Happiness and Outdoor Vacations Appreciative versus Consumptive Tourists

Abstract

Recently particular attention has been devoted to the relationship between leisure activities and subjective well-being. Less attention has been dedicated to tourism as a life satisfaction domain, despite it being one of the most relevant leisure activities. The aim of this article is to contribute to expanding this line of investigation. Building on the Dunlap and Heffernan hypothesis and employing activity-based segmentation, it verifies to what extent environmental attitudes are related to activities that tourists perform during their vacation, and whether a relationship exists between the activities performed and life satisfaction. The hypothesis is that tourists involved in more appreciative activities are normally more concerned about the environment, more beneficial for host territories, and happier. The article demonstrates that a positive association exists between these aspects and the way tourists “use” nature.