Wellness tourism has an important value in serving national strategy, industrial practice and individual health. This paper discusses issues related to the theory, industrial practice and health effects of wellness tourism. The study concludes that: (1) wellness tourism is a multi-industry and multi-dimensional industrial model centered on the health industry, including health, tourism, senior-care, wellness, physical examination, prevention and treatment and it has a unique value in the personal, economic, social and ecological aspects. (2) Wellness tourism consumer group can cover the whole life cycle of the population, and the consumption motives are diversified, yet the mismatch between supply and demand is problematic. (3) Wellness tourism is highly dependent on high-quality ecological resources, thus the transformation of destination image from visual landscape to in-depth experience is the precursor of the transformation of traditional sightseeing to recreation and health resort tourism, and its evaluation and brand construction should concentrate on the tourists. (4) The development of wellness tourism is faced with the concept of inconsistency, homogeneity of products, the lack of quality standards, the shortage of specialized talents and the health effect that cannot be scientifically measured, and other specific problems; meanwhile, it should respond to the social concerns regarding the migration of senior population. (5) Wellness tourism as a linking element for mental health, can enhance the well-being of the individual's life, and realize physiological health effects through the support of environmental perception, physical participation and social interaction, and it is also a preventive tool for mental illnesses. Informed by the national strategy of Healthy China and the development trend of wellness tourism in the new era, academics should strengthen the theoretical and methodological research under the cross-disciplinary perspective, so as to provide scientific support for the practice of wellness tourism and its health effects.

Sports and wellness tourism is an emerging model of wellness sojourn, which meets the needs of the elderly for healthy ageing. It is of great significance to clarify the concept of sports and wellness tourism, the industry and its value, in order to practice positive aging and healthy aging, as well as the high-quality development of silver economy. Under the background of active ageing, this paper uses literature, logical induction, case studies and other research methods to explore the value, dilemma and strategy of sports and wellness tourism. The study concludes that: (1) sports and wellness tourism is a special form of tourism that combines sports with wellness, tourism and medical treatment. It refers to a tourism activity in which consumers, with the purpose of maintaining and promoting physical and mental health, travel to wellness tourism destinations to achieve physical and mental health, mental pleasure and treatment of chronic diseases through participation in fitness and leisure, sports and health maintenance, and sports rehabilitation, so as to realize sports for health. According to the differences in wellness resources and consumer demand, five types of wellness are derived, including sports ecological wellness, sports leisure wellness, sports vacation wellness, sports health maintenance wellness, and sports cultural wellness. (2) Sports and wellness tourism has an important value in the four dimensions, i.e. personal, economic, cultural, and social dimensions. Specifically, it is an important way to improve the quality of life for the elderly in personal dimension; an important mode to promote the high-quality development of silver economy in economic dimension; an important manifestation of civilised progress towards the realisation of a human society in cultural dimension, and an important means of maintaining social equity, harmony and stability in social dimension. (3) In the industrial practice of sports and wellness tourism, there are practical dilemmas such as imperfect policy protection system, long investment return cycle of enterprises, structural mismatch of market supply and demand, insufficient synergistic integration of industrial chain, and gap of compound talents. It is recommended to make concerted efforts from five aspects, such as policy support, government support, market segmentation, industry integration and talent support, to actively cultivate a new industry of sports and wellness tourism.

In the context of China’s aging population and the growing emphasis on comprehensive health, maintaining and improving health has become a critical issue for the elderly. Seasonal retired tourism and serious leisure have reshaped the health lifestyles of senior sojourners, with the mobility of these populations leading to both new opportunities and challenges. This study, from the perspective of mobility and the relational approach, investigates the relationship between serious leisure and the health of senior sojourners, using Yunnan Yuxi Luchong Scenic Area as a case study. It analyzes how senior sojourners construct multi-dimensional and dynamic human-environment relations with their hometowns and various tourism destinations, which, in turn, influence their health. The findings reveal that the serious leisure activities of senior sojourners exhibit characteristics of skill development, social engagement, and long-term participation. Through enhancing physical and cognitive function, promoting social participation, and demonstrating perseverance in serious leisure activities, senior sojourners establish dynamic physical, social, and emotional connections between their hometowns and tourism destinations. Ultimately, senior sojourners develop serious leisure activities dynamically to achieve differentiated experiences of physical, social, and mental health. The study theoretically delves into the mechanisms through which serious leisure influences elderly health in the context of senior sojourners’ mobilities, from the perspective of mobility and the relational approach. It also provides implications for improving serious leisure and enhancing multi-dimensional health for senior sojourners through serious leisure.

As the global population ages, retirement sojourning has become a key driver of the silver economy and elderly well-being. This study focuses on Chinese urban elderly aged 55 to 80. Grounded in the Lifespan Developmental Control Theory, a survey of 557 subjects was conducted through questionnaire method to investigate the relationship between the elderly’s balanced time perspective and their demand for retirement tourism, as well as the underlying mechanism. The results indicate that: (1) the balanced time perspective can directly predict the demand for retirement sojourning among the elderly. (2) The balanced time perspective can predict the demand for retirement sojourning by enhancing the elderly’s social support or sense of life meaning independently, and it also exerts an effect through the chain mediation of perceived social support and sense of life meaning on their demand for retirement sojourning. (3) Heterogeneity analysis was carried out by dividing the elderly into two groups based on their working status - retired and on-the-job. It was found that there are significant differences in the internal mechanism of the balanced time perspective on the demand for retirement sojourning. Specifically, the indirect effects of the balanced time perspective, perceived social support, sense of life meaning, and the demand for retirement sojourning are most prominent in the retired group. For the on-the-job group, the positive influence of the balanced time perspective on the demand for retirement sojourning mainly relies on the crucial factor of the individual’s sense of life meaning. This study reveals the internal influencing mechanism of the balanced time perspective on the demand for retirement sojourning, aiming to enrich relevant research on the demand mechanism for retirement sojourning among the elderly and provide a scientific reference for the market segmentation and formulation of differentiated marketing strategies for elderly retirement sojourning products.

Affected by global warming and the urban heat island effect, the demand for summer tourism among urban residents has grown rapidly. This study focuses on tourists’ subjective perception of the differences in weather comfort between their originating places and summer destinations. Through online questionnaires, tourists’ subjective ratings of meteorological conditions were collected, and five key meteorological factors influencing summer weather comfort daily mean temperature, daily maximum temperature, daily mean relative humidity, daily mean wind speed, and sunshine duration were selected as the core indicators of the model. The coolness level was divided into four grades: very cool, cool, relatively cool, and not cool. An innovative Coolness Index (CI) model for summer tourism was constructed. Using Chongqing as the test area, the summer tourism coolness index of 19 summer resorts in 2022 was analyzed. The results show that: (1) in the very cool level, compared with the central urban area of Chongqing during the same period, the summer resorts had an average daily temperature is 9.9°C lower, a maximum daily temperature is 7.7°C lower, a daily average relative humidity is 21% higher, a daily average wind speed is 0.2 m/s lower, and the number of sunshine hours is 0.5 hours less. (2) With the decrease of coolness level, the differences in meteorological factors gradually narrow. The Coolness Index model can accurately capture and effectively quantify the differences in weather comfort between the tourists’ originating places and summer destinations, overcoming the limitations of traditional models based on historical climate data and ignoring dynamic weather changes. This study advances research methods for tourism comfort and, combined with intelligent grid forecasting technology, provides scientific reference for urban residents in choosing summer destinations.