Boundless journey for people with different mental states: finding the optimal emotional stimulation of tourism videos
Abstract
The positive impact of tourism on mental health has attracted growing attention; however, the effects of tourism videos remain underexplored. Using facial emotion recognition, this study found that tourism videos significantly enhanced emotional states among mentally healthy, sub-healthy, and depressed individuals. Notably, the sub-healthy group showed the greatest improvement. Mentally healthy participants responded more positively to videos with high environmental unusualness and multi-person interaction, while depressed individuals responded better to low-unusualness environments with voice-over interaction. Sub-healthy individuals showed intermediate patterns. The findings underscore the importance of tailoring tourism video content to individuals’ mental states to more effectively promote emotional regulation.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Media Influence and Health
Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research
Recreation
Leisure
Wilderness Management
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3–35
- Publication date
- 2 January 2026
- Language
- EN