Author Identifier (ORCID)
Abstract
On any given day millions of travellers find themselves contending with weather that deviates dramatically from prior expectations. Traditionally regarded as an unwelcome disruption, adverse weather has rarely been examined for its potential to enrich, rather than diminish, the value of tourist experiences. Consequently, this research critically explores how tourists positively reappraise adverse weather disruptions in tourism experiences. Based on eight focus groups (n = 42), transcript data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis within a social-constructivist paradigm, combining iterative coding with abductive reasoning. Findings demonstrate that adverse weather can function as a situational catalyst that enables tourists to reinterpret disruptions through uniqueness, meaningfulness, and authenticity. In these accounts, weather disruptions take on a liminal quality, suspending routine expectations and intensifying experiential salience. We conceptualise this process as a co-activation of established experiential dimensions through which such episodes are rendered as special tourism experiences.
Keywords
extraordinary experience, inclement weather, memorable experience, special experience
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
9-1-2026
Article Number
101484
ISSN
14476770
Volume
68
Publication Title
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management
Publisher
Elsevier
School
School of Engineering
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Souza-Neto, V., Moyle, B., Jiang, Y., & Lohmann, G. (2026). Reappraisal of adverse weather as a catalyst for special tourism experiences. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 68, Article 101484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101484