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Article

Assessing the Compensatory Potentiality of Hot Spring Tourism in the COVID-19 Post-Pandemic Environment

by
Xinjia Huang
1,
Yang Zhang
1 and
Chaojun Li
2,*
1
Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau 999078, China
2
College of Tourism and Historical Culture, Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing 526061, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8579; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148579
Submission received: 20 June 2022 / Revised: 8 July 2022 / Accepted: 9 July 2022 / Published: 13 July 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Tourism Development and Destination Marketing in a Post-pandemic Era)
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Abstract

:
Considering the public health crisis induced by the COVID-19 disease, hot spring tourism has attracted more people who want to compensate for this themselves and seek restoration of health. Research regarding consumer experience and their psychological restoration from compensatory travel activities is lacking. To address this gap, a conceptual model is developed that links the compensatory experience quality and the perceived restorative value. The model was assessed using a sample of 631 tourists who visited hot spring resorts in the post-pandemic environment. Our findings confirm the positive influence of the quality of compensatory experience (CEQ) on perceived restorativeness (PR). In particular, the cognitive image and affective image partially mediated the effect of CEQ on PR. These research findings provide both theoretical contributions and managerial implications on hot spring destination management and marketing.

1. Introduction

The public health emergency of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease) pandemic has greatly impacted the tourism industry and caused serious declines in regional economies across the world. Since international travel is restrained in most countries of the world at the time of writing, domestic short-distance travel has become the rational choice in many countries [1] where the pandemic has been relieved to some degree, for example, in China. Meanwhile, people have suffered restrictions of movement [2], social isolation [3], or even threatened mortality during the pandemic, especially at the peak of the outbreak. These negative experiences have resulted in various psychological issues such as boredom [4], depression, and anxiety [5,6,7], which need to be solved to distract attention from this unusual environment and to seek recovery. Scholars have found that people have a strong willingness to engage in short-distance travel after the pandemic [8,9], and it is tempting to speculate that traveling turns out to be a possible alternative way to relieve those negative issues in such a situation. Therefore, the participants’ experience in such tourism activities becomes a meaningful research question.
Previous research on compensatory consumption has identified its stimuli and alternative essence, through the consumption of certain goods or related services [10] to offset their unbalanced psychological states, such as low self-esteem [11], difficult or stressful situations [12,13], and boredom [14]. The types of compensatory consumption vary, but mainly focus on eating [15], shopping, and the therapeutic effects of such activities [16]. Although past research has contributed to both the theoretical boundary of compensatory behavior (e.g., stimuli) and the mechanism of the behavioral process, the literatures suggest that there is a need for empirical studies of compensatory consumption conducted in real life [17].
Within the impact of the pandemic and the associated public health crisis, the increasing demand for psychiatric assistance also reflects the public’s mental health problems that require expert help from a global perspective. For most people, the negative psychological states caused by stress and attention fatigue are associated with their ongoing efforts toward the needs of a daily working and living environment, and the demand for psychological restoration has become a problem for the majority of people who need to maintain their mental health. The concept of perceived restorativeness, which is derived from the ART (attention restorative theory) concept, has been applied to assess the restorative quality of certain environments through investigating human restoration [18,19,20]. Recently, it has been utilized to examine the perception of restoration in activity scenarios such as hospitality, outdoor leisure, and travel [21,22]. Considering the profound changes brought by COVID-19, people have also increased their interest in the health and wellness attributes of consumed products [23].
From the perspective of traditional Chinese health care, geothermal hot spring water with trace elements and other minerals can treat chronic diseases. This function evokes a common consensus among those who care about their health and respect wellness lifestyles [24]. For ordinary people, this type of wellness tourism activity has benefits for mental health, such as relaxation [19,20] and stress release [25]. As the outbreak of COVID-19 began, the booming national hot spring tourism industry had to come to a halt. After a temporary suspension during the pandemic, hot spring resorts have seen a rapid boom of visitors since the winter of 2020. Taking Guangdong province, China, as an example, hot spring resort bookings skyrocketed by 75% in December 2020 [26]. However, previous studies were carried out in the normal situation, and the compensatory travel phenomenon was not observed again until the containment measures were lifted [27]. There is a lack of research regarding the experience of visitors of hot spring resorts and the potential for restoration in the context of the post-lockdown period for COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the importance of the destination image concept for attracting visitors in the tourism recovery period after the pandemic has already been noticed from both industrial and academic aspects [28,29,30]. The role of destination image in the decision-making process of tourists’ behavior is also a topic worth exploring due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic over time [31]. From a practical perspective, assessing the perceived images of a specific destination after the pandemic can help local travel stakeholders better capitalize on the development opportunities presented by the recovery phase. Moreover, some new emerging studies have revealed the effect of destination image on tourists’ psychological experience within this specific public health crisis, such as the well-being and compensatory impacts [32,33].
Based on this argument, the major purposes of this study can be summarized as follows. First, this study will answer what and how the compensatory consumption experience is demonstrated for the people who join in tourism activity after the public health crises. Second, the possible restorative effect of compensatory consumption, although a new emerging topic, has been revealed in regard to tourists’ perceived mood [34,35] and self-concept [36]. This study will answer whether and how the experience of such activity contributes to their psychological restoration by examining the relationship between compensatory experience and restorativeness in the context of hot springs. Third, this study adopted the destination image of hot spring resorts as the mediating factor to evaluate its indirect effect between the compensatory consumption experience and the visitors’ perceived restorativeness. As destination image is composed of cognitive image and affective image, the mediating role for both aspects and their inter-relations will be assessed separately [37].
This study is organized as follows: first, we present the theoretical background and critical concepts. Second, we develop the conceptual model and established hypotheses to describe the relationships between compensatory experience, perceived restorativeness, and destination image. Next, we employ a quantitative research method including structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Data were collected from 631 respondents who have visited the hot spring resorts at the time when mobility restrictions in COVID-19 were lifted. The survey sites targeted hot spring resorts located in the Guangdong province, China. With the economic reform of the 1980s, this area attracted a large young workforce population [38]. Finally, we analyze and report our findings and present a thorough discussion of both theoretical and managerial implications. Moreover, the study contributes to the existing literature on empirical studies of compensatory consumption in the hospitality and tourism domain, and the findings also provide important guidance for the optimization of hospitality and service attributes in hot spring resorts settings.

2. Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development

2.1. Hot Spring Tourism

Hot spring tourism literally refers to people participating in travel mainly for soaking in the thermal/mineral springs and undertaking a related series of leisure activities. In general, hot spring tourism is labeled “SPA tourism” as a broader definition that is agreed on by most scholars [39,40]. Hot spring tourism is also seen as a sub-category of wellness tourism [41] because of its therapeutical benefits. In this study, we define the hot spring tourism as a typical form of health-related tourism that provides bathing, massage, body treatment, beauty, and even a healthy diet [42,43] for visitors who are concerned about their health and wellbeing [44], and that provides relaxation and rejuvenation [45,46].
As a tourism theme defined by participation and experience, hot spring tourism has become an increasingly important component of travel and tourism across the globe. The characteristics and environmental attributes of spa sites often contain local historical and cultural connotations, and these cultural elements also influence the habits of people in the field of spa consumption [39]. For instance, in Europe, many hot spring sites have evolved from medicinal soaking places for people gaining therapeutic benefits to recreation places where people can engage in socializing [47], and many hot spring resorts there have preserved the architectural style attributes of ancient Rome and Greece as the major developers of such resources in ancient times. To reflect the regional hot spring culture formed in different historical backgrounds, many providers integrate their cultural elements into the environmental attributes and service features. In east Asia, most of the onsen (Japanese style hot springs) preserve their traditional cultural elements of soaking, which has become a notable symbol representing Japanese culture [48]. In China, most hot spring resorts in urban areas not only provide mineral spring water, food and beverage, and accommodations, but also offer more wellness-related services such as massage, medical body treatment, and recreational facilities.
Previous hot spring related research mainly focused on its benefits as physical therapy. Except for the therapeutic functions of thermal water, consumer-based research that aims to help industry practitioners better understand the potential target market has gradually attracted scholars’ attention. These studies have been mainly focused on hot spring tourists’ characteristics [49,50], preferences [51,52], and motivations [53], as well as consumers’ evaluation of the experiences [54], environment, and the services offered [50]. For instance, according to Kucukusta’s research on spa customers [55], the results reflect the trend of youthfulness that those spa-goers are mainly looking for in their escape from obligations, their search for relaxation, and the release of their working stress.
In the previous research on the experience of hot spring visitors, environment and facilities are the important factors that were paid most attention [56,57]. Liu et al. [58] indicated that on-site self-related experience and on-site social interaction are also important contributions to hot spring visitor experience. The experiences of hot spring travel have been some of the most frequently studied activities for marketing purposes as a result of their prominent impact on perceived well-being and quality of life [41,59]. On the other hand, the hospitality environments containing spring waters have been demonstrated to have greater positive affect and better quality of restoration for consumers [60]. Spas (like hot springs), therefore, have been recognized as important places in the therapeutic landscape due to their aquatic features [61]. Thus, the quality of the restoration of the resources (from previous times) is usually taken into consideration in the context of hot spring travel [18].

