On the importance of leisure travel for psychosocial wellbeing

As psychosocial wellbeing includes a variety of hedonic and eudaimonic aspects, findings on the wellbeing impacts of tourism can vary from negligible to substantial, depending on the research approach. The present study demonstrates this complexity by analyzing 508 qualitative interviews in Austria to identify the spontaneously mentioned travel-related wellbeing statements contained within. Our analysis shows that holiday trips serve a variety of purposes, including long-term effects of both hedonic and eudaimonic travel experience, and – less prominent in the literature – the importance of meeting travel aspirations. Future scientific or practical investigations into the wellbeing impacts of travel need to consider this variety and, consequently, seek to mitigate conceptual framing effects. •Life narratives as a rich and unobtrusive source for wellbeing studies•The many facets of psychosocial wellbeing in tourism substantiated to be relevant.•Gains in eudaimonic wellbeing for a majority of travellers observed.•The asymmetry of effects between hedonic and eudaimonic elements could be confirmed.•Travel aspirations and restrictions relevant expressions of psychosocial wellbeing