Revenge travel: nostalgia and desire for leisure travel post COVID-19

作者：Yuexin Wang, Lan Xia · 发表于：Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1080/10548408.2021.2006858 · 被引用次数：116 · 研究领域：Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior、Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification、Media, Gender, and Advertising

The COVID-19 pandemic has hampered consumers’ psychological well-being and the travel industry. Secondary evidence suggests a revenge travel phenomenon. This study theorizes and empirically demonstrates that nostalgia helps consumers cope with pandemic distress and cultivates the desire for leisure travel. Drawing on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework, consumer perceived severity of COVID-19 (stimulus) triggers nostalgia (organism), which increases the desire for leisure travel (response). The effect of nostalgia on desire to travel is robust when manipulated via a marketing communication (ad-hoc experiment). This study further explains travel pursuit heterogeneity with the interaction of a consumer’s approach-avoidance motivation system and traveler personality.