2.2. Compensatory Consumption and Experience Quality

People often experience some discomforts in their lives (e.g., anxiety, depression) or the unpleasant feelings caused by some unsolvable threats and their induced perceptions of them [10]. The desire to repair the perceived inconsistency or loss in these situations can trigger a person’s motivation to engage in consuming products or services [17,62]. Scholars characterize this alternative consumption activity phenomenon as compensatory consumption [63]. Because compensatory behavior can occur in many situations in our lives, the associated studies have in general been conducted by given customed stimuli in the laboratory [10]. Specifically, research has shown that situations that can cause negative emotions such as difficulties and stress were often employed as stimuli by researchers to assess respondents and to provide some alternative coping behaviors.
Previous studies have shown that people tend to purchase hedonic products or services as compensation or to escape from negative emotions [64], and the given consuming activities in tourism and hospitality domains are often considered to have more values in hedonic and therapeutic terms [8,65]. Especially in health-related crises, people undergo some psychological changes such as depression and anxiety while facing constraints of social prevention. Once the constraints are lifted, the suppressed desire needs to be released and “binge” travel behavior may, therefore, emerge, leading the tourism entertainment and food and beverage sales to rise sharply [27,66].
Since the importance of experience in the hospitality and tourism domain has been acknowledged by scholars from both a practical and academic point of view, the corresponding studies have rapidly expanded. Pine and Gilmore [67] conceptualized the experience economy as a four-factor solution for service experiences in the bed and breakfast industry, involving entertainment, education, and aesthetics. Otto and Ritchie identified four dimensions of service experiences (hedonics, peace of mind, involvement, and recognition) [68]. Regarding the empirical studies of compensatory consumption in the scenario of real life, the consumer experience has received widespread attention from scholars in the tourism and hospitality domains as well. Woodruffe [69] tentatively explored women’s experience of compensatory consumption in repairing moods and found their perceived value of consumption was greater than normal. Kim [35] shows that the perceived therapeutic benefits of engaging in dining out and traveling behavior are different across individuals.

2.3. Perceived Restorativeness

The concept of perceived restorativeness stems from attention restoration theory (ART) and stress recovery theory (SRT), which are both designed to measure psychological factors thought to work in restorative experience. The former refers to alleviating directed attention fatigue through experiencing comfortable surroundings [70], while the latter refers to engaging in activities exposed to natural environments that can release one’s mental stress [71]. Most previous studies utilized perceived restorativeness to assess the restorative value of a specific natural or human-made environment [72,73]. The experience of being exposed to restorative environments for example creates a sense of feeling that helps people escape from reality in daily life when they fully immerse themselves in a relaxation environment [74].
According to Kaplan’s research, the restorative properties of an environment are constructed by four characteristics, referred to as “extent”, “being away”, “fascination”, and “compatibility”. The concept of extent shows that an environmental setting has enough content and structure to occupy the mind for a long enough period to allow it to rest from directed attention. Being away, the same concept as “escape,” refers to the sense of distance from the aspects of one’s daily life such as routines obligations and thoughts. The concept of fascination suggests that one can give effortless attention while in a relaxing setting, whereas compatibility refers to the match between an individual’s motivation and the activities provided by a setting. Since the restoration concept has been applied in different fields, research indicates that there exist characteristics that differ from the original. For instance, Pals identified the component of novelty through investigating zoo visitors [19]. Another component is coherence, which refers to the people’s perception that things follow each other in a coherent, predictable, and orderly way.
To explore the restorative potential in multi-categorized settings, a perceived restorative scale (PRS) was employed in examining the restorative qualities in dynamic environments. For instance, a growing number of studies adopt this scale to examine tourists’ mental restoration from leisure, such as river-rafting trips [21], zoo trips [19], and augmented reality environments [74,75]. Additionally, researchers have found that perceived restorativeness can contribute to tourists’ perceived satisfaction [76] and quality of life [77], as it can evoke positive emotions, alleviate negative moods, and lead to diverse benefits in maintaining mental health. Concerning the restorative effect in the context of compensatory consumption, the quality of this experience may facilitate the positive effects in contributing to perceived restorativeness [78]. Based on the above discussion, this study will explore this affect relationship by investigating the hot spring tourism domain, and we postulate the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1 (H1).
Tourists’ compensatory experience quality of hot spring tourism has a positive influence on perceived restorativeness.

