A multi-focal model of Chinese tourists' well-being

Despite the significant rise in research interest exploring the psychological benefits of tourism experiences, current concepts of well-being in tourism are largely shaped by Western perspectives. A new model, titled the multi-focal model of Chinese tourists' psychological well-being (Fig. 1), extends the Confucian psychological well-being perspective from one- dimensional to two-dimensional by acknowledging the influences of individualism and globalization toward modern Chinese tourists (Wong et al., 2024). It represents efforts toward revealing the pivotal dimensions of psychological well-being concerning tourism activities from a non-Western lens. As Chinese tourists are the largest outbound market in the world (Chen et al., 2023), this framework provides an alternative perspective to analyse their motivations and intentions in the tourism context. It extends the traditional one-dimensional Confucian perspective of well-being to include both eudaimonic and hedonic aspects, blending traditional and modern lenses. The model categorizes the Confucian dimensions identified from the literature review into two main groups: The traditional lens and the modern lens. The traditional lens contains the dimensions related to the Confucian virtues and collectivism that guide tourists to a virtuous life. The modern lens includes dimensions unrelated to Confucian teachings, influenced by individualism, globalization, mass media and social media (Hsu and Huang, 2016). An empirical study will be conducted to validate the multi-focal model and further explore the key factors contributing to Chinese tourists' psychological well-being, offering new insights into how traditional and modern influences shape their tourism experiences.