Purpose

Wellness tourism offers opportunities for consumers to explore the self. This paper aims to explore how identity transitions occur in a liminal tourism space – a holistic wellness retreat.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors adopt a qualitative methodology, including in-depth semi-structured interviews supplemented by various projective techniques. Following an interpretivist approach, eight consumers were interviewed at the commencement and the completion of a holistic wellness retreat stay. Participant observation was also undertaken during the retreat programme.

Findings

The paper shows an identity transition is facilitated by the liminal space of the holistic wellness retreat and further shaped by self-work during the retreat. As participants gain new knowledge on the self and start living “consciously”, they gain a sense of vision, clarity and direction to a new self, wherein identity transition is a starting point and a process of change rather than an end goal.

Originality/value

While much past research views tourism activities as mainly “play”, the findings reveal the holistic wellness retreat experiences as both identity play and identity work. This paper provides theoretical insights into the process from identity play to identity work and what makes this process effective for identity transition.

中文翻译：

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身份转变过程：整体健康静修体验的研究

目的

健康旅游为消费者提供了探索自我的机会。本文旨在探讨身份转变如何在有限的旅游空间——一个整体健康疗养地发生。

设计/方法/途径

作者采用定性方法，包括深入的半结构化访谈，辅之以各种投射技术。按照解释主义的方法，八位消费者在整体健康疗养住宿开始和结束时接受了采访。在撤退计划期间也进行了参与者观察。

发现

该论文表明，整体健康静修的阈限空间促进了身份转变，静修期间的自我工作进一步塑造了身份转变。随着参与者获得关于自我的新知识并开始“有意识地”生活，他们获得了对新自我的远见、清晰和方向感，其中身份转变是起点和变化过程，而不是最终目标。

原创性/价值

虽然过去的许多研究将旅游活动主要视为“游戏”，但研究结果揭示了整体健康度假体验既是身份游戏又是身份工作。本文提供了从身份游戏到身份工作的过程的理论见解，以及是什么使这个过程对身份转换有效。