It doesn’t matter if you are traveling with nothing more than a backpack or making a reservation at a luxury hotel – all travel experiences positively influence your health and provide you with a significant boost in endorphins.
For some people, the joy it brings can overcome other important events in their lives, such as getting married or having a child. And a Booking.com survey confirmed that people value travel so much that it even topped the list of things that bring them the greatest happiness in life!
We summarized the results of this curious study and we’d love to discuss them with you.
Traveling Gives You An Immediate Happiness Boost
To get the right results, Booking.com interviewed 17,000 people who came from 17 countries so they could have a more diverse attitude towards travel.
Respondents confirmed that very few things can replace vacations when it comes to happiness. For example, 77% of people said they book a vacation when they need to improve their mood immediately.
Traveling Can Bring More Happiness Than Some Other Important Life Events
The most intriguing part of this study is that people claimed to value travel far more than their loved ones and even happy events in their lives.
49% of those surveyed said they felt a higher level of happiness when they planned and went on vacation than on their wedding day!
Almost half of the people interviewed said that dating their partner doesn’t uplift them as emotionally as traveling. 45% said that engagement did not give them as much emotional boost as traveling.
Even having a baby did not provide 29% of the respondents with enough of an endorphin rush!
Buying Things Can’t Provide You With That Much Joy
We also found that people enjoy new experiences more than having a lot of material things. 70% of those surveyed said that going on vacation gives them satisfaction that lasts much longer than the happiness they get from buying things.
It seems that people are willing to sacrifice their comfort for new travel experiences.
For example, 56% of respondents prefer to go on vacation to buy new clothes or appliances, and 48% are willing to put off home renovations to visit new places.
Even Planning A Vacation Improves Our Emotional Well-being
Surprisingly, 72% of respondents, just start planning vacations to feel happier. For example, 80% are more excited when they just look at a map and choose the places they would like to visit.
6 out of 10 respondents feel an emotional boost when reading hotel reviews and imagining their future trips.
However, nothing can replace shopping: More than half of those surveyed said buying clothes for the holidays is one of the biggest mood swings.
Can you relate to the results of the study? Have you ever had a life-changing travel experience? Share your stories in the comments!
