The benefits of tourism and travel to the tourist's well-being : a conceptual discussion

Abstract

Daily hassles and negative life events are common occurrences for many people. Stressors, such as work-related problems, are detrimental to a person’s well-being and can be detrimental to health, especially if they persist over a long period of time. Many people resort to tourism to restore their mental and physical well-being. Restoration enables people to recover from mental fatigue and helps them meet the demands of everyday life. At the destination, tourists engage in activities that enable them to put aside thoughts about their work and other personal concerns. This paper explores how the engagement with different elements of the destination enables tourists to enhance their physiological and psychological well-being. The tourism activities considered in this paper are (i) engagement with nature, (ii) engagement with the physical environment, (iii) engagement with culture, (iv) engagement with the spiritual, (v) engagement with other people. For each, the implications for the tourist’s well-being are discussed.