The Impact of the Wellness Tourism Experience on Tourist Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Tourist Satisfaction

Abstract

On the basis of the bottom-up spillover theory, this study explores the influence of the wellness tourism experience on tourists’ well-being. Considering wellness tourists as the research participants, tourist satisfaction, gender, and age were selected as the mediating and moderating variables, respectively, to study the mechanism between the wellness tourism experience and tourist well-being. A questionnaire survey was sent to 445 participants who engaged in wellness tourism in China, and an empirical analysis was conducted using the structural equation model. The results showed that the entertainment, esthetic, and escape experience of wellness tourism can significantly affect tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Tourist satisfaction, as a mediating variable, can enhance the positive impact of the wellness tourism experience on tourist well-being. Moreover, gender and age have a significant moderating effect on the relationship among wellness tourism experience, tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being. This study enriches the current scholarship in the fields of the wellness tourism experience and tourist well-being and provides a theoretical basis and scientific decision-making reference for wellness tourism enterprises and tourism management departments.

1. Introduction

With the worsening environmental and economic crises, the acceleration of life’s rhythm, and the increase in daily life’s pressures, the problems of mental anxiety and psychological stress have become particularly obvious. A “sub-health” state has become a common phenomenon troubling many worldwide [1,2,3]. Meanwhile, for the rapidly aging population, the emergence of infectious diseases and other epidemics poses a great threat to human health. Thus, it is undeniable that given the background of aging, sub-health, and recent epidemics, public awareness of health is increasingly more prominent. The demand for health care tourism is increasing, and the wellness tourism industry has ushered in new development opportunities [4,5,6]. According to data from the Global Wellness Institute [7], the scale of the global wellness industry is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 21% from USD 435.7 billion in 2020 to USD 1127.6 billion in 2025. Wellness tourism is a type of tourism with a high added value [8]. Compared with ordinary tourists, the average spending of wellness tourists is greater by more than 60%, and they experience high tourism satisfaction and a tendency to repeatedly participate in the same type of tourism activities [9]. To this end, tourism destinations and tourism-related enterprises have implemented active tourism marketing promotions and improved the reputation and image of tourism destinations through social media, advertising, mobile marketing, and other ways, which not only provides a reference for potential wellness tourism consumers but also plays a role in boosting the well-being and satisfaction of tourists with relevant tourism experiences [10,11].

In addition to relieving pressure and restoring people’s physical and mental health, wellness tourism can also improve their sense of happiness [5,6]. A happy travel experience contributes to the quality of life and tourism experiences, which are important sources of well-being for travelers [12,13]. Moreover, as happiness is the ideal state of living that human beings long for, obtaining this mental state is an important life goal [14,15]. Therefore, it is essential to enhance tourists’ well-being and help humankind develop healthily by encouraging people’s pursuit of a better life through wellness tourism. With the increasing demand for high-quality products and services, tourism enterprises and destination managers have gradually come to recognize the importance of the tourism experience [16,17,18,19]. The tourism experience is the key to monitoring tourist satisfaction, loyalty, and industrial income [20,21]. Indeed, the higher the quality of the tourist experience, the better the impression and feeling formed in the tourism process, and the more positive the tourists’ mood will be [22]. A positive tourism experience not only can reflect tourists’ satisfaction with tourism services, the social and cultural environment, and destination resource endowment [21,23,24] but also can affect their well-being [8,25,26]. Some scholars believe, based on the spillover effect from spillover theory, that tourist satisfaction can be increased via happiness [21,27]. Hence, the more pleasing the wellness tourism experience, the higher the satisfaction and the more evident tourists’ well-being. The tourism experience has long attracted the attention of the academic community, with rich research on the spa, forest, and medical treatment aspects of health tourism [28,29,30,31,32]. However, little is known about the relationship between the tourism experience and tourist satisfaction in the context of wellness tourism, nor the impact on tourists’ well-being. Moreover, tourists may have different types of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being [33,34]. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to explore the impacts of the tourism experience on healthcare tourists’ satisfaction and well-being. A review of the literature revealed that there are some differences between male and female travel experiences [35,36,37]. Moreover, due to gender and age differences, perceived satisfaction and well-being also differ [38,39]. Thus, gender and age were included in this study as moderating variables to explore whether they have a moderating effect on the relationship among wellness tourism experience, tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being.

Little research has been conducted on tourist satisfaction as an intermediary variable to measure the mechanism between wellness tourism experience and tourist well-being [24,40]. Even less clear is whether gender and age have a moderating effect on the relationship among wellness tourism experience, tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being [41,42]. To fill this gap, using the bottom-up spillover theory, this study explores the relationship between the wellness tourism experience and tourist well-being in China. Tourist satisfaction is taken as a mediating variable to analyze the transmission mechanism between the wellness tourism experience and tourist well-being. A questionnaire survey was administered to 445 tourists who experienced wellness tourism in China, and the structural equation model (SEM) was used for the analysis.

This study’s contributions can be summarized as including three aspects. First, considering Chinese wellness tourists, this study verifies whether their wellness tourism experience had a significant impact on their well-being. Previous research on health tourism focused mainly on spa tourism, forest tourism, and medical tourism; however, research on the micro-level of psychology, behavior, and the reaction generated by the wellness tourism experience is lacking. This study attempts to expand the research on China’s wellness tourism owing to its recent development, whereas the existing research focuses mainly on developed countries. Second, this study systematically measures the impact of the wellness tourism experience on tourist satisfaction and well-being from four experience aspects: educational, entertainment, esthetic, and escapist experiences. For tourist well-being, a single dimension of the wellness tourism experience is insufficient to analyze tourists’ actual well-being. Finally, this study provides suggestions for wellness tourism enterprises, destination managers, and destination marketing organizations (DMOs) on relevant product design and product service experiences. With the development goal of tourist satisfaction, this study can help improve not only tourist satisfaction but also their level of well-being.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents a detailed literature review on the wellness tourism experience, tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being and presents the study’s hypotheses. Section 3 describes the methodology, Section 4 presents the research results, and Section 5 presents the discussion. Finally, Section 6 offers the conclusion, limitations, and suggestions for future research.

2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

2.1. Bottom-Up Spillover Theory

Bottom-up spillover theory refers to the spillover of an individual’s emotional state from the individual’s inner domain to other domains [43]. The theory is widely used in psychology and provides that family, leisure, community, work, and other life events can affect individual life domains—from initial concrete aspects to further reaches of abstraction—thus ultimately affecting individuals’ overall life satisfaction [43,44]. According to Sirgy [45], all events in daily life have an impact on an individual’s overall satisfaction. When individuals perceive higher overall satisfaction, their quality of life and well-being improve [46]. That is to say, well-being, mental health, life satisfaction, and other factors are determined by the efficacy of the personal experience of pleasure, enjoyment, and relaxation [45,46].

