Divorcing after Holidays: From Sacredness to Post-Vacation Blues Syndrome

Introduction

Tourism has expanded worldwide due to two main factors, which are associated to its economic growth and the working condition improvements accelerated by the end of WWII. Today, for many family’s holidays represent an acquired right not only because it liberates peoples from working rules, but consigning memorable moments. As a social mechanism of escapement, tourism revitalizes the psychological frustrations of daily life. Although some interesting studies focused on the daily habits or behavior during consuming leisure, less attention was given to tourism as a sacred-space (Krippendorf 1982; 2010; Deem, 1996; Urry, 1988; Korstanje & Busby, 2011). The metaphor of tourism as lost-paradise still remains unchecked (Korstanje & Busby 2011; Korstanje 2009; Cantallops & Cardona 2015). If tourism is characterized by a temporal stage where pleasure is maximized, what happens whenever the subject should be returned to working life, is one of the aspects now are being discussed by specialists and therapists. The concept of post-vocational syndrome, a pathology which ranges from depression towards divorce, is being explored by psychology. Some original hypotheses infer that holiday-makers suffer some cognitive adjustments, at time they are rechanneled to the routine, from where they departed. The conceptualization of holidays as a lost Eden bespeaks of an eternal state of prosperity where all needs are fulfilled. As an ideal stage, holidays generate higher expectances sometimes are conjoined to violent reactions, when ideals do not match with reality. Even if the symptomatology of Post vacation-syndrome is very hard to grasp, some voices speculates there is some unstudied connection between the rate of divorces and holidays. Here two questions are raised, are people divorcing after returning from their holidays? to what extent tourism plays a crucial role in this process of disruption?

The goal of this chapter aims at discussing the negative effects of post vacation syndrome in order for policy makers to conduct efficient instrument of advertising. The fact is that efforts and sophistications of advertising sometimes produce idealized image of destinations that produce serious reactions when are suspended. We are daily bombarded by suggestive advertising whose primary aim is the conditioning of consumption, however, under some context, between the idealized image of the product and our possibilities there is a gap. The growing number of divorces may be very well a key factor that is accelerated by the divergence of cognitive dissonances caused by marketing and tourism-management.