An integrated approach to transformative tourism experiences and well-being in crisis contexts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7784/rbtur.v20.3248Keywords:
Transformative Learning Theory, PERMA, Well-Being Fluctuations; Well-Being Fluctuations, Crisis Contexts, Transformative Tourist ExperienceAbstract
This article analyzes how transformative tourism experiences relate to fluctuations in well-being in a crisis context. The study is grounded in Transformative Learning Theory and the PERMA model, adopted as theoretical-analytical lenses for understanding the processes of disorientation, self-reflection, and meaning-making experienced by tourists who traveled at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a qualitative study based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with Brazilian travelers, analyzed through content analysis. The results show that tourism experiences lived in crisis contexts are marked by fluctuations in hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, associated with well-being promoters and reducers, and that the transformative process does not result exclusively from the intensity of the events experienced, but from interpretive processes and the construction of meaning attributed by the tourists themselves. Based on the empirical findings, the study proposes a conceptual synthesis of transformative tourism experiences in crisis contexts, highlighting the non-linear and contingent nature of these processes. The article contributes to theoretical advancement by integrating transformative learning, well-being, and tourism in extreme situations, offering support for future research and relevant implications for tourism management in unstable contexts.
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