meditation as a katalyst of sustainability - final

8/17/2019 Meditation as a Katalyst of Sustainability - Final

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Mindfulness and sustainability: Utilizing the tourism context

Abstract

After several decades of sustainability efforts humanity is still on track to worst-case climate scenario. Other lanetary boundaries have also been transgressed. !he symtoms oint to a root cause termed by many as a crisisof ercetion and value system. Our consumtion-oriented world view is unsustainable. "hat can catalyze a

ercetual aradigm shift needed to avoid global socio-ecological collase in the long-run# $esides its manifold beneficial effects tested clinically% mindfulness has been found to be ositively correlated with sustainable behavior. !he article gives a theoretical grounding of mindfulness highlighting some new asects and argues thatthe tourism context serves as an excetionally suitable medium for learning mindfulness techni&ues. 'xandingon earlier oenness to new exerience and (oogle !rends research of the author it is demonstrated that touristshave a markedly raised level of oenness to new exerience and also that there is a strong demand side businesscase for develoing more mindfulness-based tourism roducts both globally and secifically for )ungary. !hestudy rovides further evidence of the short fade-out eriod of ositive vacation effects and shows what tye of destinations and accommodations otential wellness and ecotourists consider best for learning mindfulness.

Keywords: mindfulness% sustainability% tourism% aradigm shift% (oogle!rends1. Introduction

1.1 The ineffectiveness of sustainability efforts and possible reasons

On the *+, ages of )ungarys most comrehensive develoment lan% the ational /eveloment *010 2Mirrortranslation of the original: emzeti 3e4leszt5s *0106% the )ungarian counterarts of the words 7sustainable8%7unsustainable8% 7sustainability8 or their agglutinated forms occur *9 times. ;ince the ublication of ,?* countless conferences% scientific ublications% organizations have been dealingwith issues of sustainability locally% regionally and globally. @n site of the seemingly growing awareness ofsustainability challenges humanity is still on track to worst case 29 reort 2Ce Du5r5 et al.% *0>96. Other lanetary boundaries such as bioshereintegrity% biogeochemical flows% and land-system change have also been transgressed 2;teffen et al.% *0>B6.!here are several other roblem areas whose analysis is beyond the scoe of this article 2e.g. ine&uality ga6$ased on OA ';. shows co* emission figures since >,,* and also the venues of the =Oclimate conferences in the same eriod.

320.000 340.000 360.000 380.000 400.000 420.000

1995; 360.040361.810362.920

365.560367.640

368.850370.400372.420

374.970376.780378.800380.930382.700384.770386.280

388.570390.490392.480

395.240397.220

400.140

NOA ESRL data - globally averaged marine surface annua l mean co2 ppm values and est imates

3igure >. =O conferences and corresonding global co* m figures

@t might seem astonishing why in the face of these well-known signs and serious warnings from the scientificcommunity humanity still chooses to ostone urgent and inevitable decisions. resent mental models and


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ercetion of climate change is one ossible facotor 2;terman% E ;weeney% 2*006. 7=reeing normalcy8 andthe 7false alarm effect8 can also lay a significant role in the hesitation to act 2/iamond% *0>>6. Most eole arenot aware of the fact that hardly noticeable gradual changes 2creeing normalcy6 might add u to a oint wherethe whole system suffers an abrut change termed stateFregime shift 2;cheffer% =arenter% 3oley% 3olke E"alker%*00>% =arenter et al.% *0>>6. !he 7false alarm effect8 originally ortrayed in Aesos fable here means that

eole might think if the ecosystem is still functioning in site of the alarming voices of the recent decades% the

roblem cannot be that big. !hese two reasons seem to be suorted by (oogle !rends data and findings fromliterature. !here has been a steady downward trend in the global oularity of the exressions 7sustainable8%7sustainable develoment8 since *00B% for 7global warming8 since *00% for 7sustainability8 since *0>0 andwith the excetion of a sudden high outlier in *00, for 7climate change8 since *00. "hile over +0 G of touristsare aware and acknowledge that tourism-related aviation contributes to global warming 2(Hssling% )aglund%Iallgren%96% a urelytechnological fix seems unlikely 2olimeny% Mayumi% (iamietro% E Alcott% *00,6. !he strongest reason for hesitation and inaction% however% robably has to do with a deeer roblem inherent in our modern world view.!he worsening socio-ecological crises at its root is essentially a crisis of our ercetion of the world and our value system 2=ara% >,+*6. @t resonates with the final conclusions /iamond draws in his book 2/iamond% *0>>6

and also with the views of several other authors ointing out that the consumtion aradigm of modern societiesis unsustainable 2$oudrillard% >,,+% Martinez-Alier% ascual% Jaccai E Jaccai% *0>0% Urry% *0>0% Jsolnai% *0>>%)arvey% *0>>% *6. ;ince '.3.;chumacher wrote his influential book titled ;mall is beautiful2;chumacher% >,16% alternative economic aroaches considering siritual values a guiding rincile have beengaining momentum. ;till% the big &uestions remain before the aris climate conference exected to be amilestone in the history of mitigation efforts. "hat will ersuade eole in rich countries to give u some of their luxury and comfort and members of develoing countries not to want to eruse the 7American dream8#"hat can catalyze a aradigm shift in our ercetion of the world and value system#

