Description
The purpose of the research:
Despite the enormous increase in interest in wellness travel over the past few years, there is no set method for determining the critical components of these types of travel locations (Subasinghe et al., 2020). However, according to Subasinghe et al. (2020), wellness tourism is a rapidly expanding global phenomenon that heavily depends on innovation and knowledge management. "A state of health featuring harmony between the body, mind, and spirit, with self-responsibility, physical fitness/beauty care, healthy nutrition/diet, relaxation/meditation, mental activity/education, and environmental sensitivity/social contacts as fundamental elements," is what Mueller and Kaufmann (2001) defined as wellness tourism.
A wellness tourism experience satisfies the emotional needs of the traveller by offering a sense of peace and harmony that improves well-being and promotes health. The wellness tourism market aims to enhance, preserve, and advance the body, mind, and spirit (Smith and Kelly, 2006). In addition to a way of life adopted by those in permanent employment. According to the Global Wellness Institute, this market has expanded rapidly, adding 12.8% between 2015 and 2017 and accounting for 5.3% of the world economy (BrandMinds , 2019).
Along with customized guest care, a broad range of cultural and recreational activities, and quality management, the standard of wellness services is becoming an increasingly important differentiator and competitive factor for hotels. Services tailored to a client's preferences and not related to healing are instead related to the client's overall well-being (Chen et al., 2013). The hospitality sector must develop creative solutions to offer its patrons intuitive service while keeping operational limits in mind, matching client preferences with its operations plan, and requiring sustained customer-centric innovations.
Since consumers are now involved in production and consumption processes (Buhalis and Law, 2008), companies must employ technology to interact with customers more personally. Consequently, using technology to personalise allows customers to obtain tailored information more quickly and easily at any moment (Nyheim et al., 2015). According to Nyheim et al. (2015), hotels can establish robust customer relationships through customisation. Customers can spend less time looking for information when they use personalized services and get recommendations for more services tailored to their tastes (Nyheim et al., 2015; Piccoli et al., 2017).
In order to provide individualized service, hotels must be able to discern their guests' wants, as this is a critical factor in determining their satisfaction. The hotel manager's new goal is to provide a great client experience to keep their leadership position (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). In order to meet the new competitive challenges associated with the hospitality industry, it is possible to create a quality customer experience by combining the provision of high-quality services with the provision of preferred tourism experiences with the support of information technology. This allows for the addition of a differentiation strategy through innovation in the form of new and unique products offered at a superior economic value (Bharwani & Matheus, 2016).
Design/methodology/approach:
The current study aims to determine the elements of service providers, motivation, tourism experience, and technology environments that support wellness tourism activities and positively affect consumer satisfaction and recommendations.
Findings and Research Implications:
After conducting this investigation, we have come to the following conclusions: the ability to engage in other activities that lead to feelings of evasion and escapism, the sending of personalized messages to pamper the guest, the trust they have in the hotel app, the testimonials they read and share on social media, and the personalization offered by technology are factors that impact customer satisfaction and, as a result, influence the recommendation of the hotel and its services to other guests.
Keywords:
Wellness tourism, Customer satisfaction, Customer recommendation, Personalization, Social Media Marketing, Information Technology.
References:
Bharwani, S., & Mathews, D. (2016). Customer service innovations in the Indian hospitality industry. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 8(4), 416-431.
BrandMinds (2019). The health & wellness industry is now worth $4.2 trillion. Medium. https://bit.ly/2O1SAwa, last accessed 2024/04/18.
Buhalis, D., & Law, R. (2008). Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research. Tourism management, 29(4), 609-623.
Chen, K. H., Liu, H. H., & Chang, F. H. (2013). Essential customer service factors and the segmentation of older visitors within wellness tourism based on hot springs hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 122-132.
Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. Journal of marketing, 80(6), 69-96.
Mueller, H., & Kaufmann, E. L. (2001). Wellness tourism: Market analysis of a special health tourism segment and implications for the hotel industry. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 7(1), 5–17.
Nyheim, P., Xu, S., Zhang, L., & Mattila, A. S. (2015). Predictors of avoidance towards personalization of restaurant smartphone advertising: A study from the Millennials’ perspective. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 6(2), 145–159.
Piccoli, G., Lui, T.-W., & Grün, B. (2017). The impact of IT-enabled customer service systems on service personalization, customer service perceptions, and hotel performance. Tourism Management, 59, 349–362.
Smith, M., & Kelly, C. (2006). Wellness tourism. Tourism Recreation Research, 31 (1), 1–4.
Subasinghe, M., Magalage, D., Amadoru, N., Amarathunga, L., Bhanupriya, N., & Wijekoon, J. L. (2020). Effectiveness of artificial intelligence, decentralized and distributed systems for prediction and secure channelling for Medical Tourism. 2020 11th IEEE Annual Information Technology, Electronics and Mobile Communication Conference (IEMCON), 314–319.
