Babymoon Tourism: Co-Creating Well-Being for Traveling Mothers

This article aims to provide insight into how babymoon tourism can contribute to well-being by using a multimethod approach, combining autoethnography and netnography. The findings show that mothers-to-be experience well-being derived from co-creation and meaning. Participation in activities and everyday-like events at the destination can lead to happiness and improved quality of life. Self-development, empowerment, interpersonal interactions, and engagement with local culture all inspire well-being. In contrast, destinations' representations of babymoon tourism focus on physical facilities, where culture and co-creation are absent in the realization of well-being. Viewing co-creation of well-being through a cultural interaction lens suggests an untapped potential for tourism businesses and could be a way forward for promoting babymoons. The study makes theoretical and practical contributions. Its original methodological approach, namely an autoethnographic narrative of babymoon tourism, could lower the threshold for conducting autoethnographic studies in current travel research, and encourage further studies of babymoon tourism.

Automated summary

This article explores how babymoon tourism can contribute to well-being through a combination of autoethnography and netnography. The findings show that mothers-to-be experience well-being through co-creation and meaning. Participation in activities and engagement with local culture can enhance happiness and quality of life. However, the current representation of babymoon tourism focuses on physical facilities, neglecting the importance of culture and co-creation in well-being. Viewing co-creation through a cultural interaction lens suggests untapped potential for tourism businesses to promote babymoons.