In tourism research, this theory has been applied widely in the study of tourist experience, tourist satisfaction, and well-being [39,47,48]. Based on bottom-up spillover theory, scholars have found that the positive emotions generated by tourism activities have a significant spillover effect on tourist satisfaction and overall well-being [49,50]. Su et al. [51] and He et al. [52] reached similar conclusions, asserting that the bottom-up spillover theory is one of the main theories affecting tourists’ subjective well-being, and tourists can produce positive and negative spillover effects through the tourism experience [15,48].

Tourist satisfaction refers to tourists’ recognition of the activity or project in the process of engaging in a tourism experience [53,54], from which they can obtain physical and mental happiness, enjoyment, and satisfaction and improve their quality of life to achieve an ultimate sense of well-being. This bottom-up spillover effect, gradually sublimated by “experience→satisfaction→happiness” can provide deeper and lasting benefits to individual growth [16,25], which is the only goal and purpose of human survival and development [55]. In short, bottom-up spillover theory maintains that certain outcomes, such as quality of life, satisfaction, happiness, and well-being, are determined by the pleasure people experience in their lives [48,51,56]. Therefore, this study lays the foundation for using bottom-up spillover theory to productively explain the mechanism behind tourists’ well-being in the context of the satisfaction stimulated by the wellness tourism experience. This study suggests that bottom-up spillover theory provides an appropriate theoretical framework for exploring the impacts of the wellness tourism experience on tourist well-being.

2.2. Wellness Tourism Experience and Tourist Well-Being

The tourism experience has always been described as involving pleasure, relaxation, and enjoyment, which are types of spiritual enjoyment and satisfaction that tourists obtain in the process of participating in tourism activities [15,48]. However, the measurement dimensions of experiences differ [57]. For example, Wu et al. [58] analyzed tourists participating in cruise tourism and concluded that interactive, environmental, accessibility, and result experiences should be selected as the dimensions of tourism experience. Ahn and Back [19] explored the relationship between cruise brands and wellness value creation on the basis of four experience dimensions: sensory, emotional, behavioral, and intellectual. Yu et al. [30] provided seven dimensions to measure forest tourism: hedonism, refreshment, local culture, meaningfulness, knowledge, involvement, and novelty experience. Ye et al. [59] measured rural tourism experience through two dimensions: ordinary and extraordinary experiences. Su et al. [48] consider tourism experience to be a single dimension and analyzed the relationship between destination tourism experience and tourists’ subjective well-being. However, some scholars have found that wellness tourism has the characteristics of spa, medical, forest, and rural tourism, and its measurement dimensions should include education, entertainment, esthetic, and escapist experiences [60]. He et al. [61] agrees with the conclusion of Luo et al. [60], arguing that the wellness tourism experience is relatively intuitive for tourists, offering them a comprehensive feeling of physical and mental integration when participating in deeply integrated tourism activities. Therefore, this study also divides the experience of wellness tourism into four experience dimensions: educational, entertainment, esthetic, and escapist experiences.

Tourist well-being is a real and independent concept reflecting a comprehensive experience that ranges from simple sensory pleasure to deep self-cognition and realization in the process of tourism experience [34,52,62]. Tourists can escape the pressures of daily work and life and experience a different cultural and natural environment from their place of residence that meets the needs of the senses, completely relaxes the body and mind, and allows them to achieve a positive emotional experience and self-growth [63,64,65,66,67]. Some scholars divide tourist well-being into two research directions: subjective well-being, based on pleasure, and psychological well-being, based on reality [33,68,69]. However, a growing number of studies have found that actual tourist well-being should include hedonic well-being, which can be obtained quickly, and eudaimonic well-being, which focuses on personal growth [26,34,70]. Tourists can obtain a sense of happiness from meeting their sensory needs by appreciating natural scenery, experiencing unique cultures, and tasting delicious food [33,71]. Tourist well-being can be realized through exploring their potential, achieving their goals, and other aspects to achieve self-development and long-term well-being [34,64,67]. Specifically, this study suggests that tourists can derive positive emotions from the wellness tourism experience, thus meeting their needs to relax, relieve pressure and recover, to find the meaning of life, and enhance their overall sense of well-being. Therefore, this study suggests that the wellness tourists’ well-being should include both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being.

The development of wellness tourism reflects people’s pursuit of a better life. The wellness tourism experience not only improves tourists’ functional status but also plays an important role in promoting physical and mental relaxation and well-being [9]. People desiring self-improvement can enhance their self-perception through experience, use, purchase, and other behaviors [72,73]. In contrast, a high-quality wellness tourism experience can effectively adjust tourists’ psychological state, making them happy, relaxed, and confident [8,24]. Moreover, it can bring them a sense of satisfaction and a deep sense of well-being [74,75]. The wellness tourism experience is an important source of tourist well-being, and well-being is one of the main outcome variables [66,75]. Tourist well-being fluctuates with changes in the tourism experience [76,77]. In the process of healthcare tourism, a relaxed and pleasant experience, good emotional social interaction, and a wellness experience can promote the production of positive emotions and reduce negative ones, thus improving tourist satisfaction and well-being [78,79,80]. Therefore, the following hypotheses on tourist well-being are proposed:

H1a. 

Wellness tourism’s educational experience has a positive effect on tourists’ hedonic well-being.

H1b. 

Wellness tourism’s educational experience has a positive effect on tourists’ eudaimonic well-being.

H1c. 

Wellness tourism’s entertainment experience has a positive effect on tourists’ hedonic well-being.

H1d. 

Wellness tourism’s entertainment experience has a positive effect on tourists’ eudaimonic well-being.

H1e. 

Wellness tourism’s esthetic experience has a positive effect on tourists’ hedonic well-being.

H1f. 

Wellness tourism’s esthetic experience has a positive effect on tourists’ eudaimonic well-being.

H1g. 

Wellness tourism’s escapist experience has a positive effect on tourists’ hedonic well-being.

H1h. 

Wellness tourism’s escapist experience has a positive effect on tourists’ eudaimonic well-being.

