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

was applied. The finding shows only four variables are statistically significant, including
activities of learning courses (mean=1.89, 2.02, t=2.416, p=.0.16), atmosphere of calmness or
relaxation (mean=1.31, 1.45, t=2.720, p=.007), non-smoking area/room (mean=1.30, 1.41,
t=2.018, p=.044), and information of health related topics (mean=1.51, 1.63, t=2.384,
p=.018). The passive benefits seekers attach more importance to the above services. It reveals
that among elder travelers, those perceived less travel benefits might be the major target group
for the wellness services and facilities provided by the hotels.
Participation Interests in Extended Wellness-Related Activities
Among the extended wellness-related activities provided by the hotels, the top three activities
of interests for active benefits seekers are “Cultural programs (e.g. music, arts)”, “Hiking or
bicycling with tour guide”, and “Massage” and for passive benefits seekers are “Cultural
programs (e.g. music, arts)”, “Hiking or bicycling with tour guide”, and “Organic food/living
food diet”. There are five items having a significant difference (p .05) in the count of
participation interest between two groups, which are “hiking or bicycling with tour guide”
(χ 2 =6.577, p=.010), “Yoga, meditation, relaxation activities”(χ 2 =12.979, p=.000), “Massage”
(χ 2 =10.656, p=.001), “Special recipe” χ 2 =9.291, p=.002 , and “Low calorie
diet” χ 2 =16.838, p=.000 . As a result, the percentages of these five activities are
significantly higher in active benefits seekers than the passive benefits seekers.
Conclusions and Suggestions
1. Two clusters are identified as “active benefits seekers” and “passive benefits seekers” by
the elders’ perceived travel benefits. The demographic characteristics, health perception and
travel behaviors in each type are distinct. It indicates the importance of using “benefits” for
elder’s travel market segmentation. Compare to the passive benefits seekers, those who
perceived higher travel benefits tend to be younger, with higher education level, and more
spending power. Also, they travel more often and the time is more recent. They are healthier
and keep a better health habits. These findings reveal positive relationships between
perception of travel benefits and their travel behavior and health.
2. As almost all elders perceived the hotel wellness services and facilities to be somewhat
important to very important, the passive benefits seekers valued more about learning course
activities, atmosphere of calmness or relaxation, non-smoking area/room, and information of
health related topics, in comparison with the active benefits seekers. This may be resulted
from their related demographic background, travel experiences and health behavior. It needs
further research. The top three services and facilities for all elders are sports facilities,
bath/sauna/steam, and activities of learning courses. The findings are similar to the empirical
study by Meuller & Kaufmann (2001) and Tsai & Wu (2005). It is recommended the wellness
hotel operators and marketers to have these services and facilities as the basic requirements in
their infrastructure of the wellness hotels and passive benefits seekers should be the major
target group.
3. The wellness tourism providers should also include “Cultural programs (e.g. music, arts)”,
“Hiking or bicycling with tour guide”, and “Massage” and “Organic food/living food diet”
which are on the top list for elders for their interest of participation. However, compared to
the passive benefits seekers, the active seekers should be the target group for the extended
wellness activities. They have more intentions in joining almost all the wellness activities
provided by the hotels. The differences are especially significant on “Hiking or Bicycling
with Tour Guide”, “Yoga, Meditation, Relaxation Activities”, “Massage”, “Special Recipe”,
and “Low Calorie Diet”.