Current Issues in Tourism

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Anticipatory nostalgia in experience design

Yoy Bergs, Ondrej Mitas, Bert Smit & Jeroen Nawijn

To cite this article: Yoy Bergs, Ondrej Mitas, Bert Smit & Jeroen Nawijn (2019): Anticipatory
nostalgia in experience design, Current Issues in Tourism, DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2019.1669539

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CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM
https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2019.1669539

Anticipatory nostalgia in experience design

Yoy Bergsa, Ondrej Mitasb, Bert Smita and Jeroen Nawijnb
a
Academy of Hotel and Facility Management, Breda University of Applied Sciences, Breda, Netherlands; bAcademy
for Tourism, Breda University of Applied Sciences, Breda, Netherlands

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

The tourism industry tries to strategically manage a customer’s experience Received 29 March 2019
by carefully designing, staging and managing the customer journey, in Accepted 14 September 2019
order to create a memorable experience. But what if that memory
KEYWORDS
already has its onset during the experience itself? In this article, we Anticipatory nostalgia;
introduce the concept of ‘anticipatory nostalgia’ and define it as a experience construct;
moment immediately after a peak moment in the experience, which experience design; emotion
entails the creation of a mental image of a future moment in time that measurement; emotion
is accompanied by an emotional response. We present a theoretical theory
model to explicate a process in which anticipatory nostalgia can
enhance the meaningfulness and memorability of an experience. We
reason that anticipatory nostalgia is characterized by a joyous feeling yet
followed by the elicitation of sad emotions. This implies that the tourist
already begins to miss aspects of the experience before it is over. This
moment results in a reflection which might replace the joy-sadness
connection with a joy-calmness connection. Thereby, placing more
emphasis on the uniqueness of the total experience. Potential methods
for research are discussed in detail and address the explorative content
analysis of autobiographical narratives and photo-elicited interviews,
complemented by the use of virtual reality vignettes while measuring
several physiological signals.

Introduction
An upsurge in a hunt for experiences rather than products or services in hospitality, tourism and
leisure has occurred in recent years (Smit & Melissen, 2018). There is, however, little clarity
amongst scholars and professionals in the hospitality, tourism and leisure industry of what an experi-
ence fully entails, how such an experience develops within an individual over time, and how specific
elements of an experience turn into memories (Bastiaansen et al., 2019; Tung & Ritchie, 2011). From
the fields of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience, it has been proposed that an
experience is memorable and meaningful when it triggers instantaneous (positive) emotional
responses in the consumer (Kahneman, 2013).
Each experience consists of sensory, cognitive, affective, behavioural and interpersonal elements
(Pearce & Zare, 2017). The emotions that are linked to the memory of the event, situation or encoun-
ter are often triggered by a certain feature of the experience that was different than expected (Smit &
Melissen, 2018) or that lead to some form of learning (Tung & Ritchie, 2011). Some of the purposely
designed, staged and managed experiences can trigger strong emotional responses in customers.
Thus, many experiences have been customized to fit the identities of a specific customer or
segment (Smit & Melissen, 2018). The result of an optimally staged experience is that the customer
indulges in enjoyable recollection of those events after the experience, a feeling described as

CONTACT Yoy Bergs bergs.y@buas.nl

© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 Y. BERGS ET AL.

