www.elsevier.com/locate/atoures
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 103–121, 2004
 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Printed in Great Britain
0160-7383/$30.00
doi:10.1016/j.annals.2003.06.001
HOLIDAYTAKING AND THE
SENSE OF WELL-BEING
David Gilbert
University of Surrey, UK
Junaida Abdullah
Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism, Malaysia
Abstract: This study was planned to ascertain whether the activity of holidaytaking has any
impact on the life satisfaction or subjective well-being of those taking vacations. The results
indicated that such activity changed the sense of well-being of those participating in it. A
comparison between a holidaytaking group and non-holidaytaking control group provided
evidence that the former experienced a higher sense of well-being prior and post their travels
when compared to the latter. Although the effect sizes are mostly small, the evidence suggests
that holidaytaking has the potential to enhance the level of happiness of those enjoying it,
not causing individuals to feel any worse off than before traveling. Keywords: vacation, holiday, well-being, quality of life.  2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Résumé: Les vacances et le sentiment du bien-être. On a structuré cette étude pour déterminer si l’activité de prendre des vacances a un impact sur la satisfaction de la vie ou la
perception de bien-être par ceux qui prennent des vacances. Les résultats indiquent que
cette activité a changé le sentiment de bien-être de ceux qui partent en vacances. Une comparaison entre un groupe qui part en vacances et un groupe témoin qui ne prend pas de
vacances a manifesté que le premier groupe avait un meilleur sens de bien-être avant et
après leur voyage que le deuxième groupe. Bien que l’importance de l’effet soit relativement
petite, l’évidence suggère que les vacances offrent la possibilité d’augmenter le niveau de
bonheur de ceux qui en profitent et ne font pas que les individus se sentent moins bien
qu’avant de partir. Mots-clés: vacances, congé, bien-être, qualité de vie.  2004 Elsevier Ltd.
All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION
It has been suggested that holidays represent a period when people
can have the time of their lives and are often sold as “a once in a
lifetime experience” (Ryan 1997:194–195). It has also been reported
that the idea of holidaytaking is believed to be able to stimulate the
ultimate fantasy trip. In 1980, Psychology Today found in a survey of
their readers’ “dream vacation” that “men dreamed of becoming
heroes while women envisioned vacations that would bring about a
dramatic change in their lives, making them somehow more carefree,
David Gilbert (School of Management, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, United
Kingdom. Email <d.gilbert@surrey.ac.uk>) has written extensively on tourism marketing with
articles having been published in many of the specialist journals. He is also the joint author
of the Tourism: Principles and Practice textbook. Junaida Abdullah is currently working for the
Malaysian government on projects related to tourism. She has senior responsibility for
planning and is interested in the consumer behavior of tourists.
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HOLIDAYTAKING AND WELL-BEING
adventurous, more daring, more elegant, and more sophisticated”
(Rubenstein 1980:62). Furthermore, holidays are regarded as “society’s
institutionalized means of enabling fantasy and reality to be imperceptibly mixed” (Uzzell 1984:85). Such aspirations of the dream vacation
would also suggest that tourism “is an alternative experience of time,
i.e. time off or holiday time, which appears as an alternative rhythm,
free from the constraints of the daily tempo” (Wang 2000:216). In
other words, tourism provides a sense of escape and freedom.
Therefore, it is not surprising to find the tourism industry operating
on the premise that holidays are good for everyone and everyone
should have such experience. This can be seen in the way that the
industry offers a variety of choices as “escape-aids, problem-solvers, suppliers of strength, energy, new lifeblood and happiness” (Krippendorf
1987:17). This is supported by Hobson and Dietrich’s observation that
there is an “underlying assumption in our society that tourism is a
mentally and physically healthy pursuit to follow in our leisure time”
(1994:23) and hence a factor in increasing quality of life. A study commissioned by the English Tourism Council regarding the health benefits of holidaytaking, found that the general public is more inclined to
regard holidays as a rest and break from routine rather than a way to
improve the quality of life. General practitioners, however, are more
aware of the many feel-good benefits of taking a vacation (Voysey
2000).
The importance of holidaytaking or tourism has been widely researched especially in terms of motivations (Crompton 1979; Dann 1981;
Gilbert 1991; Iso-Ahola 1982; Mannell and Iso-Ahola 1987; Pearce
1988; Plog 1991; Wahlers and Etzel 1985), experiences (Cohen 1988;
MacCannell 1976; Ryan 1997) and satisfactions (Noe 1999; Pizam, Neumann and Reichel 1978; Reisinger and Turner 1997; Zalatan 1994).
