Those who travel frequently remain happier than those who don’t travel: US survey reveals

Travelling around the world is one of the best experiences. Most of us would love to explore different places to forget all the life troubles only to satisfy ourselves when they move out of the doorstep. No matter how worse life is but if you take a trip to your favourite destination, all your worries would vanish.

Meanwhile, if you wish to be happier, then you must go travelling. According to a new study published in the journal of Tourism Analysis, frequent travellers are said to be happier in life. They are said to be happier than people who don’t travel at all.

Those who travel frequently remain happier than those who don't travel: US Survey reveals

“While things like work, family life and friends play a bigger role in overall reports of well-being, the accumulation of travel experiences does appear to have a small yet noticeable effect on self-reported life satisfaction,” Chun-Chu (Bamboo) Chen, an assistant professor in the School of Hospitality Business Management at Washington State University, conducted a survey added in a statement.

“It really illustrates the importance of being able to get out of your routine and experience new things,” Chen said.

Earlier studies have inspected the stress relief, health and other benefits of tourism experiences, but they have observed the effect of a single trip or vacation. Meanwhile, Chen’s research takes these studies a step ahead by examining these sustained benefits of travel over a year.

Participants were questioned about the virtual importance of travel in their lives and how much quality time they spent to discover and plan future vacations and trips they went on over a year. Out of those 500 survey participants, a little over half of them reported travelling four times a year. It is said that only 7 per cent of respondents didn’t take any vacations.

“This research shows the more people talk about and plan vacations the more likely they are to take them,” he said.

He added, “If you are like me and chomping at the bit to get out of dodge and see someplace new, this research will hopefully be some additional good motivation to start planning your next vacation.”

On the other hand, another study finds that the majority of the Indians travel just for ‘Social status’ and not for their self-interest. Ever since the advent of social media, there has always been stiff competition among the people in the country as to who gets more likes, comments and shares. This has been the trend! To achieve that, some go to any extreme to pull off something spectacular.

While the majority of the travellers are there to explore interesting places in the world, the majority of Indians travel for ‘social status’. No kidding! A revelation of a new survey tells the same.

The report adds that 75 per cent of those polled ones said ‘leisure travel’ experience whereas about 88 per cent of Indians also travel to ‘give themselves some time to relax,’ says a study by Booking.com.

Triggered by nostalgia, 80 per cent of polled people travelled to ‘rediscover past good times’ while 79 per cent people were tempted by the urge ‘to experience a simpler lifestyle’, 76 per cent of them had ‘to get away from the demands at home and 75 per cent opened up that the travel was about ‘going to places where their friends have not been to.’

The study was done between October 16 and November 12, 2018, and surveyed 53,492 people from 31 countries of whom 1,852 were Indians.