nostalgia. This feeling allows the consumer to relive the experience via a positive or negative memory
(Schindler & Holbrook, 2003). Consequences associated with nostalgia include, for example, greater
social connectedness (Wildschut, Sedikides, Routledge, Arndt, & Cordaro, 2010), enhanced social
coping and goal-directed strategies (Batcho, 2013) as well as an increased sense of meaning in life
(Routledge et al., 2011). Sedikides, Wildschut, Routledge, and Arndt (2015) argue that nostalgia coun-
ters self-discontinuity and fosters self-continuity, in other words, nostalgia plays a crucial role in re-
enforcing a person’s identity. Businesses and professionals operating in the hospitality, tourism
and leisure industry try to make sure that the experiences they create result in positive nostalgic
memories, in an effort to increase positive word of mouth as well as loyalty (Fatma, 2017; Smit &
Melissen, 2018).
The concept of nostalgia has been widely examined in relevant literature, mainly from a psycho-
logical perspective (e.g. Sedikides, Wildschut, Arndt, & Routledge, 2008; Vess, Arndt, Routledge, Sedi-
kides, & Wildschut, 2012), and in fields of advertising and consumer psychology (Holak & Havlena,
1998; Schindler & Holbrook, 2003). While nostalgia has been proposed to form an integral part of
the customer journey, resulting in nostalgic reminiscing about how the experience was (Fatma,
2017; Schindler & Holbrook, 2003), we offer an alternative perspective in this paper. Unlike previous
research on the concept of nostalgia that considered this notion mostly in light of the post-experi-
ence, we argue that there is a unique feeling called ‘anticipatory nostalgia’ which entails nostalgic
feelings that arise during the experience itself. Knowing that the event that is currently experienced
will be missed at a later point in time, can stimulate a feeling of wanting to hold onto the present
moment, while simultaneously already feeling nostalgic about it (Batcho & Shikh, 2016). This
moment is referred to as anticipatory nostalgia and involves the feeling of ‘missing the present
before it is gone’ […]. Thus ‘anticipatory nostalgia entails the experience of the present along with
an imagined future and an imagined past’ (Batcho & Shikh, 2016, p. 75). Anticipatory nostalgia is,
therefore, not solely a cognition nor an emotional response. We argue that it is a specific moment
in the tourist experience during which the person creates a mental image of a future moment in
time that is accompanied by an emotional response, characterized by a mix of positive and negative
emotions, including sadness. Anticipatory nostalgia has therefore both a cognitive and an affective
component. The overall experience of a tourist would then be influenced by the feeling of a
conflict between the here-and-now and an imagined vantage point in the future. Realizing that
this particular moment will be missed at a later point in time, confronts the tourist with the realization
that he/she needs to re-situate him/herself to ‘everydayness’ once returning home (Kirillova & Lehto,
2015). The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept anticipatory nostalgia in experience
research and to explore it as an important moment in the total experience.
So far, only limited empirical research attempted to examine the concept of anticipatory nostalgia
as a construct distinct from nostalgia (Batcho & Shikh, 2016). Moreover, this conceptual paper is the
first study that introduces anticipatory nostalgia in experience research. This conceptual paper
expands existing theory on experience concepts by looking at the role of anticipatory nostalgia in
the creation of meaningful and memorable experiences. We align our conceptual model with pre-
vious psychological and experience literature (e.g. Bastiaansen et al., 2019; Wirtz, Kruger, Scollon, &
Diener, 2003; Zajchowski, Schwab, & Dustin, 2017) and discuss the role of anticipatory nostalgia as
an integral part of tourist experiences.
Prior research has already demonstrated the usefulness of cognitive psychology for better under-
standing of tourists’ experiences (Skavronskaya et al., 2017). More specifically, cognitive psychology
helps to understand the mental processes that link the perception of certain stimuli with behavioural
responses. We argue that even though anticipatory nostalgia might evoke sad, or bittersweet
emotions, it is this moment of short reflection that represents a valuable experience being trans-
formed into memory. In other words, the moment of anticipatory nostalgia offers a moment of reflec-
tion during which the tourist becomes acutely aware of unconditional freedom during the tourist
experience itself, yet a liminal nature of the experience and functions therefore as an alert mechanism
that helps to emphasize on the uniqueness of the moment and, therefore, helps the tourist to get into
 CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 3

touch with their true selves, fostering self-continuity (Brown, 2013; Sedikides et al., 2015). Conse-
quently, we offer new insight into the question of when and how an experiential episode translates
into a memorable experience, and how the feeling of anticipatory nostalgia is a potential explanatory
mechanism.
In this paper, we first review the literature on experiences and experiential episodes. Then, we
introduce emotions as the core building blocks of an experience (Bastiaansen et al., 2019). Finally,
we explicate anticipatory nostalgia as an intermediary component in the relation between experien-
tial episodes and meaningful and memorable hospitality, tourism and leisure experiences. We con-
clude with a discussion of theoretical and practical insights and possible avenues for future research.

