Individuals dreaming of journey post-COVID-19 now have some scientific information to help their wanderlust.
A new study within the journal of Tourism Evaluation exhibits frequent vacationers are happier with their lives than individuals who don’t journey in any respect.
Chun-Chu (Bamboo) Chen, an assistant professor within the Faculty of Hospitality Enterprise Administration at Washington State College, carried out a survey to search out out why some people journey extra incessantly than others and whether or not or not journey and tourism experiences have a protracted impact on happiness and wellness.
The outcomes of his evaluation present people who pay extra consideration to tourism-related data and incessantly focus on their journey plans with mates usually tend to go on common holidays than those that aren’t continually enthusiastic about their subsequent journey.
Moreover, contributors within the survey who reported usually touring at the very least 75 miles away from dwelling additionally reported being about 7% happier when requested about their general well-being than those that reported touring very not often or in no way.
“Whereas issues like work, household life and mates play an even bigger function in general experiences of well-being, the buildup of journey experiences does seem to have a small but noticeable impact on self-reported life satisfaction,” Chen mentioned. “It actually illustrates the significance of having the ability to get out of your routine and expertise new issues.”
Earlier research have examined the stress reduction, well being and wellness advantages of tourism experiences, however they’ve tended to look at the impact of a single journey or trip. Chen’s analysis takes these earlier research one step additional by wanting on the sustained advantages of journey over the course of a 12 months.
Contributors within the examine had been requested in regards to the significance of journey of their lives, how a lot time they spent wanting into and planning future holidays, and what number of journeys they went on over a 12 months. They had been additionally requested about their perceived life satisfaction. Out of the five hundred survey contributors, slightly over half reported happening greater than 4 pleasure journeys a 12 months. Solely 7% of respondents didn’t take any holidays.
As journey restrictions on account of COVID-19 start to chill out sooner or later, the analysis might have necessary implication for each vacationers and the tourism trade. Based mostly on the outcomes of the examine, Chen mentioned journey firms, resorts and even airways might launch social media campaigns, comparable to creating hashtags in regards to the scientific advantages of trip, to spark folks’s curiosity in discussing their opinions about journey.
“This analysis exhibits the extra folks discuss and plan holidays the extra doubtless they’re to take them,” he mentioned. “In case you are like me and chomping on the bit to get out of dodge and see someplace new, this analysis will hopefully be some extra good motivation to start out planning your subsequent trip.”
Media contact:
- Chun-Chu (Bamboo) Chen, Faculty of Hospitality Enterprise Administration, 360-546-9516, b.chen@wsu.edu
- Will Ferguson, WSU Information, 509-335-8798, will.ferguson@wsu.edu
