Sacrifice for Love: The Effects of Compromise on Individual Emotional Benefits in Romantic Tourism

Abstract

Romantic tourism has emerged as an important segment, where tourists have a strong drive to compromise with partners to maintain good relations. But it’s not clear how this influences their feelings. Based on expectancy theory, this study reveals how different types of unilateral compromise influence their emotional benefits, and explores the special role played by social cues and anonymity in the tourism context. A field experiment and an online experimental survey were conducted. The main findings include: (1) social cues attenuate the negative effects of psychological reactance-based compromise (i.e., tourists feel better when they treat compromise as a non-verbal message of love). (2) The negative feelings generated by stereotype-based compromise can be reduced in a highly anonymous tourism environment. These findings suggest that by managing tourists’ expectations of compromise and designing interactive, indulgent, and immersive activities, a more enjoyable experience and higher emotional benefits can be created for romantic tourists.