The concept of experiences in hospitality, tourism and leisure

Most of the experiences offered by hospitality, tourism and leisure businesses can be character-
ized as a series of touchpoints (events, situations and encounters) which together form the
so-called customer journey (Tseng, Qinhai, & Su, 1999). Based on Bastiaansen et al.’s model of
experiences (see Figure 1), we argue that this series of touchpoints form a continuous stream
of consciousness to which a consumer responds to (2019). Touchpoints that are different from
what the mental model for the situation predicts receive more attention from the consumer
and trigger a stronger emotional response (e.g. surprise, disappointment, joy). These revised pre-
dictions form the highs and lows throughout the customer journey. Touchpoints linked to such
revised predictions are then remembered better than those that match expectations (Nawijn,
Mitas, Lin, & Kerstetter, 2013). Well-designed hospitality, tourism and leisure experiences create
a customer journey that follows a storyline with a particular dramatic structure. Dramatic struc-
tures borrowed from storytelling traditions are believed to contain an optimal mix of highs and
lows for the most positive overall evaluations (Sax, 2006). Thus, the way emotions develop over
the course of a customer journey is key to translate experiential episodes into a meaningful
and memorable experience.
According to Smit and Melissen (2018), experiences in hospitality, tourism and leisure can be
mapped on two dimensions: short vs. long and memorable vs. transformative. They distinguish
four different types of experiences: (1) peak experiences or memorable encounters, (2) extraordinary
experiences and extended service encounters, (3) transformative experiences and (4) epiphanies
(Smit & Melissen, 2018). Peak experiences and memorable encounters are short-lived events that
are remembered because they triggered (positive) emotions related to a particular touchpoint
(e.g. an excellent dish in a restaurant or reaching the top of a mountain trail) (e.g. Bitner, Booms, &
Tetreault, 1990). Their dramatic structure shows one particular high. The second experience type,

Figure 1. The Breda Model of the experience construct (Bastiaansen et al., 2019).
4 Y. BERGS ET AL.

the extraordinary experience (Arnould & Price, 1993), is long in duration and immersive. These are
remembered as a series of connected events that together create a narrative memory of a trip or
activity (e.g. river rafting), possibly due to a continuous emotional state with various intensities
(e.g. excitement, relaxation). The dramatic structure of extraordinary experiences shows several
highs related to the same (set of) emotions, but no extreme lows. Transformative experiences (Kiril-
lova, Lehto, & Cai, 2017) are also long in duration but are different from extraordinary experiences in
that they impact the knowledge, skills and/or attitudes of a person. This type of experience is some-
times an unintended outcome of a tourist activity (e.g. long-distance hiking), but can also be an
intended outcome, as in some volunteer tourism experiences (Coghlan & Weiler, 2018). The dramatic
structure of this type of experience is similar to extraordinary experiences but also has strong nega-
tive emotions that result in the consumer changing his/her behaviours, attitudes and beliefs. The final
category of experiences: epiphanies are sudden, unexpected, single, sometimes traumatic events
which cause extreme emotions that have a substantial long-term impact on a person’s attitudes,
beliefs and behaviours. Epiphanies can occur in tourism but are not an economic offering in them-
selves and will therefore not be considered further here.

Experiential episodes
Some experiences are clearly more desirable, valuable and memorable than others (Fredrickson,
2000; Mitas, Yarnal, Adams, & Ram, 2012). To understand how a certain experience becomes memor-
able, it is necessary to break the construct of experience into its psychological components. It is
important to note here that the components of experiences do not follow one another in discrete
phases. Rather, they form continuous processes which influence one another (Bastiaansen et al.,
2019). External stimuli, including design elements presented by tourism organizations, such as the
sight of a monument or the sensation of sand on the beach, enter the mind through the five
senses. Next to these external stimuli, internal sensations such as warmth or hunger and the thoughts
of a wandering mind also enter consciousness. Together, internal and external stimuli form our
stream of consciousness – a continuous sense of experiencing (Zajchowski et al., 2017). As human
consciousness is extremely rich, the mind needs a mechanism to segment consciousness into man-
ageable pieces. These pieces are often referred to as experiential episodes. Psychological literature
has argued that persons form mental models (Damasio, 1999), sometimes also called mental con-
cepts or simply concepts (Barrett, 2017), segment a stream of consciousness into an experiential
episode. The concepts of ‘breakfast’ or ‘museum visit’ are such examples that the mind uses to
segment this morning’s breakfast, for example, off from whatever happened before or after.
Mental models are a central concept in Construal Level Theory (CLT) (Trope & Liberman, 2010). Con-
strual Level Theory suggests that persons form mental constructs of distal objects (such as ‘breakfast’)
where psychologically distal events are construed on a higher – abstract – level and proximal events
at a lower – concrete – level (Kyung, Menon, & Trope, 2010). Memories, speculations and predictions
of the future are mental constructions on a more abstract level, which are separate from the actual
present moment (Trope & Liberman, 2010).
Experiential episodes still comprise an overly rich stream of information to be stored in memory.
Consequently, a second mechanism, emotions, is used to select which episodes are sufficiently
meaningful to be worth remembering and acting upon (Prayag, Hosany, Muskat, & Del Chiappa,
2017; Sharot, Delgado, & Phelps, 2004). While emotion continually ebbs and flows in reaction to per-
sonally meaningful stimuli, when the level of emotion during a specific episode reaches a certain
threshold level, it comprises a signal to the mind that something important just happened. The
episode is consequently remembered and triggers a change in behaviour. It has been suggested
that specific experiential episodes can trigger discrete emotions and these emotions, in turn,
create perceptions of satisfaction and content (Torres, Wei, & Hua, 2017). We, therefore, argue that
emotions are the key ingredient that make experiences memorable, meaningful, and supportive
of downstream behaviour.
 CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 5