However, the question as to whether taking a holiday does make one
happier with the satisfaction of meeting psychological needs through
travels has yet to be fully examined. So far, there has been a major
study by Neal, Sirgy and Uysal (1999), which attempted to develop
a measure of satisfaction with tourism services that is related to life
satisfaction. In addition life satisfaction in tourism has been addressed
by Allen and Beattie (1984); Allen and Donnelly (1985); Allen, Long,
Perdue and Kieselback (1988); Andrews and Withey (1976) and Sirgy
and Su (2000). Not all attempts have been methodologically sound.
One study purports to “explore the impact of travel and tourism
experience on travelers’ psychological well-being or level of happiness”
(Milan 1997:166). However, the finding is limited to the state of wellbeing of senior tourists on an escorted tour, studied at the start of the
tour and compared to the result measured at its termination. As the
data were collected at the start and not prior to the tour, it is not
surprising that the investigation failed to uncover any significant
change in the happiness state of these senior tourists.
THE STUDY OF SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
There is evidence in different studies that positive leisure experiences can induce positive moods (Argyle and Crossland 1987; Hills and
GILBERT AND ABDULLAH
105
Argyle 1998; Mannell 1980), thus enhancing the participants’ sense of
well-being. It is believed that when an individual experiences leisure,
some psychological needs will be satisfied (Tinsley 1979). However, the
importance lies both in the amount of time available and the value that
people attach to their leisure experiences (Shaw 1984), contributing to
life satisfaction (Andrews and Withey 1976; Campbell, Converse and
Rodgers 1976; Tinsley and Tinsley 1986); consequently a lack of leisure
could result in a decline in one’s quality of life (Neulinger 1981, 1982).
Furthermore, leisure activities provide opportunities for relaxation,
entertainment, and personal development (Dumazedier 1967). They
also play an important role as buffers against stress. Wheeler and Frank
(1988) identified 22 potential buffers and found four of them being
“true”: a sense of competence, nature and extent of exercise, sense of
purpose, and leisure activity. Therefore, it is considered appropriate
to examine the phenomenon of holidaytaking as a leisure activity and
experience. However, unlike other leisure, travel to different destinations has distinctive attributes (Leiper 1995) that give added value
to the customer. This involves an experience which could affect the
emotional, intellectual, spiritual, or physical aspects of the individual.
In addition, the memory of a trip is also a critical dimension as it
“holds a certain attraction and intrinsic reward that materialize in the
moments of storytelling” (Neumann 1992:179–180), reliving long after
the event has occurred.
Subjective well-being (SWB) is a construct that has been examined
over many centuries and has been defined in ethical, theological, political, economic, and psychological terms (Lewinsohn, Redner and Seeley 1991). As a result, there are several other adjectives used to label
it, including happiness, quality of life, and life satisfaction. Happiness
has been defined as transitory moods of “gaiety and elation” that
reflect the affect that people feel toward their current state of affairs
(Campbell 1976). It is also seen as the extent to which positive feelings
outweigh the negative (Bradburn 1969). In other words, happiness is
an affective mood or state (Bowling 1995:112). Life satisfaction, on the
other hand, is conceived as the “degree to which an individual judges
the overall quality of his/her life-as-a-whole favorably”; that is, how well
the individual likes the life he/she leads. This is also a conscious global
judgment of one’s life (Veenhoven 1991:10). Basically, there are two
aspects in the appraisal of life-as-a-whole: an affective aspect or hedonic
level and a cognitive aspect (contentment). The former is the degree
to which the various affects a person experiences are pleasant; that is
how well one usually feels. Contentment is the degree to which an
individual perceives his/her aspirations to have been met; that is, to
what extent he/she perceives oneself to have achieved what he/she
wants in life (Diener 1984, 1994; Veenhoven 1991).
Conceptual Aspects of SWB
There are three specific features of subjective well-being. First, being
as it is subjective Campbell (1976) pointed out it resides within the
experience of the individual. Thus, it focuses on the person’s own judg-
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HOLIDAYTAKING AND WELL-BEING
ments, not upon some criterion which is judged to be important by
the researcher (Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin 1985). Second,
it is not just the absence of negative factors, but also includes positive
measures. Third, it includes a global assessment rather than only a
narrow assessment of one’s life domain (Diener 1984). A further useful
aspect is that “humans are regarded as not only capable of appraising
events, life circumstances, and themselves, but they make such
appraisals continually” (Diener 1994:106–107). Arising from this,
appraisals of things in terms of goodness-badness are a universal feature of human beings. According to the theory of Lazarus (1991), such
appraisals are seen as leading to emotional reactions, which can be
either pleasant or unpleasant. Other things being equal, pleasant
experiences are perceived as desirable and valuable. Thus, a person
who has pleasant emotional experiences is more likely to perceive his
or her life as being desirable and positive. Such assessment is based
upon a “preponderance of positive appraisals of their life events and
circumstances”, unlike “unhappy” people who appraise a “majority of
factors in their life as harmful or as blocking their goals” (Diener
1994:107).