2.3. Tourist Satisfaction

Tourist satisfaction is tourists’ emotional state when they enjoy the tourism experience or an overall evaluation of the whole tourism process, such as satisfaction with tourism products and services [81]. Tourism activities’ positive impacts have been proven: when tourists feel a unique and positive tourism experience consistent with their expected goals, a higher level of satisfaction is achieved [56,82,83,84]. The absence of such an experience will reduce tourists’ satisfaction and well-being [24]. That is, in the process of wellness tourism, tourists’ leisure and entertainment [60], service quality [85], destination environment [86], differences from place of residence [60], degree of tourist participation [87], and other factors have been analyzed. When the experience is consistent with or better than expected, it reflects a higher degree of satisfaction. Tourist satisfaction is a part of tourist well-being, which is an extension of the field [88,89]. Additionally, tourists acquire new skills or knowledge in the process of the wellness tourism experience; those who identify with the destination or form good memories usually have higher satisfaction and well-being [60,90,91]. Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H2a. 

Wellness tourism’s educational experience has a positive effect on tourist satisfaction.

H2b. 

Wellness tourism’s entertainment experience has a positive effect on tourist satisfaction.

H2c. 

Wellness tourism’s esthetic experience has a positive effect on tourist satisfaction.

H2d. 

Wellness tourism’s escapist experience has a positive effect on tourist satisfaction.

H3a. 

Tourist satisfaction has a positive effect on tourists’ hedonic well-being.

H3b. 

Tourist satisfaction has a positive effect on tourists’ eudaimonic well-being.

Most previous studies on tourist satisfaction regard it as an intermediary variable to study the mediating role of tourist satisfaction in the relationship between the cause and outcome variables [39,92,93,94]. Some scholars have studied tourism experience as a pre-variable to tourist satisfaction and constructed a model of the influencing mechanism of tourist satisfaction [95,96]. Others have studied the result variables of tourist satisfaction and the antecedent variables of tourist well-being, finding that tourist satisfaction positively impacts tourists’ well-being [40]. Hence, a good tourism experience can lead to cognitive, emotional, and sensory stimulation, thereby improving tourists’ satisfaction and happiness [24]. When tourists are satisfied with their travel experience, it enhances their sense of value in life, their capacity to resist negative information, and increases their overall life happiness [71,97,98]. However, previous studies have not examined whether tourist satisfaction has a mediating role between the experience of wellness tourism (education, entertainment, esthetic, and escapist) and tourist well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic). To further explore the relationship among the three, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H4a. 

Tourist satisfaction mediates the relationship between wellness tourism’s educational experience and tourists’ hedonic well-being.

H4b. 

Tourist satisfaction mediates the relationship between wellness tourism’s educational experience and tourists’ eudaimonic well-being.

H4c. 

Tourist satisfaction mediates the relationship between wellness tourism’s entertainment experience and tourists’ hedonic well-being.

H4d. 

Tourist satisfaction mediates the relationship between wellness tourism’s entertainment experience and tourists’ eudaimonic well-being.

H4e. 

Tourist satisfaction mediates the relationship between wellness tourism’s esthetic experience and tourists’ hedonic well-being.

H4f. 

Tourist satisfaction mediates the relationship between wellness tourism’s esthetic experience and tourists’ eudaimonic well-being.

H4g. 

Tourist satisfaction mediates the relationship between wellness tourism’s escapist experience and tourists’ hedonic well-being.

H4h. 

Tourist satisfaction mediates the relationship between wellness tourism’s escapist experience and tourists’ eudaimonic well-being.

2.4. The Moderating Effect of Gender and Age

There are obvious differences in the cognition, emotions, and behavior of individuals of different ages and genders toward things and events in tourism activities [99,100,101]. DMOs have formulated distinct marketing strategies on the basis of tourists’ demographic and situational characteristics (i.e., gender, age, or occupation and experiences) and choice of destination [38,102,103,104,105]. Individual differences will lead to different decisions and varied levels of satisfaction for consumers [105]. The atomization of the tourism sector has pushed private tourist companies to personalize their services and offers [104]. Considerable research has confirmed that gender and age have a moderating effect on tourism experience [41,106,107,108,109,110,111]. For example, Su et al. [39] and Atulkar and Kesari [112] concluded that female tourists have higher satisfaction and higher subjective well-being than male tourists. The results of another study show that female consumers are more social than males and more likely to be satisfied and that female purchase behavior is mainly for the pursuit of pleasure and well-being [42]. Wantono and Mckercher [113] found that female tourists pay more attention to safety concerns during a journey. Additionally, when female tourists feel anxious because of safety issues [114], they are more willing to seek help than male tourists [115] and can form subjective well-being [116]. There are also some differences between males and females in the pursuit of well-being through experience [117]. In contrast to males, females obtain higher well-being and life satisfaction via meaningful experiences, while males obtain higher life satisfaction and well-being through pleasant experiences [118].

There are also some differences in the needs, preferences, experience satisfaction, and consumption behavior of tourists of different ages [119,120,121]. For example, Assaker et al. [122] found that age influences tourists’ behavioral intention and satisfaction and plays a significant moderating role among destination attraction, accessibility, and tourist satisfaction [41]. According to Rather and Hollebeek [121], visitors younger than 39 years of age are more concerned with participatory experiences and stronger self-awareness, whereas older visitors are the opposite. Compared with young customers, older consumers pay more attention to producing value [123], have higher brand loyalty [124,125], place greater emphasis on good experiences [126], and are more resistant to new technological experiences in tourism products [127]. While studies on well-being continue, no study in the field of wellness tourism has yet explored whether gender and age have a significant role in promoting tourists’ well-being. Thus, to explore the role of gender and age on the wellness tourism experience, tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H5. 

Gender has a moderating effect on the relationship among wellness tourism experience (educational, entertainment, esthetic, and escapist), tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being (hedonic, eudaimonic).

H6. 

Age has a moderating effect on the relationship among wellness tourism experience (educational, entertainment, esthetic, and escapist), tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being (hedonic, eudaimonic).

The research model for this study is presented in Figure 1.

3. Methodology

3.1. Sample and Data Collection

To ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, three tourism management professors, ten undergraduate, and ten postgraduate tourism management students were invited to conduct a predictive test before the questionnaire was officially issued. On the basis of the feedback, some questionnaire items were modified, and the final questionnaire was formed. This study employed an online questionnaire, which was delivered via a professional questionnaire collection platform, Question Star. The minimum age of the respondents was set to 18 years old. Before the research survey questionnaire, the respondents were given a consent form, having read through and comprehended our study’s purpose and objectives. In addition, a test question was set at the beginning of the questionnaire to ensure eligible respondent eligibility: “Have you ever participated in wellness tourism?” Respondents were compensated 10 yuan after completing the questionnaire. In total, 603 respondents submitted questionnaires from 10–31 May 2022. After eliminating all questionnaires in which respondents gave the same answers to all questions and those with a rapid answering time (100 s less than the average response time), 445 valid questionnaires were ultimately obtained, with an effective rate of 73.7% (see

Table 1. Sample profile (N = 445).