Emotions and their role in experiences

The study of emotion has a long tradition in psychology and adopts fairly well-established definitions.
The term emotion refers to the specific, short-lived, affective reactions in the human mind, body, and
behaviour towards specific stimuli (Li, Scott, & Walters, 2015). As described in the experience model
earlier, stimuli may be internal or external, but emotions are generally distinguished from other
affective constructs such as moods or trait affect in that emotions necessarily concern a specific
stimulus. In other words, emotions are always about something, rather than coming and going
without an apparent reason. For fuller explanations of this widely accepted definition of emotion,
we refer the reader to Rosenberg (1998) and Jenkins and Oatley (1996).
Before 1998, the bulk of research conceptualizing and explaining emotions emphasized negative
emotions, owing to psychology’s tradition of reducing mental illness as opposed to enhancing well-
being, as well as the relative clarity and simplicity of stimulus-response patterns in negative
emotional episodes. A seminal paper by Fredrickson (1998), proposing an evolutionary explanation
for positive emotions and offering detailed conceptualizations of not only joy, but also interest,
love and contentment, turned the tide. Since then, a significant portion of the positive psychology
movement (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) has been dedicated to the study of positive
emotions. Numerous other positive emotions have been conceptualized, as well as their causes, con-
sequences and individual differences therein.
This research has extended to the field of tourism, where a substantial number of papers have
researched individual differences in tourists’ positive emotions (Neal, Uysal, & Sirgy, 2007; Sirgy,
Kruger, Lee, & Yu, 2011) and how positive emotions (or related affective variables) develop over
the course of tourism experiences (Coghlan & Pearce, 2010; Kim & Fesenmaier, 2015; Lin, Kerstetter,
Nawijn, & Mitas, 2014; Mitas et al., 2012; Nawijn et al., 2013), including the anticipation and reflection
thereof (Wirtz et al., 2003). From these studies, it is clear that most tourism experiences feature elev-
ated levels of positive emotions, while tourism experiences focused on remembering past death and
suffering elevate some positive as well as some negative emotions (Nawijn, Brüggemann, & Mitas,
2017; Nawijn & Fricke, 2015). Furthermore, tourists anticipate and recall their holiday trips as more
positive than their day-to-day emotions actually are (Wirtz et al., 2003).
Several studies have investigated the source of emotion change during tourism experiences,
attempting to explain why holiday trips appear to be generally more positive than workaday life.
Two mechanisms have been confirmed by multiple studies: social interactions during the vacation
(Gillet, Schmitz, & Mitas, 2016; Mitas et al., 2012; Nawijn, 2011) and novelty, the sense that an experi-
ence is new and different from daily life (Drewery, Jiang, Hilbrecht, Mitas, & Jakubowitz, 2016; Mitas &
Bastiaansen, 2018).
This knowledge raises interesting questions about how emotions develop during tourism experi-
ences. While the above studies clarify how emotions differ between individual tourists, and how they
develop within tourists, the moment-to-moment development of emotions during a single experien-
tial episode is less well-known. This limitation has been partly due to difficulties in measurement. New
technology for physiological emotion measurement makes precise, unobtrusive assessment of tour-
ists’ emotions possible (Bastiaansen et al., 2019). Thus, the time is ripe to examine within-individual
emotion changes over the course of discrete experiential episodes. One such change is the end of a
positive emotional peak when a tourist is enjoying an activity only to realize it will eventually end, and
they will miss it. This decline in positive emotion, coupled with a cognitive re-orientation from the
present to the future, has been conceptualized as anticipatory nostalgia (Batcho & Shikh, 2016).
The onset of anticipatory nostalgia is, therefore, the creation of a mental image in combination
with an emotional response that is based on a projection of a future state following a peak experi-
ence, possibly because the experience positively contributes to self-continuity (Sedikides et al.,
2015). More specifically, the final peak moment during the tourist experience can have a profound
effect on the person by being special and temporarily suspending their normal routines, making
them feel fully connected to the world and, therefore, experience self-discovery (Cary, 2004) and
6 Y. BERGS ET AL.

existential authenticity (Kirillova & Lehto, 2015), yet at the same time feeling anxious about this
moment to pass again (Brown, 2013).