The concept is likely to have both stable and changeable components (DeNeve 1999; Emmons and Diener 1985; Lykken and Tellegen
1996; McCrae and Costa 1991; Watson and Clark 1992). Headey and
Wearing’s theory (1991:49–50) of stability and change illustrates this:
for most people, most of the time, subjective well-being is fairly stable.
This is because stock levels (social background, personality traits, and
social networks), psychic income flows (satisfactions and distress arising from life events in a particular time period), and subjective wellbeing (analogous to an individual’s wealth or net worth) is in
dynamic equilibrium.
Provided an individual’s “normal” (equilibrium) pattern is maintained,
judgment is not affected. It is only when events and experiences deviate
from the equilibrium patterns that a person’s appraisal changes. In
this context it is feasible to study whether a holiday trip could affect
the equilibrium of the person after returning home.
There are several theoretical approaches for explaining SWB. However, the theories are not mutually exclusive and, to some extent, they
overlay and can only explain a subset of the existing empirical data.
As such there is still no one single approach that can explain all the
variance in societal SWB. The telic or endpoint theories maintain that
happiness is gained when some state, such as a goal or need, is reached
(Deci and Ryan 1991; Diener and Fujita 1995; Emmons 1986; Kasser
and Ryan 1996; Oishi, Diener and Lucas 1999; Sheldon and Elliot
1999). The personality and temperament approaches suggest that individuals who are happy have a genetic predisposition toward happiness.
Thus, although changes occur when momentary events (either positive
or negative) depart from their typical pattern, personality characteristics (especially extraversion and neuroticism) will ultimately return
the person to his or her previously stable level of SWB (Emmons and
Diener 1985; McCrae and Costa 1991; Watson and Clark 1992). The
GILBERT AND ABDULLAH
107
adaptation level theory postulates that people will habituate or get used
to both good and bad events and these circumstances will no longer
influence SWB over time (Brickman and Campbell 1971; Clark, Diener
and Georgellis 2000; Headey and Wearing 1992). However, there is
evidence to show that not all people return to the same baseline
(hedonic neutrality) and most people return to a slightly happier baseline (Diener and Diener 1996).
There is another approach that maintained pleasure and pain are
closely related and attaining goals or needs would lead to happiness
and therefore, a felt need or deprivation is a necessary ingredient for
happiness. In other words, the greater the deprivation (and hence
unhappiness) the greater would be the joy experienced when achieving the goal (Tatakiewicz 1976). Activity theories maintain that happiness is a by-product of human activity and self-awareness will decrease
happiness. Therefore, concentrating on gaining happiness may be selfdefeating (Diener 1984). The top-down approach assumes that there
is a global propensity to experience things in a positive way, and this
propensity influences the momentary interactions of an individual with
the world (Andrews and Withey 1976; Diener 1984). In this context,
a person is said to enjoy pleasures because he or she is happy rather
than the opposite way around. By contrast, in the bottom-up approach,
a person should develop a sunny disposition and sanguine outlook as
positive experiences accumulate in the person’s life. This suggests that
happiness is an accumulation of many small pleasures or quality
moments. There are also a number of theories hypothesizing that happiness results from a comparison between some standard and actual
conditions (Carp and Carp 1982; Diener and Fujita 1997; McGill 1967;
Michalos 1980; Wilson 1967; Wood 1996; Wood, Taylor and Lichtman 1985).
Study Methodology
The sample was chosen by means of the random sampling selection
of streets in the Guildford area of the United Kingdom and then
delivering by hand a covering letter and questionnaire to be collected
at a later date, or posted back. In all a total of 3,541 questionnaires
were distributed at two points in time, during a 12-month period, to
ensure control over seasonal variations in demand patterns. These
responses were then again selected, utilizing a strata approach, on the
basis of a match to a quota profile (BTA 1999 of holidaymakers and
non-holidaymakers) of the characteristics of the study populations of
the two groups for the United Kingdom. The inclusion criteria were
that respondents were UK residents who were either taking (at least
four nights or more as this meets the criteria for a long holiday) or not
taking a holiday outside the country. Exclusion criteria were related
to the trip being for business purposes, pilgrimages, studies, medical
treatment, or health reasons. The measurement instrument was piloted
and tested for validity to ensure a reduction in instrumentation effect.
A total number of 355 respondents represented the holidaytaking
group and 249 respondents represented the nonholidaytaking group
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HOLIDAYTAKING AND WELL-BEING
(NHTG). Therefore, this study involves both of these groups. The
research design was based upon a case control approach. Thus, the
two groups were utilized on the basis of whether they have (the case
group) or do not have the condition (control group). This allowed a
within and between group comparison. Each sample group filled in
two questionnaires at two different points in time. The holidaytaking
group completed a pre-trip questionnaire (Pre-Trip HTG) and a posttrip questionnaire (Post-Trip HTG). The other group also completed
two questionnaires in which the second questionnaire (Period2NHTG) was completed within a period of two to six months after completion of the first questionnaire (Period1-NHTG). Therefore, the general world events were similar for both sets of respondents.
