Is Travel Experientialism the New Materialism? by Sachi Wong

TRAVEL FOR Is Happiness through Travel Experientialism the New Materialism? : To What Extent is Social Media Turning Travel into a Materialistic source?

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CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT

01 01 Introduction Introduction Introduction 01 01Introduction & objectives & objectives 10 10AimsAims

02 02 Literature review Literature review materialism & & Experientialism, materialism 11 11Experientialism, happiness happiness relations & happiness Social relations & happiness 19 19Social

03 03 Methodology Methodology resaerch Primary resaerch 25 25Primary Quatitative 26 26Quatitative Quanlitative 27 27Quanlitative research Secondary research 29 29Secondary

04 04 Chapter 1. 1. Chapter The meaning of of happiness The meaning happiness is happiness 31 31What What is happiness of happiness 35 35Complnents Complnents of happiness of happiness 37 37Types Types of happiness happiness 41 41Measuring Measuring happiness

05 05 Chapter 2. 2. Chapter Travel & happiness Travel & happiness

46 46 47 47TheThe Travel Phenomena Travel Phenomena 49 49Purpose & Motivation Purpose & Motivation

06 06

09 09

Chapter 3. 3. Chapter The impact of of social media The impact social media

59 59 research research of social media Characteristics of social media 61 61Characteristics on consumers Impacts on consumers 63 63Impacts builtbuilt on social media Happiness on social media 69 69Happiness

References References

Appendix 89 89Appendix References References 111111 Bibliography Bibliography 119119 Illustrations Illustrations 120120

07 07

Chapter 4. 4. Chapter The new materialism The new materialism

origin & the newnew materialism origin & the materialism 73 73TheThe validity of the newnew materialism validity of the materialism 75 75TheThe model A cycle model 83 83A cycle

08 08

&& 85 85Conclusion Conclusion 87 87recommendations. recommendations.

CONTEN CONTEN CONTEN CONTEN CONTEN CONTEN

Introduction.

Introduction Aims & objectives

Is Happiness through Travel Experientialism the New Materialism?

Introduction.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;More than anything else, men and women seek happiness.â&#x20AC;? (Aristotle)

Introduction.

Happiness is described as “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.”(Sonja Lyubomirsky, 2007) In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943), it stated that humans need tangible substances (physiological needs) and intangible substances(Safety needs, love and belonging, esteem and selfactualization) to fulfill their desires and to give meanings to their lives. In order to achieve the five stages, material objects and experiences are critical. They act as a bridge and connector to help people to reach the needs, such as consumers buying food(material) to fulfill their physiological needs, and hanging out with friends(experience) to feel a sense of love and belonging. These two connectors each represents a doctrine, which are materialism and experientialism.

Introduction.

Materialism. Materialism is when oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s acquiring material possession functions as a central life goal with the belief that possessions are the key to happiness and that success can be judged by a person's material wealth and the quality and price of material goods she or he can buy. (Richins, Marsha L. , 1994)

Experientialism.

Introduction.

Experientialism, on the other hand, is the polarization of materialism that believes experience can bring more happiness than objects. Several psychologists and researchers (Boven and Gilovich, 2005 ;Nicolao, Irwin & Goodman, 2009) had agreed to this statement. Moreover, a survey had been carried out by San Francisco State University (2009), participants were asked to describe their feelings on physical purchase and a purchase on experience. The result has shown that consumers have more satisfaction and lasting happiness on purchasing experience than physical objects.

Introduction.

Figure 1 Number of International tourist arrivals worldwide from 2009 to 2018 (Lock, 2019)

International tourist arrivals in millions

1600

1401

1400 1195 1200

1329

1035

1000 894 952

800 600 400 9

200

6 7 3 8 5 4 0 2 1 201 201 201 201 201 201 201 201 201

Since the majority of the society has adapted with the fact that experiences cause greater happiness than material possessions. There is an increasing demand of experience, for instance, the travel industry - one of the biggest influenced industries, is benefiting from the phenomenon that consumers are changing their spending habits, shifting investment from tangible goods to experience. (Deloitte, 2019) In figure 1, the number of international tourist arrivals grew tremendously by 1.5 times more over 9 years, from 894million to 1401million (Lock, 2019).

Introduction.

Travel is an experience which also is an intangible substance that consumers seek happiness from. Travel do make people happy,

The pleasure of discovery, the joy of meeting other people in different backgrounds and the thrill on tasting food (Klein, 2011)

Travel motivation is defined as a satisfaction that an individual expects to derive from their traveling (Iso-Ahola, 1982). Consumers expected that travel is partly or fully with diverse motivations (Mill and Morrison, 2002) In Pearceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Travel Career Ladder (1991), five stages of travel motivations had been classified based on Maslowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hierarchy of Needs: Relaxation, Stimulation, Relationship, Self-esteem and Development, and Fulfilment. In addition, Motivators as escape, relaxation, strengthening family bonds, prestige, social interaction, sexual opportunities, education, self-fulfilment, wish fulfilment and shopping were identified by Ryan(1991). But in a world where digital technology constantly evolves, travel motivations and intentions seem to be altered and creating a new trend.

Introduction.

Social media was invented along w i t h web 2 . 0 w h i c h r e f e r s t o “ r i c h web a p p l i c a t i o n s, web oriented architecture, and social web.”(Lipika, 2016) Social media has created a platform for people to connect and share information with anyone on Earth, or with many people simultaneously. It typically features user-generated content and personalized profiles. (Dollarhide, 2019)

This phenomenon usually associates with millennials, A recent study from the U.K. home insurance company has revealed that 40.1% of millennials c hoose a travel spot based on its Instagrammability. Consumers prioritize the social shareability and whether or not they can make good content on social media. If consumers are c hasing after the pride on social media, is travel becoming a new materialistic source to gain happiness?

Slowly, shareability becomes the consumers’ priority for travel with “61% of consumers are influenced to travel to a destination by its potential for Instagram-friendly snaps.” (Haines, 2018)

O C

R A V E L T H E WO R L D

Introduction.

This report aims to... This report aims to find out to what extent is social media turning travel into a new materialistic source, by investigating how social media is changing consumers travel intentions, whether social media is turning travel into a materialistic source and is this forming a new currency of materialism. It will be divided into four sections: the meaning of happiness, travel & happiness, impact of social media towards consumers pursuit of happiness, as well as, analysing the validity of the new materialism.

Objectives To define key words: Happiness, Materialism, Experientialism and New Materialism. To identify the pursuit of happiness from travel. To study the impact of social media towards consumers pursuit of happiness To analyse consumer behaviour under the influences of social media To evaluate the relationship between social media, materialism and the new materialism

Literature Review.

Experientialism Materialism & Happiness Social relation & Happiness

Literature Review.

This literature review aims to gather the theories and research findings from different works of literature. It will be focused on the relationship between experientialism, materialism and happiness, as well as the social relations influences on happiness.

Experientialism Materialism & Happiness

The comparison between the t wo s o u r c e s ( E x p e r i e n t i a l i s m & Materialism) for happiness has been going on for decades. Plenty of psyc hologists (Van Boven, 2005; Va n B o ve n & G i l o v i c h , 2 0 0 3 ) , economists (Frank, 1999) and policy theorists(Easterlin, 2003) have studied and investigate the relationship between experiential purc hase, material purchase and happiness.

Hence, they defined

Experiential purchases are “those made with the primary intention of acquiring a life experience: an event or series of events that one lives through” Material purchases are “those made with the primary intention of acquiring a material good: a tangible object that is kept in one’s possession” (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003).