1.2 Mindfulness and its significance

!he resent study argues that mindfulness is a universal and effective instrument to catalyze such a aradigmshift both at the individual and collective level and the tourism context is uni&uely suited for learningmindfulness skills. !he word mindfulness became oular when clinical sychologists first started to test their

effects and theraeutic value 2Iabat-Jinn% >,+*% Iabat-Jinn et al.% >,+B6. ;ince the first article in >,+* thenumber of mindfulness research ublications have been growing exonentially 2$lack% *0>96% a trend similar toco* emission growth deicted in 3igure >. !he word KmindfulnessK was first used as a translation of the aliword KsatiK originally meaning KremembranceK 2/avids >++> in (ethin% *0>>6 and by the early >,00s became awidely acceted term 2/avids >,>0 in (ethin% *0>>6. Using the word mindfulness instead of meditation is

4ustifiable for at least four reasons.

>6 @t is a general word and reresents the universal nature of the techni&ues it involves.*6 @t is the KcoreK or KheartK of $uddhism 2yanaonika% >,?*% anamoli and $odhi in Iabat-Jinn% *0016 and isnot burdened with the religious KbaggageK alien and indigestible for westerners.16 Meditation can mean contemlating% ondering% thinking deely about something% esecially in westernreligious traditions. Mindfulness aims at &uieting the mind comletely.96 !echni&ues such as !M 2!ranscendental Meditation6 are also called meditation% however% there are crucial

differences between them and mindfulness tye techni&ues.=linical sychologists% neurologists% and research scientists of other discilines have tested and examined theeffects of mindfulness meditation techni&ues. Mindfulness was found to have significant ositive effects on

eole with cardiovascular roblems 2arswani% ;harma% E @yengar% *0>16% high blood ressure 2)ughes et al.%*0>16% cancer 2Matchim% *0>06% acute ain 2Jeidan et al.% *0>>6% deression caused by fibriomyalgia 2;ehton etal.% *006% irritable bowel syndrome 2(aylord et al.% *0>>6% attachment anxiety 2eing% OL/onovan% E /avis%*0>96 and several other hysical and sychological conditions. @t imroves immune function 2/avidson et al.%*0016 and ositively alters brain structure 2)Hlzel et al.% *0>>6. Mindfulness has been tested in schools onchildren% teachers and arents 2"ei4er-$ergsma% 3ormsma% $ruin% E $Hgels% *0>*6% in the worklace onemloyees 216 and on decision makers 23iol E OL=onnor% *0016. Mindfulness has a

rovably ositive effect on creativity 2)oran *00,% >% =olzato% Ozturk% E )ommel% *0>*6 whichis a rere&uisite of any innovative rocess 2Amiable% >,,6. Mindfulness has been found to be positively

correlated with sustainable behavior 2acob% ovic% E $rinkerhoff% *00+% Amel% Manning% E ;cott% *00,6.Through raising awareness, and reducing the incidences of reacting habitually and acting on "auto-pilot", it can

reduce exposedness to advertising, escalating consumption and material gain. 2


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Iasser% *00B6. ersuaded by the accumulating scientific evidence% in *0>9 the $ritish arliament launched an all arty arliamentary grou to examine how mindfulness could be used in health-care% education and criminal 4ustice. @t is becoming mainstream in the cororate world. ;ome of the comanies utilizing mindfulness includeMonsanto% @ntel% (oogle% Adobe ;ystems% (oldman ;achs (rou% /eutsche $ank% Ale% rocter% E (amble.3igure *. ;hows the ositive effects of mindfulness tye meditation that can easily be translated into financiallyaccountable benefits and in turn into a ossibly higher level of sustainability. !he effects marked in light blue are

suorted by eer-reviewed literature% while the last items in the effect chains are common sense assumtions.!his reresentation is incomlete and does not show interconnectedness of the effects for the sake of an easier overview.

3igure *. $enefits of mindfulness and their ossible ositive effects on sustainability

Many attemts have been made to define the mindfulness construct 2$rown E >6 and also to define the term itself 2Iabat-Jinn% *001% $isho et al.% *0096. Most definitions share some characteristics such as: aying attention to

anything that arises outside and inside% aying attention non-4udgmentally% having an attitude of accetance% being resent-centered. "ith few excetions the definitions seem to miss a very imortant oint% Nwitnessing82Osho% >,++6 which is basically the reinforcement of the ancient vedic rincile of Kneti netiK 2neither this% nor that6 2)ume% >,*>6. @n $uddhism it is the rincile of non-attachment 2Ciu% >,,1% "allace% *00B6. !heir racticalmeaning is that while being mindful one should not become identified with anything. on-attachment is centralto the $M model of mindfulness roosed by (rabovac et al. and as ointed out by them robably the mostimortant benefit of mindfulness from a clinical oint of view as well 2(rabovac% Cau% E "illett% *0>>6."itnessing and non-attachment is mentioned as the focal oint of meditation by contemorary masters like !olleor Moo4i 2!olle% *00B% Moo4i in @sired times *0>*6. Another often neglected asect of mindfulness isenlightenment which is the ultimate goal of insight mindfulness ractices 2$rown E 'ngler >,+0% Mikulas%*0>>6. !he mainly sychiatric literature on mindfulness refers to mindfulness as a form of intervention andusually stos at a oint of increased sychological wellbeing.