Details		Frequency	Rate %
Gender	F	213	47.9
	M	232	52.1
Age	Under 20	15	3.4
	20–30	98	22
	31–40	109	24.5
	41–50	146	32.8
	Over 50	77	17.3
Education	Less than high school	47	10.6
	High school/technical school	177	39.8
	Bachelor’s degree	147	33
	Master’s degree or higher	74	16.6
Occupation	Student	36	8.1
	Public sector	101	22.7
	Private sector	140	31.5
	Self-employed	127	28.5
	Others	41	9.2
Monthly income (yuan)	Under 2000	8	1.8
	2001–3000	59	13.3
	3001–4000	135	30.3
	4001–5000	149	33.5
	Over 5000	94	21.1
Participation in wellness tourism	Once	177	39.8
	Twice	144	32.4
	Three times	80	18
	More than four times	44	9.9

). The research sample covers 18 provinces in China (including Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hebei, Guangdong, Sichuan, etc.) as well as 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government and 4 autonomous regions (see Figure 2).

The respondents’ demographic information was analyzed, revealing that 47.9% were women and 52.1% were men. Regarding age, those aged 41–50 comprised the largest group, accounting for 32.8% of the total. Regarding respondents’ education, those holding a bachelor’s degree accounted for 33% of the total sample, and those with a master’s degree or higher comprised 16.6% of the participants, indicating that almost half of the respondents were likely able to understand the content of the questionnaire. Regarding occupation and monthly income, those employed in the private sector accounted for 31.5% and the self-employed accounted for 28.5%. Regarding income, those with a monthly income of 4001–5000 yuan accounted for 33.5%, and those earning 3001–4000 yuan accounted for 30.3%. Respondents who had engaged in wellness tourism only once accounted for 39.8%, followed by those who had participated twice (32.4%), and those who participated more than four times (9.9%). Thus, the tourists surveyed in this study were specifically attracted to wellness tourism.

3.2. Measures

According to the constructed research model, a measurement scale refers to a scale with good, verified reliability abroad in the design process and whose content is adjusted according to a survey’s unique characteristics. The first part of the questionnaire concerns the experience of wellness tourism, including 16 items in the four experience dimensions of educational, entertainment, esthetic, and escapist experiences, adapted from Luo et al. [60] and He et al. [87]. The second part covers tourists’ well-being, which extends the scale in the studies by Su et al. [34] and Vada [89] to include 12 items on the two dimensions of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. The third part concerns tourist satisfaction; drawing on the scale by Biswas et al. [93], it contains a total of five items to measure tourist satisfaction. The fourth part includes the control variables: gender, age, education, occupation, monthly income, and the number of times having participated in wellness tourism. In this study, except for the control variables, a 5-point Likert scale was employed (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree).

4. Results

4.1. Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Before the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out, the Harman single factor test was used to analyze the common method bias problem and an exploratory factor analysis was conducted on all items. The unrotated results showed that all items automatically aggregated into seven factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, and the cumulative variance contribution rate was 66.269. The value of the first characteristic root was 12.174, and the variance contribution rate was 36.890, which do not account for half of the total explanatory variables, and the variance expansion coefficient variance inflation coefficient (VIF) value was less than 2. Thus, it can be seen that common method deviation and collinearity did not have a severe impact on this study [128,129].

Cronbach’s alpha was used to analyze the reliability of the questionnaire measurement variables. The Cronbach’s alpha of each variable was higher than 0.8, indicating that the scale has high reliability. The validity of the scale was tested through two-step CFA using AMOS 26.0 software. The first-order factor analysis examined the hypotheses relationships among the three first-order factors in the measurement model. The goodness of fit indices of the first-order factor models (x²/df = 1.694, CFI = 0.958, NFI = 0.904, GFI = 0.902, AGFI = 0.884, IFI = 0.958, and RMSEA = 0.040) indicated acceptable model fit. The second-order CFA was employed to test the construct of wellness experience and tourist well-being as the second-order factor and its corresponding first-order factors: educational, entertainment, esthetic, and escapist and hedonic and eudaimonic, respectively. All of the indices for the second-order factor model were acceptable, and all of the path coefficients were significant (x²/df = 1.721, CFI = 0.955, NFI = 0.900, GFI = 0.898, AGFI = 0.883, IFI = 0.955, and RMSEA = 0.040). The factor loading of each observation variable was between 0.628 and 0.885, which is greater than the recommended value of 0.5. The range of composite reliability values (CR) was from 0.816 to 0.889, which is much higher than the standard value of 0.6. The average variance extracted (AVE) values of the latent variables in each dimension were 0.646, 0.548, 0.582, 0.529, 0.575, 0.540, and 0.551, respectively, which are higher than the recommended value of 0.5, indicating that the scale has good accuracy and stability (see

Table 2. Confirmatory factor analysis.

