'Anticication' - Partnered Scientific Study Reveals 'Sweet Spot' for Holiday Happiness is: 

Four Months Before Departure  

Original Travel, the British experts in tailor-made holidays, announce that science supports its long-held concept of 'anticication': the idea that simply looking forward to a holiday can be a significant contributor to wellbeing.  

In partnership with Professor Paul Dolan and Alina Velias of the London School of Economics, Original Travel can reveal that: 

• The act of looking forward to a holiday can be a significant contributor to overall happiness, not just the holiday itself 

• The emotional benefits of looking forward(1) to a holiday peak roughly four months before the trip 

• Anticipation has measurable economic value - Estimated wellbeing value: £6,000 per person / per year 

• People with a planned holiday report higher happiness and life satisfaction months before departure 

This will be the first of a series of science research studies that Original Travel will be conducting with Professor Dolan (known as the 'Professor of Happiness') on the Psychology of Travel.  

Original Travel have worked with Paul Dolan, who is a Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science and one of the world's leading experts on wellbeing. Paul has also advised national statistical agencies, governments and international organisations on the measurement of wellbeing, which made him the perfect partner for this project. Dr Alina Velias is a Fellow in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at London School of Economics.  

The research study conducted shows a growing body of evidence that people who have a holiday planned report higher levels of happiness than those who do not. In studies of UK and European households, individuals anticipating a forthcoming trip scored significantly higher on measures of life satisfaction and positive affect in the months before departure. (Further insights into the study can be found on Notes to Editors) 

The research draws on evidence capturing happiness levels among individuals anticipating holidays between two and six months in advance, as well as panel data measuring wellbeing four to six months prior to departure. Taken together, these findings suggest that in the context of travel, people begin to meaningfully enjoy the benefits of looking forward to a forthcoming experience a few months before it occurs, with around four months an estimate of this anticipatory horizon(4). 

"The happiness hit of a holiday is not just from the time spent away but also comes from looking forward to going away” says Professor Dolan. “These anticipatory benefits require a degree of psychological proximity, so that the trip feels near enough to savour. It looks like booking a few months out might be best time to book so far as the overall happiness from your holiday is concerned.” 

“The results are fascinating,” says Tom Barber, the Co-Founder of Original Travel, who partnered with Professor Dolan. “In practical terms, booking earlier still enables travellers to secure the best availability, value and choice, but it seems that it's in the final few months before departure that anticipation delivers its greatest day-to-day wellbeing effects.” 

When translated using HM Treasury's Green Book guidance – which assigns a monetary value(2) to marginal changes in life satisfaction – the uplift associated with anticipating a holiday equates to approximately £6,000 per person per year. Assuming a holiday is actively anticipated for around four months, this then suggests that simply having a trip to look forward to may generate a wellbeing value of just over £2,000 per person, or roughly £500 per month. 

Original Travel have an award-winning 23-year track record and are experts on creating truly tailor-made travel to suit anyone's tastes, desires and budget, ensuring that any holidays, long or short, bring happiness to travellers. Their team includes 30 specialists with deep knowledge of nearly 70 destinations who can suggest the best itineraries.  

-Ends-   

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Notes to Editors:   

Please Kindly credits:  Research Conducted by Original Travel and Professor Paul Dolan and Alina Velias of the London School of Economics 

Research: Monetising the anticipatory happiness of a holiday 

Paul Dolan and Alina Velias, Dec 2025 

To quantify the monetary equivalent of the happiness hit associated with looking forward to a holiday, we must combine two estimates: 1) the happiness hit from anticipating a holiday, and 2) the monetary valuation of a marginal change in happiness. 

1. The benefits of looking forward

We draw on two complementary sources of evidence. First, Gilbert and Abdullah (2004[1]) conducted a postal survey of 604 UK residents at two points in time over a 12-month period. Participants reported their happiness on a nine-point scale ranging from 1 (“tremendously unhappy”) to 9 (“tremendously happy”). They compared the 355 respondents reporting having planned a holiday with the 249 who were not (n=249). The former group filled out one questionnaire before their holiday and one after. The latter filled out two questionnaires that were between two and six months apart. 

