Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the comparative impact of spiritual and non-spiritual travel on Positive Life Orientation and Emotional Maturity. Travel has increasingly been conceptualized not merely as recreation, but as a psychologically meaningful experience capable of influencing well-being and personal growth (Dolnicar et al., 2012; Chen and Petrick, 2013). Spiritual travel has been associated with meaning making, self-reflection, and existential development (Sharpley and Sundaram, 2005; Timothy and Oslen, 2006). However, limited empirical research has directly compared spiritual and non-spiritual travelers in relation to deeper psychological constructs such as emotional maturity and positive life orientation. The present study sought to address this gap. This sample comprised 110 participants, and data were collected using Google forms. Positive life orientation was measured by the Scale of Positive Life Orientation (SPLO), and Emotional Maturity was assessed using Emotional Maturity Scale (EMS). A Self developed travel questionnaire was used to classify participants into spiritual and non-spiritual traveller groups based on comparative travel scores. Independent samples of t-tests were conducted to examine differences between the two groups. Results indicated a statistically significant difference in Positive Life Orientation between Spiritual (M=31.83) and non-spiritual travelers, with p= .004. Spiritual travelers demonstrated higher levels of positive life orientation. However, no statistically significant difference was found in emotional maturity between spiritual (M=98.65) and non-spiritual travelers (M=102.22), with p=.629. These findings suggest that spiritual travel is positively associated with optimistic and meaningful orientation toward life, consistent with previous research linking spirituality and well-being (Nicolaides and Grobler, 2017; Maral et al., 2024). However, emotional maturity may be influenced by broader development and personality factors rather than travel type alone. This study contributes to tourism psychology by providing comparative empirical evidence on the psychological outcomes of spiritual versus non-spiritual travel.