Employees of retail travel agencies in sales roles can have long-lasting, direct contact with tourists which, in the case of poor customer service, can be extremely problematic for businesses. Because of this, it is important to understand how employees manage their emotions to help them to remain satisfied with their work, thus contributing to the satisfaction of tourists. However, job satisfaction, emotional intelligence and emotional labor in tourism have not previously been studied together as variables in a single model. This research analyses the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between job satisfaction and emotional labor in travel agencies, as well as job satisfaction as an antecedent of emotional labor. Data were collected from 160 employees of 45 travel agencies in the Serbian cities of Belgrade and Novi Sad. Results show that employees’ emotional intelligence mediates the positive relationship between job satisfaction and emotional labor. Management implications: Increasing employees’ emotional intelligence through training and development and actively recruiting employees with high emotional intelligence will reduce emotional exhaustion and improve customer satisfaction for retail travel agencies. Future research should include employees from other countries, in order to make comparisons and to validate results, as well as to test the created model by structural equation modelling (SEM), involving some other possible mediators, such as socio-demographics, personality traits or work motivation.

零售旅行社的销售人员可以与游客保持长期直接的联系，如果客户服务质量不佳，则对企业来说是非常棘手的问题。因此，重要的是要了解员工如何管理自己的情绪，以帮助他们保持对工作的满意，从而促进游客的满意度。但是，旅游业的工作满意度，情绪智力和情绪劳动先前并未作为单一模型中的变量一起进行研究。这项研究分析了情商在旅行社的工作满意度和情绪劳动之间的关系中的中介作用，以及作为情绪劳动的前身的工作满意度。数据来自塞尔维亚贝尔格莱德市和诺维萨德市45家旅行社的160名员工。结果表明，员工的情商介导了工作满意度和情绪劳动之间的正相关关系。对管理的影响：通过培训和发展来提高员工的情商，并积极招聘具有高情商的员工，将减少情绪疲惫并提高零售旅行社的客户满意度。未来的研究应包括来自其他国家/地区的员工，以便进行比较和验证结果，并通过结构方程模型（SEM）来测试创建的模型，其中涉及一些其他可能的媒介，例如社会人口统计学，人格特质或工作动机。通过培训和发展来提高员工的情商，并积极招聘具有高情商的员工，将减少情绪疲惫并提高零售旅行社的客户满意度。未来的研究应包括来自其他国家/地区的员工，以便进行比较和验证结果，并通过结构方程模型（SEM）来测试创建的模型，其中涉及一些其他可能的媒介，例如社会人口统计学，人格特质或工作动机。通过培训和发展来提高员工的情商，并积极招聘具有高情商的员工，将减少情绪疲惫并提高零售旅行社的客户满意度。未来的研究应包括来自其他国家/地区的员工，以便进行比较和验证结果，并通过结构方程模型（SEM）来测试创建的模型，其中涉及一些其他可能的媒介，例如社会人口统计学，人格特质或工作动机。