The mean score for those anticipating a holiday was 6.99 (SD = 1.22) compared with 6.68 (SD = 1.52) for non-holidaymakers – a mean difference of 0.31 points. This was statistically significantly different at the 5% level. Comparing the post-trip happiness of the holiday takers with the second questionnaire of those who did not go on a holiday shows a higher happiness score of 7.11 (SD = 1.20) amongst the holiday takers, compared to the control group's happiness of 6.34 (SD = 1.41). This difference is highly significant at p<0.001 

Comparing within groups, the holidaymaking group showed slightly higher happiness of 7.11 (SD = 1.20) post-trip compared to their pre-trip happiness of 6.99 (SD = 1.23). This difference had borderline significance of p=0.054. The authors note no significant differences in happiness by how long after the holiday they surveyed people. In contrast, the happiness in the non-holiday making group was significantly lower in the later period: 6.68 (SD = 1.52) compared to 6.34 (SD = 1.41) in the earlier period. 

Second, Nawijn et al. (2010)[2] focus on repeated measures from a large, nationally representative Dutch panel study of 1,530 people. This study used an affective measure based on three items, one capturing recent positive affect – “enjoyed daily tasks” – and two for negative affect – “felt unhappy” and “felt gloomy and dejected”. Each was rated on five-point scale from “never” to “always”. 

They compared respondents who had holiday planned (n=974) and those who did not (n=556). They used the questionnaire at week 35 of that year that contained questions about the respondent's holiday trip to identify the two groups. They then referred to the questionnaires of the same people from weeks 11, 19 and 27 to assess happiness levels of the weeks preceding the holiday. The mean score for those anticipating a holiday was 2.25 (SD = 0.08) compared to 2.07 (SD = 0.09) for non-holidaymakers – a mean difference of 0.18 points. This difference was statistically significant at the 5% level (p=0.018). 

2. The monetary value of marginal changes in happiness 

This is derived from the UK Treasury's Green Book (2021)[3], which provides official guidance for the appraisal of public policies, programmes, and projects. The Green Book recommends a central estimate of £13,000 per one-point change in life satisfaction (measured on 0-10 scale) per person per year (2019 prices), with a range of £10,000 to £16,000. 

3. The value of looking forward

For consistency with the eleven-point scale used in the Green Book guidance, we first rescale the estimates of the happiness hit from the two studies. Rescaling Gilbert and Abdullah yields an estimate of 0.37 points. Rescaling Nawijn et al yields an estimate of 0.40 points. We use the 0.37 estimate for life satisfaction, which is the measure employed in the Green Book valuation. Both estimates are statistically significant, and their close proximity is noteworthy. Applying the guidance and adjusting for inflation to 2025[4], the corresponding central value is £16,750 (low = £12,886; high = £20,617). Multiplying this by the estimated 0.37-point increase in happiness yields a figure of £6,197 per person per year. 

In Gilbert and Abdullah (2002), the planned trip varies from two to six months ahead. In Nawijn et al. (2010), the first pre-trip observation occurred four to six months before the holiday. If we assume that holidays are looked forward to for four months, this yields a monetary value of £2,066. 

4. A limited anticipatory horizon

Can we book a holiday 10 years in advance and expect a £60k return in anticipatory savouring? Probably not. There are lots of stimuli vying for our attention. There are myriad upcoming events and experiences in our lives – and not all of them are looked forward to fondly. There are memories to be formed and layered over the attention paid to the events themselves. Given this crowded attentional landscape, a booked holiday is likely to come into view, at most, a few months out. 

Loewenstein (1987)[5] shows that people prefer to delay exciting events rather than have them happen immediately – and also prefer the delay horizon to not be too long. Thirty participants reported how much a pleasant event (such as a kiss from their favourite movie star) was worth to them if received immediately, vs when delayed for up to 10 years. A delay of the kiss by three hours and up to one year was worth at least 30% (SD = 0.15) more than getting it immediately. Pushing the same kiss 10 years into the future resulted in a loss of about 36% (SD = 0.15) of the value compared to receiving it immediately. 