It is not easy to distinguish a definite difference between each purchase when it comes to possessions or vehicles that offer experiences, suc h as a flat-screen TV and an automobile. Therefore, Van Boven & Gilovich suggested one way to identify purchases from two sources is to rely on people’s intentions when investing in their happiness (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003). 11

Literature Review.

Experience results in greater happiness. The theory of experiences results in greater happiness than material possessions has been proven by different researchers (Hume, 1737/1975; Scitovsky, 1976; Frank 1985, Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003, Nicolao, Irwin & Goodman,2009; Raghunathan & Irwin, 2001) with experiments and replications of other samples.

In general, compare with material possessions, experiences are more likely to fulfil one’s psychological needs (Maslow, 1943; Howell & Hill, 2009). Experiences are more fundamental to one’s identity and personal growth (Kasser & Ryan, 1996) which is self-actualisation (Maslow, 1943) because there is a positive stereotype related to “experiential” people (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003). So when sharing experiences with others, one’s identity could be positively developed and become more favourable than one’s sharing materialistic items. People also believe that the richness of a person’s life is the sum of their experiences. (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003). Therefore, experiences are more likely to build-up one’s identity and personal growth (selfactualisation).

Literature Literature Review. Review.

Furthermore, people receive more enjoyment from experiential purchases because it put people in a better mood and it is more valuable for them (Van Boven, 2003). In their mood experiment, participants were asked to rate their current mood on two scales (Bad - Good & Sad - Happy) and how much (from 1 not at all to 7 a great deal) they felt in the moment in terms of 14 different adjectives. Next, they were randomly assigned either experiential or material purchases to write a description and reread the descriptions they wrote after a week. This experiment indicated how happy does it make when participants thinking about their purchases.

The rating before is to provide an overall index for later sessions measurement. And the result shows that thinking about experiential purchases gives more pleasure than thinking about material purchases. (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003). Also, from an economic standpoint, experiences are more favourable for consumers, In their survey, participants were less inclined to agree that â&#x20AC;&#x153; money spent on experiences could have been better spent elsewhereâ&#x20AC;?. They also think that experiences are a better financial investment that materials. (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003)

Literature Review.

Positivity of experiences may increase over time. Besides, the positivity and favourable o f ex p e r i e n c e s m a y i n c r e a s e o v e r time as people are less constrained in their retrospective evaluations of experiences (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003)

on the other hand, they have long-term adaptation for experiential purchases. T h u s ex p e r i e n c e s t u r n o u t p ro v i d i n g longer happiness than material purchases (Nicolao, Irwin, & Goodman, 2009).

Annoyances may lessen or forgotten and people would like to repurchase or reexperience (Klaaren, Hodges & Wilson, 1994). Nicolao, Irwin, and Goodman (2009) have analysed the actual hedonic adaptation rate over time for material and experiential purchases, the results reveal that people have short-term adaptation for material purchases,

Last but not least, sharing experience is more socially acceptable than sharing oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possessions (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003) As it has fewer comparisons and it is easy to discuss with others which maximize the enjoyment of positive experiences.

Literature Review.

Those researc h results support the theory that experiences offer longerlasting happiness(Nicolao, Irwin, & Goodman, 2009), and positive experience may become more favourable over time (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003), as well as it allows people to gain enjoyment through discussion with others and it is more socially acceptable(Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003). Overall, experiences also help to build oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity and personal growth. (Maslow, 1943; Howell & Hill, 2009; Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003)

Literature Review.

Negative influences of materialism In addition to how experientialism induces more happiness and pleasure than material possessions. Researchers (Frank, 1999, Deci & Ryan, 1985; Kasser. 2002; Ryan & Deci,2000; Belk, 1985) also have found some negative influences on making material possessions. In 1999, Frank observed that the increase in the amount of material goods people have does not produce gains in psychological of physical well-being, meaning “bigger houses and faster cars, it seems, don’t make us any happier” (p.6) Apart from that, from the self-determination theory, centralising material possessions results in less satisfied in life (Belk, 1985; Richins & Dawson, 1992) and cannot fulfil “needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness” and therefore, prohibiting “self-actualisation and personal integration” (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Kasser. 2002; Ryan & Deci,2000; Van Boven, Gilovich 2003).

Material purchases may bring greater happiness than experiences However, in negative purc hases, material purchases may bring greater happiness than experiences (Nicolao, Irwin, & Goodman, 2009). In their experiments, the retrospective happiness with types of purchases(experiential and material) had measured by valence, the outcome of the test suggests that for low materialism consumers, negative material purchases led to more happiness than negative experiential purchases, but for high materialism consumers, negative experiential purchases tend to induce more happiness than material purchases (Nicolao, Irwin, & Goodman, 2009). They also indicated that “ a lifetime of negative experiential purchases might lead to quite an unhappy life and furthermore that negative material purchases may not leave as much of a negative mark”(Nicolao, Irwin, & Goodman, 2009).

Literature Review.

To conclude, The above findings have shown the relationship of experientialism and materialism, and the comparison of happiness from each purchase, as well as listing out how experientialism bring more happiness and enjoyment to consumers than materialism.(Maslow, 1943; Howell & Hill, 2009; Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003; Frank, 1999, Deci & Ryan, 1985; Kasser. 2002; Ryan & Deci,2000; Belk, 1985) Finally, there were limited findings of the opposite views and only one source that suggests materialism results in more happiness than experientialism under certain conditions (Nicolao, Irwin, & Goodman, 2009).

Literature Review.

Social interaction & Happiness One of the major factors that lead to the conclusion of experiences offers a greater amount of happiness than materials is that

â&#x20AC;&#x153;experiences tend to be social and that this is a key mechanism that influences happinessâ&#x20AC;? (Caprariello & Reis, 2012; Argyle, 1999).

Others (Berscheid & Reis, 1998; Leary & Baumeister, 2000; Lyubomirsky, King, Diener, 2005; Myers,2000; Reis & Gable, 2003) also suggested that from extensive research, social relations are strong and leading sources of happiness. Social interaction is crucial as it is the major source of happiness (Argyle, 1999). If the material possessions consist of service of social interaction, it may induce more happiness than material possessions for solitary use (Caprariello & Reis, 2012). Also, experiences are more valuable when they involve others, consumers may feel more connected (Pinel, Long, Landau, Alexander, & Pyszczynski, 2006) and their emotions tend to be amplified when with accompanies than isolated or solitary experience. (Jaremka, Gabriel, & Carvallo, 2011)

Literature Review.

When comparing the happiness received in terms of social relations, experientialism is likely to provide more chances of social interactions (Caprariello & Reis, 2012) by reason of the social nature of experiences, experiences are more likely to have a narrative structure than material possessions (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003), and more enjoyable to discuss with others (Caprariello & Reis, 2012). Sharing experiences result in a more favourable social interaction and thus, bring greater happiness beyond the experience itself. (Gable, Gonzaga, & Strachman, 2006; Gable & Reis, 2010; Reis et al., 2010) The above findings indicated that instead of comparing happiness gained from experiential purc hases and material purchases, social interaction is the key to bring happiness to consumers. The satisfaction that consumers chasing after the experiential purchases and material purchases is social interaction. The idea of sharing allows consumers to have even greater happiness than having the experience itself. This raised the question: If shareability is what consumers value, in a social media context, is experience just a moderated form of material item for consumers to gain satisfaction, hence to gain happiness?

