Savoring strategies, positive touristic experiences, and tourist well-being: A student tourist perspective

While the concept of savoring is increasingly recognized for offering valuable insights into tourists’ emotions and experiences, broader engagement with this theory from psychology and application of its four conceptual components is still in a stage of emergence in tourism. Many gaps in understanding persist, including the amplifying and dampening strategies employed during touristic experiences, the tourism contexts in which positive experiences take place, as well as the potential relationship between savoring strategies and well-being. Using online questionnaires, positive touristic experiences and savoring strategies were examined with a sample of university students from New Zealand universities. The findings highlight that while student travelers make use of a range of savoring strategies, they prioritize mental framing and social connection, while also engaging in meta-cognitive processes such as reflecting on time and self-worth. Interestingly, only two statistically significant effects between savoring strategies and well-being were observed, with Counting Blessings predicting higher Well-being and Killjoy Thinking predicting higher Ill-being. The study helps strengthen the theoretical foundations of positive touristic experiences and provides deeper insight into the underlying mechanisms of tourist emotions and holistic well-being. Implications include a more nuanced understanding of how and when student tourists use savoring strategies, as well as suggestions to facilitate opportunities for savoring during touristic experiences.