Observed Variable	Mean (SD)	Factor Loading	t Value	CR	AVE	References
Educational (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.878)	3.429 (0.806)			0.879	0.646	Luo et al. [60]; He et al. [87]
The wellness tourism experience has made me more knowledgeable.	3.46 (0.933)	0.885
The wellness tourism experience has helped me learn a lot.	3.49 (0.914)	0.784	19.755
The wellness tourism experience stimulates my curiosity to learn new things.	3.26 (1.032)	0.775	19.386
Wellness tourism is a real learning experience.	3.51 (0.889)	0.766	19.066
Entertainment (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.827)	3.65 (0.594)			0.828	0.548
Wellness tourism experience activities make me feel happy.	3.76 (0.736)	0.808
Wellness tourism activities make me feel relaxed and are fun.	3.60 (0.763)	0.715	14.774
The experience of wellness tourism is refreshing for me.	3.64 (0.745)	0.710	14.681
Wellness tourism activities are enjoyable.	3.61 (0.687)	0.724	14.984
Esthetic (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.844)	3.59 (0.607)			0.847	0.582
When I undertake wellness tourism, I feel a real sense of harmony.	3.65 (0.725)	0.853
The experience of wellness tourism gives me sensory enjoyment through sight, hearing, smell, and taste.	3.60 (0.749)	0.760	17.505
The theme of a wellness tourism destination is distinctive.	3.46 (0.745)	0.689	15.449
Wellness tourism destinations have a unique local culture.	3.69 (0.725)	0.741	16.950
Escapist (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.809)	3.61 (0.656)			0.816	0.529
When I engage in wellness tourism, I feel like I am a different person.	3.63 (0.799)	0.868
When I engage in wellness tourism, I feel like I am living in a different time or place.	3.59 (0.870)	0.701	15.000
When I engage in wellness tourism, the experience here makes me imagine being someone else.	3.75 (0.845)	0.675	14.383
When I engage in wellness tourism, I completely escape from reality and forget about my stress and worries.	3.48 (0.784)	0.647	13.709
Hedonic (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.885)	3.85 (0.590)			0.889	0.575	Su et al. [34]; Vada [89]
Wellness tourism gives me a strong sense of enjoyment.	3.62 (0.721)	0.882
Wellness tourism gives me great pleasure.	3.54 (0.748)	0.842	23.223
When I engage in wellness tourism, I feel more satisfied than I do when engaging in most other activities.	3.58 (0.689)	0.776	20.215
When I engage in wellness tourism, I feel good.	3.62 (0.743)	0.750	19.106
When I engage in wellness tourism, I feel a warm glow.	3.52 (0.702)	0.628	14.761
When I engage in wellness tourism, I feel happier than I do when engaging in most other activities.	3.60 (0.746)	0.640	15.153
Eudaimonic (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.874)	3.57 (0.578)			0.870	0.540
Wellness tourism gives me the great feeling of really being alive.	3.56 (0.747)	0.829
Wellness tourism gives me a strong feeling that this is who I really am.	3.53 (0.752)	0.790	18.976
When I engage in wellness tourism, I feel more intensely involved than in most other activities.	3.51 (0.829)	0.746	17.539
When I engage in wellness tourism, I feel that this is what I was meant to do.	3.63 (0.731)	0.681	15.544
I feel more complete or fulfilled when engaging in wellness tourism than I do when engaging in most other activities.	3.52 (0.761)	0.675	15.360
I feel a particular fit or enmeshment when engaging in wellness tourism.	3.40 (0.772)	0.674	15.351
Tourist satisfaction (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.858)	3.52 (0.599)			0.859	0.551	Biswas et al. [93]
I am very interested in visiting wellness tourism destinations.	3.78 (0.719)	0.822
I think it is a wise choice to engage in wellness tourism.	3.78 (0.768)	0.753	17.220
I am glad to have experienced wellness tourism activities.	4.04 (0.764)	0.699	15.663
The wellness tourism experience met my needs.	3.81 (0.715)	0.760	17.426
I am generally satisfied with the wellness tourism experience.	3.86 (0.736)	0.669	14.835

).

In addition, the correlation coefficients and AVE square roots are shown in

Table 3. Correlation coefficient and results of discriminant validity test.

Variable	a	b	c	d	e	f	g
Educational (a)	0.803
Entertainment (b)	0.289	0.740
Esthetic (c)	0.405	0.377	0.762
Escapist (d)	0.369	0.343	0.270	0.727
Satisfaction (e)	0.489	0.419	0.566	0.325	0.742
Hedonic (f)	0.463	0.469	0.528	0.473	0.612	0.758
Eudaimonic (g)	0.546	0.467	0.582	0.426	0.679	0.600	0.734

Note: The numbers in bold that proceed diagonally across the table are the AVE square roots, and the other numbers are the correlation coefficients between variables.

. The AVE square root of the seven factors was greater than the correlation coefficient between them and the other factors, further indicating that the model has good discriminant validity and can be employed as an in-depth study.

4.2. Path Analysis and Hypotheses Testing

4.2.1. Path Analysis

Before hypotheses testing, AMOS 26.0 software was used to test the degree of fitness of the constructed model. The results showed that x²/df = 1.692, CFI = 0.958, NFI = 0.904, GFI = 0.902, AGFI = 0.884, IFI = 0.958, and RMSEA = 0.039, which all reached the standard value compared with the adaptation standard value, thus indicating that the model reached the adaptation level [48,128,129].

Based on the CFA, the maximum likelihood method in AMOS 26.0 was used to test whether the hypotheses proposed by the research model are supported. The test results are shown in

Table 4. Hypothesis testing results.

Hypothetical Path	Standardized Path Coefficient	S.E.	C.R.	p	Results
H1a: Educational→Hedonic	0.075	0.039	1.459	0.145	no
H1b: Educational→Eudaimonic	0.194	0.035	4.185	***	yes
H1c: Entertainment→Hedonic	0.152	0.054	3.008	0.003 **	yes
H1d: Entertainment→Eudaimonic	0.125	0.047	2.747	0.006 **	yes
H1e: Esthetic→Hedonic	0.233	0.059	4.060	***	yes
H1f: Esthetic→Eudaimonic	0.200	0.052	3.879	***	yes
H1g: Escapist→Hedonic	0.217	0.043	4.590	***	yes
H1h: Escapist→Eudaimonic	0.132	0.038	3.136	0.002 **	yes
H2a: Educational→Satisfaction	0.294	0.038	5.591	***	yes
H2b: Entertainment→Satisfaction	0.185	0.053	3.466	***	yes
H2c: Esthetic→Satisfaction	0.410	0.053	7.340	***	yes
H2d: Escapist→Satisfaction	0.038	0.043	0.755	0.450	no
H3a: Satisfaction→Hedonic	0.313	0.068	4.930	***	yes
H3b: Satisfaction→Eudaimonic	0.431	0.062	7.259	***	yes

Note: ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

. The research assumes that the standardized path coefficients of H1b, H1c, H1d, H1e, H1f, H1g, and H1h are 0.194 ($t$ = 4.185, $p$ < 0.001), 0.152 ($t$ = 3.008, $p$ < 0.01), 0.125 ($t$ = 2.747, $p$ < 0.01), 0.233 ($t$ = 4.060, $p$ < 0.001), 0.200 ($t$ = 3.879, $p$ < 0.001), 0.217 ($t$ = 4.590, $p$ < 0.001), and 0.132 ($t$ = 3.136, $p$ < 0.01), respectively. However, the standardized path coefficient for H1a was 0.075 ($t$ = 1.459, $p$ > 0.1), indicating that H1a, which assumed that recuperative tourism experience has a significantly positive impact on the hedonic and eudaimonic well-being of tourists, was not supported.

The research assumes that the standardized path coefficients of H2a, H2b, and H2c are 0.294 ($t$ = 5.591, $p$ < 0.001), 0.185 ($t$ = 3.466, $p$ < 0.001), and 0.410 ($t$ = 7.340, $p$ < 0.001). The results show that the educational, entertainment, and esthetic experiences significantly and positively affect tourist satisfaction. However, the results for H2d show a standardized path coefficient of 0.038 ($t$ = 0.755, $p$ > 0.1), indicating that the escape experience of wellness tourism does not significantly impact tourist satisfaction. Additionally, the standardized path coefficients of H3a and H3b are 0.313 ($t$ = 4.930, $p$ < 0.001) and 0.431 ($t$ = 7.259, $p$ < 0.001), respectively, indicating that satisfaction has a significant positive impact on tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Therefore, H3a and H3b are supported.

