Work

Health tourism model in the digital age: emotional healing effects of disembodied landscape perception through social media

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: In the digital era, increasing attention has been paid to how social media reshapes virtual tourism, yet little research has explored the mechanisms of digital healing in disembodied travel and the differentiated effects of landscape types. This study takes Erhai Scenic Area in China as an example and combines text coding with questionnaire survey. Study 1 used web crawling to collect review texts, followed by semantic analysis and landscape coding. Study 2, based on the classifications derived from Study 1, conducted video experiments and questionnaire surveys. The results of both studies were then compared and analyzed. Findings indicate that emotion plays a partial mediating role in the mechanism of "disembodied landscape perception—embodied emotional change—embodied travel intention," with personality traits (openness and neuroticism) serving as moderators. Moreover, the four landscape types: ecological-natural, commercial-leisure, historical-cultural, and rural-pastoral demonstrate differentiated effects in emotional healing, promoting travel intentions, and facilitating the transformation from disembodied to embodied perception. This study provides a theoretical foundation for destination marketing, healthy landscape design, and digital healing, contributing to the development of new health tourism models in the social media context.

Source: Scientific Reports

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-36305-8

Authors: Ruimin Guo, Yiming Qi, Xubin Xie, Ruirui Liu

Institutions: Central South University, University of British Columbia

Language: English

Topic: Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,690