Transcending psychological unease with coveted home‐state travel: The role of homesickness, regret, and place attachment

What happens when a tourist is stranded at a destination and prevented from returning home? We refer to such an individual as the “castaway tourist,” who is experiencing the above situation due to border/city lockdown or other extenuating circumstances. This inquiry builds upon control theory to unp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe international journal of tourism research Vol. 26; no. 4
Main Authors Lin, Zhiwei (CJ), Wong, IpKin Anthony, Yang, Fiona X., Huang, GuoQiong Ivanka
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2024
Wiley Periodicals Inc
Subjects
anxiety
castaway
COVID‐19
homesickness
home‐state travel
travel regret
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Summary:What happens when a tourist is stranded at a destination and prevented from returning home? We refer to such an individual as the “castaway tourist,” who is experiencing the above situation due to border/city lockdown or other extenuating circumstances. This inquiry builds upon control theory to unpack a homesickness remedy process under severe environmental duress. It draws on a multiwave design with data from three periods to identify a process in which castaway tourists experience psychological uneasiness, leading to travel homesickness and regret. Findings further reveal that place attachment moderates the relationships between COVID worries and subsequent homesickness and travel regret. Together, this study presents a timely examination of homesickness‐induced tourism attributed to mega crises. It brings nuanced insights into the literature by introducing the notion of castaway tourists, while uncovering how adverse travel circumstances could turn into motivational forces that promote future home‐province/state travel opportunities in turbulent times.
ISSN:1099-2340
1522-1970
DOI:10.1002/jtr.2720