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3igure 1. Mechanism and aradoxical nature of mindfulness

3igure 1 . attemts to show the mechanism of mindfulness incororating remembrance 2sati6% the Kletting goKattitude 2neti neti% non-attachment% witnessing6% enlightenment as the final ste and also the aradoxical nature of mindfulness. ;umming u what was reviously said a new definition of mindfulness could be the following:

emembering to stay witnessing in the present moment non-!udgmentally, letting anything inside or outside arise

and disappear with the ultimate purpose of attaining enlightenment . @t should be underlined that besides the basic breathing 2anaanasati6 and insight meditation techni&ue 2iassana6 used in mindfulness% this word is anumbrella term and might include techni&ues such as yoga meditations% zen% taoist meditations% tai chi etc.Ac&uiring new skills 2)erold% /avis% 3edor% E arsons% *00*6 esecially mindfulness skills re&uires an oenattitude 2ath )ahn% >,,,% Osho% *00*% !olle% *00B% Moo4i *0>*6. !he resent study aims to examine howoenness to new exerience changes in tourists. Although transformational ower of tourism has been discussed

in the literature 2Cean% *00,6% research into how oenness to new exerience 2hereafter O!'6 changes intourists is soradic 2;chneider E ogt% *0>*% ani% *0>96. !he transformative nature of certain tourism contextsand a ossibly elevated level of oenness of tourists seem to be a highly synergic combination for learningmindfulness skills.

1. Tourism and sustainability

!he unsustainable nature of international mass tourism and the need for ossible degrowth of the industry has been reflected uon by several authors 2)all% *00,% Aall% *0>9% )ollenhorst% )ouge-Mackenzie E Ostergren%*0>96. /ue to mainly the exonentially increasing number of long-haul tris% tourismLs share of ()( emissionin *00B was estimated to be between B-+ G 2U"!O-U'-"MO% *00+6. !aking into account the growth ininternational arrivals between *00B-*0>B tourism-related emission might be well over >0 G of global emissionand according to some forecasts it can reach as much as 90 G by *0B0 2/ubois E =eron% *00?6. !echnologicalinnovation resulting in less fuel consumtion er seat kilometer might reduce aviation-related ()( emission by

an estimated *B G by *0B0 2eeters% (Hssling E $ecken% *00?6% which is far from sufficient considering theurgency of the climate roblem.

1.# Tourism and wellbeing

Although leisure travel has been found to have a ositive effect on life satisfaction and hainess in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies 2uczkP E ;mith *00>% (ilbert E Abdullah% *009% awi4n% Mi&uelle%Marchand% eenhoven% E ingerhoets% *0>0% MichalkP% Iiss% IovQcs% E ;ulyok% *00,% eenhoven% *0>>6 as

awi4n oints out in his study K ;till% it is not established that this correlation is due to an effect of holiday trison hainess or an effect of hainess on holiday-taking.K 2awi4n% *0>*: 16. 'ven if a small ositivecorrelation has been confirmed% vacations do not have a lasting effect on wellbeing. !he fade-out eriod can be afew days 2/e $loom% 96 and *-9 weeks in other studies 2awi4n% Mi&uelle% Marchand%eenhoven% E ingerhoets% *0>0% IRhnel E ;onnentag% *0>>6. !he resent aer gives new emirical evidenceof the fast fade-out of both ositive hysical and sychological effects of holidays. @n one of the subrograms of the comrehensive government strategy 2ew ;zechenyi lan6 titled =uring )ungary )ealth @ndustrial rogram2Mirror translation of (yPgyStP MagyarorszQg 'g5szs5giari rogram6 health oriented domestic tourism is


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exected to be vital in imroving the health of the )ungarian oulation. =onsidering the average number andlength of holidays taken by )ungarians 2'urostat% *0>96 and the very short fade-out eriod of vacations% asignificant imrovement in life satisfaction and health through tourism cannot reasonably be exected. !hisstatement seems to be suorted by the fact that while domestic guest nights had doubled since >,,> in )ungary%many of the O'=/ health indicators of stress-related illnesses do not show any imrovement. @n *000 out of *?O'=/ countries )ungary ranked *. 3or cardiovascular mortality and *1. for self-reorted health status. @n *0>>

it was still ranked *. for cardiovascular mortality and 10. for self-reorted health status out of 11 countries. 3or cancer mortality it had retained its >. lace during the >0 year eriod 2O'=/% *001% *0>16.

