Subjective well-being drives travel well-being: evidence from bidirectional structural equation modeling

Travel well-being (TWB), a travel-domain form of well-being related to subjective well-being (SWB), captures individuals’ emotional experiences and cognitive evaluations during a trip. While prior research has highlighted the significant influence of life satisfaction on travel experience, the direction of the relationship between TWB and SWB remains ambiguous. This study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate the competing directional pathways linking SWB and TWB. Using survey data collected from residents in Ningbo, China, we constructed two SEM models to examine the pathway from TWB to SWB and the reverse pathway, respectively. The findings reveal that the pathway from SWB to TWB received stronger empirical support than the reverse pathway. SWB was primarily associated with TWB indirectly through individuals’ cognitive and affective evaluations of travel. This helps clarify the directional relationship between travel-specific and overall well-being and provides policy insights into how improving TWB may make sustainable travel more appealing.