Only Time Will Tell: Unraveling the Temporal Effect of Negative Affective Encounters in Diaspora Tourism

Abstract

Recently, researchers have begun to investigate the role of negative encounters, emotions and feelings in tourism and leisure activities. However, the temporal effects of negative encounters are still underexplored. This research consists of two studies that were conducted longitudinally. Study one investigated the overall visiting experience of 50 multi-generational Chinese diaspora tourists; study two interviewed 22 former participants who touched on negative experiences in their ancestral hometown eight years ago. Three scenarios of how these tourists re-interpreted negative affective encounters were identified. The findings suggest diaspora tourists’ perceptions of negative encounters transform over time, depending on their life trajectory, earlier experiences, attitudes, further exposures to Chinese culture and values, and the meanings they obtained from their negative encounters. This research is among the first to examine the temporal effects of negative experiences longitudinally, opening up for future considerations of the temporal contingencies of negative encounters in the tourism experience.