Sustainable Tourism Resources: Perspective of Wellness Tourism Practitioners: A Delphi Approach

The word “wellness” has ancient roots. The tenets of wellness can be traced back to ancient civilisations, spreading from east to west for thousands of years. The development of holistic, self-healing and natural approaches for preventive care by intellectuals and institutions, along with conventional medicine, provided a strong foundation for the current flourishing movement towards wellness. The contemporary emergence of new lifestyles, where leisure and mobility assume larger importance, also has an impact on how people deal with their health. This is often combined with a search for authentic and unique experiences, along with concerns for sustainability (Smith and Diekmann, Ann Tour Res 66:1–13, 2017). Wellness tourism involves traveling associated with the quest for sustaining or enhancing an individual’s well-being. It can be supported by different resources, practices and services, depending on the natural characteristics and cultural traditions of each place (Kazakov and Oyner, Tour Rev 76:58–63, 2021). The Asia-Pacific region is the leader in wellness travel, reporting a growth of 33% per year between 2015 and 2017. India, being the number two behind China, added 17 million trips from 2015 to 2017. The number of countries actively promoting wellness tourism has increased from 65 in 2013 to over 100 in 2018. Considering the high value of wellness tourism, more countries are now concentrating on “wellness resources” that differentiate their offerings from others. Identifying and promoting sustainable wellness resources are essential for long-term success and retaining the uniqueness of a destination. Resources such as Ayurveda and traditional wellness practices that are valuable, rare and costly to imitate and substitute can provide long-term sustainable competitive advantages to the destination. In this research work, the classical Delphi technique is used in order to highlight which “wellness tourism resources” need to be prioritised in the marketing communication and branding of the Indian region of Kerala. Following this approach, the most valuable regional resources are identified through the framework developed by Romão et al. (Asia ac J Tour Res 23:734–746, 2018) and prioritised by involving experts in an iterative process. Kerala, a princely Indian state commonly known as “God’s Own Country”, is a hotspot for tourism supported by its picturesque landscape, traditional Ayurveda and unique culture. The findings reveal that all Ayurveda-related services, massage, spa, Yoga and therapies, are bundled as wellness resources need to be prioritised first while promoting Kerala as a wellness tourism destination followed by its natural attractions, cultural resources, local gastronomy, handicrafts and leisure and recreational activities. The research work has significant implications for wellness service providers and destination marketing organisations.