Literature Review.

Methodology.

Primary research Secondary research

Methodology.

Primary Research. Different methods have been proposed to help to build on the foundation around the topic area in relate to classify the validity of the new materialism.

Methodology.

Quantitative. Survey. One of the most well-known tools for assessing tendency of mainstream and to understand the direction of trends is survey. The major advantage of survey is that it collects data which reveals trends clearly in a short period of time. For this research, 100 people participated and 11 questions were asked to collect thoughts and views regarding purpose of travel, travel priorities, as well as posting behaviour and what could consumers gain from social media. Question 1 to 2 was designed to obtain basic information such as age and gender. Question 3 to 4 was about travel purpose and priorities, and question 5-11 was intended to ask the idea of digital conspicuous consumption and what could consumers gain from social media, such as “Do you share your travel experiences on social media? If yes, what could you gain from sharing it on social media?” “Do you feel content/happy letting people know how you spent your holiday travelling?”.

The survey reveals that most of the participants travel to explore, to develop relationships, and to relax, however, they enjoy sharing experiences on social media, in order to gain likes, positive comments, and attention from friends. This phenomenon will be further discussed in later chapters. The limitations of survey is that it depends on the honesty of participants, which is uncontrollable. Also, the demographic information is non comprehensive, as there was no 34 or older demographic engaged in this survey, therefore, the result may not be reliable.

Methodology.

Qualitative. Observation & Interview.

Focus group.

The observation approach was used to allow a long-term and detailed monitor on target subject. The purpose of the observational trip, is to examine consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; travel behaviour, such as duration of time spent on social media and photo editing apps during travel measured by screen-time on mobile phone, and what do they do at a tourist spots by pure observation.

The main advantage of focus group is that it is useful to obtain personal and group opinions and perceptions. However, there is a potential chance to have irrelevant conversation distracted from the main focus. Fur ther more, par ticipants may have untruthful answers affected by peer pressure. A small size of the dataset also means that it was not possible to obtain an all-rounded, precise data.

An in-depth interview also operated to follow up the reason and explanation of their behaviour. One of the female observada had spent 13.31 hours on social media and nearly 11 hours on photos editing apps within three days.

The purpose of the focus group was to collect personal opinions towards happiness, materialistic and digital conspicuous consumption level, as well as travel priorities. It consists of 5 parts:

The interview explained her behaviour, the time she spent on social media was to search for photo inspiration (how people pose for photos and what filters are suitable to apply on snow views), and the purpose of spending hours editing photos was to have the perfect photo to post on social media so that she feels more confident and content, as social media kind of defines her value. In observational studies, there is a potential for bias and imprecise results from the observant, as it does not have a precise measurement on behaviour.

Methodology.

PART

1-2 PART

The first part was designed to gather insights of happiness, participants were asked to fill in a mindmap centralising happiness; the second part was to find out the relationship between materialistic level and importance of digital conspicuous consumption, participants were required to complete two tests, all statements utilised the 5 point likert scale, from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The outcome of the test indicated the complementary relationship between materialistic level and level of importance of digital conspicuous consumption.

3-4

The third to fourth parts were designed to obtain opinions on travel priorities by providing pictures of travel destinations, and travel criterias. In these two parts, participants were asked to choose two destinations and to give explanations, also a list of travel criteria (Taking nice photos, good food, explore and learn something, with companions, etc) were given to them to rearrange. The results show that relaxation was the top priority for choosing a destination, but 4 out of 9 participants prioritised taking nice photos as their top three travel priorities. A similar situation from the survey result appeared, it will be discussed in later chapters.

T h e f i n a l p a r t wa s meant to understand the criteria of consumers towards social media posts, which one consider as likable and which one is not. Turn out photos that were edited receive more likes because they were claimed to be more appealing and creative.

PART

Methodology.

This report is also supported by an abundance of academic studies, models and reports. The major advantage of using academic resources is that it provides evidence to support the writer's assumptions and thoughts, which strengthened the words and result in a more convincing report.

Academic resources Academic studies Mainly used in literature review, to compare the sources of happiness (experience and material purchases), and found out that social interaction is the key measurement of happiness.

To Do or to Have? That Is the Question (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003) To Do, to Have, or to Share? Valuing Experience Over Material Possessions Depends on the Involvement of Others (Caprariello & Reis, 2013)

Reexamining the relationship between social media and happiness: The effects of various social media platforms on reconceptualized happiness (Chae, 2018)

Contributed evenly in four chapters. These studies pointed out that social media is the main factor influencing consumers behaviour, and how higher-materialistic consumers involves in conspicuous consumption and consumption-related posting behaviour.

How purchase Type Influence ConsumptionRelated Posting Behaviour on Social Media: The Moderating Role of Materialism (Duan & Dholakia, 2018) The Pursuit of HappinessL Exploring the Social Media Experience Across Generations (Berezan, Krishen, Agarwal, & Kachroo, 2018)

Methodology.

Models Maslowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hierarchy of Needs (1943) Hierarchical model of happiness (Diener, 2009)

Travel Career Ladder (Pearce, 1999) PESTLE analysis Future Scenario Axis

Industry reports UNWTO Statista

The models are used to support theories, such as the hierarchy model of happiness (Diever, 2009) demonstrated the two components of happiness. PESTLE and the future scenario axis were used to predict future market needs, in order to develop a successful business plan for stage 2.

Reports were used to back-up background information, such as the UNWTO international tourism highlights 2019 displayed the growth in tourist arrivals worldwide as well as the growth in economic sector.

Secondary Research. 30

Chapter 1.

What is happiness? Components of happiness. Types of happiness. Measuring happiness

04 THE MEANING OF HAPPINESS

The meaning of happiness.

The literature review gathered the fact that experientialism brings more happiness than materialism, as well as the underlying factor - social interaction. Before beginning the topic, it is important to have a clear definition and explanation of happiness, as it will be the main subject of this essay. Thus, this chapter focuses on finding the meaning of happiness.

The meaning of happiness.

What is happiness? What is happiness? What is happiness? In a broad sense, happiness is a state of well-being and contentment; a pleasurable or satisfying experience; or simply being happy (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate DIctionary 2009, Oxford dictionary). Other than that, researchers have been finding a more in-depth meaning of happiness, some consider that it is singular in nature, which has a fixed meaning to all individuals (Layard 2005: Myers and Diener 1995) While some indicate that happiness is based on personal experience rather than fact, meaning distinct things to each individual and their own perception of the quality of life. (Gilbert 2006, Diener et al., 2009), such as wealth, health, a successful relationship, good food or an unforgettable experience.

The meaning of happiness.

(Figure 2) Maslow's Hierarchy og Needs (1990's eight-stage model)

Transcendence

Help others to self-actualise

Self-actualisation

Personal growth & self-fulfillment

Aesthetic needs Beauty, balance, form, etc.

Cognitive needs Knowledge, meaning, self-awareness

Esteem needs Achievement, status, responsibility, reputation

Belongingness & love needs Family, affection, work group, etc.

Safety needs Protection, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

Biological & physiological needs Basic life needs - air, food, drinks, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

The meaning of happiness.

Happiness also means when oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life has been fulfilled with stages of needs. In Maslow's hierarchy of needs (1943), it stated that humans need basic needs (safety and physiological needs), psychological needs(Belongingness, love and esteem needs) also self-fulfilment needs (Self-actualisation). Each stage is an important and a non-removable element to reach for happiness, in order to reach the highest stage(self- actualisation), individuals must be satisfied by the needs below (basic needs and psychological needs). It is essential to note that later in the 1970s, Maslow had further expanded the pyramid with transcendence needs, aesthetic needs and cognitive needs. These three stages are to keep individuals who have reached the top of the pyramid motivated.

