Healing mechanism of rural tourism on urban employee unhappiness: a logotherapy theory perspective

This study evaluated the healing benefits of different holiday experiences on employee unhappiness. It developed a model of "Destination Experience–Psychological Recovery–Work Performance" based on liminality and logotherapy theories, which explain how tourism heals employee unhappiness. The researcher employed a weekly diary methodology to collect data from 596 participants, and then utilised partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) methods and multi-group analysis to test the theoretical model. The results indicated that tourism (vs home) and rural (vs urban) tourism destination experiences significantly healed urban employees' unhappiness. Additionally, this study found that the healing effect of rural tourism destination experiences on urban employee unhappiness was mediated by mastery experiences and moderated by tour duration. To provide a deeper understanding of the hypotheses, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore urban employees' rural tourism healing experiences and strategies. This study enhances our understanding of how tourism reduces employee unhappiness and contributes to the literature on the spillover effects of tourism on work. Finally, it presents a significant new paradigm for tourism healing theories and practices for future research.