The study emphasises that since anticipatory utility comes from savouring the future consumption, the future pleasure needs to be sufficiently vivid. More research is needed to establish the anticipatory horizon but, in the contexts of holidays, starting to draw down the hedonic benefits of looking forwards about four months in advance seems a reasonable assumption. 

[1] Gilbert, D., & Abdullah, J. (2004). Holidaytaking and the sense of well-being. Annals of tourism research, 31(1), 103-121. 

[2] Nawijn, J., Marchand, M. A., Veenhoven, R., & Vingerhoets, A. J. (2010). Vacationers happier, but most not happier after a holiday. Applied research in quality of life, 5(1), 35-47. 

[3] HM Treasury. (2021). Wellbeing guidance for appraisal: Supplementary Green Book guidance. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60fa9169d3bf7f0448719daf/Wellbeing_guidance_for_appraisal_-_supplementary_Green_Book_guidance.pdf 

[4] Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation data from the Office for National Statistics (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator) 

[5] Loewenstein, G. (1987). Anticipation and the valuation of delayed consumption. The Economic Journal, 97(387), 666-684. 

About Original Travel 

Original Travel curates tailor-made itineraries, crafted by destination experts, to 77 countries worldwide from Anguilla to Zimbabwe. The company has created over 50,000 itineraries since its launch in 2003, each one unique and adhering to the company ethos that “Life is in the Detail”.   

Original Travel also has its own specialist dive division. Original Diving is the world's only luxury dive travel outfit.   

16 of our consultants are recognised as Conde Nast Traveler's 2026 Travel Specialists. Our specialists include: Co-founder, Tom Barber (family travel and sabbaticals), Jacqui Brooks (Indonesia), Oliver Rodwell (Mexico), Ben Williams (Egypt) Kate Little (Romania), Isabel de Galleani (Morocco), Frances Mavor (India), Harriet Harford (European Wine Regions), Holly Barber (Cambodia), Lucy Bailey (Oman, Jordan and Egypt), Dave Martin (USA and Canada), Jamie Armstrong (Kenya, Tanzania and Egypt), Emily Rister (Greece), Izzy Whitley (Norway, Turkey and Italy), Meg MacMahon (New Zealand) and Joyce Chan (Japan and South Korea). 

In October 2025, Original Travel ranked its highest ever position among the top five Tour Operators in the country, as voted for by the readers themselves in the prestigious Conde Nast Traveller Reader's Choice Awards.   

The knowledge that not only will Original Travel absorb the carbon footprint of their international flights, but also - in an industry-first - car-hire and transfers, and other flights (even if booked independently).  Clients can also be advised on which flight options have the lowest levels of emissions, thanks to an industry-leading and world-first carbon calculator which can compare the levels of emissions generated by each flight, using data compiled from flight plans, aircraft type, the cabin class, direct versus indirect flights and the target occupancy rate.  

The knowledge that they are contributing to Our Foundation, which supports nearly 100 humanitarian projects in 30 developing countries. To date, nearly £1.5 million has been invested to support five key areas: child protection, vocational training, economic development assistance, preservation of cultural and natural heritage and safeguarding the lifestyles of indigenous peoples.   

About Professor Paul Dolan 

Professor Paul Dolan is Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science and one of the world's leading experts on wellbeing. He is the author of best-selling books including Happiness by Design and Happy Ever After and has advised national statistical agencies, governments and international organisations on the measurement of wellbeing and use of such measures in policy design. 

Paul's research has had significant impact. He is author of 'Mindspace: Influencing behaviour through public policy' published by The Institute for Government in March 2010 and he wrote the questions that are used by the ONS in the UK to monitor national wellbeing. His 140-odd academic papers have been cited more than 36,000 times. He is author of the Sunday Times best-selling book Happiness by Design and Happy Ever After and his latest book is Beliefism: how to stop hating the people we disagree with. He is creator and presenter of the Breaking Beliefism podcast.