In my experience, from listening to dozens of women over the years, I’ve come to think there are 3 basic types of holiday romance. The first and the second blur into each other a little because the primary psychology is very similar.

In case one, the great appeal of a holiday hookup is that one can create all manner of fantasies without ever having to face reality. In general these run along the lines of “I was there for two weeks, didn’t meet anyone, and then on the last day…” This is classic for people who come from cultures that are quite repressed, so they can’t really own their sexuality or the emotions that go with it. I’ve heard this a lot from American women.

In case two, there’s more emotional structure and usually a slightly longer duration, along the lines of “we had the most amazing week together…” But again it’s pretty much just a projection of desires and fantasies onto another human being who, in this case, isn’t averse to benefiting financially from the situation should the opportunity occur.

In case three, however, it’s just serendipity. I’ve known three women who have met their future partners while on holiday. In such cases there’s the organic development of mutual attraction mediated by mutual interests, and very little fantasy projection. Interestingly these three cases have all involved European women, but with so few datapoints we’re in the realm of anecdote from which firm conclusions ought not to be drawn.