4.2.2. Mediating Effect Analysis

The bootstrap method was used to determine whether tourist satisfaction has a mediating role between the experience of wellness tourism (education, entertainment, esthetic, and escape experiences) and tourist well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) using AMOS 26.0 software. First, 445 valid samples were selected as the bootstrap population, and 5000 iterations of random selection were executed. Second, a 95% confidence interval (CI) for the mediating effect was used to confirm whether the interval includes 0. If the interval does not include 0, it indicates a mediating effect. The bootstrap test revealed that tourist satisfaction did not mediate between the escape experience of wellness tourism and tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. However, the mediating effect of tourist satisfaction on the relationship among wellness tourism education, entertainment, esthetic experiences, and tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being is apparent. It does not contain 0 at the 95% CI, showing a mediating effect. Therefore, H4a, H4b, H4c, H4d, H4e, and H4f were supported. The results are presented in

Table 5. Bootstrap test results of the significance of the mediating effect.

Mediating Effect Path	Significance (Two-Tailed Test)	95% Confidence Interval
		Lower Limit	Upper Limit
H4a: Educational→Satisfaction→Hedonic	0.001	0.052	0.237
H4b: Educational→Satisfaction→Eudaimonic	0.003	0.032	0.181
H4c: Entertainment→Satisfaction→Hedonic	0.003	0.021	0.184
H4d: Entertainment→Satisfaction→Eudaimonic	0.006	0.011	0.152
H4e: Esthetic→Satisfaction→Hedonic	0.000	0.084	0.324
H4f: Esthetic→Satisfaction→Eudaimonic	0.003	0.041	0.276
H4g: Escapist→Satisfaction→Hedonic	0.415	−0.033	0.072
H4h: Escapist→Satisfaction→Eudaimonic	0.374	−0.021	0.061

.

4.2.3. Moderating Effect Analysis

To examine the moderating effect of gender (H5) and age (H6), a SEM multi-group analysis method was used for analysis. To present more intuitively whether the moderating effect of gender and age exists, the difference ratio is defined as the percentage value of the difference between male and female wellness tourist groups, young visitors (under age 40) and older visitors (over age 41), and the total sample path coefficient. It is assumed that H1a and H2d have no significant impact on the path test, so the moderating effect test was not verified.

The test results for H5 show that in the relationship between wellness tourism experience and tourist well-being, gender had a significant moderating effect between educational experience and eudaimonic well-being, between esthetic experience and hedonic well-being, and between escape experience and hedonic well-being. In the relationship between gender and educational experience and tourist satisfaction, the path coefficient of the female group ($\beta$ = 0.394) was higher than that of the male group ($\beta$ = 0.226). In contrast, in the relationship between gender and esthetic experience and tourist satisfaction, the path coefficient of the female group ($\beta$ = 0.310) was slightly lower than that of the male group ($\beta$ = 0.506). Additionally, there were specific gender differences between tourist satisfaction and well-being. The path coefficients in the female group were significantly higher ($\beta$ = 0.470, $\beta$ = 0.656) than those of the male group ($\beta$ = 0.175, $\beta$ = 0.205), and the ratios were 94% and 104%, respectively. In summary, the moderating effect of gender is more prominent, especially between tourist satisfaction and tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Therefore, H5 is supported. The results are shown in

Table 6. Moderating effect test for gender.

Hypothetical Path	Path Coefficient of Population	Female	Male	Difference Ratio	Results
Educational→Eudaimonic	0.194 ***	0.180 *	0.145 **	17.9%	yes
Entertainment→Hedonic	0.152 **	0.001	0.249 ***	163%	no
Entertainment→Eudaimonic	0.125 **	0.019	0.224 ***	164%	no
Esthetic→Hedonic	0.233 ***	0.250 **	0.264 **	6.1%	yes
Esthetic→Eudaimonic	0.200 ***	−0.011	0.426 ***	207%	no
Escapist→Hedonic	0.217 ***	0.318 ***	0.168 **	69%	yes
Escapist→Eudaimonic	0.132 **	0.128	0.164 **	27.3%	no
Educational→Satisfaction	0.294 ***	0.394 ***	0.226 **	57.1%	yes
Entertainment→Satisfaction	0.185 ***	0.290 ***	0.105	100%	no
Esthetic→Satisfaction	0.410 ***	0.310 ***	0.506 ***	47.8%	yes
Satisfaction→Hedonic	0.313 ***	0.470 ***	0.175 *	94%	yes
Satisfaction→Eudaimonic	0.431 ***	0.656 ***	0.205 **	104%	yes

Note: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

.

The test results for H6 show that in the relationship between wellness tourism experience and tourist well-being, age and gender had a significant moderating effect between educational experience and eudaimonic well-being, between esthetic experience and well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic well-being), and between escape experience and hedonic well-being. In the relationship among age and educational experience, esthetic experience, and tourist satisfaction, the path coefficient of the young age group ($\beta$ = 0.331, $\beta$ = 0.465) was higher than that of the older age group ($\beta$ = 0.272, $\beta$ = 0.346). In contrast, in the relationship between age and entertainment experience and tourist satisfaction, the path coefficient of the young age group ($\beta$ = 0.155) was slightly lower than that of the older age group ($\beta$ = 0.214). Additionally, there are specific age differences impacting the relationship between tourist satisfaction and well-being. The path coefficients in the young age group were significantly higher ($\beta$ = 0.408, $\beta$ = 0.567) than those of the older age group ($\beta$ = 0.198, $\beta$ = 0.286), and the different ratios were all over 60%. In summary, the moderating effect of gender and age was more prominent, especially between tourist satisfaction and tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Therefore, H6 is supported. The results are shown in

Table 7. Moderating effect test for age.

Hypothetical Path	Path Coefficient of Population	Young Age Group	Older Age Group	Difference Ratio	Results
Educational→Eudaimonic	0.194 ***	0.170 **	0.201 *	15.9%	yes
Entertainment→Hedonic	0.152 **	0.071	0.258 ***	123%	no
Entertainment→Eudaimonic	0.125 **	0.097	0.161 *	51.2%	no
Esthetic→Hedonic	0.233 ***	0.262 ***	0.187 *	32.1%	yes
Esthetic→Eudaimonic	0.200 ***	0.162 *	0.247 *	42.5%	yes
Escapist→Hedonic	0.217 ***	0.186 *	0.235 ***	22.5%	yes
Escapist→Eudaimonic	0.132 **	0.204 ***	0.080	93.9%	no
Educational→Satisfaction	0.294 ***	0.331 ***	0.272 **	20%	yes
Entertainment→Satisfaction	0.185 ***	0.155 *	0.214 *	31.8%	yes
Esthetic→Satisfaction	0.410 ***	0.465 ***	0.346 ***	29%	yes
Satisfaction→Hedonic	0.313 ***	0.408 ***	0.198 *	67%	yes
Satisfaction→Eudaimonic	0.431 ***	0.567 ***	0.286 **	65%	yes

Note: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

.

