consumption may be deserved to receive more attention in preparation for the anticipated return to pre-pandemic standard if destinations recover from the slump (Vaishar and S tastn a, 2020;Wen et al, 2021).…”

“…According to Hirschman and Holbrook (1982) and Holbrook (1996) , emotional arousal is the basis for tourists' decision-making. That is, the emotional and hedonic values that tourists derive from travel experience profoundly influence tourists' satisfaction (Ponsignon et al. , 2020) and continued usage or revisit intentions (Ozturk et al.…”

Tourists’ Goal-Directed Behaviors: The Influences of Goal Disclosure, Goal Commitment, and Temporal Distance

“…We used an independent sample t-test to test hypotheses 1 and 2. We computed the mean scores of the goal commitment scale and goal-directed behaviors scale, respectively, and used the mean values in the independent samples t test (Confente and Scarpi 2020;Hair et al 2009;Ponsignon, Lunardo, and Michrafy 2020). The result showed that goal-directed behaviors of tourism goal disclosure were significantly higher than those of tourism goal nondisclosure (M disclosure = 5.96, SD = 0.49, vs. M nondisclosure = 5.31, SD = 1.31, t = 3.38, p < 0.01; see Figure 2); thus, hypothesis 1 was supported.…”

Cognitive Image, Mental Imagery, and Responses (CI-MI-R): Mediation and Moderation Effects

“…In particular, cosmopolitans are considered as a particularly attractive target group (Riefler et al 2012). Escapists, by desiring experiences different from everyday life, can exhibit a strong travel motivation (Ponsignon, Lunardo, and Michrafy 2020). Individuals' cognitive thinking style, by reflecting the mode of information processing, captures a relevant decision-making facet of tourists (Hong and Desai 2020).…”

“…Escapism is a travel motivation that drives people to escape from their daily life and return to their routines after experiencing the extraordinary (Labrecque, Krishen, and Grzeskowiak 2011;Loureiro 2014). This kind of experience involves tourists who travel to destinations "worthy of their time," which are different from those most people are familiar with (e.g., long-distance travels, cyberspace; Pine and Gilmore 1998;Ponsignon, Lunardo, and Michrafy 2020).…”