The meaning of happiness.

Components What is also worthy of our attention is the researc h by Diener(2009), he suggested that happiness is comprised of two components, which includes affective component and cognitive component. Diener with other researchers established a conceptual hierarchy model of happiness. In figure 3, the pleasant and unpleasant emotions were identified as the affective component of happiness. Pleasant emotions include joy, contentment, happy and love, such as gaining new experiences or having fun at a party, whereas sadness, anger, worry and stress are the unpleasant emotions. The cognitive component which is more meaning-related includes global life judgement: life satisfaction, fulfillment, meaning and success as well as domain satisfaction such as marriage and health. Data received from primary research surprisingly applicable to the above models. A focus group had been asked to draw a mind map that centralising happiness(see appendix), and the results had been categorised: Food such as popcorn, chocolate, desserts; physical needs (sleep, shelter, water, money) assorted to the basic needs in Maslowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hierarchy of needs and causes pleasant emotions like contentment and joy from Dienerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hierarchical model. And entertainment (Travel, music, movies, video games) classified into cognitive needs and leisure respectively in two models. While relationships, love, friendships are grouped into the level of belongingness and love needs and pleasant emotions. And finally, success, achievements, justice, democracy and world peace are at and above the level of self-actualisation and global life judgement in Dienerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hierarchy model of happiness. Happiness is subjective, but it can be easier to understand by categorising them into different contexts.

of happiness. 35

The meaning of happiness. Figure 3 Subjective well-bring

Pleasant Emotions

Unpleasant Emotions

Global Life Judgements

Domain Satisfaction

Joy

Sadness

Life Satisfaction

Marriage

Contentment

Anger

Fulfillment

Work

Happy

Worry

Meaning

Health

Love etc.

Stress etc.

Success etc.

Leisure etc.

The meaning of happiness.

Types of happiness.

Excitement

Calm

Instead of components of happiness, researchers (Tsai, Knutson & Fung, 2006; Mogilner, Kamvar & Aaker, 2011); implied that there are multiple types of happiness that will be altered by cultural factors and age. The first positive emotion consists of excitement, elation, and enthusiasm which proven to involve with high in arousal that brings positive effect, such as camping and skydiving. The other one consists of calm, peacefulness and serenity which involve with low in arousal but also bring positive effect. For instance, meditation and slow-walk along the seaside. These two types of positive emotions and its values have been identified as happiness (Barrett 1998, Bradley & Lang 1999; Russell & Barrett 1999).

The meaning of happiness.

Influences by age The reason behind the shift is because of the underlying psychological factor temporal focus (Carstensen, Issacowitz, & Charles, 1999). For younger individuals, they consider and focus more on their future, as they have a longer future awaits for them, excitement tends to be experienced as happiness. When individuals get older, they put more value on the present time, here and now, calm tends to be experienced as happiness. It should also be noted that this theory is not limited by age, it depends on oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus, that means it is possible to experience both types of feelings as happiness. (Mogilner et al., 2011) For instance, individual is looking forward to the trip he/she planned (temporal focus on future), excitement is identified as happiness, once he/she arrived the place and enjoy the present moment (temporal focus on present), calm is identified as happiness.

Age has a huge influence on the peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perception towards types of happiness individuals tend to receive. (Mogilner et al., 2011) It firmly changes in different life stages. In the younger age, individuals tend to receive excitement as happiness, however, when they get old, calm and peacefulness become the type of happiness individuals want to receive (Mogilner et al., 2011).

The meaning of happiness.

& Cultural factors Under no circumstances should we overlook that cultural factors also cause changes in how individuals want to feel. As mentioned earlier, the type of happiness depends on one’s focus.

“Cultural factors—historically derived and socially transmitted patterns of ideas (e.g. values, norms, beliefs) that are instantiated by practices (e.g., rituals, mores), institutions (e.g. religious, familial), and artifacts (e.g. media; Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952) —may play a particularly important role in determining how people ideally want to feel.” (Tsai, 2007) An interview was done by Tsai, Knutson & Fung (2006), by asking “what is your ideal state?” to a European American respondent and a Hong Kong respondent, their answers varied from each other. The European American respondent stated that doing something exciting would make him/ her happy, entertainment for him/her is relatively important. While the Hong Kong respondent responded that silence, serene, happy and positive is his/her ideal state. The research has proven that the growing environment and the surroundings will influence one’s perspective on happiness.

The meaning of happiness.

Measuring Although there is no certain answer to the meaning of happiness, researchers believe that happiness is measurable in a scientific way. It is based on the hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, it is a theory that proposes people react to good and bad events, and return to neutrality in a short period of time (Brickman & Campbell, 1971). In a sense, happiness can be measured by examining the hedonic level and how fast it adapts the happiness and return to normal.

happiness.

The meaning of happiness.

There is no accurate definition exists for the term happiness, as it is subjective and distinctive to each and every individual. But there is a big picture showing various areas that happiness could be achieved and measured, such as social interaction(Caprariello & Reis, 2012; Argyle, 1999) as mentioned in the literature review and the affective and cognitive components of happiness as well as temporal focus affected by age and cultural factors, hence, affect the types of happiness that individuals tend to adopt. In general, happiness occurs when individuals were fulfilled with what they need and desire (Maslow, 1943).

The meaning of happiness.

Chapter 2.

Definition of travel & area of research The travel phenomena Purpose & motivation

05 TRAVEL & HAPPINESS

Travel & happiness.

Flash

Disposable film camera. Press the shutter when you are ready to face 1998.

21 JANUARY 1998

Travel & happiness.

Denifinition of travel & area of research The theoretical background of travel is provided in order to have a better understanding of the context. Travel refers to an act of traversing through a geographic region or moving from one place to another. This can be temporarily and can be for a short period of time. (Business Dictionary, 2020); or to go from one place to another, as by car, train, plane, or ship, also means taking a trip or journey: to travel for pleasure (Dictionary.com, 2020). It is important to note that this report will only focus on travel for leisure, therefore, neither for business nor exchange programme will be counted.

T R AV E L F O R _ _ _ _ _ 4 0 C - 3

Travel & happiness.

THE TRAVEL PHENOMENA.

Travel & happiness.

International Tourist Arrivals

USD 1.4 billion USD 1.7 trillion Tourism

Export Earnings Tourism is presently one of the most dynamic and progressive phenomena worldwide. The total international tourist arrivals accounted for USD 1.4billion and have grown 5% in 2018, which was two years ahead of the UNWTO forecast. Given that tourism generated a total of USD 1.7 trillion export earnings, the tourism sector becomes a true global force for economic growth and development (UNWTO, 2019). In addition, by means and purpose of travel, leisure is the dominant purpose with 56% travelling for leisure, recreation and holidays (UNWTO, 2019). From the above data, it is no doubt that leisure travel is becoming increasingly important.

Travel & happiness.

