This thesis has endeavoured to explore the relationship between escapism and hyper-connectivity in the youth tourism context, and the theory of happiness has been proposed as an analytical tool to decipher this understudied field through the establishment of 6 hypotheses, with an innovative and interdisciplinary perspective that might enlighten future research directions. “Is hyperconnectivity negatively influencing escapism in youth tourism context?”, is the central research question which over-arches 6 hypotheses and was evaluated through a qualitative semi-structured interview research method.
This research found that hyper-connectivity appeared to be a motivator of escapism after the termination of a tourism event through a cyclical pattern, and young travellers are fully aware of its burden or even completely adapted to the internet connection and mobile devices as suggested by the theory of hedonic adaptation. Furthermore, for young travellers, the reason that hyperconnectivity is not necessarily perceived as a disruptor to their tourism experience is because of the construction of a place which represents an alternative way of living, extraordinariness, ambience of liberation and sense of freedom through their individual and subjective imagination.
Sometimes, as participants suggested, whether hyper-connectivity is considered as a burden for escapism is dependent upon the person with whom they communicate during a leisure event, perhaps irrespective of their happiness orientations. Therefore, based on this qualitative and exploratory research, hyper-connectivity does not sabotage the tourism experience for young travellers, because firstly, they think they are in full command of their connection, and secondly, when travelling, people escape into a utopia that is beyond the reach of both time and spacetranscending connection, since it cannot penetrate the barrier of an imagination.
Key Words: Hyper-connectivity; Escapism; Youth Tourism; Happiness Orientation
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