Affective and Cognitive Effects of Information Use Over the Course of a Vacation

From pre-trip planning through post-trip remembering, vacations unfold over long periods of time. Through the course of a trip the same travel information may be used repeatedly but with different levels of success and satisfaction. These experiential fluctuations over time were examined in a study of trip planners, who collected travel information from a chamber of commerce before leaving home, to understand how information was applied in situ during their vacation. Travelers with various lengths of stay were segmented into unique groups and their information use was modeled by prior experience with the destination and day of the trip. Dependent variables were five single-item measures for affective and cognitive reactions to the application of travel information. Results suggest longer trips entail more varied daily responses. Prior experience was relevant on selected days of some of the trip lengths.