Purpose & motivation. Leisure hold over half of the international purpose of travel. Questionably, why do people put such a big value on travel? And what motivates them? The answer is because it makes them happy. Leisure, as identified as free time which also defined as â&#x20AC;&#x153; time away from unpleasant obligationâ&#x20AC;? (Stebbins, 2001, p. 4), meaning it is a period of time where a person gets away from the negatives and endure into the positives. Assuredly, leisure travel produces positive emotions, such as the pleasure of discovery, the joy of meeting other people in different backgrounds and the thrill of tasting food (Klein, 2011). A survey of retireesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; general happiness also revealed that the only type of consumption activity to play a role was leisure consumption (DeLeire & Kalil, 2010). Based on the previous chapter, happiness comes from various positive emotions (Diener, 2009) and human needs (Maslow, 1943). Undoubtedly, travel brings enormous happiness to travellers in several ways.

Firstly, a holiday trip is positive in nature, it influences individuals happiness directly and straightly (Boelhouwer & Stoop, 1999; Nawijn, Marchand, Veenhoven, & Vingerhoets, 2010). For instance, individuals who had travel experience recently has a higher score in overall happiness than one who did not. (Boelhouwer & Stoop, 1999). Data from an online travel agency, Booking.com(2016) has revealed that 49% of people agree that a holiday makes them happier than their wedding day, also, over half of them prefer travelling over going on a date with their partner. Moreover, research has found out that people generally feel better during travel than their everyday life (Nawjin & Veenhoven, 2013). Therefore, simply a holiday trip will bring people a pleasant and positive emotional boost.

Travel & happiness.

Pre-travel

Other than that, travel can be divided into three periods which are pre-travel, inter-travel as well as post-travel. Each period creates happiness for consumers. The first period is a planning stage, in which consumers eager to search and plan for places to go. This stage gives an instance emotional boost, with 72% of consumers feel an immediate excitement just from researching where to travel on holiday and over half of them (56%) perceive greater happiness when affirming a trip. (Booking.com, 2016) In addition, experiencing anticipation would increase the hedonic level of affect (Nawjin & Veenhoven, 2013) resulting in a positive mood.

Inter-travel During the inter-travel period, because it is different from consumers’ regular routines, with shifted surroundings and environment, the brain is continually stimulated and impact how it processes and reduce the hedonic adaptation (Rote, 2019). Dr.Thomas Gilovic h, the psyc hology professor at Cornwall University once said that ”one of the enemies of happiness is adaptation.”Yet, travel is full of novelty combining with abounding experiences, unlike material items, experiences are the sum of a person’s life (Van Boven & Gilovic h, 2003). As mentioned in the literature review, travel is an experiential purchase which brings prolonged happiness and increases in positivity and favourable of experiences over time (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003). Therefore, the inter-travel period restrains hedonic adaptation by constantly providing novelty to travellers, in order to prolong positive emotions for a longer time of period.

Travel & happiness.

Once the trip is over, it entered into the stage of post-travel. However, this stage was tested and confirmed that it briefly boosts happiness. Studies indicated that only a â&#x20AC;&#x153;very relaxâ&#x20AC;? holiday trip will benefit from happiness maximally for 2 weeks (Nawjin, Marc hand, Veenhoven, &Vingerhoets, 2010). Kroesen & Handy (2014) also discovered that travel has a cognitive effect on happiness, but not on the affective part, for this reason, travellers can change their attitude and perspective towards life events in a positive manner, but not improving any emotional feelings.

Post-travel

Travel & happiness.

Secondly, travel increase life satisfaction and quality of life, thus, increase overall happiness because needs and purposes are fulfilled and completed (Maslow, 1943; Diener, 2009). Consumers believed that travel is partly or fully with diverse motivations (Mill & Morrison, 2002). According to the primary research (see appendix), consumers consider the purposes of travel are as follows: to explore, to learn, to relax, to experience the culture and lifestyle, to get away, to taste the food and shopping, and the final one, to take photos. Although the purposes of travel vary from each individual, it can be categorised by using Pearce’s Travel Career Ladder (1991). In the Travel Career Ladder (TCL)(See appendix) that based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, travel motivations had been classified into five motivational levels (Relaxation, Stimulation, Relationship, Self-esteem and Development, and Fulfilment) that shows all the travellers’ patterns and motives (Pearce, 1999). It is crucial to note that relaxation has the most relatedness with travel. A survey and focus group were conducted(See appendix), one-third of respondents mentioned “to relax/ relaxation” regarding the purpose of travel. Moreover, when choosing a place to travel to, 6 out of 9 participants considered comfort and relaxation as their first priorities, indicated that relaxation is an essence for people to travel. Undeniably, travel can fulfil such need, as one of the benefits from leisure travel is to get away from unpleasant obligations ((Stebbins, 2001) like work and daily responsibilities.

Travel & happiness.

TRAVEL TO

RELAX

Travel & happiness.

Apart from relaxation, there are also significant emphasis on relationship and personal development, with 15% and nearly one-third (32%) of participants mentioned these two motivations respectively. From Nawjin and Veenhoven (2013), individuals may fulfilled by skills they learned or impressions they had while on the vacation, such as understanding a culture or meeting new friends. Travel helps build and maintain relationships, with Two-thirds (67%) of respondents believe that at least one key aspect of their relationship is improved after travelling as a couple (U.S. Travel Association, 2005). Travel provides opportunities like new experiences to build trust with one another, as well as create new memories together.

15% 32% emphasize on maintaining relationship & personal development

Travel & happiness.

Indeed, travel brings happiness and fulfils needs, directly and indirectly. A questionable phenomenon appeared in both results of survey and focus group, that they said relaxation and exploration are their purposes of travel, however, most people prioritised taking nice photos and 35% consider worth to share and photogenicity of a place appealing to them. Also, 71% of them would edit and photoshop photos purposely to have a better presence on social media. Perhaps, exploration and relaxation are not truly the motivations for people to travel, whilst the real purpose is to travel â&#x20AC;&#x153;to showâ&#x20AC;? as social shareability is a new value currency for them (Hosie, 2017).

The meaning of happiness.

Chapter 3.

Definition of social media & area of research Charateristics of social media Impacts on consumers Happiness built on social media

THE IMPACT OF SOCIALMEDIA

The impact of social media.

Definition of social media

& area of research Social media refers to online applications in which user-generated content is created and shared efficiently, and in real-time. (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Hudson, 2019), such as social networking site: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Tumblr and instant messaging site: Snapchat, they both allow users to share active consumption of experience, that later becomes a set of memories, perfectly timelined and virtually exists in cyberspace (Berezan, Krishen, Agarwal & Kachoo, 2016). Business-related social networking site, such as LinkedIn will not be included in this research. Noted that blogs and websites that own by individuals to share thoughts and life journey will also be included.

The impact of social media.

Characteristics of social media Social media was invented along with web 2.0 which refers to â&#x20AC;&#x153;rich web applications, web-oriented architecture, and social webâ&#x20AC;?(Lipika, 2016). It marked the start of a new generation, as it brought enormous changes to the world.

Visual-based

Broadcast

Firstly, social media encourages visual communication. Visual content is a fundamental element on social media, as platforms are fully filled by images such as Instagram and Tumblr. There are also platforms offering a mix of text and images such as Facebook and Twitter(Highfield & Leaver, 2016). As a matter of fact, there are over 2 million videos uploaded on social media every day(Hausman, 2017), given the importance of social media, the sharing of visuals became crucial to connect with others as well as to identify and construct a sense of self (Russmann, Svensson, 2017).

Besides visuals communication, social media also provide a wide range of audience. It allows users to break the limit of location to share their experiences(Duan & Dholakia, 2018). With the help of hashtag, it can bring higher visibility and exposure to a wider audience. Not only be seen within individualsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; social circle but also to worldwide users.

