The development of a sustainable wellness service marketing strategy in Taiwan based on consumer eye movements and preferences

Developing an image that promotes sustainable consumption is an effective way to support sustainability. Although sustainable tourism is gradually being emphasized, there are still few studies focusing on how to design effective marketing communication strategies that stimulate sustainable consumption behavior on the part of travelers. To fill this research gap, based on a triple bottom line perspective, experience marketing perspective, and cognitive-experiential self-theory, this study is aimed toward an examination of the impact of the types of wellness tourism and related visual cues (including cognitive and affective attributes) on the visual attention and preferences of consumers. This research uses consumers who prefer wellness tourism as the research sample. To achieve better experimental control, 133 participants were recruited to complete the research in a laboratory. The empirical results show that wellness service marketing pictures with a spa in the tourist hotel capture more visual attention and are preferred more by consumers than those with yoga, water aerobics, and spinning. This result means that to attract consumers pursuing wellness, hotels should utilize the visual characteristics of spa images more effectively. Tourist hotels can communicate images of healthy bodies and youthfulness to customers through images of wellness activities such as the use of a spa, stimulating them to check into the hotels and engage in wellness exercise, thereby improving their willingness to pursue wellness in hotels during their journeys.