Wellness and Tourism: Mind, Body, Spirit, Place, R. Bushell,P.J. Sheldon (Eds.). Cognizant Communication Corporation,New York (2009). 310 P., £47, ISBN: 978 1 882 345 51 7

摘要

Wellness tourism is a niche market that has garnered growing academic attention in tourism and recreational studies over the past few years. According to the editors of Wellness and Tourism: Mind, Body, Spirit, Place, wellness tourism is an all-encompassing term relating to medical, health, sports/fitness, adventure or transformational types of travel that improves one's wellbeing, and define wellness tourism as"... a holistic mode of travel that integrates a quest for physical health, beauty, or longevity, and/or a heightening of consciousness or spiritual awareness, and a connection with community, nature, or the divine mystery" (p. 11). The editors argue that if tourism is increasingly seen as "a vehicle to improve an individual's quality of life" (p. 12), then attention must be paid by tourism providers at both the experiential and destination level to the motivations, purposes, and wellbeing status of tourists. Thus, the editors set up the logical content of this book by developing typologies of wellness tourism to include six wellness tourism types based on user motivations and product purpose and benefits: medical, health, sport/fitness, adventure, wellbeing and transformation. The chapters that follow are wide-ranging in their scope, illustrating the breadth of activities and experiences wellness tourism encompasses.