The contribution of vacations to quality of life (original) (raw)
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Vacations and the Quality of Life:: Patterns and Structures
Journal of Business Research, 1999
The growing frequency of vacation travel in the developed world has ensured that tourism is seen as an essential element of the quality of life. A cross-comparative analysis of tourism consumption indicates substantial differences in tourism consumption and the structural position of vacations as a social right between nations. Higher levels of vacation entitlement and consumption in Europe can be linked to corporatist or social democratic welfare regimes that recognize tourism consumption as a social right. In the United States and Japan, however, more liberal welfare regimes are linked to lower vacation entitlements and greater inequalities in distribution of income and/or leisure time. The resulting differences in vacation time availability are reflected in time-intensive tourism consumption patterns in Europe, and money-intensive consumption patterns in the United States and Japan. With increasing liberalization, however, there are signs that these international differences are beginning to narrow.
Handbook of Tourism and Quality-of-Life Research
2012
Over the past three decades, two bodies of literature have developed relatively independently: Quality of Life research in Psychology and Travel Motivations research in Tourism. Yet, the constructs underlying these two bodies of research are strongly interrelated. This book chapter: (1) reviews the Quality of Life research area with a specific focus on the role of vacations as a Quality of Life domain; (2) reviews prior work in the area of Travel Motivations with a specific focus on motivational segments which may be associated with differences in the importance people attribute to vacations in general; and (3) proposes a conceptual model, referred to as the Grevillea Model, that integrates heterogeneity in the population with respect to both the importance attributed to vacations and Travel Motivations.
Quality of life (QOL) and well-being research in tourism
Quality of life (qol) and well-being research in tourism. A short history of qol and tourism. Tourism and qol from the perspective of community residents. Tourism and qol from the perspective of community tourists. Future research direction and areas.
The effect of tourism services on travelers' quality of life
Thus, QOL is a socially constructed and multidimensional construct that subsumes both objective and subjective factors. Our study falls within the umbrella of subjective QOL. The theoretical grounding of our model is based on an approach that is commonly described as the bottom-up theory of life satisfaction or subjective well-being (e.g., Diener 1984;. Bottom-up theory states that overall life satisfaction is determined by satisfaction within major life domains (i.e., leisure, work, health, and family life). Satisfaction experienced with life events within a specific life domain (e.g., leisure life) "spills over" upward to determine satisfaction with the overall domain (e.g., satisfaction with leisure life), which in turn "spills over" to the most superordinate domain (life in general), thus influencing life satisfaction.
The Effect of Leisure Activities on Life Satisfaction: The Importance of Holiday Trips
2011
Does active leisure make life more satisfying? If so, what kind of leisure activity is the greatest contributor to happiness? These questions are answered by means of data from four waves of a large-scale continuous study of the general public in Germany. Cross-sectional analysis does not show much of a relationship between happiness and last year's leisure activities, with the exception of holiday trips.
2018
The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between tourists’ positive psychological well-being and satisfaction with quality of life (QOL). More specifically, this study examined tourists’ well-being using the PERMA model of well-being developed by Seligman and its capacity to predict QOL. This paper examines the differences between wellness and non-wellness tourists as it relates to well-being and QOL. Additionally, this study examined the importance/performance ratings of well-being experiences while travelling. To capture these relationships, 862 respondents answered questions about their well-being while travelling and satisfaction with quality of life. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and importance performance analysis were employed to answer the research questions. Results suggest that the PERMA model does not contribute to QOL. Wellness travelers experience greater connection between overall health and QOL. Generally, the travel and tourism industry is performing up to the expectations of both wellness and non-wellness tourists. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. Future research evaluating the existence of positive psychological well-being within the tourism context is warranted.
Measuring the effect of tourism services on travelers' quality of life: further validation
developed a model and a measure to capture the effect of tourism services on travelers' quality of life (QOL). They hypothesized that travelers' overall life satisfaction is derived from satisfaction with the primary life domains (e.g., family, job, health). Specifically, overall life satisfaction is derived from two sources of satisfaction, namely satisfaction with non-leisure life domains and satisfaction with leisure life. Satisfaction with leisure life is derived from satisfaction with leisure experiences that take place at home and satisfaction with travel/tourism experiences. Satisfaction with travel/tourism experiences results from satisfaction with trip reflections of the traveler (e.g., what the traveler remembers regarding perceived freedom from control, perceived freedom from work, involvement, arousal, mastery, and spontaneity experienced during the trip) and satisfaction with travel/tourism services. Satisfaction with travel/tourism services was hypothesized further to be derived from satisfaction with the service aspects of travel/tourism phases -pre-trip services, en-route services, destination services, and return-trip services. The model was tested using a study of university faculty and staff. The original model was extended by hypothesizing the moderation effect of length of stay. Specifically, we hypothesized that the relationships in the model are likely to be more evident in relation to travelers who have more time to experience the tourism services than those who do not. A survey of 815 consumers of travel/tourism services who reside in Southwest Virginia was conducted. As predicted, the data confirmed hypotheses as established in the original model. Satisfaction with tourism services affects travelers' QOL through the mediating effects of satisfaction with travel/tourism experiences, and satisfaction with leisure life. Furthermore, the moderating effect of length of stay was confirmed by the data. In sum, this replication and extension study provided additional validational support of the original tourism services satisfaction measure in relation to QOL-related measures.
Holiday travel, staycations, and subjective well-being
Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2016
The tourism industry thrives on the notion that holiday travel improves well-being. However, scientific evidence that holiday travel is more beneficial than spending free time at home is lacking. Using the Effort-Recovery and the Limited Resources model as theoretical basis, this study investigates whether workers behave, think, and feel differently during travel than during leisure time spent at home. In a five-week longitudinal field study, we followed 24 workers during free evenings after work, a free weekend at home, and on a free weekend of domestic travel. Withinperson differences were investigated between these three occasions in behavior, cognition, and emotions. During travel, employees slept more, engaged more in physical and social activities and less in obligatory activities than during free evenings after work. Hedonic well-being was higher and ruminative thinking lower during travel than during free evenings after work. Physical distance from home and work was related to engagement in resource-providing rather than resource-consuming activities and seems to translate into mental distance from everyday worries. Differences between holiday travel and weekends at home were small. Still, the findings suggest that travel may provide feelings of remoteness in places with novel and fascinating qualities, free of chores.