Sustainable Urban Development and Fitness-Based Tourism

Wellness tourism is trendy and growing, yet also one of oldest the form of tourism dating back to ancient Romans and Greeks (Smith & Kelly, 2006). In line with Smith and Puczkó (2013), wellness tourism is a subset of health tourism and defined by the body-mind-spirit approach. Tourists participate in wellness and fitness activities with the aim to maintain and improve health and wellbeing (Voigt & Pforr, 2014). Regarding motivation, a distinction can be made between primary and secondary wellness travelers. When wellness is the primary motivation, the availability of specific facilities and services at the destination orientates travel planning. Instead, secondary wellness travelers engage occasionally in wellness activities on holiday while their main purpose of visit is different from wellness. Indeed, practicing physical activities during holiday can be the result of different motivations. Tourists’ attitudes towards sport consumption at the destination is related to sport habits at home (Osti, Cicero, & Moreschini, 2018). Home habits can be maintained, amplified, or reduced on holiday, depending on the characteristics of the tourist, the specific trip and the destination. The availability and attractiveness of the infrastructure play an important role in the participation of physical activities. This current research analyzes the role of a newly requalified urban area in motivating tourists to engage in physical activities. The study setting refers to the mature tourism destination of Rimini, Italy where the seaside road and parking area are converted into a 16 km long waterfront park stretching the entire coastline of the city. The urban requalification project addresses both mitigation and adaptation approaches of the strategic plan of the city and aims to improve the wellbeing of the citizens and tourists alike. In this context, the study investigates the tourists’ use of the waterfront park and analyzes their preferences for hypothetical fitness-based products through a discrete choice experiment. Travel characteristics, motivation, and home habits are further used to profile the preferences of the tourists. The survey data was collected from both domestic and international tourists in 2022 and 2023. While the main motivation to visit the destination was related to having a beach holiday, respondents’ propensity to be physically active varied greatly in the sample. The results reveal the potential for a fitness-based tourism offer that would extend the tourism season for specific segments. Finally, managerial implications for product development and destination management are derived from the discussion of the results.