1.$ Mindfulness in tourism

Many of the mindfulness techni&ues have been art of the service ortfolios of sa% wellness and ecotourismservice roviders around the world for several years 2Cehto% $rown% =hen% E Morrison *00?% oigt% $rown E)owat% *0>>6. According to ;a3inderLs *0>9 trend reort mindfulness was labeled KTber !rendK% that is thestrongest trend in the sa and wellness industry. @n *0>B the number one trend reorted by ;a3inder wasK3orest bathingK which also includes mindfulness tye ractices. ersonal and siritual growth% mind-body

balance% alternative theraies 2("@% *0>16% inner wellness 2=$@% *0>96 have been an integral and growinglysignificant art of the wellness aradigm. @n site of these global trends% out of the *1>* commercialaccommodation service roviders 2*0>B figure by I;)% the =entral ;tatistical Office of )unagry6 in )ungary%aroximately >+ offer some tye of mindfulness service as art of their wellness ortfolio. !he resent aer makes a reinforcing contribution to the reviously cited demand side trends by analyzing (oogle !rends dataabout 7mindfulness8.

1.% &ormulation of research 'uestions

$ased on what has been discussed so far and extending on revious research of the author 2Cengyel% *0>B6 theemirical research of the resent study attemts to find answers to the following research &uestions:

>6 /o tourists 2because of being a tourist6 become significantly more oen to new exerience#*6 Are otential )ungarian wellness and ecotourists interested in trying mindfulness services#16 "hich tye of tourism locations or establishments are best for learning mindfulness skills#96 "hat are the trends for search terms connected with mindfulness globally#B6 "hat are the trends for search terms connected with mindfulness in the case of ma4or tourist sending countriesof )ungary#

?6 "hat is the average fade-out eriod of ositive hysical and sychological effects of vacations#2. Method

!he rimary research was based on two illars. (oogle !rends data was analyzed to find answer for research&uestions 9 and B% while &uestions >% *% 1% ? were dealt with through using online surveys. $oth aroachesextend on and discuss in detail earlier research of the author carried out in March *0>B and summarized brieflyin a conference roceedings of an international management conference titled @=OM organized by ;zent @stvQnUniversity% )ungary 2Cengyel% *0>B6. !his aer discusses in detail those arts of the earlier research whichhave either not been reflected uon at all in the roceedings aer or were resented without much detail. !hesamle surveyed in March *0>B will be referred to as ;> while the samle surveyed in une *0>B% ;*. !here arethree reasons why only otential )ungarian wellness and ecotourists were targeted with the surveys. !he firstconcerns the availability of a large enough samle of otential wellness and ecotourists. !he second is connectedto the ressing challenge osed by an extremely unhealthy )ungarian oulation. !hirdly% as sustainability issues

concerning aviation-based international tourism become more and more ressing% domestic tourism will robably gain new significance 2eeters E /ubois% *0>06. "ithin the country several shorter tris are affordablefor a much broader ortion of the oulation with significantly lower emission levels and higher level of ositivewellbeing effects 2awi4n% *0>*6.

2.1 (nline surveys

2.1.1 )articipants

!aking into account that the most likely consumer of mindfulness related tourism services in )ungary is thewellness or ecotourist% the main criterion in choosing the articiants of the survey was the strong similarity

between the samlesL demograhic characteristics and that of the tyical wellness tourist 2Cehto% $rown% =hen%E Morrison *00?% Mak% "ong E =hang% *00,% oigt% $rown% E )owat% *0>>6 or ecotourist 2(alley E =lifton%*009% "earing E eil% *00,% do ao% Alves% E unes% *0>*6 described in the literature. !able >. shows

demograhic characteristics of ;>% ;* and that of the tyical wellness and ecotourist.


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!able >. /emograhic characteristics of the research samles and 7tyicals8 in literature

Demogr. variables Gender Age Education Income

S12nV,,,6 female V +1 G W 10 V ++ G $AFMAFh/ V + G W average V >G

S2 2nVB9+6 female V ?+ G W 10 V +* G $AFMAFh/ V + G W average V B0 G

y!ical wellness

tourist in literature

ma4ority female above 10 =ollege andFor universitydegree

above average

y!ical ecotourist

in literature

ma4ority female above 10 =ollege andFor universitydegree

above average

=onsidering the four chosen demograhic variables 2gender% age% education% income6 the demograhic rofile ofwellness tourists and ecotourists is basically the same.