Measures of Well-being
The 9-point scale has been adopted throughout this study and
replaces Andrews and Withey’s (1976) 7-point Delighted-Terrible
Scale. Their approach was based upon four national surveys and a local
one involving 5,422 respondents in 1974. The survey concentrated on
asking how respondents felt about their life as a whole. In addition to
the use of Andrews and Withey’s scale this current study also incorporates Diener et al’s (1985) 7-point scale and Kammann and Flett’s
(1983) graded scale: not at all/occasionally/some of the time/often/
all the time. The use of a 9-point scale is to avoid too much bunching
at the positive end of the scales, which often happens in measures of
subjective well-being; and to give more room for the respondents to
express their sense of happiness or unhappiness. Therefore, the 9point scale is used to provide more sensitivity to the measurement of
the respondents’ evaluations.
The concept of SWB has been operationalized as comprising three
separable components: positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. Positive and negative affects refer to the affective or emotional
aspects of the construct; while life satisfaction refers to the cognitivejudgmental aspects. The instrument for measuring positive and negative affects is based on the Affectometer 2, which is a 20-item scale
developed by Kammann and Flett (1983). It has separate items (10items each) for measuring positive and negative affect (PA, NA). The
overall level of well-being is conceptualized as the extent to which positive or pleasant feelings predominate over negative or unpleasant feelings and is reflected in the balance formula for calculating the total
score: PA-NA. The Affectometer 2 has been tested for its psychometric
properties. Each respondent is asked to indicate how often he/she
experienced this feeling during the past few weeks on a scale of 1 (not
at all) to 9 (all the time).
Life satisfaction is measured on two levels: global and specific life
domains. The former evaluation of life-as-a-whole is made up of two
measures. First, Andrews and Withey’s (1976) measure of “How do you
feel about your life as a whole” asked twice in the questionnaire on a
scale of 1 (tremendously unhappy) to 9 (tremendously happy). The
scores on these two items are summed and averaged out to form a
GILBERT AND ABDULLAH
109
composite measure of Life3. Second is the Satisfaction With Life Scale
(SWLS) developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin (1985)
which is made up of 5 items. The respondents were asked to indicate
how they feel for each of the 5 items on a scale of 1 (completely
disagree) to 9 (completely agree). The scores are summed with the
least possible score at 5 indicating lowest satisfaction and the highest
possible score at 45 indicating highest satisfaction.
Life satisfaction is also measured on 12 specific domains: family, friends, home, interpersonal relationships, economic situation, job, leisure, neighborhood, self, services and infrastructure, health, and
nation. Multi-items measures adopted from Andrews and Withey’s
(1976) surveys are used to measure each specific life domain and
respondents were asked how they felt about each of the items on a
scale of 1 (tremendously unhappy) to 9 (tremendously happy). The
multi-items used to measure each specific life domain are summed and
averaged to form a composite measure of a specific life domain.
Non-parametric tests are used to test group differences as most of
the data distributions when tested by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic
are not normally distributed. However, for this type of data this is not
unusual and in order to provide an indication of the magnitude of the
difference between groups, the effect size statistic, eta squared (Pallant
2001) is used, which is calculated from information obtained from the
parametric t-tests. For this purpose, the independent- and the pairedsamples t-tests are used.
Data Collection
The data for both the holidaytaking and nonholidaytaking groups
were subjected to some preliminary analysis in order to cull out any
other effects that might affect the feelings of the respondents other
than that of holidaytaking. In addition the non-holidaytaking group
was also asked whether they had been on a recent holiday at Period1NHTG and whether they were planning to travel within the next six
months at Period2-NHTG.
All the respondents were also asked to indicate whether they had
experienced any other major event recently that caused them to feel
tremendously happy, unhappy, or both. Major events could refer to a
marriage, birth of a new baby, job promotions, deaths of family members, close friends or relatives, loss of employment, separation, etc. The
results showed that for the holidaytaking group, the presence of a
major event had only affected significantly the evaluation of the leisure
domain as confirmed by the Mann-Whitney test with p < 0.05. Thus,
subsequent analysis of the leisure domain did not take into account
those respondents who had experienced the effects of another major
event. As for the respondents of the non-holidaytaking group, the
results indicated that the presence of other major event had not significantly affected the evaluations of SWB measures.
