Study: This is how travel changes our personality

The vast majority of Swiss people, 87.5 percent to be precise, wish they could relive a particularly happy travel moment. More than half of those surveyed (70.6 percent) think back to vacation experiences at least once a week, even months later. Men are more likely to do this in unpleasant situations: On the way to work (34.1 percent) and when stressed at work (31.8 percent). Women, on the other hand, recall pleasant vacation moments when they get up in the morning and before they go to bed (35.1 percent).

"The special memory of it results from the contrast to everyday life and to what we perceive as normal. Vacations and travel in particular are rich in experiences that motivate and relax us later in our everyday lives," explains Lutz Jäncke, who holds a chair in neuropsychology at the Psychological Institute of the University of Zurich. For Swiss, he sheds light on the topic of travel memories from a scientific perspective.

Travel memories last a lifetime

More than half of the respondents (54.6 percent) say they capture beautiful vacation moments on photos because they are afraid they will forget them again otherwise.

As the survey shows, the Swiss are very attached to their travel memories. 48.2 percent would not delete their vacation photos irretrievably at any price, not even for a million Swiss francs. This value increases with age.

But this concern is unfounded, says Jäncke: "Our travel memories occupy a very special place in our memory. They often stay with us for a lifetime. The reason for this is that vacation experiences are often accompanied by distinctly positive emotions and therefore imprint themselves particularly intensively on our memory. Freed from the small and big worries of everyday life, we also absorb a particularly large number of details while traveling - they ultimately form the building blocks of our memory."

These detailed travel memories are stored in the memory as a kind of multisensory mosaic made up of various sensory impressions. 69.5 percent of Swiss respondents, for example, said that it is images in particular that they remember years later after their travels, followed by people (47.4 percent) and food (43.9 percent). "The visual sense plays such a big role because evolution designed us to be visual animals. Visual information is of particular importance to humans and is processed with priority," explains the neuropsychologist.

Although landmarks are often considered the main motivation for a trip, it is not tourist attractions that are linked to the most intense and beautiful travel memories (25.3 percent), but rather impressive landscapes and the beauty of nature (70.7 percent), as well as time spent with friends and families (48.3 percent).

Vacation experiences are cornerstones of our personality

The majority (52.4 percent) of all respondents say they have already taken a trip that changed them: 17.6 percent started a new relationship after a trip - in Ticino, this even applies to a quarter of all respondents. Almost one-fifth took up a new hobby and one in ten men decided on a new job after a trip.

We are what we remember about ourselves.

Travel and the memory of it definitely have the power to shape our personality, Jäncke explains: "We are our memory, or in other words, we are what we remember about ourselves," he says. "The information stored in our memory spans the framework of our personal experiences. Vacation and travel memories occupy a privileged position within this experiential space - and are therefore essential cornerstones of our personality."

On behalf of Swiss International Air Lines, GfK (Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung) conducted a survey in July 2018 on the subject of travel memories in Switzerland, Germany, the UK, Italy, and the USA. For each country, 1000 people between the ages of 18 and 55 were surveyed.