Wellness tourism has become a significant development trend in the global tourism industry, blending environmental and experiential elements. However, while existing research often focuses on the intervention effects of natural experiences, the role of cultural symbols in tourism healing remains largely overlooked. The purpose of this study is to critically revisit the concept of “wellness tourism healing”, exploring how cultural symbolic experiences contribute to the healing process and developing a corresponding theoretical framework.
This study adheres to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines and uses bibliometric methods to conduct a systematic review, using the Web of Science and Scopus databases for literature retrieval and analysis.
Wellness tourism healing is a multi-dimensional, complex and dynamic process, with the core objective of improving, maintaining or promoting the health of tourists. This process encompasses various dimensions such as embodied engagement, spiritual rituals, social interaction and cultural symbolic experiences, which interact across physical, mental, psychological, emotional and social levels, creating synergistic effects that enhance overall wellness. Particularly, cultural symbolic experiences, through the interaction of cultural symbols and their associated meanings, stimulate tourists’ emotions, cognition and social connections, further facilitating the deeper effects of the healing process.
This study presents the core concept and theoretical framework of wellness tourism healing and suggests that tourism product design should integrate cultural symbolic experiences and relevant cultural rituals to enhance tourists’ embodied engagement and emotional connection. The proposed strategies contribute to optimising the healing experience, fostering sustainable industry development and increasing tourists’ revisit intentions.