5. Discussion

The results show that the educational experience of wellness tourism has a significant positive impact on tourists’ eudaimonic well-being, and the entertainment, esthetic, and escape experiences have a significant positive impact on tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being (H1b, H1c, H1d, H1e, H1f, H1g, and H1h). That is to say, through the experience of wellness tourism, tourists can increase their positive and pleasant emotions, reduce negative emotions, and promote the formation of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. These findings are similar to those of Luo et al. [60] and Vada [89]. However, not all dimensions of the wellness tourism experience have an impact on tourist well-being; specifically, wellness tourism education experience does not directly impact tourists’ hedonic well-being (H1a). One possible reason might be that tourists can preserve their health and obtain healthcare and other knowledge or skills by participating in wellness tourism projects during their wellness tourism educational experience, which is more conducive to tourist self-development [87,130]. This may explain why the experience of wellness tourism education has no direct impact on hedonic well-being but has a significant impact on eudaimonic well-being.

The hypotheses that wellness tourism experience and tourist satisfaction have a significant positive impact (H2a, H2b, and H2c) were supported. Effective wellness tourism educational, entertainment, and esthetic experiences have a positive and significant impact on tourist satisfaction. This finding is similar to those of Kan et al. [13], Liberato et al. [54], and Campón-Cerro et al. [131]. However, the escape experience does not significantly impact tourists’ satisfaction (H2d). An escape experience requires tourists to take the initiative or fully immerse themselves in a virtual or natural environment to participate in wellness tourism activities [132], pay attention to the interpersonal interactions in the activities, and comprehensively experience situations that differ from the usual environment to obtain the spiritual enjoyment of escape from reality and produce emotional resonance. However, due to the infrastructure, layout planning, and other supporting service settings of China’s wellness tourism destinations, they are still in the stage of improving efficiency and quality. Thus, tourists have not yet produced emotional belonging or attachment, which may be partly why the escape experience of wellness tourism has little effect on tourist satisfaction.

Regarding the hypotheses of the relationship between tourist satisfaction and well-being, the results indicate that tourist satisfaction has a positive impact on tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. These findings suggest that when tourists’ self-realization, enjoyment, inner, and health needs are met in the process of wellness tourism, they will feel satisfied that they have improved their hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. This study also verifies the view that tourist satisfaction can lead to tourist well-being [26,91], which demonstrates that tourist satisfaction is one of the essential antecedent variables to stimulating tourist well-being.

Regarding the hypotheses on whether there is a mediating effect between the wellness tourism experience and tourists’ well-being, tourist satisfaction was confirmed. In other words, tourist satisfaction not only mediates the relationship between wellness tourism education, entertainment, and esthetic experiences and tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being but also shows the effect of the two to a significant extent (H4a, H4b, H4c, H4d, H4e, and H4f). Thus, this study verifies that when tourists participate in wellness tourism, they can be attracted by wellness tourism destinations and participating projects. While relieving stress and eliminating negative emotions, they can experience comfort and pleasure. Tourists’ perceptions and evaluation of expectations and overall satisfaction will affect the positive benefits of the wellness tourism experience, thereby impacting their achievement of well-being. Similar studies conducted by Lee and Jeong [24] and Vada et al. [71] have confirmed this result. However, tourist satisfaction does not mediate between the wellness tourism escape experience and the two dimensions of tourist well-being. One possible reason is that tourists’ expectations of wellness tourism destinations or projects prior to participating are too high, and they do not meet their need to escape from real life throughout the wellness tourism process, thereby hindering the formation of tourists’ well-being.

The following conclusions can be drawn regarding the moderating effect of gender and age on the relationship among the wellness tourism experience, tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being. In the moderating effect test of gender between wellness tourism experience and tourist satisfaction, female tourists’ educational experience was more intense, and they were more likely to be satisfied than their male counterparts. On the other hand, male tourists were more satisfied with the esthetic experience of wellness tourism than women, which echoes the findings of Marín-García et al. [42]. Thus, the hypotheses on gender moderating the relationship between tourist satisfaction and well-being are supported. Female tourists’ levels of satisfaction were significantly higher than those of male tourists; in particular, the difference ratio between satisfaction and well-being for both genders was as high as 104%. Hence, compared with male tourists, female tourists’ experiences are more likely to contribute to their well-being due to their perceived satisfaction in wellness tourism activities, which is similar to the findings of Kan et al. [13]. However, in the study of Zhong and Moon [133], the opposite conclusion was drawn; that is, gender has no significant moderating effect between satisfaction and well-being. Indeed, no moderating effect of gender was found in the other hypotheses of wellness tourism experience, tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being. One possible reason is due to the sample size; studies have shown that an increase in sample size may reveal a moderating role for gender [134].

The results of the impact path of the wellness tourism experience on tourist well-being showed that the moderating effect of different age groups is reflected mainly during the formation of tourists’ well-being. Younger tourists’ hedonic well-being was more significantly impacted by the esthetic experience, while the influence of educational experience on the eudaimonic well-being of older tourists was slightly more substantial than that of younger tourists. Regarding the escape experience affecting the formation of well-being, older age group tourists were more likely to promote well-being, which is similar to the conclusion of Sthapit and Coudounaris [14] and Kim et al. [102]. This means that different age groups have certain differences in the process of experience’s impact on well-being. In contrast, Liébana-Cabanillas et al. [135] and Swanson and Ferrari [136] concluded that although tourist experience can affect tourists’ well-being, age has no moderating effect.

6. Conclusions

6.1. Main Conclusions

In this study, tourists who have participated in wellness tourism in China were considered as the research object, and a research model of wellness tourism experience, tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being was constructed. The relationship among these factors was then discussed to improve tourist satisfaction and well-being. On the basis of the bottom-up spillover theory, this study focused on the mediating effect mechanism of tourist satisfaction on the relationship between educational, entertainment, esthetic, and escape experiences of wellness tourism and tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being using the SEM approach. The research conclusions can be summarized as follows: First, the entertainment, esthetic, and escape experiences of wellness tourism have a significant positive impact on tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, whereas the educational experience has a significant positive impact only on eudaimonic well-being. The educational, entertainment, and esthetic experiences of tourist well-being have a positive and significant influence on tourist satisfaction, and tourist satisfaction can positively affect the two dimensions of tourist well-being. Second, tourist satisfaction mediates the relationship among wellness tourism education, entertainment, and esthetic experiences and tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, demonstrating the effect of the wellness tourism experience and tourists’ well-being. Third, the moderating effect of gender and age on tourist satisfaction promoting well-being is pronounced, with female and younger tourists showing significantly higher levels than male and older tourists in this regard.