2.4. Destination Image in Hot Spring Tourism and Its Mediating Role

The concept of destination image is generally defined as a holistic sum of beliefs, ideas, and impressions that a tourist holds about a place [79]. Approaches to the conceptualization of destination image have been made by many scholars; Agapito et al. [80], for example, asserted that destination image is a subjective interpretation of a destination in one’s mind, which may affect behavior. Gartner [81] identifies the conception of destination image by proposing three components: cognitive, affective, and conative. Baloglu and McCleary [79] indicate that overall image is the third component together with cognitive and affective. Considering its multi-faceted nature, then, it is suggested that the components of destination image should be analyzed separately [82,83]. Therefore, this research adopts the two predominant components: cognitive image and affective image to examine the hot spring tourists’ destination image.
Cognitive image refers to the perceived belief, knowledge, and evaluation held by a tourist towards the attributes of a destination [84]. As hot spring resorts nowadays become tourist attractions rather than purely health related institutions, the perceived image of resort facilities, environments, and service attributes has attracted the attention of many scholars [85,86]. The perceived characteristics and each element of hot spring destinations by tourists are important factors that could have an influence on their behavioral intention [87]. Especially for those domestic or international hot springs that utilize the attributes and characteristics representing their cultural ambience, these factors can deepen consumers’ cognitive impressions of a destination [39].
Meanwhile, the affective component representing a person’s feelings and emotional responses about a destination can be positive or negative [88]. Lo and Wu [89] indicate that spa consumers’ emotions towards the service environment are crucial and that the positive emotions can facilitate their perceived value and behavioral intentions. Due to the different measures applied in response to the crisis of public health in different countries, recent studies show that the tourists’ perceived image of a destination has been changing by comparison with their past experiences, particularly in the affective aspect [31].
Destination image as a mediator in previous studies is also a valuable concept to aid our understanding of consumers’ decision-making processes. This is not only demonstrated as an antecedent of behavior intentions [90] but is also affected by the consumer’s perception of the quality of the consumption experience [91]. For instance, researchers have examined the theoretical relationships between service quality, perceived value, experience quality, and revisit intentions, and found the mediating effect of destination image in those relationships [92,93]. Meanwhile, the affective evaluation, as well as the cognitive aspect, towards a place experience has been important in shaping the meaning of human–environment interaction [94,95]. Furthermore, the perceived image of recreational destinations like aesthetic or therapeutic landscapes may have positive contributions to the restorative properties perceived by tourists [96]. Based on the above arguments, both the cognitive and affective components of destination image in the relationship of compensatory experience quality and perceived restorativeness are examined. Therefore, we postulate the relevant hypotheses as follows:
Hypothesis 2 (H2a).
Compensatory experience quality has a positive influence on cognitive image.
Hypothesis 2 (H2b).
Cognitive image has a positive influence on perceived restorativeness.
Hypothesis 2 (H2c).
Cognitive image mediates the impacts of compensatory experience quality on perceived restorativeness.
Hypothesis 3 (H3a).
Compensatory experience quality has a positive influence on affective image.
Hypothesis 3(H3b).
Affective image has a positive influence on perceived restorativeness.
Hypothesis 3 (H3c).
Affective image mediates the impacts of compensatory experience quality on perceived restorativeness.
Echtner and Ritchie show that the functional-psychological continuum reflects the distinction between measurable components and intangible characteristics in conceptualizing destination images [97]. Furthermore, other scholars have revealed that people’s affective evaluations of a destination are largely dependent on the evaluations in cognitive image towards that place [79,98]. Empirical studies have also demonstrated the sequence where cognitive image has an influence on affective image [99,100]. Therefore, the internal relationships of two parallel mediators will be taken into consideration when we examine the indirect influence between compensatory experience quality and perceived restorativeness. We propose the hypotheses as follows:
Hypothesis 4 (H4).
Cognitive image has a positive influence on affective image.
Hypothesis 4 (H4a).
Cognitive image and affective image serially mediate the impact of compensatory experience quality on perceived restorativeness.
The proposed research model presented below illustrates our hypotheses (Figure 1).

3. Research Method

3.1. Research Site and Measures

This study adopts a research design using a cross-sectional sample survey. The scale (24 items) of compensatory experience quality was developed in previous studies [101,102,103] with modifications made for this study’s context. The measurement scale of perceived restorativeness in this research includes 37 items derived from Chen [18] and Lehto [76], with the adoption of the hot spring consumer’s particular experience of the recovery concept by Panchal [104]. Both measurement scales are rated on a 4-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree). The destination image is constructed by two variables: cognitive image and affective image. The scale measurement of cognitive image (9 items, 4-point Likert-type scale) used a number of studies related to Japanese hot spring resorts [87,105,106], and the measurement of affective image is developed by Russell and Pratt [107] with semantic differential scales.

3.2. Sampling and Data Collection

The conducted survey targeted two hot spring resorts at the destinations located in Zhuhai and Guangzhou, China. The author and research assistants used a snowball sampling procedure to collect data by inviting respondents to answer a questionnaire online. They shared the survey invitation link (or a digital photo containing brief information and a QR code) with their friends and relatives through WeChat (a messaging and calling app in China). In addition, respondents who completed the questionnaires were rewarded RMB 3–5 randomly through the WeChat red pocket payment system. For the target sample population to meet the set criteria for compensatory consumption activities in the post-pandemic period, a following filtering question was set up and required an answer at the start: Have you visited hot spring resorts since the restrictions for preventing the pandemic were lifted? Only if the filter question answer was yes could the respondent turn the survey questions pages, otherwise, the survey ended. The data collection period lasted about eight weeks from 3 May to 8 June 2021. After filtering the samples that met the criteria, 631 questionnaires were available for analysis.

3.3. Data Analysis Method

In this study, the data analysis consists of several steps. Prior to testing the proposed model, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to define the underlying structure of the constructs using SPSS 25.0. To identify and refine the latent structure, this study randomly split into two separated samples (n1 = 312, n2 = 319). EFA was conducted on approximately the first half of the total sample (n = 312) to preliminarily determine the underlying dimensionality of CEQ (compensatory experience quality; 24 items) and PR (perceived restorativeness; 37 items). The exploratory factor analysis was conducted by principal component analysis using the varimax rotation method, and the remaining half of the data of the sample (n = 319) was adopted to determine if the proposed measurement model specifies the assumed relationship between the observed variable and the underlying construct.
Structural equation modeling (SEM), using Smart-PLS 3.0, was conducted to assess the conceptual model and test the hypothesized relationships among study constructs. To establish internal consistency and validity of the constructs, both convergent validity and discriminant validity of the constructs were examined [108]. For the structural model evaluation, multiple measures were used, including three parameters coefficient of determination (R2), predictive relevance (Q2), and effect size (f2). In assessing the established paths hypotheses of the structural model, path coefficients analysis was performed by a bootstrapping with 5000 subsamples. In addition, the analysis of examining the mediating effects in the structural equation model is based on the method suggested by Baron and Kenny [109] and Hopwood [110].

