Salute to the sun: an exploration of UK Yoga tourist profiles

Abstract

This paper focuses on exploring yoga tourism as an under researched area where little has been written to date. Yoga tourism is an emergent niche market that can be viewed as a subset of wellness or holistic tourism. Previous research has suggested that it reflects consumers’ desire for self-improvement and concern for society when choosing a holiday destination and involves active participation, sharing common functional characteristics in travel motivations and social values related to improving an individual's quality of life. There is currently, however, a gap in the literature on how the primary motivation for travel affects the choice of destination, type of accommodation, activities and the overall experience of the yoga traveller. This study employed an on-line survey to members of established yoga membership organisations with the aim of filling this inherent gap in the literature, establish an enhanced visitor profile, and explore the motivational factors that encourage yoga practitioners to participate in yoga tourism activities.