The respondents of the nonholidaytaking group were also asked to
indicate whether they had been on a recent holiday. The results indicated that 53 (21.3%) of the respondents had been on a prior holiday
HOLIDAYTAKING AND WELL-BEING
110
ranging from a period of less than 1 month to 4 months before the
date of completion of the first questionnaire. A Mann-Whitney test
between those who had recently traveled or not traveled indicated no
significant differences for the global well-being and current affect measures. However, there are significant differences for seven of the specific life domains: Friends (p < 0.01), Family (p < 0.05), Home (p <
0.05), Economic situation (p < 0.05), Leisure (p < 0.05), Self (p <
0.05), and Health (p < 0.05). The evaluations of the respondents of
the nonholidaytaking group who had been on a recent holiday are not
taken into consideration in the subsequent analysis of their Friends,
Family, Home, Economic Situation, Leisure, Self and Health domains.
Research Findings
The sample characteristics of the holidaytaking group (355
respondents) in terms of gender are: 49.9% males and 50.1% females;
age groups: 16–24 (13.8%), 25–34 (21.7%), 35–44 (16.9%), 45–54
(20.8%), 55–64 (13.8%) and 65 and above (13%); job categories: AB—
professional and upper middle classes category (31%), C1—professional and middle class (36.9%), C2—middle and skilled class categories (18%), and DE—working and lower subsistence class category
(14.1%). The sample characteristics of the nonholidaytaking group out
of 249 respondents (those who completed both questionnaires) in
terms of gender are: 49.8% males and 50.2% females; age groups: 16–
24 (16.1%), 25–34 (18.1%), 35–44 (16.1%), 45–54 (15.2%), 55–64
(11.2%) and 65 and above (23.3%); job categories: AB-category
(8.8%), C1-category (21.7%), C2-category (20.9%), DE-category
(48.6%). Since the population characteristics of the holidaytaking
group and nonholidaytaking group differed in terms of age-groups and
occupation distribution, the matched group samples are used to find
out whether there are any significant differences between these two
groups. Figure 1 illustrates the possible effects of holidaytaking on the
Figure 1. Effects of Holidaytaking on Subjective Well-being for HTG
GILBERT AND ABDULLAH
111
state of well-being of the HTG at three different stages: pre-trip, at
leisure (on holiday destination), and post-trip.
At the post-trip level, the findings indicated that the respondents
have achieved all their tourism motivations except for the need to “feel
rejuvenated and recharged”. Yet, the respondents are still very happy
with what they have achieved for this need although not to the extent
of what was expected before the holidays. The respondents also indicated that they are very satisfied with their holidays. In relation to this,
Pizam, Neumann and Reichel pointed out that a tourist is satisfied
when “experiences compared to expectations result in feelings of gratification” (1978:16–17). Satisfaction in this context refers to a level of
“happiness resulting from a consumptive experience … resulting from
a process of evaluation of the various experiences and outcomes associated with acquiring, and consuming a product relative to a set of
subjectively determined expectations” (Day 1980:593). However, what
is not certain at this stage is whether some process of “motivational
matching” has occurred to reduce cognitive dissonance by reducing
the importance of some motives while increasing others (Ewert
1993:337). The next question that arises is how pervasive and long
lasting are the effects of positive moods generated from satisfying holiday experiences? A comparison between the state of well-being of the
holidaytaking group at pre-trip and post-trip is shown in Tables 1
and 2.
The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test indicated almost significant difference for Life3 as p > 0.054 and significant difference for SWLS as p
< 0.01. This means the respondents are happier with their life satisfaction and when the Life3 result is rounded down, happy after their
holidays. It would be reasonable to conclude that the respondents are
generally happier with their life-as-a-whole after their holidays. In terms
of the affect measures, the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test indicated significant difference for positive affect with p < 0.001. This means the
respondents experienced more pleasant feelings after their trip. With
regard to negative affect, the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test indicated no
significant difference as p > 0.05. Therefore, the respondents experienced more or less the same amount of unpleasant feelings before and
after their holidays. With regard to current affect, the Wilcoxon Signed
Table 1. Global and Affect Measures of SWB for Pre-and Post-Trip HTG
Well-being Measures
Life Satisfaction (Life3 )
Satisfaction with Life
Scale (SWLS )
Positive Affect (PA)
Negative Affect (NA)
Current Affect (CA )
Pre-Trip HTG
Post-Trip HTG
Mean
S.D.
No.
Mean
S.D.
No.
6.987
30.778
1.23
7.12
355
352
7.107
31.778
1.20
7.59
355
355
60.467
31.221
29.304
12.24
14.28
22.77
351
348
349
63.577
30.211
33.294
11.79
14.44
23.13
352
350
350
112
HOLIDAYTAKING AND WELL-BEING
Ranks test indicated significant difference with p < 0.001 and as such
experienced a higher amount of pleasant feelings after their holidays.