2.1.2 *ampling procedure

As it would have been unfeasible to directly survey a big enough samle of visitors at wellness establishments% articiants with demograhic characteristics matching the demograhic rofile of tyical wellness or ecotourists described by the literature were targeted. ;urveys for both ;> and ;* were online surveys conductedthrough the Online headmasters of nursery% rimary and secondary schools were asked to

articiate. !here are three reasons why they were chosen as one of the target oulations. 3irstly% their demograhic rofile was suosed to be similar to the rofiles of tyical wellness or eco tourists. ;econdly% adatabase containing the contact information of all nursery% rimary and secondary school leaders in )ungary was

ublicly accessible. !hirdly% schools can lay a significant role in changing childrenLs attitude towards theenvironment 2;tone E =enter for 'coliteracy% *00,% $arr% =ross E /unbar% *0>9%6 and also in raising their levelof mindfulness 2!adlock-Marlo% *0>>6. Altogether ?*>+ e-mails with a link to the online survey were sent out inMarch *0>B to all the leaders of nursery% rimary and secondary school leaders. Until une >st *0>B >9+1&uestionnaires were sent back% ,,, fully comleted% which means a resonse rate of >?%> G. At a confidencelevel of ,,G and error level of 1%G ;> is reresentative of the countrys rimary and secondary school leaders.;* was gathered in une *0>B using the snowball method. @nitially +, individuals% whose demograhic rofilewas 2gender% age% education% income6 similar to the tyical wellness and ecotourist% were sent the link of thesame &uestionnaire as in the case of ;> using the online research latform of ;zent @stvQn University. !ogether with the link to the site of the &uestionnaire they also received a short message asking them to ass the link on to

eole who they were sure to ossess demograhic features 2gender% age% education% income6 similar to theirs.Out of the >091 &uestionnaires sent back until uly > *0>B% B9+ were fully comleted ones.

2.1. Measures

$oth ;> and ;* received the same &uestionnaire containing 90 &uestions in the following areas: 'ffects of holidays and travelling habits. ;ustainable attitude and behavior. Mindfulness knowledge% exerience and level./emograhic features. articiants were informed that the &uestionnaire was anonymous and art of the authorLsh/ research at ;zent @stvQn University. 00 G slide bar. A ranking order &uestion was used to find outwhat tyes of tourism locations they considered best for learning mindfulness. !he five otions to be rankedwere K=hurchK% K"ellness locationK 2e.g. a meditation room of a wellness hotel or sa6% Kature locationK 2e.g.forest% river shore6% Killage tourism locationK 2e.g. garden or room of a cottage6% KUrban locationK 2e.g. a &uiet

s&uare6. 3inally% the fade out eriods of ositive hysical and sychological effects of a vacation were testedsearately with a tye box where the resondents entered the number of days the ositive effect was felt after


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returning home. /erived datasets were created from ;> and ;* by keeing cases which had demograhic roerties 2gender% age% education% income6 identical to what was secified for the tyical wellness andecotourist. !he new datasets 2subsamles6 are marked as ;>w and ;*w and account for cases 2 G6 and10> cases 2BBG6 of the original datasets resectively.

2.2 +oogle Trends data analysis

(oogle !rends data have been roved to be a valuable source for statistical analysis 2=arneiro E Mylonakis %*00,% Cui% Metaxas% E Mustafara4% *0>>% =hoi E arian% *0>*% reis% Moat E ;tanley% *0>16. !o find answers toresearch &uestions 9 and B% (oogle !rends time series data in csv format was downloaded for search terms likelyto be used when one is interested in mindfulness. ;earch terms to be tested were selected using hints for tosearches by (oogle !rends% keywords suggestions by the (oogle Addwords Ieywords !ool and based on ownsearch exerience. + search terms related to mindfulness were tested both for the internet and Xou !ube. luralsand reordered versions of search terms were also tested where alicable% but only variations yielding differentsearch intensity trends are dislayed searately. 3or ma4or tourist sending countries of )ungary only the searchintensity of the term Nmindfulness8 was examined. - o% not at alY 1 - Xes% a bitY B - Xes% a lot.

1 2 3 4 5

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

1.0 1.4

7.9

53.4

36.3

1.0 2.0 3.04.0 5.0

S1w

1 2 3 4 5

.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

.4 .4

11.2

54.4

33.6

1.0 2.0 3.04.0 5.0

S2w

3igure 9. Oenness to new exerience changes in otential wellness and ecotourists

An affirmative answer can be given to research &uestion >. ,%? G of resondents in ;>w and ,,%*G in ;*wthink that they become more oen to new exerience while being tourists. Out of these% +,% G 2;>w6 and ++ G2;*w6 felt that they become markedly more oen to new exerience while being on vacation. !he mean values

