Tourism engaging with the public health agenda: Can we promote ‘wellville’ as a destination of choice?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to introduce well-being as a potential concept to guide tourism destination strategy development, where the destination enhances and promotes physical and mental health for residents and tourists alike. Well-being is a complex concept concerning both objective, in terms of tourism destination, and subjective, in terms of health, affect and other personal goals. Currently, the debate in health considers two perspectives: the hedonic approach, which focuses on happiness and defines well-being in terms of pleasure attainment; and the eudaimonic approach, which focuses on meaning and self-realization. Pleasure is the hallmark of hedonism, and engagement serves as the core feeling of eudaimonia. Clearly, engagement with a well-being agenda is central to a public health strategy, but could also form the basis for a well-being concept of tourism. A hedonistic product development approach that, for example, highlights the night-time economy, drinking and eating to excess, would sit uncomfortably within a health paradigm, and arguably within local society. Alternatively, a eudaimonic product fit that emphasizes human flourishing could be more contemporary and acceptable. In the UK, with the re-