4. Results

4.1. Demographic Profile of Respondents

The profile of the respondents is presented in Table 1. In total, 41.5% of respondents were male, 43.4% were aged 18 to 24, 30.1% were aged 25 to 35, and 16.6% were aged 36 to 45. Thus, the age group 18 to 45 made up the majority (90.4%) of the respondents, and approximately 45% of respondents were aged 18 to 35 females. The result in this study represents the majority of visitors to hot spring destinations, which consists of younger female tourists. Over 79% of respondents holds a degree from a college or above, and 58% respondents among them were females. The selected survey site was in the Great-Bay-Area, a relatively developed area with a younger and educated population.
In addition, 64.5% of respondents who visited hot spring resorts were accompanied by friends or colleagues, or were a couple. Among them, approximately 60% of respondents were females. This phenomenon reflected the fact that young people are not only taking the opportunity to relieve the stress from the pandemic, but also seeking to compensate for their perceived loss of travel opportunities during the period of quarantine [111]. Especially for female groups, they might tend to seek socialization from hot spring travel activities [50].

4.2. Measurement Model

As constructs were factor analyzed, eleven items of CEQ were eliminated due to low communality or cross-loading of more than one factor [112]. Finally, thirteen items of CEQ generated three underlying domains that explained 64.5% of the variance. For PR, twenty-eight items generated four underlying domains that explained 62.3% of the variance. Nine items were eliminated according to the factor loading criteria suggested by Comrey and Lee [113]. Within the destination image, the cognitive image and affective image retained six and four items, respectively, which explained 62.4% of the variance. All Cronbach’s alpha values ranged from 0.82 to 0.91, and, thus, the internal construct consistency and reliability was confirmed for further analysis.
As shown in Table 2, three factors of CEQ were extracted. The first factor was labeled “hedonic” as the five items represented tourists’ affective response to the hot spring experience (α = 0.841). The second factor was titled “recognition” as the five items indicated tourists’ positive response to service encounters (α = 0.839). The third factor was named “peace of mind” as the three items represented tourists’ comfort feelings, both physical and psychological (α = 0.823). The mean values of the hedonic construct (2.64–3.02) were relatively lower than those of the other factors, which indicates that the perceived fun in wellness tourism is relatively weaker than other types of travel settings such as package tours [68]. The four factors of PR were labeled as “fascination” (ten items, α = 0.917), “novelty” (six items, α = 0.897), “escape” (six items, α = 0.849), and “compatibility” (six items, α = 0.874). The mean value of compatibility was lower than for the other factors, which reflects the fact that the perceived fit between person and environment is relatively moderate.
As Table 3 shows the indicators of the measurement model, the average variance extracted (AVE) of latent variables ranges from 0.548 (compatibility) to 0.668 (peace of mind), which surpasses the 0.50 threshold [114]. The construct reliability (CR) values of all constructs are greater than the criterion (0.70) [108]. Discriminant validity evaluation was employed using two criteria FL (Fornell–Larcker) and HTMT (Heterotrait–Monotrait). All constructs of CEQ, DI, and PR exceeded the corresponding correlations between the constructs, which fulfilled the FL and HTMT criteria (see Table A1).

4.3. Structural Model

As suggested by Chin et al. [115], the criterion of coefficient of determination was divided into three categories: weak (0.19), moderate (0.33), and substantial (0.67). The results show that the coefficients of determination for all endogenous constructs exceeded the moderate level. In this study, the value of Q2 varied between 0.293 and 0.318, which indicates that all constructs have a predictive relevance [116]. The effect size (f2) is also deemed as an indicator for evaluating the causal effect between latent variables, and the results showed that most values of effect size were above the weak level [117]. The summarized results of the inner model evaluation are shown in Table 4.
The results of path coefficients and significance are shown in Table 5 and Figure A1. In terms of compensatory experience quality, this has a significant effect on perceived restorativeness (β = 0.328, p < 0.001), cognitive image (β = 0.760, p < 0.001), and affective image (β = 0.259, p < 0.001), respectively. Thus H1, H2a, and H3a are supported. Cognitive image has a significant effect on the affective image (β = 0.439, p < 0.001) and both of them have a significant influence on perceived restorativeness. Therefore, the results support H2b, H3b, and H4.

4.4. Mediation Effect Testing

According to Figure 2 and Table A2, it was identified that both cognitive image and affective image partially mediate the effect of compensatory experience quality on perceived restorativeness, as the direct effect of CEQ on PR was reduced with the inclusion of the mediators. Moreover, the indirect effect coefficients of cognitive image were much larger than that of affective image. This indicates that the value of cognitive images in mediating the effect of CEQ on PR is more significant than that of affective image. Additionally, the multi-step mediating effect coefficients of both cognitive image and affective image are significant, which means that the hypothesis of serial-mediation was partially supported. Hence, the results partially support H4a.

