HOW DOES"MARINE TOURISM"ACHIEVE"HEALING"? A GROUNDED THEORY STUDY OF THE HEALING MECHANISM OF MARINE TOURISM

Qiang WANG; Yu XIN; Yu-fen ZHANG; Kai MENG

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HUMAN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2026

HOW DOES"MARINE TOURISM"ACHIEVE"HEALING"? A GROUNDED THEORY STUDY OF THE HEALING MECHANISM OF MARINE TOURISM

Qiang WANG ¹^,² ,
Yu XIN ³ ,
Yu-fen ZHANG ¹^,⁴^,* ,
Kai MENG ⁵

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Abstract

Driven by the "Healthy China" and "Maritime Power" strategies, the healing value of marine tourism has gained attention, but its internal mechanism remains unclear. Based on typical online travelogues and grounded theory, this study explores the healing mechanism of marine tourism. The findings show that marine tourism healing involves five dimensions: healing demand triggering, environmental empowerment, psychological transformation, experience enhancement, and healing benefit internalization. It follows a threestage model of "demand triggering-environmental empowerment-benefit internalization", in which the natural environment, individual psychology, and socio-cultural environment act together. Three core pathways generate healing effects: the "stimulus-response" pathway, the "compensation-transformation" pathway, and the "narrative-connection" pathway. Their spatiotemporal interaction forms the dynamic healing mechanism and provides references for marine tourism product design and destination management.

Key words

marine tourism / healing / grounded theory / process mechanism / pathway

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Qiang WANG , Yu XIN , Yu-fen ZHANG , et al. HOW DOES"MARINE TOURISM"ACHIEVE"HEALING"? A GROUNDED THEORY STUDY OF THE HEALING MECHANISM OF MARINE TOURISM[J]. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. 2026

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