Anticipatory nostalgia in hospitality, tourism and leisure experiences

In this paper, we focus on the role of anticipatory nostalgia in tourism experiences. Within this con-
ceptualization, we would like to re-evaluate Bastiaansen et al.’s experience model (2019) by explicat-
ing anticipatory nostalgia as one of the main components that is key in guiding the overall evaluation
of the experience. The model of the experience construct (see Figure 1) depicts that external stimuli
and internal mental states and processes form our continuous stream of consciousness during an
experience. The stream of consciousness is segregated into separate experiential episodes by the for-
mation of mental models. Construal Level Theory explains that the proximal event that is happening
at that exact moment is construed on a more concrete level (Trope & Liberman, 2010). If an experi-
ential episode triggers peak positive or negative emotions during an experiential episode, the
moment is stored in episodic memory (on a more abstract level) and, in turn, it becomes a meaningful
and memorable experience. The episodic memory of an individual is a neurocognitive system that
enables a person to remember past experiences because of the storage of information about tem-
porally dated episodes (Tulving, 1972). It is argued that the emotions experienced promote the retrie-
val of information from a tourist’s episodic memory and therefore making the experience more
memorable (LaBar & Cabeza, 2006).
We propose that anticipatory nostalgia is key for unveiling consumers’ global evaluations over the
course of an experience. Rather than focusing on nostalgia as a post-visit phenomenon, we argue that
a distinct construct of anticipatory nostalgia exists, which refers to a mental image based on the pro-
jection of a future state, combined with an emotional response. Specifically, in a moment of antici-
patory nostalgia, an individual already starts missing an experiential episode that is still ongoing. It
is reasonable to postulate that not all experiences are prone to anticipatory nostalgia. We propose
that extraordinary experiences, extended and transformative experiences, such as those on
tourism, are particularly vulnerable to anticipatory nostalgia. Such experiences are characterized by
multiple touchpoints which together form the customer journey (Smit & Melissen, 2018). These
experiences allow for an interruption of a person’s normal routines, consequently triggering positive
feelings and emotions (Mitas & Bastiaansen, 2018). The peak moments of these types of experiences
are often then ones that people remember best (Fredrickson, 2000). Thorne (1963) and Maslow (1964)
refer to a peak as the most exciting, rich and fulfilling experiences a person has ever had, they can
lead to a person transcending ordinary reality and truly perceiving ‘being’ or ultimate reality.
These experiences either reinforce identity or lead to redefinitions of the self (Denzin, 1992).
Nawijn et al. (2013) point out that positive emotions reach their peak during the middle of
tourism experiences and decline afterwards. Since these extraordinary, extended and transformative
experiences are dynamic in nature, we argue that anticipatory nostalgia has its onset during, or right
after, a final peak moment of such experiences.
From the perspective of the Construal Level Theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010), it can be argued that
anticipatory nostalgia interrupts the continuous stream of consciousness during an experiential
episode. Consequently, the mental model is formed at a more abstract level, decreasing the direct
involvement in the experiential episode (Nussbaum, Trope, & Liberman, 2003). This can, in turn,
trigger a short moment of reflection on the present experience and emphasize the meaning of
that particular peak during the experiential episode, since the consumer is anticipating a future
loss. It may, at the same time, also trigger negative emotions since these might be engendered by
the anticipated loss of the event.
We posit that anticipatory nostalgia is triggered by external stimuli or a fluctuation in an internal
state, during or right after a peak moment in the experience. We would like to argue that the triggers
of anticipatory nostalgia are similar to common triggers of nostalgia and include, for example, nega-
tive affect, sensory inputs and/or social interactions (Wildschut, Sedikides, Arndt, & Routledge, 2006).
 CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 7

Consequently, the moment of anticipatory nostalgia interrupts an individual’s attention to the