5. Discussion and Conclusions

This study was motivated by the need for research that can lead to a better understanding of the experience of compensatory consumption for people participating in hot spring travel in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A conceptual framework was developed and tested to demonstrate how the experience quality of hot spring tourism contributes to perceived restorativeness. A major finding of this study is that the two components of destination image work as mediators between the quality of experience and the restoration.
This research has made contributions to the existing literature on several fronts. First, this empirical research helped us better understand the compensatory travel experience and has contributed to the scope of the compensatory behavior literature. Most existing studies in the compensatory consumption domain have been mainly focused on triggered motivations and the process of compensatory behavior in the context of specific stimuli settings [10], but the pandemic context had provided us with a massive sample of people who intend or even have engaged in some outdoor leisure activities to compensate themselves in this situation [9,27]. Compared to process-based research in manipulated settings, the realistic compensatory consumptions and their generated psychological influences discussed in the present study are also important. Our findings have demonstrated the significant ability of the impact pathways of the experience quality of compensatory travel consumption to alleviate the negative psychological state and maintain mental health [17,118].
Second, this study integrates the literature on compensatory consumption and restoration to reveal the transmission mechanism of hot spring travel activities from the quality of experience to its restorative power. It also extends the literature on the restorative effect of the hot spring travel experience to promote tourists’ recovery through the reduction of attention fatigue and/or stress [18]. Although scholars believe that there exists a certain benefit to experiencing compensatory consumption, little is known about how that experience works or its outcome. Regarding the existing positive influence of compensatory experience on perceived restorativeness, this result demonstrates that there is a beneficial effect of compensatory consumption behavior on repairing negative moods to maintain mental health [34,35]. Concerning the health and well-being of each person from a global perspective, this result provides a theoretical solution in the field of hot spring tourism for the impacts in the special period of a public health crisis.
In addition, the effect of destination image was also considered and demonstrates the mediating roles of both cognitive and affective components. Very few studies in the tourism and hospitality field have explored the mediating role of destination image; they mostly test in the pre-visit period [77,95,119]. However, this study examined the two facets of destination image from the perspective of the post-visit stage and showcased the value of the bridging relationship between compensatory experience quality and perceived restorativeness.
The present study identified the parameters of compensatory experience quality and its composition in the field of hot spring tourism. Compared to previous studies of experience quality [103], three divided factors of CEQ were identified. In addition, while different from those enjoyable package tours [68], the type of short-distance leisure activities can also contribute to the relaxation and effect of compensation [120]. Considering the risk of COVID-19, most tourists were requested to comply with measures of pandemic prevention, such as keeping social distance [121]. Therefore, the perceived “hedonic” construct was not prominent and “involvement” was not especially significant. Meanwhile, four factors (fascination, novelty, escape, and compatibility) of perceived restorativeness were identified that have some differences from the PDRQ scale in previous research [76]. The factors “physically away” and “extent” may not be prominent factors to provide tourists with high-quality of restoration as the hot spring resorts often attract tourists. In contrast, people may not have higher expectations of travel destinations but just escape to compensate themselves for the need for outdoor leisure activities.
This study proposes a conceptual model of compensatory travel experience that reveals that compensatory experience quality exerts a positive influence on perceived restorativeness. Since the concept of ART and SRT were adopted into the tourism and hospitality research domains, this finding confirms the critical role of experience in maintaining mental health and in the reduction of attention fatigue and stress. Meanwhile, the compensatory experience quality was found to be a strong predictor (p < 0.001) of each component of destination image. This is in line with previous studies that show that the experience in the post-visit period has a strong influence on destination image (e.g., [82,90]). Moreover, both cognitive image and affective image have a significant influence on vacationers’ perceived restorativeness. That is, restoration that we perceive is connected to our cognitive and affective impressions and/or evaluation of the hot spring resort, which we are visiting or have visited before.
Another finding of this study was destination image as a mediator in the pathway from compensatory experience quality to perceived restorativeness. The empirical evidence indicates that the more the quality of compensatory experience leads to positive destination image, the better the quality of restoration is perceived by the hot spring tourists. Specifically, both cognitive image and affective image play key mediating roles in the effect of compensatory experience quality on perceived restorativenss. Meanwhile, the effect of cognitive image on affective image in a step-parallel mediating effect was also demonstrated, which is in line with Woosnam et al. [122]. Past scholars have focused on behavior intentions as consequences while examining the mediating role of these two images. This study revealed that both positive cognitive and affective image at the post-visit stage can facilitate restoration.