The evaluations of the holidaytaking group, with regard to their specific life domains before and after their holidays, are shown in Table 2.
A Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test indicated significant differences for
eight of the specific life domains: interpersonal relationships (p <
0.001), self (p < 0.001), services and facilities (p < 0.001), health (p
< 0.001), nation (p < 0.001), job (p < 0.01), economic situation (p <
0.01), and leisure (p < 0.01). This means the respondents are happier
in respect to these domains after their holidays. However, there is no
significant difference for the specific life domains of friends, family,
home, and neighborhood as p > 0.05. This means the respondents feel
more or less the same about these domains before and after their holidays.
Thus, the effects of holidaytaking seem to have caused the respondents to experience a higher SWB when compared to their earlier
sense of well-being. Such influences are most evident on the specific
life domains of self and nation with moderate effect sizes. Thus, holidaytaking did cause the respondents to feel happier about their global
life satisfaction and experience more pleasant feelings as well as feeling
happier about eight of their specific life domains. In addition, the
effects did not cause the respondents to feel worse on return.
A question that arises at this point is whether the calculation of
“effect sizes” is an appropriate indicator for assessing the strengths of
the “effects” of holidaytaking. This is because one of the most notable
features of SWB data is that they are not normally distributed but negatively skewed (which is also the case in this study). It has been found
that almost irrespective of the measuring instrument, population samTable 2. Specific Measures of Life Domain SWB for Pre-and Post-Trip HTG
Specific Life
Domains
Pre-Trip HTG
Post-Trip HTG
Mean
S.D.
No.
Mean
S.D.
No.
Friends
7.245
Family
7.216
Home
6.845
Interpersonal
6.801
Relationships
Economic Situation 6.754
Job
6.416
Leisure
6.342
Neighborhood
6.294
Self
6.221
Services and
6.116
facilities
Health
5.966
Nation
4.749
1.15
1.50
1.31
1.06
355
355
355
355
7.242
7.196
6.935
7.023
1.07
1.42
1.26
1.02
355
355
355
355
1.43
1.29
1.45
1.36
1.22
1.23
355
335
276
355
355
354
6.966
6.669
6.532
6.489
6.546
6.393
1.22
1.19
1.22
1.30
1.20
1.11
355
335
355
355
355
355
1.42
1.19
355
355
6.218
5.148
1.44
1.32
355
355
GILBERT AND ABDULLAH
113
ple, or nationality, there is the “existence of a psychological set-point,
which is in operation for feelings of personal well-being: a high personal self-regard” (Cummins 1995:179). It could be argued that the
use of effect sizes as an indicator of the resulting influences might not
have adequately captured the very essence of the importance of tourism. On the other hand, it could also be argued that this is precisely
one of the reasons holidays are recurrent activities or essential annual
expenditures especially for people in developed nations. The small
effect sizes of experiences could wear off quickly and thus need to be
“replenished” frequently, especially for individuals with felt needs to
travel regularly. Nevertheless, the use of the effect sizes in this study
is to give an indication as to the “strength” or “size” of change in SWB
caused by holidaytaking as the mean differences between the SWB
measures in pre-trip and post-trip seems rather small. Figure 2 shows
the results of this tourism pursuit.
This study examined whether the waiting period itself has any effects
on SWB. In other words, is there a higher sense of well-being as the
day of departure for a trip approaches, or do the results suggest that
it makes no difference? The findings indicated that there are no significant differences in the SWB evaluations of those who have to wait
between 1–30 days, 31–90 days, and 91 days or more for their departures except for the family domain. Those who have 91 or more days
to wait for their holiday are happier with their family domain compared to those waiting less than 90 days.
The study also attempted to find out whether the effects of holidaytaking are still evident and remain strong upon immediate return
or weaken and dissipate upon resuming routine daily life. The findings
indicated no significant difference between the three time periods (1–
Figure 2. The Results of Holidaytaking on Subjective Well-being of HTG
114
HOLIDAYTAKING AND WELL-BEING
30 days, 31–60 days, and 61 days and more) for all measures except
for the specific life domains of economic situation and neighborhood.
The reported feelings are almost similar between those who reported
their well-being immediately after their holidays compared to those
who reported at two or three months after their holidays. It is observed
that for the specific life domain of economic situation and neighborhood, the respondents who reported 61 days or more after their holidays are happier with these two domains. This demonstrates that the
effects have remained more than two months after the trip. Perhaps,
the lasting effect could have been even longer, if the respondents were
asked to relive their experiences after a longer period of time from
the occurrence of the holiday event, since Leiper (1995) suggests that
there is pleasure in recollection or reminiscence of past experiences.
A Comparison of SWB Evaluations of Pre-Trip HTG and Period1-NHTG
The feelings of the holidaytaking group at pre-trip HTG and
Period1-NHTG are also compared and the results shown in Table 3.
