فراتحلیل پژوهش‌های انجام‌شده در حوزۀ گردشگری تندرستی

هم‌زمان با رواج زندگی صنعتی، کسب آرامش و فراغت در محیط‌های طبیعی بیش‌ازپیش مورد توجه گردشگران بوده و مکان‌های طبیعی با ویژگی‌های منحصربه‌فرد با هدف کسب سلامت جسم و روان، و بهره‌مندی از آرامش با هدف بهبود کیفیت زندگی به‌منزلۀ فعالیت فراغتی گردشگری تندرستی ایجاد شده‌اند. گردشگری تندرستی یا wellness یکی از گونه‌های گردشگری سلامت به‌شمار می‌رود که در سال‌های اخیر، تحقیقات بسیاری در مقصدهای گردشگری جهان پیرامون آن انجام شده است. این تحقیق با هدف فراتحلیل بر روی تحقیقاتی که مفهوم و ابعاد گردشگری تندرستی را بررسی کرده‌اند انجام شده است. فراتحلیل به شیوۀ تحلیل و توصیف بر روی ده مقاله، که همگی از منابع خارجی هستند و مفهوم گردشگری تندرستی را مطالعه کرده‌اند، انجام شده است. نتایج فراتحلیل نشان می‌دهند که مفهوم گردشگری تندرستی در مجموع تحقیقات مدنظر، برپایۀ هفت مولفۀ طبیعت، غذا، آرامش، بعد ذهنی، بعد جسمی، تجربه و معنویت تقسیم شده است که هریک، از متغیرهای وابسته به مفهوم مولفه تشکیل شده‌اند.

