Validating the satisfaction with travel scale and measuring long-distance recreational travel satisfaction

Abstract

The study of long-distance recreational travel is limited, despite its importance in both travel behavior and tourism literature. To aid the literature, this study validates the existing satisfaction with travel scale (STS)—which has been mostly used and validated for commute and daily travel—and investigates the factors affecting travel satisfaction. The data was collected from a questionnaire survey of visitors to US national parks conducted in the Summer of 2022, and a structural equation modeling framework was used for analyses. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested a three-factor structure with two affect-related factors—positive deactivation and positive activation—and a third factor (cognitive evaluation) related to valence and cognitive assessment of travel experience. The proposed measurement scale for long-distance recreational travel satisfaction could be used by tourism studies to investigate the interrelationships between travel satisfaction and tourism satisfaction, which could offer ways to increase the sustainability of tourism destinations. Structural equation model results show that socio-demographics, general travel attributes, trip-specific characteristics, travel-based activities, travel time perception, and attitudes are directly related to travel satisfaction. In addition to these direct effects, socio-demographic and general travel attributes are related to travel satisfaction indirectly through attitudinal characteristics (driving enjoyment and polychronicity). This investigation revealed a few differences in commute and long-distance travel behaviors: mostly the impacts of age, income, and travel duration on travel satisfaction. Based on the study results, it is also speculated that future autonomous vehicles would be a favorable choice for long-distance recreational travelers only if the option of manual driving is possible in those vehicles.