present moment, decreasing the direct involvement in the concrete reality of the experiential
episode by projecting a mental image of a future state (Batcho & Shikh, 2016). At that moment
the individual becomes acutely aware of the fact that the experience will be over at a later point
in time, eliciting an emotional response characterized by a mix of positive and negative emotions,
including sadness. To illustrate, once a customer experiences a peak in the dramatic arc of the experi-
ence, an external trigger (such as the sensory input of a whiff of salty sea breeze) can enter the mind
through the senses and might cause the person to suddenly realize that the experience is special and
unique. The person then starts to speculate about the future (construing a more abstract mental
model by distancing oneself from what takes place in the present) and recognizes that that
specific moment will be something to look back on at a later point in time, followed by sadness
that the moment will soon end. This is consistent with the explanation of Smith and Brent (2001)
who assert the following about the emotions felt during a travel experience: ‘then, over the course
of the experience, there was ‘a happy anticipation … an exciting middle … and a bittersweet
ending’ (p. 45). Negative emotions can, however, also have multiple positive outcomes and have
been acknowledged as possibly being key in creating meaningful tourism experiences (Nawijn &
Biran, 2018).
Based on this conceptualization, we argue that the moment of anticipatory nostalgia allows the
consumer to shortly reflect on the experiential episode taking place and therefore emphasizes the
meaning of the current experience. The consumer might suddenly realize that the experience is
special and unique and briefly reflect on it. Yet, the taste is bitter since distancing oneself from
the here-and-now (imagining a return to one’s usual environment after the experience has ended)
may mute the joy of fully immersing oneself in the experience (Nussbaum et al., 2003). This shift
in attention from the present experience may also have benefits, such as a forming a signal to
capture the moment by making a picture or video to directly share the present experience with
other consumers (Gillet et al., 2016; Munar, 2010). Therefore, the question arises whether anticipatory
nostalgia either affects the creation of a meaningful and memorable experience positively, negatively
or both. Such information is key to understand the global evaluation of the total experience and
whether anticipatory nostalgia can therefore contribute to predicting future revisits or recommen-
dation decisions. Our theoretical model (Figure 2) integrates anticipatory nostalgia as a distinct con-
struct in the experience. Specifically, we suggest that anticipatory nostalgia is evoked directly after a
peak moment in the experience. For example, a tourist is absorbing the beautiful view after reaching
the mountain peak on a hiking trail, leading to positive emotions, such as joy or exhilaration (e.g. posi-
tive emotional response). At that specific moment, the thought arises that he/she needs to enjoy the
moment a little bit more as he/she will travel home the next day to resume the activities of everyday

Figure 2. The contextual basis of anticipatory nostalgia in experience design.

8 Y. BERGS ET AL.

life (e.g. creating a mental image – a projection of a future state). This, in turn, gives rise to negative
emotions, such as sadness or regret, replacing the happy feeling and filling the moment with gloom
(e.g. negative emotional response). This early sense of loss may, however, at that moment give the
tourist the opportunity to realize that the beautiful view from the mountain top and the trail
towards it are special and unique (e.g. short moment of reflection). The tourist, therefore, wants to
capture the moment by, for example, staying a bit longer or by taking a picture so that it will be a
moment that will be positively recalled later on (e.g. an episodic memory of the trip to the mountain
top).
Precedents from tourism and psychology literatures do not imply a straightforward empirical
measurement model for these concepts. Three components of the model in particular – peak experi-
ences, mental images of the future and episodic memories – have proven stubbornly resistant to
simple operationalization and quantification. While episodic memories have mostly been researched
using experimental designs in controlled laboratory settings (Kensinger, 2009), peak experiences and
mental images have been studied most successfully using qualitative interpretive and narrative
methods (e.g. McDonald, Wearing, & Ponting, 2009). Emotions, as well as anticipatory nostalgia,
have been studied using quantitative self-report questionnaires, although physiological methods
hold promise for measuring emotions as they happen with greater temporal precision and
without self-response biases (Bastiaansen et al., 2019). Questionnaires have only been developed
to measure anticipatory nostalgia as a trait characteristic, not as a momentary state. As with emotions,
using self-report to measure momentary anticipatory nostalgia is likely possible, but not without sub-
stantial biases.
Thus, we suggest a mixed-method approach, minimally combining narrative interviews and ques-
tionnaires but ideally also including physiological measures – and considering naturalistic as well as
scenario-based laboratory experiments, to measure how an experiential process such as anticipatory
nostalgia unfolds.

