The new era of luxury: shared holistic wellness experiences in the Finnish nature
Luoma, Sofia (2024)
2024
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202403053847
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202403053847
Tiivistelmä
The phenomenon of new luxury has called for service providers to come up with new innovative tourism services and products to serve the needs of hedonistic and purpose-seeking consumers of today in search of holistic wellness for the body, mind, and spirit. Today’s technological advances and remote working practices have boosted the needs to re-connect with nature, inner self, and search for likeminded communities.
The purpose of this research paper is to produce understanding and recommendations for the service providers in the tourism industry to help them innovate new shared holistic wellness experiences in the Finnish nature for the recognized rising consumers of new luxury. The commissioner of this thesis was the New Luxury Service Sprint Project. The topic was formed by first studying current mega trends, trends, weak signals, and market offerings.
This research aimed to find out consumers’ interest and motivation in attending shared nature experiences and so-called retreats. Retreats in this study are referred as shared holistic wellness experiences in the Finnish nature. This study aimed to learn about preferred holistic activities and workshops as well as about the role of nature and sense of belonging in holistic wellness experiences. In addition, this study aimed to learn about the most preferred multisensory experiences. Further goal was to provide recommendations on how service providers could be helped to design shared holistic wellness experiences in the Finnish nature.
This research used a triangulation method of quantitative study and qualitative study. The consumer survey provided a large amount of data from 100 participants while theme interviews with three experts provided important insights in a deeper level. The key findings of this study revealed that shared experiences in nature have tremendous potential in enhancing wellbeing in a physical, psychological, and spiritual level. The study revealed that there is a great potential for different shared nature experiences focusing on various wellness activities however some obstacles are on the way, such as high competition between service providers.
The study revealed that some of the most desired holistic activities included hiking, sauna & bathing, ice swimming, complete relaxation and enjoying nature as it is, kayaking, yoga, meditation, cooking workshops outdoors, and foraging wild herbs. The role of nutrition was highlighted. Also, active participation and learning new skills are highly valued in holistic wellness experiences. In terms of multisensory experiences, the study found out that the most preferred sensory experiences include the elements of fire, water, and forests.
The purpose of this research paper is to produce understanding and recommendations for the service providers in the tourism industry to help them innovate new shared holistic wellness experiences in the Finnish nature for the recognized rising consumers of new luxury. The commissioner of this thesis was the New Luxury Service Sprint Project. The topic was formed by first studying current mega trends, trends, weak signals, and market offerings.
This research aimed to find out consumers’ interest and motivation in attending shared nature experiences and so-called retreats. Retreats in this study are referred as shared holistic wellness experiences in the Finnish nature. This study aimed to learn about preferred holistic activities and workshops as well as about the role of nature and sense of belonging in holistic wellness experiences. In addition, this study aimed to learn about the most preferred multisensory experiences. Further goal was to provide recommendations on how service providers could be helped to design shared holistic wellness experiences in the Finnish nature.
This research used a triangulation method of quantitative study and qualitative study. The consumer survey provided a large amount of data from 100 participants while theme interviews with three experts provided important insights in a deeper level. The key findings of this study revealed that shared experiences in nature have tremendous potential in enhancing wellbeing in a physical, psychological, and spiritual level. The study revealed that there is a great potential for different shared nature experiences focusing on various wellness activities however some obstacles are on the way, such as high competition between service providers.
The study revealed that some of the most desired holistic activities included hiking, sauna & bathing, ice swimming, complete relaxation and enjoying nature as it is, kayaking, yoga, meditation, cooking workshops outdoors, and foraging wild herbs. The role of nutrition was highlighted. Also, active participation and learning new skills are highly valued in holistic wellness experiences. In terms of multisensory experiences, the study found out that the most preferred sensory experiences include the elements of fire, water, and forests.