The impact of social media.

Immediacy Immediacy is also one of the characteristics of social media(Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Users can upload or share their content at any time and place when they are convenient and comfortable with(Sun et al., 2006), which encourage more users to share their own immediate experiences because of its flexibility and comfort, with over 70 % of social media posts are immediate experiences of users (Naaman, Boase, & Lai, 2010). Moreover, the function of archive further increases flexibility by enabling users to have the power to control the period of time of their content(Hung & Li, 2007).

User-generated content Traditionally, consumers accept information and content directly from advertising or word-of-mouth. However, social media has created user-generated content(UGC) that allows audiences to receive information through other individuals which believed to be more authentic(Macdonald, 2019). With consumers found out that UGC is 9.8 times more impactful than other content when making purchases decision (Stackla, 2019). Thus, UGC has more credibility on social media and consumers tend to believe it.

The impact of social media.

Impacts on consumers Travel intention These characteristics have brought a huge convenience to consumers, at the same time, influencing the meaning of travel for consumers. As the importance of visual communication arises, posting images becomes a way to express themselves and connect with others. Under this context, travel experiences become shareable, with 70% of content online is travel related. Moreover, from the survey(See appendix), nearly 80% of participants share their travel experiences on social media. In addition, WeSwap has surveyed 2000 consumers ageing from 18 to 34 year old, and 31% of them stating that posting holiday snaps online was as important as the holiday itself. It is clear that social media has brought a massive influence on travel and reshaping consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; travel intention.

70%

of social media content is travel related.

80%

of people share their travel experiences on socia media

31%

of people think posting holiday snaps online was as important as the holiday itself.

The impact of social media.

La Fleur Cafe in Malaysia

Airbnb Instagram Photograpgy Photo taken in Amsterdam

Because of the influences, travel “to show” becomes a new trend and a crucial factor for consumers choosing a holiday destination (Hosie, 2017). Millennials are being influenced the most, a study from Independent (2017) revealed that 40% of millennials choose a travel location based on its instagrammability, which also means, social shareability. Data collected and analysed from the focus group(see appendix) shows that 4 out of 9 individuals prioritise “Taking nice photo” as top three of their travel intentions. Different industries are also attracting more tourists by changing their designs and styles into more Insta-friendly look, some of the areas are intended to be photographed. For instance, cafes that are filled with decorations and themes: La Fleur Cafe in Malaysia, inspired by unicorns and the colour pink and serve unicorn-themed sweet treats and drinks. For the travel industry, Airbnb provides personal Instagram shooting services for travellers to enjoy the travel journey, at the same time, have professional photos to share. The society and industries are making a change to suit consumers’ interests, which to be certain that travel “to show” is an absolute fact happening towards consumers’ travel intention.

The impact of social media.

New currency of conspcuous consumption Consumption-related posting behaviour Social media has provided opportunities for consumers to create their own content (UGC), which also “transformed users from passive to active consumers who create content about products and consumption experiences” (Hutton 2012) ,as known as consumption-related posting behaviour (CPB), this behaviour on social media can be described as a behaviour that allows consumers to express feelings and/or ideas and views about their purchases or interested consumption items on social media platforms (Duan & Dholakia, 2018). CPB often driven by the motivation to “express oneself and attract attention as well as to interact with others or to show off wealth/social status” (Duan & Dholakia, 2018).

The impact of social media.

Digotal conspicuous consumption

As discussed in the literature review, social interaction is a big source of happiness, while experiential purchases are more likely to provide more chances of social interactions(Caprariello & Reis, 2012) and tend to be more socially acceptable because of its nature (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003), this developed a social norms that experiences are not only socially acceptable but more likely to be socially expected over material items (Wallman, 2015). By reason of the features of social media and the social norms, travel experiential purchases may generally be more often to be displayed and shared as

The immediacy and broadcast features advocated consumers to share and comm unicate consumption activities in real time, and this further create and promote a new, digital method of conspicuous consumption for consumers, especially for higher-materialism consumers( will be discussed in chapter 4) to communicate their purchases. (Duan & Dholakia, 2018). SImilar to CPB, Conspicuous consumption refers to â&#x20AC;&#x153;a practice of purchasing goods or services to publicly display wealth rather than to cover basic needs.â&#x20AC;? (The Economic Times, 2020).

The impact of social media.

Impacts on Indutries There is an interlinked connection between consumers and industries, how consumers behave affects strategies and operations of an industry. Therefore, from an industrial perspective, the changing in consumers behaviour can be further proved.

Hospitality & Travel indutry

The Silo Hotel, Cape Town Source: Instagram @Lucy.halfhead

Cmaya Bali Source: Instagram @the_escape_ artists

The impact of social media.

Beauty app industry

Unfold - an app that allows users to create social media layouts and post it to Instagram directly.

Meitu - A multifunctions beauty app with the features of makeup, filters, stickers and retouching, frame, collage, etc.

From the above changes of industries, it is undeniably that consumers have shifted travel intention in which how moments being captured and their social media presence are what they pay attention to.

The impact of social media.

Happiness built on social media As mentioned before, millennials are the generation that influenced by social media mostly, as they live life online (Menon, 2018). For millennials, they are in a life stage where self-identity is forming, in which their identify construction and self-enhancement are developed by getting insights on their activities on social media(Doster, 2013). Based on the survey(see appendix), nearly 40% of participants agreed to that social media express their identity, a participant stated that his/her social media account well represented him/her as a frequent traveller.

Consumers appeared to have the conspicuous consumption and posting behaviour of their travel experiential purchases on social media, and it is entirely on account of its association with happiness.

Self-actualisation Another participant also said that social media is a social outlet to the world where he/she can express what he/she is up to these days. While some disagree, because social media cannot fully express his/her identity, as they are controllable on their content. To a certain point, social media can build up and show oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity online, whether it is fully of partly, and the pursuing of self-actualisation lead to happiness.

The impact of social media.

Belongingness & Love

The needs of autonomy and competence involves the ability to control one’s life and environment, also represents a sense of freedom (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Consumers are in the driving seats now that they are able to create and share any of their favourable content, they have the ownership of their social media that allows them to choose who to follow and what to like. Research shows that well-being, relationship quality and happiness depends on the satisfaction of these psychological needs,

Self-determination is a theory that fulfilling the three basic psychological needs (relatedness, autonomy, and competence) can lead to growth, different behaviours and wellbeing(Ryan & Deci, 2000; Sheldon, Abad, & Hinsch, 2011). Where social media is an ideal place for consumers to achieve these needs. Relatedness is associated with the feeling of belongingness, namely “the need to connect with and develop close and affectionate relationships with others”.(Berezan, Krishen, Agarwal, & Kachroo, 2018)

Esteem Needs Besides the needs of belongingness and selfgrowth, social media can also achieve consumers’ esteem needs. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, esteem needs consists of achievement, status and reputation. Posting consumption experiences like travel is a way of showing off wealth in order to maintain social status (Duan & Dholakia, 2018). With 80% of participants feel content/ happy letting others know how they spent their holidays. In addition, the rarity principle, also promote the sharing of experiential purchases on social media, as it suggested the idea that the bigger the contrast of amount of people who have access to something, and the amount of people who know about it, the rarer and valuable the object is (Wallman, 2015). While travel experiences are often less comparable and unique, because everyone can own the same material items but not undergo the same experiences they had. Thus, posting travel experiences can lead to superiority, maintain social status, and finally lead to happiness.

