In the evolving landscape of global tourism, the intricate relationship between tourism activities and the well-being of the individuals and communities involved has become an urgent area of scholarly inquiry. A recent comprehensive scoping review has taken a deep dive into this nexus, shedding light on the multifaceted effects tourism imposes on key stakeholders: tourists, workers, and residents. This study, published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, transcends superficial assessments by rigorously analyzing the methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and empirical findings surrounding tourism’s impact on well-being. The implications resonate far beyond academia, highlighting deficits in current policies while sketching a blueprint for holistic, sustainable tourism governance.
Tourism’s interaction with well-being is anything but unidimensional. At its core, well-being encompasses both hedonic pleasure—subjective happiness and life satisfaction—and eudaimonic fulfillment, which involves a deeper sense of purpose and meaningful engagement. However, the current body of literature disproportionately emphasizes subjective well-being, often with scant attention to the systemic interplay among the diverse tourism actors. Tourists’ satisfaction with their experience, residents’ perception of tourism’s socio-economic impact, and employees’ work environment conditions are typically studied in isolation. Such siloed approaches obscure the underlying dynamics that interlink these dimensions, limiting our understanding of how tourism can either bolster or undermine well-being across the entirety of the destination ecosystem.
Methodologically, the reviewed literature predominantly employs quantitative descriptive and non-randomized designs, frequently lacking adequate sample representativeness and control for confounding variables. While structural equation modeling (SEM) and partial least squares SEM (PLS-SEM) have gained traction, their application often suffers from lapses in theoretical rigor and adherence to best practices. These statistical tools, when used judiciously, can illuminate complex variable interrelations and latent constructs within the tourism-well-being paradigm. Unfortunately, such potential remains underutilized, contributing to fragmented knowledge rather than generating robust, generalizable insights.
Construct-wise, the studies dissect a dizzying array of dependent, independent, and intervening variables—ranging from service satisfaction and environmental attitudes to health and social esteem—tailored to specific stakeholder groups. Yet, the lack of standardized constructs and shared measurement instruments hampers any meaningful cross-study comparisons. This methodological heterogeneity echoes a broader issue: the absence of a unifying theoretical framework to anchor research across the stakeholder spectrum, rendering coordinated strategies elusive and maintaining a chasm between academic findings and policy applications.
Recognizing these gaps, the review underscores the necessity for a systemic perspective that views tourism well-being as an emergent property shaped by the interactions among tourists, workers, and residents. Such a framework moves beyond viewing these actors in isolation, instead articulating well-being as a continuum linking individual experiences with societal quality of life. The systemic model posits that workers are the engine of tourism production, tourists embody the demand and consumption process, while residents navigate the externalities—both positive and negative—emanating from tourism development. Bridging these perspectives necessitates an integrative approach, where governments assume a pivotal role in harmonizing interests through coordinated public policies.
Policy response, unfortunately, lags behind scholarly calls for multi-stakeholder engagement and sustainable tourism development. Persistent challenges, such as overtourism, reveal the limitations of existing governance, often characterized by an unwillingness to confront visitor number management openly. The review references recent critiques illustrating failures rooted in this reluctance, signaling an urgent demand for innovative and evidence-based regulation. Governments are urged to extend their conceptualization of well-being beyond narrow economic metrics and to align policy instruments with broader societal impacts encompassing health, social cohesion, and environmental stewardship.
A cornerstone recommendation emerging from the synthesis advocates for the implementation of composite well-being and quality-of-life indicators customized for each stakeholder group. For tourists, this includes metrics of satisfaction with services, leisure, and experiential richness. Residents’ indicators span economic stability, consumer well-being, environmental quality, and social integration. Workers’ well-being is captured through satisfaction with workplace health, safety, social relations, esteem, and personal actualization. By integrating both objective and subjective data, these multidimensional indicators can enable comparative analyses across national, regional, and local tourism contexts, thereby fostering transparency and accountability.
The review also critically appraises its own limitations, acknowledging that the exclusion of key terminology such as “quality of life,” “wellness,” and “welfare” in the search strategy may have constrained the scope and depth of captured studies. Similarly, the deliberate omission of gray literature—from publicly or privately produced reports and policy briefs—means that some practical insights may have been overlooked. This methodological narrowing emphasizes the challenge refractory to many social science reviews: balancing comprehensiveness with the operational feasibility of analysis, often at the expense of capturing the full panorama of knowledge and practice.
Moreover, the vast heterogeneity in theories, methods, and findings complicates attempts to distill consistent trends, restricting synthesis largely to categorical classifications by actor type and research design. While the use of quality evaluation tools such as MMAT and GRADE-CERQual provided a gauge of study robustness, these assessments did not influence article selection or result interpretation, reflecting the narrative and exploratory nature of the review. This approach underscores the early stage of systemic inquiry into tourism’s well-being effects and highlights the imperative for more rigorous, dialogic research going forward.
In contemplating the future of this field, the review points to emerging directions harnessing computational modeling and dynamic systems theory to capture the complex feedback loops, trade-offs, and tipping points inherent in tourism-well-being relationships. Such methodologies afford the possibility of simulating scenarios that articulate how policy levers might modulate outcomes across stakeholders over time. Concurrently, theoretical frameworks are evolving beyond traditional economic output measures such as GDP, toward more holistic constructs balancing aggregate quality of life with individual subjective experience, reflecting a paradigm shift in how tourism’s societal value is conceived.
The challenges illuminated by this review extend beyond academic interest, touching upon the lived realities of communities striving to reconcile economic benefits with social and environmental sustainability. Policymakers, practitioners, and researchers must embrace a collaborative ethos, co-developing multi-dimensional strategies that consider the interconnectedness of stakeholder well-being. Only through such integrative approaches can the sector move toward genuine sustainability, mitigating adverse consequences and promoting flourishing destinations.
Intriguingly, the review’s findings invite a reconsideration of tourism’s role not simply as an economic engine but as a complex social system whose vitality depends on the balanced well-being of its human constituents. Embracing this holistic view may facilitate transformative shifts in governance, research methodologies, and practical interventions. As global tourism continues to rebound and evolve in a post-pandemic context, anchoring development in well-being frameworks will be critical to ensuring equitable and resilient futures.
Ultimately, this comprehensive synthesis elevates the discourse on tourism and well-being, transcending case study limitations and fragmented research traditions. It galvanizes efforts aimed at integrating disparate knowledge strands, fostering multi-stakeholder dialogue, and advancing methodologically sound, theoretically coherent, and socially relevant research and policy formation. The stakes are high—not only for the vitality of tourist destinations but for the quality of life of millions interconnected by the flows of modern tourism.
Subject of Research: The effects of tourism activities on the well-being of key stakeholders—tourists, workers, and residents—examined through a systemic, multi-stakeholder lens integrating diverse methodological and theoretical frameworks.
Article Title: Effects of tourism on well-being from the perspective of key actors: a scoping review.
Article References:
Garzón Vásquez, D.E., Guzmán Rincón, A. & Cala Vitery, F. Effects of tourism on well-being from the perspective of key actors: a scoping review. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 12, 1438 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05792-x
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