Discussion and conclusion

In this paper, we re-evaluated the conceptual model of the experience construct by Bastiaansen et al.
(2019) by considering anticipatory nostalgia as an essential moment right after a peak moment in the
experience. As tourism experiences are an integral part of how people experience their lives (Kirillova
& Lehto, 2015), it is key to understand the underlying mechanisms that can explain how an experi-
ential episode can be translated into the creation of a meaningful and memorable moment. In
response to this need, we looked at anticipatory nostalgia as a moment right after the final peak
of a tourism experience that can function as an explanatory mechanism between an experiential
episode and the creation of an episodic memory stored in the brain. We have argued that anticipat-
ory nostalgia involves the feeling of ‘missing the present before it is gone’ […] and that it ‘entails the
experience of the present along with an imagined future and an imagined past’ (Batcho & Shikh,
2016, p. 75). We have argued that anticipatory nostalgia is a specific moment in the tourist experience
during which the person creates a mental image of a future moment in time that is accompanied by
an emotional response, characterized by a mix of positive and negative emotions. Anticipatory nos-
talgia has therefore both a cognitive and an affective component. Such elicited emotions are a source
of self-reflection (Macquarrie, 1972) and are key to define the memorability of experiences (Bastiaan-
sen et al., 2019). Affective elements can be triggered by an emotional response, either positive or
negative, in combination with an image based on a projection of a future state – the moment of
anticipatory nostalgia. We have argued that this moment of anticipatory nostalgia is mediated by
a peak moment in the customer journey, yet it is followed by a mix of positive and negative emotions,
including sadness in particular. Positive feelings may arise from processing or sharing the meaning of
the current experience. Such a short moment of reflection might replace the joy-sadness connection
with a more joy-calmness connection and therefore moderate and enrich the total experience
(Batcho & Shikh, 2016).
 CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 9

We conclude that anticipatory nostalgia might evoke negative emotions, but that it still can create
an overall positive feeling about that particular experiential episode, which is in turn stored in the
tourist episodic memory. Anticipatory nostalgia is, therefore, a core ingredient to translate a peak
experiential episode into a memorable experience, since it is this short reflective moment that is
often remembered. It remains for future research to provide a measurement model on the construct
itself. This implies that tourism scholars need to explore when and under which conditions anticipat-
ory nostalgia is triggered and how it, in turn, shapes the memorability of the experience. It is also key
to determine during which stage of the experience it is most useful to trigger anticipatory nostalgia.
When the timing is right, this short moment of contemplation might lead to a richer appreciation of
the experience and can, therefore, predict future decisions about repeat visit and recommendation
behaviour. While these ideas are most probably applicable to a wider range of experiences in the hos-
pitality, leisure and tourism industry, our propositions are especially germane for the so-called extra-
ordinary experiences (Abrahams, 1986), extended experiences (Arnould & Price, 1993) and
transformative experiences (Kirillova et al., 2017). These experiences are emotionally charged and
longitudinal in nature and have therefore multiple (peak) touchpoints (Jefferies & Lepp, 2012). For
example, when going on a rock-climbing trip, a person might realize at the literal peak of the
moment that when he/she turns around and starts the descent, the journey of ‘back to reality’
starts. Practically, we can reason that companies can fine-tune their touchpoints in the customer
journey based on within-individual changes over the course of a discrete emotional experience.
Yet, how anticipatory nostalgia exactly matters in the creation of a meaningful and memorable
experience remains unclear. In order to explore the mechanisms that underlie anticipatory nostalgia
in experience design the following questions need to be answered: (i) Which types of experiences are
particularly vulnerable for anticipatory nostalgia? (ii) Which critical incidents, or peak moments,
during the tourism experience are related to anticipatory nostalgia? (iii) What are the antecedents
of anticipatory nostalgia during certain experiences? (iv) What are the dominant emotions experi-
enced by a person during a moment of anticipatory nostalgia? (v) What is the impact of anticipatory
nostalgia on the overall evaluation of the experience? Does the feeling of nostalgia in the current
experience enhance the overall experience by covering it with a layer of reminiscence? Or does it
negatively influence the experience by robbing the customer of full awareness and immersion in
the present moment?

Areas for future research

Our extension of the Bastiaansen et al. model of the experience construct (2019) offers several
avenues for future work with regards to validating the construct of anticipatory nostalgia in experi-
ence design. Future research is needed to find out how and under which circumstances anticipatory
nostalgia has an influence on the global evaluation of the experience. We outline the following broad
areas of inquiry that can provide a better understanding of anticipatory nostalgia in experiences.
Firstly, content analysis of autobiographical narratives can be conducted that serves as a prelimi-
nary analysis into the content of anticipatory nostalgia during an experience. This research method-
ology allows for building knowledge on the processes through which anticipatory nostalgia has its
onset. This methodological approach has also been used by Servidio and Ruffolo (2016) to explore
emotional involvement of participants in memorable tourism experiences. Anticipatory nostalgia
can be explored by analysing narrative texts in contextual stories written by tourists about how
and when they experienced anticipatory nostalgia during their travels.
Secondly, we suggest conducting photo-elicitation interviews. Our recommendation is to use pic-
tures that are taken by participants themselves during their travels, since these photographs are
better able to reflect the participants’ own world (Samuels, 2004). During such an interview, a partici-
pant is to be presented with pictures from his or her holiday which aims to evoke information, feel-
ings and memories related to the picture (Harper, 2002). Photo elicitation evokes in-depth
descriptions and affectively charged responses that are grounded in the actual travel experience
10 Y. BERGS ET AL.

