Homecoming dread on revisit intention: the role of escapism, education, entertainment, and esthetics in travel experiences

This study conceptualizes homecoming dread as a pre-return transitional emotion experienced by tourists anticipating departure and a return to everyday life. Grounded in the Experience Economy framework, it examines how escapism, education, entertainment, and esthetics are associated with homecoming dread and revisit intention. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design combined qualitative interviews with a survey of 322 international leisure tourists analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Findings indicate that escapism and entertainment significantly predict homecoming dread, which positively predicts revisit intention. In contrast, education and esthetics do not significantly predict homecoming dread but positively predict revisit intention. The study extends the temporal and emotional scope of the Experience Economy framework by demonstrating that experiential realms differ in their emotional carryover during the pre-return transition. It further reveals that a negatively valenced transitional emotion can be positively associated with revisit intention, offering new insights into tourists’ emotional transitions and future behavioural intentions.