were 9%*1 2;>w6 and 9%*0 2;*w6. !o decide whether arametric methods were alicable Cevenes test for homogeneity of variance and ;hairo-"ilk test for normality was erformed on the two subsamles of ordinallevel data. !he ;hairo-"ilk test was significant at V0%000 for both ;>w and ;*w% conse&uently neither can beconsidered normally distributed. !he Cevenes test resulted in 3V 0%*B and V0%1,B% which indicates e&ualvariance. As arametric methods like t-test or AOA assume both normality and homogeneity of variance% theMann-"hitney U-test was used to test whether there is a significant difference between ;>w and ;*w. !heresults% JV -0%++B% V0%1? and the mean ranks B**%B 2;>w6 and B0B%+ 2;*w6 suggest that there is nostatistically significant difference between the two grous in terms of O!'. @n order to test correlation betweenO!'% demograhic variables 2age% education% income6% length of ositive hysical and sychological effectsand the willingness to try mindfulness services in the destination Iendalls tau-b test was run for the airs of variables. O!' and willingness to try mindfulness services showed very week correlation b V 0.0++% p V 0.00*in ;>w% in ;*w the test was not significant 2V0%>B6. O!' also showed weak ositive correlation with the

fade-out of ositive hysical 2 b V 0.0?B% p V 0.016 and sychological 2 b V 0.0?9% p V 0.01*6 in ;>w while in;*w the tests were not significant 2W0%0B6. @n the case of the three demograhic variables with the excetion of


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O!'-@ncome in ;*w 2 b V -0.>,% p V 0.0096 all tests were below significance level 2W0%0B6 in bothsubsamles 2;>w%;*w6. @t is imortant to emhasize that although the two subsamles were drawn from rather different original samles 2;> Z nationwide reresentative samle of rimary and secondary school leaders% ;* Z geograhically more restricted snowball samle6 they both exhibited the same significantly elevated level of O!' as comared to everyday life. !o ut these O!' values in ersective in ;chneider and ogts study onhard and soft adventure tourists 2;chneider E ogt% *0>*6 the mean values of oenness to exerience measured

on a ,-oint scale were ?%,* 2)A!6 and ?%1+ 2;A!6. !ransforming the mean values of ;>w and ;*w to thee&uivalent of a ,-oint scale% the O!' values are %?> and %B?. @t has to be underlined that while ;hneider andogt measured what hard and soft adventure tourists thought about their oenness to exerience in everyday life%the resent study measured how O!' is changed in tourist as comared to everyday life. @n anis study 2ani%*0>96 mean oenness is 1%*09 measured on a B-oint scale. @n that study domestic tourists on vacation wereasked% but no reference is made whether the actual &uestion concerned oenness on vacation or in everyday life.!here are imortant ractical imlications of these markedly high O!' levels in otential wellness andecotourists. @n a demand-driven tourism market% maing ersonality traits and behavior of otential customersis extremely imortant because it can hel accommodation and destination managers% tour oerators and siteowners to develo roducts 2e.g. mindfulness tye services6 suited to the sychological characteristics of thetarget audience. Oenness to exerience is ositively correlated with both ro-environmental behavior 2Markowitz% (oldberg% Ashton% E Cee% *0>*6 and mindfulness 2(iluk% *00,% van den )urk et al.% *0>>6% thus the

ractice of mindfulness can hel move the ersonality in a more environmental friendly direction..1.2 illingness to try mindfulness based services in destination

!o test how likely otential wellness and ecotourists were to try mindfulness based services in the destinationthey were staying% a slide bar with ercentage oints from 0->00 was used. !he mean likelihood values were?1%1 G 2;>w6 and ?1%B+G 2;*w6% almost the same for the two subsamles. !he ;hairo-"ilk test wassignificant at V0%000 for both ;>w and ;*w% therefore the Mann-"hitney U-test was used to test whether thereis a significant difference between ;>w and ;*w in terms of willingness to try mindfulness services in thedestination. Mean ranks were 9+*%1 2;>w6 and 9,>%> 2;*w6% JV-0%900% V0%?+,% which means that thelikelihood of trying mindfulness roducts is not different in the two subsamles. !he above ercentage valuesare significantly high to be factored in when considering develoment of mindfulness tye services for thedestination or accommodation. !hey might% however% seem a bit low comared to the high levels of O!'discussed in the revious subchater. A ossible exlanation is the relatively low ublic awareness of

mindfulness. (oogle !rends does not rovide analyzable data for 7mindfulness8 for )ungary% whereas7meditQciP8 2)ungarian for 7meditation86 has had a rising oularity since *00,. !his low ublic awarenessmight in art be due to the fact that it is imossible to find a eer-reviewed article about mindfulness written by)ungarian researchers either in )ungarian or 'nglish on (oogle. $y using effective romotional tools%emhasizing the accumulated scientific evidence on and roven benefits of mindfulness% these likelihood figuresmight be considerably raised.

.1. aning tourism locations for suitability of learning mindfulness

o research has so far been carried out into what tourism locations are best for mindfulness. !he results areshown in 3igure B. $y visual insection it seems obvious that ranking atterns are very similar in the twosubsamles 2;>w%;*w6.