meta analysis on wellness tourism researches

abstractnowadays in industrial life, peace and leisure in natural environments are tourists attenttion more and more. also natural places with unique characteristics aim to gain physical and mental health, and enjoy peace with the aim of improving the quality of life. they have been created as a health tourism leisure activity. wellness tourism is one of the types of health tourism, and it is considered that in recent years, many researches have been conducted in the world’s tourist destinations. this research has been conducted with the aim of meta-analysis on the researches that have examined the concept and dimensions of health tourism. meta-analysis has been carried out in the form of analysis and description on ten articles, all of which are from foreign sources and have studied the concept of wellness tourism. the results of the meta-analysis show that the concept of wellness tourism can be divided into the seven components of nature, food, relaxation, mental dimension, physical dimension, experience and spirituality in the total of the considered researches, and each of the variables related to the concept components are formed.1. introductionthe literature related to wellness and health tourism dates back to 1986. at that time, lounsbury and hoopes conducted a pre-test/post-test questionnaire that proved a significant relationship between vacation satisfaction, relaxation, escape from everyday life, food and accommodation, and education level. studies specific to wellness tourism since the beginning of 2001 have found that most studies on the motivations of traveling for wellness (chen et al., 2008; hun kim batra, 2009; lehto et al., 2006; mak et al., 2009; medina-muñoz medina-muñoz, 2013); describing the characteristics of wellness tourists (hun kim, batra, 2009; lehto et al., 2006; voigt et al., 2011) and analyzing market demand have been focused (heung kucukusta, 2013; laing et al., 2010; mueller kaufmann, 2001; smith kelly, 2006). lehto et al. (2006) investigated the factors that motivate tourists to travel, especially yoga, which is a subset of wellness tourism, from a motivational perspective. this study has found motivations worthy of attention from seeking spirituality to controlling negative emotions. wiggett (2014) examined the benefits of three types of wellness travelers: beauty spa, lifestyle resort, and spiritual resort. using qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, the authors elaborated on the benefits of the wellness tourism rating. referring to six distinct factors including excellence, physical health and appearance, escape and relaxation, novelty, reviving self-confidence, and inner satisfaction. in a study on wellness tourists focusing on socio-demographic characteristics, motivations of wellness tourists and demand for wellness tourism in the spanish island of gran canaria (dillette, 2016, p. 16).the present study is just the beginning to understand the diverse and complex relationship between tourism and well-being and happiness. as people become more aware and concerned about the stressors of daily life, the importance of maintaining health and wellness will become a priority for many people, who have neglected it in the past. in this research, a meta-analysis has been done on the concept and dimensions of health tourism in order to explain its main concepts and components.  2. literature reviewwellness is a complex concept that includes elements of lifestyle, physical, mental and spiritual health, and a person’s relationship with himself, others, and the environment. in fact, it can be argued that wellness balances all dimensions of life such as health and vitality and happiness, quality of life, skill and experience, holistic view and spiritual beliefs (smith puczk, 2009). wellness refers to the overall state of health that includes the mind, spirit and body as well as their interaction with the environment. well-being is not static, but a continuously evolving and ongoing phenomenon that affects everyday life (dillette, 2016).according to the definition of the world tourism organization, wellness tourism is a type of tourism activity that aims to improve and balance all the main areas of human life, including physical, mental, emotional, occupational, intellectual and spiritual. the primary motivation for the health tourist is to participate in preventive and strengthening activities and lifestyle modification; such as physical fitness, healthy nutrition, relaxation and healing treatments (lopes rodríguez-lópez, 2022). tourism activities, which focus on improving physical and mental health or self-discovery and change, are known as wellness tourism and have emerged in wellness resorts, spa and meditation centers, etc. since there are many definitions of wellness, the concept of wellness tourism and its interpretations are diverse, but tourism - which mainly aims at the health, vitality and well-being of tourists - is called wellness tourism (lee kim, 2013).dunn (1959) originally introduced the concept of health in 1959. at that time, dunn proposed a new state of health that included not only physical health, but also states of health consisting of mind, spirit, and environment. dunn refers to this state as high-level fitness.after the work of dunn (1959), travis (1984) emphasized wellness from a more dynamic point of view and defined it as the achievement of a new and alive state, a process and a current and not static attitude. in müller and kaufman’s (2001) opinion, this interpretation of wellness includes harmony of body, mind and spirit with self-responsibility, physical fitness, beauty care, healthy nutrition/diet, relaxation, mediation, mental activity, education and environmental sensitivity/communication. they considered it social.also, according to adams (2003), wellness includes three important principles: 1) wellness is multidimensional; 2) wellness is about balance; 3) health is relative, mental and perceptive. the final principle argued by adams (2003) offers an interesting perspective which suggests that due to the personal and subjective nature of well-being, it cannot necessarily be measured on the same scale from one person to another. the national wellness institute defines wellness as an active process through which people become aware and make choices for a more successful existence (national wellness institute, 2016). based on various definitions and perspectives, it can be concluded that some of these definitions are based on the fact that wellness is multidimensional, dynamic and subjective and can be achieved from the intertwining of the best aspects of body, mind, spirit and environment, which leads to guiding a healthy lifestyle into everyday life. 3. methodologythe approach of this research is qualitative. therefore, the present study is carried out by meta-analysis as a review of the research background, in which the review of the research background is in the field of wellness tourism. the basic and practical principle in meta-analysis is to combine the results of various and numerous researches and extract new and coherent results and remove what causes bias in the final results (delavar, 2014). therefore, the unit of analysis is the meta-analysis of individual studies of different researchers in the investigated field. in fact, in meta-analysis, primary information is collected from existing sources, combined with each other, and then results are obtained that some researchers have also achieved. according to newman, reviewing the research background has various goals, one of which is to consolidate and summarize the results found in a field of study. in fact, revision leads to the combination of different results (newman, 2012). in this research, ten english articles in the field of health tourism have been analyzed with a general focus. all the articles have examined wellness tourism with a focus on overall analysis, tourist satisfaction, and development strategy. the articles are in english, and except for two articles, which were done in 2013 and 2015, the rest of the articles were presented in 2020, 2021, and 2023, which shows a greater trend in recent years towards the concept of wellness tourism.  4. results and conclusionwellness tourism is one of the new concepts in tourism studies that has been discussed in the field of health tourism. maybe in the beginning, the leisure aspect of this activity has already been noticed, but it seems that over time, its health aspect has attracted more attention. it is worth mentioning that the concern of people to fill their free time with various goals has led to wellness and this change in the attitude and purpose of tourism among tourists leads to the expansion of wellness tourism and as a result, improving the health of individuals and society. especially in recent years, many studies have been conducted in the field of development, analysis and positioning of this type of tourism, focusing on nature, relaxation and increasing the health of the body and mind. the analysis of the articles reviewed in this research shows that both in the field of tourist satisfaction and in the field of health tourism market development, there are common components that should be considered from different dimensions according to the location and environment. from body and mind to nature, relaxation, which is one of the goals of wellness tourism, as well as experience and spirituality. each of these components are divided into variables that were studied in a similar and common way in all these articles. the results show that physical health is the most important and the first aspect of wellness tourism. after that, gaining experience, mental dimension, spirituality and also gaining peace are very important. of course, some researchers do not have such an approach and consider it necessary to pay attention to this component in an integrated and simultaneous manner. therefore, it can be said that today’s world, along with the development of industrial life and the increase of physical and mental diseases, needs health tourism more than ever. may the environment and nature, due to its unique climatic features, bring different aspects of peace; of course, the development and earning of economic income from this type of tourism is important, but it is suggested that environmental sustainability approaches should be prioritized in planning. also, the components of health tourism in this article can be a topic for research by researchers in different conditions and in different sites and potentials, and the results of such explorations will undoubtedly play an effective role in the growth and development of this industry, which is one of the necessities of life in today’s societies. our findings have important implications and results for academics and activists in the field of tourism, especially in the field of health and well-being.