Wellness and healthy lifestyle in tourism settings

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine the concept of wellness as a form of healthy lifestyle in tourism settings. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a self-complete questionnaire administered to a sample of guests staying in wellness hotels in Croatia. These data were processed using univariate statistics (general description of the sample), cluster analysis (segmentation purposes), multinomial regression analysis (profiling the clusters) and confirmatory factor analysis (confirmation of wellness-related lifestyle). Findings Six wellness-related lifestyle dimensions (diet, fitness, social interactions, cultural diversity, health awareness and personal development) were confirmed, and four segments emerged (high-level wellness, diet- and health-oriented, fitness-oriented and low-level wellness clusters). They differed in their travel motivation. Originality/value This paper suggests a wellness-related lifestyle scale that integrates the elements of wellness intervention models and healthy lifestyle, confirms the link between healthy lifestyle and travel motivation and establishes the importance of the social, intellectual and spiritual dimensions of a tourist’s lifestyle.

Responsible consumer and lifestyle: Sustainability insights

“… Marjanen et al. (2016) , Težak Damijanić (2019) Hygge The verb hyggja means to think or to be happy with something in Old Norse. Later on, hygge was also used to denote care, protection, safety, calmness and household welfare .…”

Predicting medical tourism behavioural intention using social cognition models

“…From a practical implication perspective, medical tourism preferment should aim at forming and strengthening tourists’ confidence about the safety of medical services available with well-trained physicians and the technological facilities that match international standards. In addition, the motion should also be placed at targeting the significance of other people’s opinions, such as individual family members and people important to them, as the interpersonal interaction amongst these so-called health-conscious people provide dynamic value in reflecting their approval levels of judgement (Težak Damijanić, 2019). Further, the promotional health message of focusing on one’s quality health care benefits is more persuasive than focusing on the negative outcomes of ignoring one’s health.…”

Wellness tourism: customer-perceived value on customer engagement

“…Some studies explored the factors that enhance wellness tourists’ well-being (Thal and Hudson, 2017) and behavioral intention (Hudson et al , 2017), as well as the benefits of wellness traveling (Koh et al , 2010). Scholars also established customer service factors for wellness tourism (Chen et al , 2013), explored the wellness dimensions of wellness-related lifestyles (Težak Damijanić, 2019) and analyzed the influence of the emotional experience of yoga tourists on behavioral intention (Sharma and Nayak, 2019). Although some achievements have been made in wellness tourism research, few existing research studies focus on how wellness tourists co-create value with different actors, thus affecting their behaviors.…”

“…Lew, 2020) and predict that it will become more popular (Wen et al , 2020). Wellness tourism is regarded as a subcategory of health tourism (Mueller and Kaufmann, 2001; Težak Damijanić, 2019), through which people seek a healthy balance between body, mind and spirit to achieve “whole-body well-being” (Chen et al , 2013, p. 1093). It can be defined as the sum of all the relationships and phenomena resulting from a journey by people whose main motivation is to preserve or promote their physical and mental health (Chen et al , 2013; Wang et al , 2020).…”