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&igure $. anings of tourism locations 1.-$. for suitability of learning mindfulness


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w6% +*%*G 2;*w6% while Urban tourism locations were mostly ranked last% ?9%*G 2;>w6 B+%,G 2;*w6. 99%>Gof ;>w and 9?%BG of ;*w thought =ottage 2village6 tourism locations are the second best for learningmindfulness. "ellness tourism locations were ranked >. by only ?G 2;>w6 and >*G 2;*w6 and ranked *. by>+%>G 2;>w6 and *0%BG 2;*w6. =hurch locations were ranked >. by ,%>G and *. by *0%*G in ;>w which arehigher than first and second rank ercentages for "ellness locations in the same subsamle. @n ;*w only *%1G

ranked =hurch locations in the first lace and >9%1G in the second. As none of the rank categories in the twosubsamles were normally distributed 2;hairo-"ilk test% V0%0006 they were comared by Mann-"hitney U-test to see if there was a significant difference in rank choices. 3or ranking grou >. 2items ranked first6 JV-0%1*?% V0%9B% for grou *. JV->%B>>% V0%>1>% for grou 1. JV-0%9BB% V0%?9,% fro grou 9. JV-0%*9,%

V0%+01% for grou B. JV-*%0+,% V0%01. 'xcet for ranking grou B there is no significant difference between;>w and ;*w in terms of how articiants ranked the B different tourism locations for suitability of learningmindfulness. $oth ecotourism and village tourism are rioritized forms of tourism in the ational !ourism/eveloment =oncet *0>9-*0*9. Also% these forms considered sustainable otions in tourism literature

rovided that certain recautions are taken by host communities 2IrRger% *00B% 3ons% 3ierro% E ati[o% *0>>%;alazar% *0>*6. !his favorable constellation of government intentions% demand side references and sustainabletourism forms should be seriously considered by decision makers involved in tourism roduct develoment.

.1.# &ade-out period of positive physical and psychological effects

!he mean fade-out for ositive hysical effects for ;>w is >>%* days while the mean fade-out value for ositive sychological effects is *9%* days. @n the case of ;*w the mean values for the same variables are +%1 days and>+%? days resectively. !he ;hairo-"ilk test was significant at V0%000 for both ;>w and ;*w for both ositive

hysical and sychological effects data% conse&uently the Mann-"hitney U-test was used. !he results% JV-1%B>0% V0%000 2ositive hysical effects6 and JV-9%***% V0%000 2ositive sychological effects6 mean that there isstatistically significant difference between the two subsamles 2;>w%;*w6 in terms of the length of ositive

hysical and sychological effects of a vacation. @n site of the statistical difference between the twosubsamles% the mean fade-out values suort earlier literature on fade-out of ositive vacation effects 2awi4n%Mi&uelle% Marchand% eenhoven% E ingerhoets% *0>0% IRhnel E ;onnentag% *0>>% /e $loom% 1%6 and raise serious doubts about how much traditional tourism roducts in general and esecially in)ungary can actually contribute to imroving hysical and sychological health of the oulation. Althoughhainess 2sub4ective wellbeing6 is ositively correlated with good health 2eenhoven% *00% $oehm E

Iubzansky% *0>*% ;abatini% *0>96% because of the very short fade-out eriod tourisms effect is very limited% if any at al.

.2 +oogle Trends

@n an earlier research of the author search trends for >>0 search terms related to 7meditation8 were analyzed based on (oogle !rends data 2Cengyel% *0>B6. ,9 G of meditation-related terms for the internet and ?1G for Xou!ube have had continuously rising search intensity at least for the last three years. !he word 7meditation8 2incountries own language6 has also had an uward search intensity trend on the internet in the case of ma4or tourist sending countries of )ungary for the last few years 2(ermany *0>0% Austria *0>*% UI *0>0% *% @taly *0>1% U;A *0>>6. 3or the resent study the search intensity changes of + search terms containingthe words 7mindful8 or 7mindfulness8 were examined for (oogle and Xou!ube. Out of the + terms for thefollowing > (oogle !rends yielded no sufficient data either for (oogle or Xou!ube to be analyzed:

learn mindfulness, mindful office, mindful way of life, mindfulness advice, mindfulness blood pressure,mindfulness concentration, mindfulness corporate, mindfulness everybody, mindfulness focus, mindfulness

method, mindfulness steps, mindfulness techni'ue, mindfulness tips, mindfulness tourism, mindfulness wellness,

mindfulness spa, office mindfulness

(oogle !rends rovided analyzable data for the following ?> terms:

benefits mindfulness, do mindfulness, guided mindfulness meditation, how mindfulness, meditation mindfulness,

mindful life, mindful living, mindful therapy, mindful way, mindful wor, mindfulness, mindfulness and anxiety,

mindfulness and depression, mindfulness and meditation, mindfulness and stress, mindfulness anxiety,

mindfulness based cognitive therapy, mindfulness based stress reduction, mindfulness based therapy,

mindfulness benefits, mindfulness boo, mindfulness boos, mindfulness business, mindfulness center,

mindfulness children, mindfulness cognitive therapy, mindfulness course, mindfulness depression, mindfulness

exercise, mindfulness for anxiety, mindfulness for depression, mindfulness group, mindfulness groups,

mindfulness guide, mindfulness guided, mindfulness health, mindfulness help, mindfulness how to, mindfulness !on abat /inn, mindfulness abat, mindfulness abat /inn, mindfulness meditation, mindfulness music,

mindfulness online, mindfulness practice, mindfulness school, mindfulness stress, mindfulness stress reduction,


