Tourism, Senses and Well-Being

An emergent strand of research has highlighted the sensory dimension of place encounters as pivotal in the design of positive and memorable tourist experiences, which can be perceived as meaningful. The analysis of how stimuli in the environment such as colours, sounds, smells, flavours and textures can enhance individual experiences by focusing on distinctive and local resources is gaining increasing interest in research following an experiential approach to tourism. On the other hand, contemporary tourism studies have become more concerned with aspects related to human well-being. These efforts resulted in going beyond the hedonic perspective of well-being, which has been mostly associated with pleasure, emotional reactions and satisfaction derived from the tourist experience. Literature on subjective well-being has connected these aspects to perceived happiness, and recent studies have stressed the importance of addressing eudaimonic elements related to meaningfulness, self-realisation and personal growth. This chapter advocates that multi-sensory experiences have the potential to contribute to hedonic and eudaimonic outcomes, considering the complementary nature of both perspectives in examining the sense of well-being in tourism. This approach considers the multidisciplinary nature of well-being and human senses. Discussion can inform tourism research and practices.