Integrating concepts of destination image, travel motivations, expectation, and future behavior to create a model of wellness travel intentions

Abstract

ABSTRACT The COVID 19 pandemic has caused people to rethink their thoughts on health tourism. They are now emphasising the idea that health is wealth. This is an opportunity for players in the industry to create value by offering a variety of services. Therefore, it becomes imperative to find out the factors a potential wellness tourist is looking for before making a travel choice. The study aims to find out the influence of the perceived image of a wellness destination, wellness travel motives, and wellness tourist expectations from a destination on the future travel behaviour of the potential wellness tourist using Structural Equation Modelling. The empirical results indicate that factors of destination image affect tourist expectations. Further, expectations positively affect the factors of wellness travel motivation, which in turn affect travel behaviour positively. The study shows that for a positive image, a wellness destination must have an adequate blend of soft and hard wellness infrastructure and trained wellness professionals. Moreover, the tourists are looking for solace and tranquility, therefore, a destination where a mix of health and wellness-related activities are offered but without much indulgence of technology will attract tourists.