A Preliminary Assessment of Traveler’s Emotional Response to Their Vacation

Despite the fact that researchers have linked individuals’ interpretation of their emotions to behavioral outcomes such as well-being, resilience and service evaluation, few researchers have studied emotions during a vacation. We rose to the challenge by conducting a study that involved the use of a diary, which individuals completed each day of their vacation. Respondents used the diary to document their emotions on the modified Differential Emotions Scale and through a follow-up open-ended question. Results provided support for the notion that emotion is a multidimensional construct, and converged with past research that suggests existing emotion scales may not be entirely appropriate for the measurement of emotions in a pleasure travel context. Managerial implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are noted.