How pre-travel mood and personality predict destination preferences: insights from social media data

How pre-travel mood and personality predict destination preferences: insights from social media data | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article How pre-travel mood and personality predict destination preferences: insights from social media data Longhui Ao, Yu Xia This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8854510/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Internal psychological factors are crucial in shaping destination preferences. However, most prior studies have neglected the impact of pre-travel basic psychological states, especially long-term affective states, on destination choice. Based on the "Push" theory of travel motivation, this study introduces a novel pre-travel perspective to explore the relationship between pre-travel psychological factors and destination preferences.Using natural language processing, we extracted MBTI personality and pre-travel mood states from social media data. T-tests and regression analyses revealed that modern entertainment destination preference was predicted by Extraversion, Sensing, and negative moods (Sad and Angry), while cultural heritage preference was linked to Judging, emotional stability, and positive mood. The psychological model significantly outperformed the demographic model, with Extraversion as the strongest predictor.This study extends the temporal perspective of tourism emotion research to the pre-travel phase and overcomes limitations of traditional questionnaire-based measurement of psychological variables.Our findings highlight the importance of pre-travel psychology and offer implications for tourist segmentation and targeted marketing for destination management organizations. Humanities/Cultural and media studies Social science/Cultural and media studies Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology Social science/Sociology Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryMaterial1.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers invited by journal 17 Feb, 2026 Editor invited by journal 17 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 13 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 13 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 11 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8854510","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":593073760,"identity":"97e5e2bf-5b22-4e9d-bace-6036f664809b","order_by":0,"name":"Longhui Ao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jiangxi Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Longhui","middleName":"","lastName":"Ao","suffix":""},{"id":593073762,"identity":"44d88922-3366-4f1c-b4ea-da2bf3185a6f","order_by":1,"name":"Yu Xia","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAtElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACxgcSEIYB0VqYDUjWwgbVQawWgxs5ZhWWbXcSG9ibt0kw1NwhrEVyRo7ZDYkzzxIbeI6VSTAce0ZYC78ESEvF4cQGIEOCseEwYS1sQJUFEgZALfJviNQCsoUBYgsPkVoke54VS0icOWzcxpNWbJFwjAgtBseTN36WbDss289+eOONDzVEaGEQSGBgBkUMG4iTQIQGoGcOMDB+IErlKBgFo2AUjFgAADb6NTWu40TsAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Jiangxi Normal University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yu","middleName":"","lastName":"Xia","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-11 17:38:13","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8854510/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8854510/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":103050051,"identity":"25f79f96-17a5-4973-8e93-ae197d591b19","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-20 07:47:52","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":3019991,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8854510/v1_covered_b724bd3a-4461-48eb-aed1-6f5baac85471.pdf"},{"id":103042366,"identity":"8ab2669d-508d-4ddb-bf99-1dd430671a7f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-20 04:48:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1465695,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryMaterial1.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8854510/v1/a55af61cf013739dba5a9b44.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"How pre-travel mood and personality predict destination preferences: insights from social media data","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8854510/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8854510/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Internal psychological factors are crucial in shaping destination preferences. 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