Therapeutic benefits of dining out, traveling, and drinking: Coping strategies for lonely consumers to improve their mood

Abstract

The people in modern societies have found to be more lonely due to longer life span, rising single-person household, and disconnected interpersonal networks. Recently has research begun to shed light on how this phenomenon influences consumers' compensatory consumption to cope with negative moods caused by loneliness. The hospitality and tourism industries need a better understanding of the ways in which their products and services (e.g. dining-out, traveling, and drinking alcohol) provide opportunities for consumers to cope with such loneliness. Thus, this study explored the benefits of hospitality and tourism experiences for individuals who dine out, travel, and drink as a means of coping with feelings of loneliness. Hence, the goals of the current study are threefold: (1) to examine if loneliness influences consumers to engage in consumption in order to cope with their feelings, (2) to compare age-related differences in coping strategies related to loneliness, and (3) to investigate the therapeutic benefits of dining out, traveling, and drinking across loneliness levels. The results of this study suggest that traveling and dining-out can provide significant 'therapeutic benefits' by repairing feelings of loneliness.