Digital hoarding has emerged as a prominent phenomenon in the platform society and has largely been conceptualized as a pathological form of information behavior. In tourism contexts, however, the accumulation of travel-related digital content may also constitute a positive form of travel anticipation. Using thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 26 individuals who regularly save tourism-related digital content, we identify two core dimensions of pre-travel digital hoarding: tourism planning concreteness and the social orientation of hoarding. Based on these dimensions, four hoarding types emerge: Immediate Negotiation-Oriented Anticipation, Social Imagination-Oriented Anticipation, Long-Term Aesthetic Anticipation, and Individual Functional Anticipation. These types are fluid and may vary across levels of tourism planning concreteness and social contexts. By proposing a Tourism Anticipatory Hoarding Framework, this study offers a de-pathologized, contextualized understanding of digital hoarding. It also suggests how, in the platform era, tourist information seeking has moved beyond individual, goal-directed behavior to become a socially embedded practice that is both affective and collaborative. Beyond its theoretical contributions, this framework yields practical insights for tourism marketers and actionable strategies for destination management in the platform era.
