Yoga tourism – a catalyst for transformation?

ABSTRACT

Yoga tourism has experienced increased interest and relevance in recent years due to the changing landscape of spirituality in the western world. However, research addressing this phenomenon is scarce. This study explored yoga tourism though a priori dimensions of positive psychological well-being. Deductive thematic analysis was used to analyse 12 semi-structured interview transcripts. Findings revealed the existence of five a priori dimensions related to positive psychological well-being and their relationship with transformative experiences. Evidence from this study indicated that yoga tourism provides the environment for yoga tourists to experience positive psychological well-being during their trip as well as post-trip. Results suggest that yoga tourism has the ability to transform the lives of participants on varying levels. Future research exploring these findings within a larger wellness tourism context is warranted.

KEYWORDS:

• Yoga
• tourism
• transformation
• positive psychology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Alana K. Dillette, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at San Diego State University. Originally from the Island Nation of The Bahamas, her research interests include various forms of tourism including small island sustainable tourism development, volunteer tourism and wellness tourism. In addition, Dr. Dillette is also working on developing a research agenda focused on Diversity and Inclusion within the hospitality and tourism industry.

Alecia C. Douglas, Ph.D. is an associate professor in Hotel and Restaurant Management at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, US. Her research interests focuses on information technology applications for the hospitality and tourism industry, travel consumer behaviour, and destination branding and marketing. She has numerous research manuscripts published in some of the top hospitality and tourism journals and refereed papers presented at national and international research conferences.

Carey Andrzejewski, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology at Auburn University. Her research interests include teacher identity, teacher expertise and classroom culture. She also focuses on qualitative methods research in the social sciences.

Notes

1 The term ‘areligious’ refers to a practice that is not influenced by a specific religion.

2 A vision board is used to help clarify, concentrate and maintain focus on a specific goal or set of goals. Boards can be created using a display of images and words to represent the users goals(s).