Description
Abstract
In an increasingly globalised world, the importance of well-being has grown significantly, prompting numerous national and international initiatives to assess citizens' well-being (OECD, 2013; Ruggeri et al., 2020). Simultaneously, there has been an increase in investigations of well-being indicators in the fields of psychology (Diener et al., 2010; Veenhoven, 2014) and tourism (Vada et al., 2022; Chen & Petrick, 2013; Sie et al., 2021). As a result, researchers are trying to identify the factors contributing to well-being in different cultural contexts (Diener et al., 2010).
Tourism is often portrayed as either an activity that directly improves the well-being of the visitor, as well as advances knowledge and health (Connell, 2006), or as an activity that indirectly improves well-being by reducing anomalies caused by the society in which the visitor lives (MacCannell, 1999). Especially in modern society, some people notice travel as an essential aspect of life. When they are on vacation or organising a trip, they frequently look for locations where they can relax and escape the stress of daily life. Vacations provide many advantages, including better mental and physical health, increased happiness, and improved quality of life (Chen & Petrick, 2013).
Moscardo (2011) suggests that the relationship between tourism, health, and well-being is complex and influenced by travellers' motivations and destination opportunities. Her work suggests that human desires interact with personality traits through social and cultural conditions and that tourists' motivations have moved towards incorporating aspects of well-being.
Examining different factors that may be linked to travel motivations and well-being is crucial. Tourist experiences are frequently portrayed as creators of memories. Visitors' memories of travel experiences are an essential outcome retained from the trip (Coudounaris & Sthapit, 2017). In turn, memorability refers to a vital result of the travel experience (Sthapit & Coudounaris, 2018). One research found that senior visitors' memorable experiences mediated the association between motivation and life satisfaction (Sie et al., 2021).
Some studies have tried to identify the antecedents and outcomes of well-being. For instance, according to Vada et al. (2022) conceptual framework for tourism well-being, mindfulness is considered an antecedent or trigger. Other tourism experts have emphasised the value of mindfulness (Haobin et al., 2021; Rubin et al., 2016) and suggested a positive association between mindfulness and memorable tourism experiences (Iacob et al., 2023). Further, it is proposed that mindfulness and memory encoding depend greatly on attention. According to Lee and Kim (2018), the desire to return to a location is linked to a positive memory of previous visits, and mindfulness plays a crucial role in enhancing visitors' intent to return and their ability to recall special moments. In this vein, mindfulness may be a key element in promoting and improving well-being and influencing memorable experiences.
To further explore this subject, it is important to consider the nature of the driving forces behind travel and the pursuit of well-being. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the role of travel motivations on well-being and to analyse the impact of mindfulness and memorable tourism experiences on this relationship.
Data was collected through online questionnaires and included 256 participants who had the latest trip experience. Results show that model fit indices of the measurement model were found satisfactory and within the acceptable values. Validity and reliability were also confirmed. The proposed framework was tested through structural equation modelling (SEM) and bootstrap sampling. The findings yielded significant relationships among the constructs.
The analysis of results revealed a significant positive influence of travel motivation on well-being, mindfulness and memorable experiences. The mediating role of mindfulness in the relationship between motivation and well-being was confirmed. Furthermore, the mediating role of memorable experiences on the relationship between travel motivation and well-being was supported. Finally, memorable experiences positively mediated the relationship between mindfulness and well-being. Thus, the findings suggest that mindfulness positively influences well-being, and memorable tourism experiences also play an essential role in influencing well-being.
The findings suggest that travel motivation greatly influences tourism well-being. Understanding the different forms that can affect well-being could be very important to researchers and tourism managers so that they can incorporate the most effective methods and techniques to continue exploring the positive effects of psychological variables on well-being and for better management.
Keywords: memorable tourism experiences, mindfulness, travel motivation, tourism well-being
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Founds provided by FCT- The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under Grant UI/BD/152313/2021
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