A Mann–Whitney test indicated significant difference for Life3 as p
< 0.05 and SWLS as p < 0.01. This means that those who are waiting
to go on a holiday are happier with their global well-being or life-asa-whole, when compared to the non-holidaytaking group. However the
effect sizes are small for Life3 (eta squared = .011) and SWLS (eta
squared = .017).
For positive affect, a Mann–Whitney test indicated the difference is
not significant as p > 0.05. This means both groups experience more
or less the same amount of pleasant feelings. In terms of negative
affect, it is observed that the holidaytaking group reported a lower
amount of unpleasant feelings (mean = 31.22) compared to the other
group (mean = 35.06). A Mann–Whitney test indicated this difference
is very significant as p < 0.001. This means those who travel experience
a lesser amount of unpleasant feelings compared to their counterparts.
As for current affect, it is also observed that the holidaytaking group
reported a higher amount of net positive affect (mean = 29.3) compared to the other group (mean = 23.85). A Mann–Whitney test conTable 3. Global and Affect Measures
Well-being Measures
Life3
SWLS
Positive Affect (PA)
Negative Affect (NA)
Current Affect (PA –
NA)
Holidaytaking Group
(Pre-Trip HTG)
Non-holidaytaking Group
(Period1-NHTG)
Mean
S.D.
No.
Mean
S.D.
No.
6.987
30.778
60.467
31.221
29.304
1.22
7.12
12.24
14.28
22.76
355
352
351
348
346
6.685
28.710
59.025
35.062
23.850
1.52
8.05
12.78
14.08
23.42
249
248
244
241
240
GILBERT AND ABDULLAH
115
firmed this difference is significant. Overall, the findings indicated that
those who are waiting to go on a holiday experienced more pleasant
feelings and less unpleasant feelings. However, the effect sizes are small
for negative affect (eta squared = 0.017) and current affect (eta
squared = 0.013).
The results also indicated three significant differences between the
HTG and NHTG. The Mann-Whitney test showed significant differences for the specific life domains of economic situation (p < 0.001),
family (p < 0.01) and health (p < 0.05). This means those who are
waiting to go on holiday experience a higher sense of happiness with
regard to their economic situation, family, and health domains when
compared to the other group. Again, the effect sizes are small for economic situation (eta squared = 0.027), family (eta squared = 0.011), and
health (eta squared = 0.008) domains.
Comparison of SWB Evaluations of Post-Trip HTG and Period2-NHTG
The evaluations of the HTG Post-Trip and NHTG and Period2
(second evaluation) are compared in terms of global affect and specific
life domains. The results in Table 4 show that the respondents of the
holidaytaking group obtained higher means for Life3 and SWLS. A
Mann-Whitney test indicates the difference is significant at p < 0.001.
This indicates the participating group is happier with their life-as-awhole or life satisfaction after their holidays when compared to its
counterpart.
In terms of the affect measures, a Mann–Whitney test indicated significant differences for positive, negative, and current affect as p <
0.001. Therefore, the holidaytaking group experiences more pleasant
feelings and a lesser amount of unpleasant feelings after their trip. The
effect sizes are moderate for positive affect (eta squared = 0.062) and
current affect (eta squared = 0.063) and small for negative affect
(eta squared = 0.04).
The results also indicated that the participating group obtained
higher means for all specific life domains. A Mann-Whitney test indicates significant difference for the job domain (p < 0.05) and the other
Table 4. Global and Affect Measures
Well-being Measures
Life3
SWLS
Positive Affect (PA)
Negative Affect (NA)
Current Affect (PA –
NA)
Holidaytaking Group
(Post-Trip HTG)
Nonholidaytaking Group
(Period2-NHTG)
Mean
S.D.
No.
Mean
S.D.
No.
7.107
31.778
63.577
30.211
33.294
1.20
7.59
11.79
14.44
23.13
355
355
352
350
350
6.345
28.231
56.803
36.297
20.51
1.41
8.41
13.71
15.05
25.20
249
247
249
249
249
116
HOLIDAYTAKING AND WELL-BEING
specific life domains (p < 0.001). However, the effect sizes are small
for all the specific life domains (eta squared 0.058 and below). When
post-trip HTG is compared with Period1-NHTG, the test indicated significant differences for seven of the specific life domains of economic
situation, job, leisure, self, services and facilities, health, and nation
with p < 0.001. The effect sizes are small (eta squared less than 0.06)
except for the job domain with large effect size (eta squared = 0.142)
and moderate effect size for the nation domain (eta squared = 0.065).
This finding suggests that the group is slightly happier with most of
their specific life domains after having their vacations when compared
to the nonholidaytaking group.
