DOI: 10.1108/ihr-01-2026-0005 ISSN: 2516-8142

There's no place like home: a systematic literature review of research related to staycations

Amanda Belarmino

Purpose

Staycations emerged as a travel trend in the post-pandemic economy. This study sought to examine the definition of staycation, research trends, gaps in the research, theoretical underpinnings of staycations and practical implications for practitioners.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review was conducted of articles related to staycations. A total of 33 peer-reviewed articles were included in this study that were gathered from Scopus, Science Direct, Elsevier, Springer, Taylor and Francis, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Both a descriptive analysis and a thematic analysis were conducted of these articles.

Findings

Four different definitions of staycation emerged. The trends were to examine consumer behavior related to staycations during the pandemic, wellness benefits of staycations and examining Google Trend data. Gaps in the literature include post-pandemic behavior and revenue management. No one theory emerged as dominant in the research. Practically, staycation guests are their own segment of domestic tourism.

Originality/value

This is among the first works to examine and define staycation. Furthermore, this work helps to identify staycation guests as a current trend that has evolved since the pandemic and makes recommendations for future studies on the subject.

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