Positive Tourism by Filep, Sebastian; Laing, Jennifer; Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly;

Short description:

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.

Long description:

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.

"In conclusion, this well written edited book achieves to further knowledge on optimal tourist experiences but more importantly has started documenting research on worker well-being and host-community well-being through the lens of positive psychology... the value of this book, particularly for researchers, lies as much in what is presented making an original contribution to knowledge as in highlighting what is missing or where our attention in tourism research should be."

Heike Schänzel, School of Hospitality & Tourism, Auckland University of Technology

Table of Contents:

Lists of figures

List of tables

List of contributors

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Part I: Positive Tourism

1. What is Positive Tourism? Why Do We Need It?





Sebastian Filep, Jennifer Laing and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi






Part II: Positive Tourist Experiences









2. Meaningful Vacation Experiences





Jan Packer and Chelsea Gill









3. Tourism and Love: How Do Tourist Experiences Affect Romantic Relationships?





Jessica de Bloom, Sabine Geurts and Martin Lohmann









4. Tourists’ Accounts of Learning and Positive Emotions Through Sensory Experiences





Xavier Matteucci









5. Dark Tourism and Dark Events: A Journey to Positive Resolution and Well-Being





Jennifer Laing and Warwick Frost









6. The Role of Humour in Contributing to Tourism Experiences





Anja Pabel









7. Employing Hedonia and Eudaimonia to Explore Differences Between Three Groups of Wellness Tourists on the Experiential, the Motivational and the Global Level





Cornelia Voigt









8. Why Do We Travel? A Positive Psychological Model for Travel Motivation







Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and John Coffey






Part III: Positive Host Communities









9. Examining Kindness of Strangers in Tourism: Trail Magic on the Appalachian Trail





Troy Glover and Sebastian Filep









10. 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









11. Transformative Guiding and Long-Distance Walking





Robert Saunders, Betty Weiler and Jennifer Laing









12. Co-creation and Experience Brokering in Guided Adventure Tours





Susan Houge Mackenzie and John Kerr






Part V: Conclusions and Future Directions









13. Synthesising Positive Tourism

Sebastian Filep, Jennifer Laing and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi