Linking wellness tourism and community well-being within a regenerative tourism paradigm

As individuals continue to re-prioritise health and wellness in a post-pandemic world, demand for wellness tourism continues to grow. Accordingly, destinations are increasingly embracing wellness-focused tourism strategies to foster economic growth. An inherent challenge in this approach is managing the development of wellness tourism in a manner that also maintains or enhances resident well-being in destination communities. Understanding what well-being means to key tourism stakeholders is a critical first step in moving towards regenerative models of wellness tourism in which resident well-being has equal priority to visitor wellness. This study explored how: (1) community well-being is conceptualised within a regenerative tourism paradigm; and (2) wellness tourism might complement and/or support a regenerative tourism approach to community well-being. The findings from in-depth interviews with regenerative destination planners (n = 18) identified that community well-being is holistically defined, encompasses diverse elements (e.g. mental well-being, individual flourishing, economic security), and incorporates both human and non-human components. Community empowerment in destination planning was also identified as a critical well-being component. Findings suggest that a regenerative approach to wellness tourism should involve shared goals of holism and enhanced local environment, which is operationalised through collaboration across destination planners, wellness providers and communities.