6.2. Theoretical Implications

The theoretical contributions of this study are as follows: First, this study enriches and expands the research in the field of wellness tourism by revealing the influence mechanism of wellness tourism experience on tourists’ well-being. The literature review revealed that previous studies paid more attention to other aspects of health tourism, such as medical tourism, spa tourism, and forest tourism, while largely ignoring the relationship between wellness tourism experience and tourist well-being. Therefore, this study provides a more comprehensive analysis of wellness tourism experience and tourist well-being.

Secondly, by incorporating tourist satisfaction—which is a prerequisite for the sustainable development of a strategy leading to a tourism destination’s enhanced competitive positioning and attractiveness [41,137]—as an intermediary variable into the research model, this study reveals relatively comprehensive relationships between wellness tourism experience and tourist well-being, thus enriching the research on tourist satisfaction and related fields. Furthermore, the current study emphasizes the moderating effects of gender and age. The study findings indicate that gender and age have a positive moderating effect between the wellness tourism experience and tourist satisfaction. Thus, this current study creates a foundation for further research on the effects of gender and age in wellness tourism.

Additionally, the present study confirms that the theory of bottom-up spillover is appropriate for investigating the wellness tourism experience, tourist satisfaction, and tourist well-being. Hence, this study can enrich the scope of application of the bottom-up spillover theory and contribute to the body of knowledge on wellness tourism destination marketing and management from a theoretical perspective.

6.3. Practical Implications

From a practical perspective, this study’s findings provide the following suggestions for wellness tourism destination managers and business operators. First, this study reveals that the entertainment, esthetic, and escape experiences of wellness tourism can positively affect tourists’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Therefore, we suggest that the layout plans of wellness tourism destinations be based on the characteristics of the wellness tourism destination resources and guided by tourists’ actual needs to create a unique style and introduce local characteristics of the living environment. Additionally, this study finds that the educational experience has a direct positive impact on eudaimonic well-being. Therefore, in terms of product design, traditional Chinese medicine health preservation, rehabilitation and health care, chronic disease management, recuperation and other guidance projects should be added. Moreover, the wellness characteristics of tourism destinations can be highlighted, to improve tourists’ knowledge of professional wellness, improve their satisfaction with the experience, and enhance their well-being.

Second, based on the research results, wellness tourism education, entertainment, and esthetic experiences have a significant positive impact on tourist satisfaction, which subsequently positively impacts tourist well-being. Therefore, we suggest that wellness tourism industry practitioners enhance tourists’ overall satisfaction by strengthening the planning of health food, entertainment projects, accommodations, and other service facilities at wellness tourism destinations. Such improvements may include regular service training for wellness tourism practitioners, a warm and friendly attitude, providing tourists with more convenient, quality services, and reducing the psychological distance between tourists and destinations. A wellness tourism landscape environment can be created to bring forth visual, auditory, and tactile senses of beauty so that tourists can enjoy a safe, relaxed, pleasant, private, and harmonious atmosphere. Meanwhile, a feedback mechanism for tourists’ wellness tourism experience should be constructed so that the factors underlying tourist satisfaction can be understood in time. Tourists’ feedback, opinions, and suggestions should be summarized and analyzed, with their satisfaction set as the development goal and their well-being the ultimate goal.

Third, considering the gender and age differences in the formation process of the wellness tourism experience→tourist satisfaction and happiness→wellness tourism, destination managers should create differentiated segmentation of the wellness tourism market according to gender and age when formulating marketing strategies. Female and young age group tourists are more likely to improve their well-being through wellness education, esthetics, and escape experiences. A detailed understanding of the needs of female and younger tourists’ wellness tourism experience can be achieved by paying greater attention to the design and development of wellness tourism products, such as educational, esthetics, and escape experiences, which are of concern to female and younger tourists. Although male tourists are more likely to be satisfied with esthetic experiences, it remains necessary to focus on improving the esthetic experiences of female tourists in wellness tourism. In contrast, older tourists are more likely to be satisfied with entertainment experiences than younger tourists. Nevertheless, managers of wellness tourism destinations still need to pay attention to the entertainment experiences of younger tourists (i.e., rural farm experiences, marine leisure, and entertainment activities) to prevent the tourist losses and improve their well-being while simultaneously increasing their satisfaction with the experience.

Finally, DMOs with management, governance, and marketing responsibilities play an important role in tourism promotion and the economic development of destinations [10]. When carrying out tourism promotion, DMOs should attend and cooperate with other stakeholders (i.e., travel agencies, transportation departments, hotels, private companies, etc.) to formulate targeted strategic plans, economic budgets, and expected goals for different market segments (such as nationality, gender, age, occupation, income, etc.). This should be effectively combined with actions by the information technology industry, such as by using virtual reality (VR) advertising, social media platforms, and big data mining and analysis to stimulate the willingness of potential wellness tourists to travel and to provide wellness tourists with a sense of both education and entertainment and aesthetic experience. In addition, some tourists’ desired experiences are focused on relaxation and escape, while certain activities at the destination could be too demanding, making tourists feel tired or even stressed. Moreover, people who like to travel alone often pay more attention to their inner experiences. Therefore, when formulating marketing strategies to develop wellness tourism products, DMOs and other stakeholders should take full account of the characteristics of the situation as well as demographic characteristics and should not over-arrange wellness tourism activities or projects, such as meditation, yoga, hiking, or other experiential environments; asking too much of tourists could result in reduction of their overall satisfaction, thus affecting their well-being.

6.4. Limitations and Future Research

Despite its valuable contributions, this study has several limitations. First, the study sample only consists of Chinese wellness tourists, and thus lacks comparisons with other wellness tourism in developing countries. Future research can expand the scope of the survey and conduct comparative studies on samples from different countries, thereby increasing the generalizability of the findings. Second, in analyzing the impact of the wellness tourism experience on tourist well-being, this study analyzes mainly the mediating effect of tourist satisfaction and does not examine other possible influencing factors. Therefore, future research should introduce different variables for a comparative analysis of the mediating effect, thus offering more comprehensive suggestions for the sustainable development of wellness tourism and strategies to improve tourists’ well-being.