Are Rich and Diverse Emotions Beneficial? The Impact of Emodiversity on Tourists' Experiences

Emotion is an important topic in tourism research; however, its complexity has prevented researchers from providing a complete picture. Prior research has covered aspects such as valence and specific emotion, but diversity of emotions (i.e., emodiversity) is missing. Emodiversity becomes particularly important in tourism, considering that people experience more diverse emotions during vacation than when at home. We introduce the concept of emodiversity and demonstrate how and why it is beneficial for tourists' well-being. The effect of emodiversity is valid for both positive and negative emotions. The findings shed light on a new way to perceive emotions; rather than simply selling positive emotions for the sake of pleasantness, tourism managers should reconceptualize tourism as "emodiversity-seeking" instead of "pleasure-seeking" experiences.