6. Management Implications and Limitations

The current paper provides a way to identify the characteristics of hot spring tourists that compensate themselves and obtain recovery during crises. Accompanied by the impact of the pandemic on consumers’ compensatory psychology, “blowout” consumption such as leisure travel activities are still an opportunity for the recovery of the tourism and hospitality industry. For the management of hot spring resorts, “restoration” should be taken as a core theme of strategies to develop practical programs to attract tourists. Meanwhile, it is crucial to create “peace of mind” and “hedonism” to satisfy the experiential needs of tourists. As such, managers should invest more on resort facilities and operations in terms of creating both hedonic and restorative settings. This will in turn improve tourists’ perceived quality of experience and facilitate their sense of restoration.
The identification of a mediating effect of destination image in this study suggests that management should integrate both functional and emotional attributes into their service elements. For instance, managers could develop more entertainment programs involving novelty and cultural elements and encourage consumers to participate. This will not only enhance tourists’ perception of experiential interest but also create an emotional experience that facilitates the positive outcome of compensatory consumption. Moreover, this practice will improve tourists’ perceived destination image of hot spring resorts from both the cognitive and the affective aspects, and lead to better perceptions of restorativeness.
While this study provides the theoretical contributions mentioned above, it certainly has limitations. First, the present research was conducted through investigating domestic Chinese tourists with convenience sampling. We suggest to expand the scope of sample population across diverse countries, to assess the proposed conceptual model in this study. Second, both CEQ and PR were variables with multi-dimension constructs whereas they were measured as whole in examining the relationships in this concept model. Further research can assess the dimensions respectively and explore the role of each dimension in this model. Third, both cognitive image and perceived restorativeness have correlations with tourism resources or environmental types, future research can bring resources (i.e., nature-based, artificial-based) or elements of the environment (e.g., cleanliness, air quality) into model usage. Last, while this study collected a considerable number of cases, all respondents were from the hot spring resorts, which may limit the generalizability of the theoretical model and its results. Thus, it is suggested to expand this approach to more types of resorts such as forests and mountains of the wellness industry in future studies. Further studies are also encouraged to explore other effects of experience quality and its consequences.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Y.Z. and X.H.; methodology, Y.Z. and X.H.; software, X.H.; validation, X.H.; formal analysis, X.H.; investigation, X.H.; resources, X.H.; data curation, X.H.; writing—original draft preparation, Y.Z. and X.H.; writing—review and editing, X.H., Y.Z. and C.L.; visualization, X.H.; supervision, Y.Z. and C.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was sponsored by the “Twelfth Five-year Plan” Program of Guangdong Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences (GD15XLS07); Science and Technology Innovation Research Team Program of Zhaoqing University (2021).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Acknowledgments

Part of this paper was presented at the June 2022 Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA)Annual International Conference held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Appendix A

Table
Table A1. Discriminant validity.
Table A1. Discriminant validity.
Fornell–Larcker CriterionHeterotrait–Monotrait Ratio Criterion
AIHDREPOMCIFANOECCPAIHDREPOMCIFANOECCP
AI0.816
HD0.4590.78 0.54
RE0.4520.550.82 0.540.65
POM0.4840.530.710.73 0.580.630.85
CI0.6410.580.650.650.77 0.750.680.770.77
FA0.5940.470.590.550.710.76 0.680.540.680.620.79
NO0.6050.460.550.550.660.790.79 0.700.530.640.640.750.88
EC0.5170.390.530.540.630.710.680.76 0.610.460.630.640.740.810.78
CP0.600.520.590.570.660.780.780.740.7290.690.590.690.670.760.870.880.86

Appendix B

Sustainability 14 08579 g0a1 550
Figure A1. Structural model.
Figure A1. Structural model.
Sustainability 14 08579 g0a1

Appendix C

Table
Table A2. Multiple mediation analysis.
Table A2. Multiple mediation analysis.
PathsSpecific Indirect EffectpDirect Effect
(c)		pTotal Effect
(c’)		pTypes of MediationHypothesis Remarks
CEQ → CI → PR0.232 ***00.328 ***00.393 ***0Complementary Partially supported
CEQ → AI → PR0.070 ***00.328 ***00.393 ***0Complementary Partially supported
CEQ → CI → AI → PR0.091 ***00.328 ***00.393 ***0Complementary Partially supported
Notes: *** p < 0.001.

