Promoting Youth Mental Health in Spiritual Tourism Through Service Design

Haoyu Dong, Jun Zhang () and Tang Tang
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Haoyu Dong: School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Jun Zhang: School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Tang Tang: School of Design, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 2, 1-23

Abstract: Youth are society’s vital asset, and their mental health is a priority for global public health. Spiritual tourism, through the integration of cultural and spiritual elements, promotes travelers’ mental health and has emerged as a new model of service that complements traditional mental health treatments; however, this model lacks a focus on the specific characteristics and needs of the youth demographic, as well as a design perspective, which may contribute to the inability to provide long-term mental health support for youth due to insufficient social support. Therefore, this paper explores the ways in which service design can foster long-term mental health support for youth in spiritual tourism services. The paper begins with a theoretical analysis to identify the key characteristics and limitations of current spiritual tourism services while also addressing the principles of service design and the rationale for incorporating suburban experiential lodging as a case. Subsequently, qualitative methods, including ethnographic observations, demographic surveys, and in-depth interviews, were employed with eleven youth participants and three staff members to gather insights into their experiences and needs. The findings indicate that current spiritual tourism services are hindered by issues such as low accessibility, inadequate follow-up support, and design shortcomings. Furthermore, spiritual tourism services can be designed to systematically integrate the needs for natural environments, psychological identification, and social interaction, enhancing long-term mental health support for youth.

Keywords: service design; youth; mental health; spiritual tourism; suburban experiential lodging; ethnographic research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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