SWB Evaluations of NHTG
A comparison between the evaluations of the nonholidaytaking
group at Period1- and Period2-NHTG indicated significant difference
for Life3, positive affect, and current affect as indicated with the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test with p < 0.05. This means the respondents
are less happy with their life-as-a-whole and experienced a lesser
amount of pleasant feelings in Period2 when compared with Period1.
However, the respondents experienced more or less the same amount
of unpleasant feelings in Period1- and Period2-NHTG. With regard to
the specific life domains, the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test indicated
significant differences for friends (p < 0.001), family (p < 0.05), home
(p < 0.001), economic situation (p < 0.005), neighborhood (p <
0.05), leisure (p < 0.001), and health (p < 0.05) domains. This means
that the state of well-being of the nonholidaytaking group has declined
in certain aspects in Period2. It is speculated that one of the possible
causes for this apparent decline at Period2 (although the effects of
other major events are found not significant) could be due to the existence of some felt needs which are not satisfied. The existence of such
felt needs or deprivations could create tension states within the individual and cause the individual to experience a sense of disequilibrium,
which is unpleasant and could affect SWB negatively (Veenhoven
1991). It would appear that the existing theoretical perspectives for
explaining changes in SWB has not included the element of felt needs
or deprivation which create unpleasant tension states and affect a person’s level of SWB. However, from the SWB perspective, it is only
events deviating from a person’s normal events that change his/her
normal level of SWB, although the satisfaction of felt needs could be
explained by the telic or end-point theories.
The study also compared the three states of well-being of the respondents from the NHTG, who later changed their minds and went on
holidays. The findings indicated that the respondents who subsequently did so experienced a higher sense of well-being when compared with their state of well-being at Period1 and Period2. When compared with Period1, they are happier with their life-as-a-whole,
experienced more pleasant feelings, and a lesser amount of unpleasant
feelings after their holidays. In addition, they are happier with their
friends, nation, health, services and facilities, self, and leisure domains.
GILBERT AND ABDULLAH
117
When compared with Period2, the findings indicated that the respondents are also happier with their global well-being, experienced more
pleasant and less unpleasant feelings after their holidays. They are also
happier with all the specific life domains except for the family, interpersonal relationships, and job domains. However, they feel more or
less the same about their global life satisfaction.
Overall the respondents of the nonholidaytaking group did experience a lower sense of well-being at Period2 when compared with Period1. However, of these respondents who went on holiday their SWB
improved when compared to their state of well-being at Period1-and
Period2. This provides additional support to the study findings that
holidaytaking does impact positively, although this sample is small and
may require further confirmation.
Finally, a comparison between the HTG and NHTG using matched
samples also indicated that the respondents of the holidaytaking group
enjoyed a higher sense of well-being when compared to the nonholidaytaking group whether at the Pre-Trip HTG vs. Period1-and Period2-NHTG and Post-Trip HTG vs. Period1-and Period2-NHTG.
CONCLUSION
The study findings indicated that holidaytaking did alter or impact
on the subjective or sense of well-being of the holidaymakers: respondents experienced a higher amount of pleasant feelings after their holidays; however, the respondents feel more or less the same about their
friends, family, home, and neighborhood domains before and after
their holidays; and the effects of holidaytaking did not cause the
respondents to feel worse after their holidays. This can be attributed
to a holiday providing satisfaction which generates positive moods to
enhance an individual’s sense of well-being. In this respect, the effects
would be best explained from the telic or end-point perspectives. This
fits with the view that people travel because they have been motivated
by some felt needs, which are psychological in nature and can only be
satisfied by tourism activity. Therefore, the motivations of the holidaymakers represent the salient goals to be achieved at the end of
their vacations. If the holidaymaker feels that most of his or her tourism expectations (motivations) have been met or satisfied, he or she
will most likely appraise the holiday as satisfying.
Furthermore, the SWB of the holidaytaking group when compared
to the other group indicated the former experienced a higher sense
of well-being before and after the vacations. The participating group
experiences more pleasant and a lesser amount of unpleasant feelings
after their holidays when compared to the nonholidaytaking group.
The effect sizes are moderate for positive affect (eta squared = 0.062)
and current affect (eta squared = 0.063) and small for negative affect
(eta squared = 0.04). Nevertheless, holidaytaking as a form of leisure
activity and experience can help individuals to enhance their sense of
happiness. This is based upon the premise that going on a vacation
represents a distinct break from normal events and the experience
118
HOLIDAYTAKING AND WELL-BEING
has had a positive effect to change the respondents’ normal levels of
A
subjective well-being.왎
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Submitted 23 May 2002. Resubmitted 18 November 2002. Resubmitted 18 January 2003.
Resubmitted 24 May 2003. Accepted 15 June 2003. Final version 25 June 2003. Refereed
anonymously. Coordinating Editor: Regina G. Schlüter