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Sustainability 14 08579 g001 550
Figure 1. Proposed structural model.
Figure 1. Proposed structural model.
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Figure 2. Results of the structural model. (A) Model with main effect; (B) Model with multi-step multiple mediation. Notes: *** p < 0.001.
Figure 2. Results of the structural model. (A) Model with main effect; (B) Model with multi-step multiple mediation. Notes: *** p < 0.001.
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Table
Table 1. Demographic profile (n = 631).
Table 1. Demographic profile (n = 631).
Demographic ProfileFrequencyPercentage FrequencyPercentage
Gender
Male26241.5Female36958.5
Educational level
Secondary School or less172.7Bachelor29546.8
High School/Technical School7411.7Post-graduate or above335.2
College21233.6
Age
18~2427643.745~55365.7
25~3519030.156~60111.7
36~4510516.6Over 61132.1
Type of accompanying
Alone375.9Family14823.5
Friends/couple/colleagues40764.5Group396.2
Monthly income (RMB)
2000 or less10717.06001~10,00012319.5
2001~400011317.910,000~20,0009415.0
4001~600014723.220,001 or above477.4
Table
Table 2. Results of mean values and EFA for the measurement model (n = 312).
Table 2. Results of mean values and EFA for the measurement model (n = 312).
FactorsItemMeanFactor LoadingCronbach’s Alpha
HedonicDoing something thrilling2.740.8110.841
Having a “once in lifetime” experience2.640.808
Doing something new and different2.880.771
Doing something memorable2.910.707
Share my experience with others later on3.020.590
RecognitionFeel relaxed during the activities3.290.8240.839
Property and activities were physically comfortable3.180.811
Feel respected3.120.704
Been educated and informed3.090.668
Forget everyday problems3.120.543
Peace of mindPrivacy was assured during the activities2.840.8440.823
The property is safe3.040.721
Feel secure during the activities2.970.691
FascinationMy overall physical health has improved2.970.7280.917
My physical appearance has improved3.060.715
Slept better3.180.666
Makes me wonder about many things3.140.622
Visiting this place was a captivating experience3.220.596
Felt more youthful and energized3.180.588
There was much to explore and discover3.170.585
Opportunity to try a new and different experience while travelling3.220.578
Attention is drawn to many interesting things3.120.572
Found the hot spring fascinating3.180.548
NoveltyDid different things from when I was home3.140.7510.897
Very different from my daily environment3.150.713
Feeling in different surroundings than normal3.170.692
Large enough to allow exploration in many directions3.120.640
Allowed me to explore extensively3.060.606
Chance to be pampered3.150.579
EscapeI felt that I was away from everything3.080.7330.849
Forgot about my obligations3.070.716
Felt free from daily routine3.170.715
Felt free from all the things that I normally have to do3.100.657
Felt peace and calm3.280.609
Got away from the usual stress3.270.568
CompatibilityHot spring suits my personality2.970.6520.874
I have a sense of oneness with this hot spring 2.910.600
Everything I saw at this hot spring belongs there2.990.577
I visited was consistent with who I am2.850.558
I could do many things3.000.526
Sense of belonging2.930.513
Cognitive imageTranquil and restful atmosphere3.220.7680.862
Quality of infrastructure3.230.739
Picturesque natural attractions3.180.730
Standard hygiene and cleanliness3.100.728
Rich and interesting cultural attractions3.100.706
It is good value for money to have hot spring bath here3.100.651
Affective imageSleeping—Arousing3.110.7980.833
Distressing—Relaxing3.260.794
Unpleasant—Pleasant3.260.769
Gloomy—Exciting3.180.704
Table
Table 3. Results of confirmatory factor analysis for all variables (n = 319).
Table 3. Results of confirmatory factor analysis for all variables (n = 319).
Average Variance Extracted (AVE)Composite Reliability
Compensatory experience quality
Hedonic0.6140.887
Recognition0.6310.895
Peace of mind0.6670.857
Perceived Restorativeness
Fascination0.5720.930
Novelty0.6460.916
Escape0.5700.888
Compatibility0.5480.879
Destination image
Cognitive image0.5910.896
Affective image0.6660.888
Table
Table 4. Inner model evaluation (n = 631).
Table 4. Inner model evaluation (n = 631).
Endogenous VariablesR2Q2Effect Size (f2)
Perceived restorativenss0.6610.3190.091 (CEQ)
0.170 (CI)
0.093 (AI)
Cognitive image0.5800.3141.381 (CEQ)
Affective image0.4440.2930.041 (CEQ)
0.168 (CI)
Table
Table 5. Standardized path coefficients between CEQ, CI, AI, and PR (n = 631).
Table 5. Standardized path coefficients between CEQ, CI, AI, and PR (n = 631).
HypothesesPathOriginal Sample (O)T-Statisticsp-ValuesRemarks
H1Compensatory experience quality → Perceived Restorativeness ***0.3286.0280.000Supported
H2aCompensatory experience quality → Cognitive Image ***0.76037.6950.000Supported
H2bCognitive Image → Perceived Restorativeness ***0.3065.6480.000Supported
H3aCompensatory experience quality → Affective Image ***0.2594.7100.000Supported
H3bAffective Image → Perceived Restorativeness ***0.2724.6890.000Supported
H4Cognitive Image → Affective Image ***0.4398.4460.000Supported
Notes: *** p < 0.001.
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Huang, X.; Zhang, Y.; Li, C. Assessing the Compensatory Potentiality of Hot Spring Tourism in the COVID-19 Post-Pandemic Environment. Sustainability 2022, 14, 8579. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148579

AMA Style

Huang X, Zhang Y, Li C. Assessing the Compensatory Potentiality of Hot Spring Tourism in the COVID-19 Post-Pandemic Environment. Sustainability. 2022; 14(14):8579. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148579

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Huang, Xinjia, Yang Zhang, and Chaojun Li. 2022. "Assessing the Compensatory Potentiality of Hot Spring Tourism in the COVID-19 Post-Pandemic Environment" Sustainability 14, no. 14: 8579. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148579

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