Positive Tourism

Tourism affects millions of individuals, numerous societies and environments in multiple, nuanced and overlapping ways. While it can be viewed as a frivolous leisure pursuit or simply a large industry, with potentially destructive impacts, it might also be understood in terms of its effects on human fulfilment, the good life and greater well-being. This book calls for positive tourism, principally grounded in theories from positive psychology (the study of what makes life worth living), and the development of a body of knowledge that explains what characterises optimal tourist experiences, what enables host communities to flourish and what encourages workers in tourism to thrive. Through original research studies reported in this international volume we aim to further develop this knowledge. The intersections between ongoing and traditionally inspired applications of psychology in tourism and this new thrust in psychological inquiry promise to refresh and challenge tourism research. This book will appeal to researchers and academics in tourism, leisure, positive psychology, management and related fields as well as graduate students, professionals and policy makers.

Lists of figures List of tables List of contributors Foreword Acknowledgements Part I: Positive Tourism What is Positive Tourism? Why Do We Need It? Sebastian Filep, Jennifer Laing and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Part II: Positive Tourist Experiences Meaningful Vacation Experiences Jan Packer and Chelsea Gill Tourism and Love: How Do Tourist Experiences Affect Romantic Relationships? Jessica de Bloom, Sabine Geurts and Martin Lohmann Tourists’ Accounts of Learning and Positive Emotions Through Sensory Experiences Xavier Matteucci Dark Tourism and Dark Events: A Journey to Positive Resolution and Well-Being Jennifer Laing and Warwick Frost The Role of Humour in Contributing to Tourism Experiences Anja Pabel Employing Hedonia and Eudaimonia to Explore Differences Between Three Groups of Wellness Tourists on the Experiential, the Motivational and the Global Level Cornelia Voigt Why Do We Travel? A Positive Psychological Model for Travel Motivation Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and John Coffey Part III: Positive Host Communities Examining Kindness of Strangers in Tourism: Trail Magic on the Appalachian Trail Troy Glover and Sebastian Filep The Impact of Tourism on the Quality of Life of Local Industry Employees in Ubud, Bali Peita Hillman, Brent D. Moyle, Betty Weiler and Deborah Che Part IV: Positive Tourism Workers Transformative Guiding and Long-Distance Walking Robert Saunders, Betty Weiler and Jennifer Laing Co-creation and Experience Brokering in Guided Adventure Tours Susan Houge Mackenzie and John Kerr Part V: Conclusions and Future Directions Synthesising Positive Tourism Sebastian Filep, Jennifer Laing and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Index

Sebastian Filep is Senior Lecturer at the Tourism Department, University of Otago, New Zealand. He specialises in tourism and well-being research.He has published internationally in peer-reviewed academic journals and books on the topic of human well-being. Jennifer Laing is Associate Professor in Management in the Department of Management and Marketing, La Trobe University, Australia. Her research interests include extraordinary tourist experiences, the role of events in society, travel narratives and wellness tourism. She has co-writtenfive and editedtwo books on tourism and/or events. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management and Founding Co-Director of the Quality of Life Research Centre, Claremont Graduate University, USA. He is noted for his work on happiness, but is best known as the architect of the notion of flow.