Social media is a platform for social interaction, its features also enable users to make connections with others, by tagging, following, likes, and comments, beyond the geographic limitations. Same results appeared in the survey, participants explained that they share travel experiences on social media in exchange with likes, positive comments and topics to share with friends. Indicated that consumers gain happiness through their virtual lives on social media.

The impact of social media.

"Anyone can buy most material goods, but not everyone can be at the event you are Instagramming a picture from.â&#x20AC;? (Wallman, 2015)

The impact of social media.

Chapter 4.

The origin and the new materialism Validity of the new materialism A cycle model

07 THE NEW MATERIALISM

The new materialism.

The origin and the new materialism

Materialism is described as a tendency to view tangible material items as the necessary means to reach important life goals and desired end states (Richins & Dawson, 1992).

Higher-materialism consumers tend to maintain social status and gain happiness from showing off the materials they have (Sundies et al., 2011), which have a limited audience, as the audience are usually within his/her social circle. However, there has been a shift in recent years, the increased emphasis on personal values has embraced â&#x20AC;&#x153;experienceâ&#x20AC;?, where experientialism is what everyone expected to have, from personal values of experiences to buying experiences. The concept of experience over material items is wide-spreaded since the upsurge of social media.

The new materialism

72%

of people post vacation photos on social media while they are still on vacation.

of travellers update their Facebook status when on vacation.

70%

The rise of social media has lead to a massive change in the society. The constant connectivity and visual-based, as well as immediacy and broadcast features advocated the idea of sharing. Since then, consumers started to record and share every detail of their daily activities, especially when they are travelling, with 72% of people post vacation photos on social media while they are still on vacation, and 70% of travellers update their facebook status when on vacation (Expert Commentator, 2017).

The new materialism.

Under this context, experiences became a valuable social currency, and created a new kind of conspicuous consumption. Before social media, the fastest and most effective way for higher-materialism consumers to show their status is to display their possessions, because there was no way to let strangers know what they did and what they have achieved. A material possession can deliver a more convincing status than an experience.

However, the special features of social media c hanged the whole concept of conspicuous consumption, where experience, whic h offline cannot be kept as possessions, can be saved and shown on social media like material purc hases (Duan & Dholakia, 2018). Travel were hard to display publicly through word of mouth, but with social media, the travel experiences can put forth beyond individualsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; social circle. As a result, higher-materialism consumers can utilise a bigger and ric her consumption items to signal their success and maintain social status.

The new materialism.

THE NEW MATERIALISM

The above phenomenon has proven that under the influences of social media, materialism is no longer showing status and gaining happiness only by possessing tangible items, but also intangible things such as travel experiences. Therefore, the transformed materialism can be declared as the new materialism.

The new materialism.

The validity of the new materialism How higher-materialism consumers associates with conspicuous consumption Social media usage and consumptionrelated posting behaviour positively predicts materialism (Kamal, Chu, & Pedram, 2013). Based on the primary research, the level of materialism affect the level of digital conspicuous consumption. Participants in the focus group were asked to complete two tests (Materialistic level and level of digital conspicuous consumption), the marks of each test indicate the level of materialism and digital consumption, the higher the marks, the higher the level. The results are: 43,43; 42,55; 38,40; 29,27; 29,18 etc.

The results illustrated that the two sides are complementary to each other, an individual with highermaterialistic level tends to have higher level of digital conspicuous consumption, and vice versa. Thus, digital conspicuous consumption is often associated with highmaterialism consumers.

The new materialism.

How travel intentions associates with digital conspicuous consumption

Travel "to show" The previous chapter mentioned about how social media influences consumers’ travel intention, creating a new trend “travel to show”. Refer to chapter 2, 35% of respondents see social shareability and photogenicity of a place an incentive to travel and 31% said that posting holiday photos is as important as the trip itself (Millennials Holiday, 2018). Other primary research also shows that photo taking is the priority and one of consumers’ travel purposes. Interviewee A said that her moods depend on whether or not she can take beautiful photos to post on Instagram. Also, when prioritising travel intention, 4 out of 9 participants in the focus group, prioritise taking nice photos as top three of their intentions. Moreover, during the observational trip, observanda A and B, instantly left the travel spot once they finished taking photos, meaning that their only mission or intention to go to a tourist spot is photo taking. The above research supports the fact that there are quite an amount of consumers would consider taking photos as a goal and intention of travel. This behaviour can be identified as the process of “gaining experience” or “evidence making” for the next procedure - posting on social media.

The new materialism.

Posting on social media The posting behaviour is an act of showing experiences or evidence on social media, in order to maintain social status and gain happiness by fulfilling their needs of selfactualisation, esteem, as well as belongingness and love (mentioned in chapter 3). With 78% of consumers feel content/happy to let others know how they spent their holidays travelling, and 43% said that will not go on a holiday without checking in, making sure their followers can see their travels. Furthermore, consumers want to present their travels in a more ideal and perfect way. Therefore, 71% of consumers will edit/photoshop their travel photos purposely to have a better presence on social media. Even editing photos during travel, observandum A has spent an average of 3hr40m on photo editing app daily during the trip and 6hr54m on social networking sites. A further follow up of observandum A, she explained that posting a perfect photo on social media builds up her confidence, and seeing an ideal version of herself on social media makes her happy and motivated.

The new materialism.

With the support of both secondary and primary research, it is clear that a certain amount of consumers consider travel as a source for them to take nice photos, and post on social media, in order to gain confidence, show off and develop self-concept, which is similar to the statement of new materialism, that through social media, consumers are able to objectified intangible things (travel experientialism) to share, and achieve the needs of self-actualisation, esteem as well as belongingness and love, and finally, to gain happiness.

The new materialism.

A cycle model While analysing the data, a cycle of new materialism has been discovered. Figure 5 demonstrated the relationship among social media, higher-materialism consumers, travel and digital conspicuous consumption. The features of social media encouraged the idea of sharing and provide platforms for consumers to objectify experiences, thus, inspired higher-materialism consumers to gain experiences from travel to show off, develop social status on social media, which lead to digital conspicuous consumption. The happiness built on social media further encourages highermaterialism consumers to repeat their behaviour.

The new materialism.

A Cycle Model of the New Materialism

Travel "to show"

Higher -materialism consumers

Social Media

Digitial conspicuous consumption

Happiness built on social media

(Wong, 2020)

& recommendations.

Conclusion

Conclusion.

To conclude. The results of this study show that social media is truly turning travel into a materialistic source. The literature review provided an insight that experiential purchases produce greater happiness over material purchases, and one of the causes is that experience is likely to provide more chances of social interactions (Caprariello & Reis, 2012). Social interactions are strong and leading sources of happiness, with this social nature, experiences become more valuable as it is more likely to discuss with others and develop a feeling of connection (Caprariello & Reis, 2012; Pinel, Long, Landau, Alexander, & Pyszczynski, 2006).

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. The findings supported the fact that social interactions are the key source of happiness. Therefore, the first chapter further looked into the meaning of happiness. Different researchers have different definitions of happiness. For instance, Maslow (1943) suggested that happiness can be achieved when one has fulfilled the hierarchy of needs, whic h are biological and physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs and self-actualisation, etc. Diener (2009) and other researchers suggested happiness involves two components whic h are affective (pleasant emotions) and cognitive components (life satisfaction). Some also mentioned to measure happiness by testing the hedonic levels. The academic studies provide diverse opinions on happiness that facilitate the discussion on later chapters.

