Wellness tourism is a rapidly expanding sector of the global
tourism industry, and is defined in terms of the pursuit of wellbeing as a
primary purpose for travel. But we know little about the psychological outcomes
of such a vacation, and how these can be optimized by wellness centers. In this study, just published in
the Journal of Hospitality &
Tourism Research we
interviewed participants at a wellness retreat in South Carolina and we found
that the following characteristics of the stay enhance psychological wellbeing:
1)
Mindfulness:
opportunities for meditation and time to enjoy nature, staff psychologists, and
lecture seminars helped guests better understand underlying motivations for
behaviors
2) The opportunity to interact with like-minded people
3)
Structured activities
but with personal control over schedules
4)
Support and encouragement from
staff
5)
Novelty and variety with respect
to activities
The full
reference to the article is:
Thal, K., &
Hudson, S. (2019) "A Conceptual Model of Wellness Destination
Characteristics that Contribute to Psychological Wellbeing", Journal of Hospitality & Tourism
Research, 43(1), 41-57.
and it can be downloaded at:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1096348017704498
