Health, Wellness and Tourism: healthy tourists, healthy business ...

Table 2 Themes of Motivation Factors and Push/Pull Factors
Themes / Push and Pull Factors
Sub-themes
Push factor :
Self-satisfying goal Escape - relax and pamper
Reward after working hard
Self-fulfilment Distress / Time-out
Relieve from work-stress
Take a break
Unwind / Rejuvenate / Regeneration
Recovery from tension in busy life
Distant travel / long flights
Travel activities
Pull factors :
Spa attributes Physical looks – tangible resource
Environment / Atmosphere
Well-decorated
Spa attributes Marketing image
Affordability
Availability and accessibility
Range of treatments
Professionalism
In addition, the reasons of having spa treatments were also related to the tiredness of being
involved in activities during holiday and the travelling itself (e.g. had long flight). This is
evidenced from the following quotes: “To distress, to relax and after playing physical sports,
it helps my muscles rejuvenate” (Interview informant 10) and “Because I come from the Sri
Lanka, from the Safari and needed to… had a long flight, and it’s good to unwind” (Interview
informant 14). Interestingly, it is discovered that notion of “escape” from daily life, which
commonly as one of the main motivators for holiday exists and related to motivation of
having health and spa experiences at the holiday destination selected. This can be reflected
from the responses: “To relax, that’s the biggest thing. When you go on holiday because you
want to get away 8-10 hours a day working high pressure, come home cook and clean. So you
want to have that spa experience, as I said, to just relax before you go back and face it again”
(Interview informant 9), and “Just to recharge my battery while I am here. So, when I go
home, I’ll feel refresh and back to routine and work” (Interview informant 15)
Clearly, the motivating factors that emerged from the responses, as shown in Table 2,
suggested that health and spa tourists were generally motivated from the individual’s
psychological aspects including variety of reasons related to relaxation during holiday (needs
and wants). From the themes and sub-themes of informants’ motivational factors, it also
suggests that informants are mainly attracted by the spa attributes such as the tangibility of the
spa itself and the marketing image it conveys which have considerate influences on the
informants’ main motivations to visit spas/have spa treatments. These factors include the