The following c hapter stated the rapid growth in the tourism sector, and analysed the motivations and purposes of travel. The most interesting finding is that 70% of the social media content are related to travel, moreover, consumers claimed that relaxation and exploration are their purposes of travel. However, some of them prioritised taking nice photo as their travel priority instead of relax and explore. The contradictory results were caused by social media, based on its influences on consumers.

Conclusion.

Chapter 3. Chapter 3 mentioned that social media boosted visual communication as most of the platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook are image-based, Instead of texts, images started to become an essential element, used as an evidence. The flexibility and comfort brought by the features of immediacy and broadcast also encouraged consumers to share their lives on public online platforms. And most importantly, consumers are able to create user-generated content, which allows them to share their consumption experiences. These features facilitated the consumptionrelated posting behaviour, which is also a digital form of conspicuous consumption, where consumers can show off their purchases to a wide audience in a very short time (Duan & Dholakia, 2018). Through this behaviour, consumers receive happiness from on social media, by fulfilling the esteem needs ( showing off, status, superiority, reputation) (Duan & Dholakia, 2018); belongness and love needs (relatedness, competence and autonomy)(Ryan & Deci, 2000; Sheldon, Abad, & Hinsch, 2011), as well as selfactualisation(building or expressing identity)(Doster, 2013).

Chapter 4.

The final chapter has shown the complementary relationship between highermaterialism consumers and digital conspicuous consumption. Due to the features of social media, higher-materialism consumers are no longer limited by showing off material items, but also the â&#x20AC;&#x153;objectifiedâ&#x20AC;? travel experiences. Thus, forming the new materialism, which is a moderated form of materialism. And assuredly, to a large extent that travel experiences are becoming a new materialistic source.

Recommendations.

The Future Scenario Axis

Fake To travel physically and make fake content to show off on social media

Embrace the virtual reality, and travel digitally, allows fake and edited content on social media

Physical Virtual Want to be physically there and experience authentic culture, connecting with people

Do not mind to travel digitally, as long as they can still explore the real world with technology.

Authentic

Recommendations.

Recommendation. The future scenario axis and PESTLE(see appendix) were used to develop a prediction of future market and evaluate the possibility of each scenario. Results from the future scenarios axis suggested four future directions of the market. Each of them has a certain possibility to happen which can be narrow down in stage 2. It is crucial to note that the all aspects of PESTLE will make influences to the travel industry, especially the environmental factors, technological factors, as well as social factors. With the rising awareness of environmental problems, more and more consumers changed their consumption behaviour, such as using reusable straw and eating less meat. In the travel industry, the high-end staycation and eco-conscious hotel as well as e-tourism are emerging (LSN Global, 2020), aiming to lessen the carbon emission and pollution. In the long term, in order to prevent further damage to the environment, digital travel may possibly be true However, under the experience economy, and the convenience brought by technology, such as the personalising passenger journeys with wearables and IoT and enhanced passenger experience with AR and VR (WNS, 2020), facilitate consumers to travel. The experience emphasis also encourage consumers to be physically immerse themselves into new and exciting things. Thus, travel physically is still very possible in the future.

References.

Appendix Refereneces Bibliography Illustrations

Appendix 1

(Survey)

Appendix 2

(Observation & Interbiew)

06 January 2020 Observanda A

Observanda B

07 January 2020 Observanda A

Observanda B

08 January 2020 Observanda A

Observanda B

09 January 2020 Observanda A

Observanda B

Interview with observanda A Q: It appears to you that you spend quite a lot of time on social media and photos editing app, what leads to that? A: I just feel missing out and checking on social media it is kind of a habit already. And I use a lot of photo editing app because I want to post a perfect photo of me on social media, I feel Q: Do you think you enjoy this journey? A: Yes, got to spend time with friends, and all ofm y friends like taking photos, all paying effort to help each other to take nice photos makes us all happy. Q: Do you realise that you left every tourist spot immediately A: To be honest, no, I don't, but without taking photos, it seems pointless to me to go there, just staring at the views.

100

Appendix 3

(Focus group)

Part 1 - Happiness mindmap

Part 2 Materialistic test

101

Results: Participant A: 42,55 Participant B: 42,34 Participant C: 29,27 Participant D: 4343 Participant E: 40,43 Participant F: 41,35 Participant G: 38,40 Participant H: 39,32 Participant I: 29,18

Part 3 Choosing destinations

102

103

Q1) Choose which two photos (1-10) you want to go to and why Participant B Photo 6 and Photo 10 because I like seeing a good view when sleeping and when wake up, it would feel refreshing. Also, both places look like not many people there (won't disturb). Both places can broaden my horizon Participant E Photo 1 because I want to experience hot-air balloon. Sky looks beautiful, not just plain blue. And when go up, can take photos looking down, the photo structure/composition will look pretty. Also looks like not everywhere can experience hot-air balloon. Photo 2 because I like camping and the night sky. Participant F feel like good weather and temperature and sunny and wild camping Photo 7 because comparing number 6 and 7, beach looks salty (â&#x20AC;Ś.) 7 looks like hotel, good environment, good view and not many people there (won't disturb) Q. Why not Photo 2? A. Because looks photoshopped, real life won't be like that Participant G Photo 6 and 7 because both have sea and I love the sea. I like resorts, look like will have good service. Also seems very relaxing and can do nothing for a few days. Why not choose others because they look more like hard work travelling, have to walk, but 6 and 7 are hotels, more relaxing. Participant C Photo 2 because of nature and the authentic experience. It also looks romantic. Photo 6 because I love the sea, breathing next to the sea. My type of travel is doing nothing. Participant A Photo 9 because it looks "Instagrammable" because it is colourful and looks artistic. Photo 8 because I like music festivals and drinking. Also (the yoga photo) looks

104

Participant H Photo 6 because I like the feeling of lying on the bed and feeling wind and sunset, relaxing, not doing much. Can go for a swim anytime I want, and seems can take a shower after swimming. Photo 2 because I like camping, because I like seeing the view. If I do go there I do wish I go with a friend because with camping, two or three people can have chats, heart-toheart deeper chats. Participant I Photo 6 and 7 because both places look like will serve proper food, other places look like won't do that. Other places look not wealthy/enough money. Only 6 and 7 look like hotel, can guarantee good food. I like nature and hotel environment. Participant D Photos 5 because relaxing and pretty with the lights, peaceful, romantic. Photo 7 because very relaxing and sunny

Part 4 Travel priorities 1 Take nive photos 2 Good food 3 Learn/Explore something 4 Relaxation 5 Experience culture 6 Exclusive 7 With companions 8 Shopping

Results: Participant A: 1 > 7 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 3 > 2 > 8 Participant B: 7 > 2 > 4 > 1 > 3 > 6 > 8 >5 Participant C: 5 > 4 > 3 > 7 > 6 > 2 > 1 > 8 Participant D: 1 > 2 > 3 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 7 > 8 Participant E: 1 > 4 > 3 > 5 > 7 > 2 > 6 > 8 Participant F: 7 > 2 > 5 > 3 > 4 > 1 > 6 > 8 Participant G: 1 > 2 > 4 > 3 > 5 > 7 > 6 > 8 Participant H: 7 > 3 > 4 > 6 > 5 > 1 > 2 > 8 Participant I: 7 > 2 > 4 > 6 > 1 > 3 > 8 > 5

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Part 5 social media "like" standard

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With each of the rest of the photos, choose which ones you think deserve most likes and which ones don't. Vote as a group and say why

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