Smells like my vacation: Attenuating the fadeout effect

The present chapter theoretically and empirically examines the vacation fadeout effect, the decline in wellbeing effects of vacationing, specifically in terms of affect, after returning home. Previous research suggests that emotions and moods decline to a baseline that reflects daily working life within days or weeks after vacation. We tested a scent-based intervention to reduce this fadeout effect among 45 visitors to Dutch vacation parks in the early summer of 2021. We found a very low fadeout effect in general, and that the intervention made only a very small difference. Thus, it was not statistically significant for any dimension of wellbeing. The findings suggest that the fadeout effect is not universal, and to mitigate its effects, either fadeout has to either be more substantial to begin with, or it needs a more substantial intervention.