American issued greater than $850 billion on domestic leisure travel in 2023, a sum that’s more likely to rise in the approaching years. Whether it's a weekend getaway to a Taylor Swift concert, a long-awaited vacation visit with family, or a month-long tour of national parks, travel can have a long-lasting impact on the way in which we see ourselves.
In the age of social media, platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Reddit have turn out to be platforms for travelers to share their experiences and connect with others. Our current research results indicate this that this online engagement plays an underappreciated role in how much people enjoy their vacation.
We've found that travel satisfaction isn't just concerning the core event – the concert, meeting or sightseeing trip. Rather, it's all the journey that counts, from the anticipation prematurely to the enjoyment of telling stories afterwards.
This may sound intuitive to avid travelers. But as marketing ProfessorsWe consider the tourism industry could make higher use of those insights.
The power of “mental time travel”
Even before a traveler reaches his destination, what we call “mental time travel” shapes his experience.
Picture this: You're planning to take your teenage niece to her first Taylor Swift concert. The planning process itself is exciting: you may do research Airline optionscompare Seating arrangement and discuss the most effective airport. Next is finding a hotel – ideally near the venue but near shopping, dining and other entertainment options.
Once the tickets are secured, planning begins for the concert itself. You could seek for concert Tipsfrom once you arrive Instructions for making braceletsor even the expected setlist. Social media and forums have gotten invaluable tools for getting advice, envisioning the event and constructing anticipation – a satisfaction boost in itself.
Most of this mental time travel takes place in the shape of online noodles. For service providers, engaging consumers at this stage can result in greater satisfaction and loyalty. Because while a concert may only last three hours, the contacts revamped months of planning can last for much longer. And when an experience is over, people often return to online communities to share their stories, continuing the cycle of pleasure and engagement.
When the holiday starts before you permit the home
To understand the worth of mental time travel, we conducted a study two studies. The first was people on a web-based cruise forum who had booked their first cruise but had not yet traveled. These travelers, already energetic within the forum, imagined their upcoming experiences and reported increased expected loyalty before they even boarded the ship.
To confirm that this isn’t just limited to first-time visitors, we surveyed latest vacationers in our second study. They recalled how pre-trip activities shaped their experience, reported feeling more satisfied and dependable, and shared their positive views with others.
These results suggest that corporations should actively encourage social media participation and establish online communities to boost the pre-experience phase of travel. Hotels, airlines and tour operators could share planning suggestions, highlight customer stories and make connections that make the anticipation an unforgettable a part of the trip.
Offering incentives to top contributors, encouraging photo and video sharing, and interacting with customer posts could make the trip as enjoyable because the destination itself. By considering every stage – from planning to remembering – corporations can Creating an unforgettable experience from start to complete.
image credit : theconversation.com