Webcam travel: A preliminary examination of psychological well-being

Abstract

Travel has been identified as a significant contributor to psychological well-being. The recent COVID-19 global pandemic disrupted travel patterns and behaviours, thereby negatively affecting the psychological health and well-being of those involved. With accelerating technology use, multiple forms of virtual tourism have emerged as alternatives to physical travel, including travel via webcam. Webcam travel has received limited scholarly attention, despite the unique capacity of global place-based webcams to offer cost-free, real-time viewing of places and destinations. Similarly, there has been limited research on how participation in webcam travel influences psychological well-being. This research note examines how the digital experience accelerates the hedonic and eudaimonic psychological well-being of webcam viewers by proposing a new model – Webcam Travel DREAMA (detachment-recovery, engagement, affiliation, meaning and achievement) model. The findings provide a better understanding of webcam travel and psychological well-being, establishing potential directions for future researchers.