The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the effects of healing food experiences provided at healing tourism destinations on tourists’ psychological recovery, and to analyze how preferences for different types of healing food influence pe...
The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the effects of healing food experiences provided at healing tourism destinations on tourists’ psychological recovery, and to analyze how preferences for different types of healing food influence perceived value and revisit intention. To achieve this objective, a survey was conducted with tourists who had visited healing tourism destinations and experienced healing food, and a total of 122 valid responses were used for analysis.
The collected data were analyzed using SPSS through descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, one-sample t-tests, and regression analysis. The results indicate that healing food experiences have a significant positive effect on tourists’ psychological recovery. In addition, preferences for functional healing food, experiential and cultural healing food, and aesthetic and sensory healing food were all found to have positive effects on perceived value, with functional healing food showing the strongest influence. Furthermore, perceived value was found to have a strong positive effect on revisit intention.
These findings suggest that healing food experiences at healing tourism destinations go beyond simple meal provision by promoting tourists’ psychological recovery, enhancing overall tourism value, and ultimately leading to revisit intention. This study contributes to the expansion of theoretical perspectives in healing tourism research by empirically analyzing healing food from the viewpoint of psychological recovery, and it also provides practical implications for the development of differentiated healing food–based tourism content and management strategies.