Designing a Wellness-Based Tourism Model for Sustainable Rural Development

Abstract Wellness tourism, which is a fast-growing sector in the tourism industry, is a sub-branch of health tourism. In this type of tourism, tourists travel to get rid of the stresses of their daily life and rejuvenate without medical intervention and supervision. These tourists usually have no specific physical illness; rather, they are interested in enjoying the healing nature of other areas. These people travel to use the natural facilities available at the destination. These facilities, which may include favorable climate, hot springs, pristine nature of rural areas, and so on, are provided to tourists so that they can relax. The present study is a non-experimental survey in which the structural equation modeling method (AMOS22) is used to analyze the data. The statistical population was composed of the tourists visiting the natural attractions of Sarab County, Iran. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. To measure the reliability of the research instrument, 30 copies of the questionnaire were completed by some wellness tourists in Sarein Township, Ardabil province in Iran. The results confirmed the good reliability of the questionnaire. Also, the average variance extracted (AVE) and composite reliability (CR) calculated for the studied variables were greater than 0.5 and 0.7, respectively. The results showed that among the studied factors, the location of the place had the greatest impact on choosing a wellness-based tourism destination. Also, among the different dimensions of wellness, the physical aspect was the most prominent dimension in choosing this kind of tourism. The research contributes approaches to developing wellness tourism in Iran in particular and in the world in general. Based on these approaches and strategies, effective steps would be taken to reduce life stress and move towards improving quality of life in the COVID-19 conditions.