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mindfulness teacher, mindfulness techni'ues, mindfulness therapy, mindfulness training, mindfulness video,

mindfulness wor, mindfulness yoga, mindfulness you, online mindfulness, practice mindfulness, what is

mindfulness, what mindfulness, why mindfulness

Out of the above ?> terms% in Xou!ube searches only 1 2mindfulness% mindfulness meditation% guidedmindfulness meditation6 yielded analyzable data. As for (oogle searches all %1 013 examined search termshave had a steady upward search intensity trend for at least the last two years. 42 0$ items3 of the sample has

had a rising trend for at least years, and $5 0$ items3 for at least the last # years . /ue to restrictionsconcerning the length of this aer 3igure ?. shows trends only for 7mindfulness8 on (oogle and Xou!ube inrecent years.

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Normalised wee#ly searc$ intensity data since 2%%&

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Normalised wee#ly searc$ intensity data since 2%1%

3igure ?. ->00 scale based on (oogle !rends data

3or both (oogle and Xou!ube search data on 7mindfulness8 exonential regression yielded the best fit line. @tshould be noted that oularity of the search terms 7meditation8 and 7yoga8 have also been rising exonentially

since *0>0. !able *. shows how oularity of the search term 7mindfulness8 have been changing in the last fewyears in the six ma4or tourist sending countries of )ungary in (oogle and Xou!ube. (uest night ercentages of each country are also dislayed.

!able *. oularity of 7mindfulness8 in ma4or tourist sending countries of )ungary in recent years.

ote. nsd V no sufficient data

;imilarly to the term 7meditation8 2Cengyel% *0>B6 oularity of the search term 7mindfulness8 has beengrowing in all of the tourist sending countries for which sufficient data was available in (oogle !rends.

!here are several limitations that restrict the generalisability of the results. Although the combined samles arerelatively big 2;>\;*V>B9% ;>w\;*wV>0+6 and one of the samles 2;>6 is reresentative of thesuboulation% both samles 2;>%;*6 are samles of convenience and thus do not give a statisticallycomrehensive reresentation of )ungarys otential wellness and ecotourists. Also% ;> is a samle that iscomletely homogeneous in terms of the rofession of the articiants. )owever% this concern is somewhatdownlayed by the fact that ;>w and ;*w demonstrated very similar statistical roerties for all the examinedvariables. @t suorts the initial assumtion that the chosen 9 demograhic variables largely determine attitudesand certain ersonality traits of otential wellness and ecotourists. !his research was exloratory in the sense that

none of the research &uestions it attemted to answer have been dealt with so far by eer-reviewed literature in)ungary. 3uture research might extend to maing O!' changes% tourism location references for mindfulness

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night %

Germ.

17%

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7%

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6%

Russ.

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instruction% willingness to try mindfulness roducts for actual domestic and incoming wellness and ecotourists.!he measure could be largely imroved by using robability samling methods that ensure broader generalisability and can either suort or contradict the resent research findings. 3ade-out research can also betaken further% however% it is an area that have been researched extensively and the results of the resent researchare in harmony with earlier findings.

$. %onclusion

!he resent study lined u emirical evidence to rove that because of the significantly raised level of oennessto new exerience 2O!'6 in tourists the tourism context% esecially nature based and village tourism locationsseem to be ideal for learning mindfulness while on vacation. Although the samles in the emirical researchcovered only otential )ungarian wellness and ecotourists% evidence obtained from (oogle !rends analyses formindfulness clearly demonstrated that there is a strong and rising interest in mindfulness both globally and forma4or tourist sending countries of )ungary. @t rovides a business case for develoing and launchingmindfulness tye tourism roducts for incoming tourists as well. 'xtending tourisms role in oularizing andteaching mindfulness should% however% be riority in develoing mindfulness roducts for domestic tourists iftourism is to genuinely contribute to imroving hysical and sychological wellbeing of the extremely unhealthy)ungarian oulation. According to Matrix a study funded by the )ealth rogrammed of the 'uroean Union%the estimated cost of work-related deression amounts to ?*0 billion 'uros in the 'U* annually 2Matrix% *0>16%an amount six times bigger that the )ungarian (/ in *0>1. As there is massive clinical evidence for theeffectiveness of mindfulness in reducing stress levels% olitical decision makers should seriously consider the

ossibility of roviding government suort to tourism service roviders who are willing to offer mindfulnessservices to tourists. As mindfulness has ositive effects on sustainable behavior 2acob% ovic% E $rinkerhoff%*00+% Amel% Manning% E ;cott% *00,% 2>6% >9-*B.htt:FFdx.doi.orgF>0.>0+,Feco.*00+.000B.

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