(Samuels, 2004). We specifically recommend this method since photo elicitation might uncover the
unconscious triggers of anticipatory nostalgia. Photos evoke events that have passed but also lead to
deeper talks on feelings and emotions during the captured moment.
Although explorative field methods such as autobiographical narratives and photo-elicited inter-
views are seen as useful in exploring anticipatory nostalgia, we recognize the limitations of these
methods as well. More specifically, by using qualitative research we can explore a range of antece-
dents and consequences that are linked to the moment of anticipatory nostalgia. This does,
however, not provide any relevant insights into the full temporal dynamics of the experience and
at which moment in time anticipatory nostalgia has its onset. Moreover, post-experience measures
inherently measure the memory of a certain experiential episode, which is invariably re-constructed
with certain well-known cognitive and affective biases (Tonetto & Desmet, 2016).
Furthermore, self-reports emphasize on a cognitive appraisal of emotions felt during the experiential
episode and are therefore not the same as the emotional response itself. A valid cognitive appraisal of
emotional responses has demonstrated to be difficult (Forgas, 2008). In sum, exclusively relying on
retrospective self-report measures results invalidity issues and it limits the possibilities for taking a
within-person perspective to capture the dynamic nature of the experience construct. To avoid a
purely explorative approach we advocate complementing this with experimental quantitative data.
We refer to methods proposed by Bastiaansen et al. (2019). Bastiaansen and colleagues advocated
measuring the emotion component of experiences using objective physiological signals such as skin
conductance and heart rate variability. Such measurements may be done in the context of actual
tourism experiences, or during experiences that are realistically simulated in virtual reality.
Based on the output of the autobiographical narratives and the photo-elicited interviews, a ‘virtual
vignette’ study can be set-up to create short movies of hypothetical situations that illustrate a
moment of anticipatory nostalgia. The ‘virtual vignettes’ need to be designed by combining demon-
strated antecedents of anticipatory nostalgia in virtual form. Short virtual reality movies of tourism
experiences can be then be created to evoke anticipatory nostalgia. These ‘virtual vignettes’ allow
for high ecological validity in which the participant feels the target experience more intensely (Bas-
tiaansen et al., 2019; Bohil, Alicea, & Biocca, 2011).
While viewing virtual reality vignettes, several physiological signals can be measured. Firstly, the
electrical activity of facial muscles (EMG) and skin conductance responses (SCR) can be used to
measure the exact emotional responses elicited while participants watch the short virtual reality situ-
ations. It has been demonstrated that such physiological measures uncover data congruent with
post-experience interviews (Li et al., 2015), a proven triangulation approach for studying tourism
experiences. An additional possibility is to record brain activity using electroencephalography
(EEG; Olofsson, Nordin, Sequeira, & Polich, 2008). Based on the electrical activity of neurons in the
brain, EEG recording can be used to identify emotional valence and arousal with millisecond accu-
racy, as has been done in tests of tourism marketing materials (Bastiaansen et al., 2018). Each of
these proposed research methods has limitations, specifically concerning the construct of anticipat-
ory nostalgia. Since the moment of anticipatory nostalgia is only partly conscious, it may be difficult
to simulate the phenomenology of anticipatory nostalgia in laboratory settings. Moreover, the pro-
posed methods such as EEG, facial EMG and SCR are to some extent able to capture the fact that
emotions are felt by the participant but are not able to indicate which emotion (e.g. sadness, joy)
is experienced (Bastiaansen et al., 2019). To some extent, these signals capture core affect rather
than emotions in their full complexity (Barrett, 2017). We, therefore, advocate for triangulation of
different methods, to get a clearer picture of how, when and under which circumstances anticipatory
nostalgia has its onset during an experience.

Conclusion
To address growing academic interest in the delineation of the experience construct, the current
paper aimed to offer a new perspective. We introduced anticipatory nostalgia as an essential
 CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 11

moment right after a peak moment in the experience, which helps to translate an experiential
episode into a memorable experience. Based on conceptual reasoning we proposed three possible
avenues for future research: content analysis of autobiographical narratives, photo-elicitation inter-
views and the use of objective physiological signals, in an attempt to conduct empirical research
on this new construct. This paper serves as a catalyst for researchers in the fields of experience
design in studying the psychological construct of anticipatory nostalgia much further in depth to
better understand this phenomenon and its role in meaningful and memorable tourist experiences.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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