The motives for service users visiting the wellness centres in Slovenia

Abstract

The word »wellness« is usually used to indicate a healthy balance of the mind, the body and the spirit that results in an overall feeling of the well-being. The wellness centers have become an inseparable part of the hotel facilities, at the instance of the users who come to these centers because of different motives. The purpose of this research is to examine the characteristics of a healthy-living market segment and its motivational behavior to wellness facilities in Slovenia. Hence, the objectives of this research are as follows: to identify the motivational characteristics of the tourists visiting the wellness centers and to study the relationship between the tourists' healthy-living behavioral patterns and the motivational behavior in relation to the wellness facilities in Slovenia.

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“…There is the highest number of guests in the age group of 36 to 50 years (43.7%) while in the second place (26.2% less) is the age category 21 to 35. This category is the typical age group of people who visit the wellness centres [7]. According to a study involving 4,081 respondents from Switzerland, the profile of the health travelers is: woman, middle-aged (35-50 years), secondary to well-educated (mostly higher education) and predominantly employed [27], which is in line with the structure of the sample obtained.…”

“…Chen, Prebensen and Huan also identified that relaxation is one of the most important motivating factor for tourists' visiting wellness centres [20]. The fourth and fifth motive are Enhancement of quality of life and Effortless activity which were also confirmed as very important motives of wellness tourist visitors in Slovenia in the study by Rančić, Blešić, Đorđević and Bole [7].…”

“…The study of motivation is being widely used in understanding of the human behaviour and has an important topic in tourism research [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [7], [16]. One of the most popular model is the Crompton's push and pull model which emphasizes that tourist's choice of a travel destination is influenced by two forces -push factors that push individuals from home, and pull factors that pull individuals toward a destination [10].…”

“…The return visitor motivations were sightseeing and experience, convenience for touring, self-exploration, and accessibility [23]. An important study of visitors' motivation in wellness centres in Slovenia was conducted in 2013 [7]. The study revealed that the most important motivation for respondents was effortless activity followed by enhancement of quality of life and relaxation.…”

“…The wellness centres have become an inseparable part of the hotel facilities, attracting the users who come to these centres because of different motives [7]. However, hotel managers realized that they can no longer satisfy their guests with the standard fitness amenities as guests already have various modern fitness equipment at home and when they travel, they expect at least the same standard of quality [8], [3].…”