Spirituality Studies 11-2 Fall 2025 7 Vivien Iacob et al. 2.3 Tourism Well-Being The concept of well-being has been gaining popularity, and it is evident that travel agencies are already integrating deals to give tourists more profound experiences while allowing them to relax and enjoy themselves. Furthermore, western societies are showing an increased interest in eudaimonic tourism experiences, and new products are emerging to fill this gap in tourists’ desires and needs (Smith and Diekmann 2017). A multidisciplinary approach is crucial for understanding well-being, particularly in tourism. In this sense, Garcês et al. (2020) proposed the conceptual framework of Human Optimal Psychological Experience (HOPE), which encompasses a theoretical model where tourists’ creativity, optimism, and spirituality influence their well-being, and the activities developed in the destination also affect these variables. The definition of HOPE addresses a personal state of fulfillment during an experience in which the individual’s well-being influences their creativity, optimism, and spirituality. Moreover, their creativity, optimism, and spirituality can affect an individual’s activities during an experience and, therefore, their well-being. Policymakers, governments, and community groups worldwide are more interested in topics such as well-being (Martela et al. 2022). The search for well-being has been regarded as a fundamental goal in life since ancient times (Ryan and Deci 2001). Since then, the definition has been expanded to include the idea of subjective well-being (Huta and Ryan 2010). Subjective well-being consists of a cognitive and an affective component (Tov 2018). Affective Well-Being (AWB) is based on hedonic theories of happiness and relates to pleasant or unpleasant feelings (Sumner 1996). It is described as the harmony between people’s experiences of pleasure and pain. So, an individual with high AWB experiences pleasant over unpleasant feelings. This component could be assessed by asking people how often they have experienced specific emotions (e.g., happiness). Happiness can be defined as a person’s emotional state of desire more, having positive affect, and not having negative affect (Wu et al. 2017). Cognitive Well-Being (CWB) is based on evaluating how well one’s life is going. For instance, CWB could be assessed by measures of life satisfaction (Diener et al. 1985). A person’s level of satisfaction with life is determined by contrasting their perception of their current quality of life with their ideal life circumstances (Lucas et al. 1996; Pavot and Diener 2009). Accordingly, life satisfaction involves analyzing the aspects of the individuals’ lives considering a global assessment of overall satisfaction (Rothmann 2013; Cai et al. 2024). As satisfaction with life is a conceptually unique component of subjective well-being, it has been suggested that the separable elements of subjective well-being should be studied independently (Lucas et al. 1996). Because life satisfaction transcends and integrates mood states, influences behavior, and is considered a fundamental component of well-being, it is frequently studied as an outcome in and of itself (Huebner et al. 2008). Consistent with this suggestion and the foregoing discussion, the following hypotheses are offered: H5. Tourism well-being positively influences affective well-being (happiness). H6. Tourism well-being positively influences cognitive well-being (satisfaction with life).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUwMDU5Ng==