Comparing the motivations behind wellness tourism in three source markets

Abstract

This study surveyed 1562 wellness tourists in Finland, the St. Petersburg area, and Lithuania to explore what were their motivations for taking a wellness trip, to investigate what differences there were between different nationalities and determine how wellness tourists could be segmented based on their motivation. As most previous studies analysed wellness tourism motivations in one chosen destination, this study fills the gap in cross-cultural analysis of motivations. Exploratory factor analysis revealed six motivational factors including status, beauty and appearance, personal development, nature and outdoors, socialization, and resting and relaxation, the latter factor being dominant across all nationality groups. Seemingly unrelated regression analysis revealed significant differences in terms of the importance of beautification, improving physical condition, nature, and the desire to indulge in luxury experiences.