Exploring the dynamics of well-being in tourism: A systems thinking approach

Abstract

This study aims to develop a systems-based understanding of how tourism activities influence the well-being of tourists, workers, and residents in high-density tourism destinations affected by sustained visitation pressure. Drawing on Systems Thinking and System Dynamics, a qualitative-conceptual research design was employed to construct a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) grounded in a structured synthesis of tourism well-being literature. The resulting dynamic hypothesis integrates previously fragmented perspectives by modeling the reciprocal interactions among key stakeholder groups within a single tourism well-being system. The analysis identifies four interconnected feedback structures: a balancing loop associated with tourists' temporary restoration of life satisfaction, a reinforcing loop linking worker dissatisfaction to declining service quality, a balancing loop connecting overtourism to reductions in residents’ quality of life, and an integrative loop that captures the systemic trade-offs between destination competitiveness, overtourism, and service quality. Together, these feedback mechanisms suggest that tourism systems may progressively generate suboptimal well-being conditions when destination growth exceeds social, organizational, and environmental capacities. The study contributes to tourism well-being research by moving beyond static and actor-specific approaches toward a dynamic representation of systemic interdependencies. As a theory-building contribution, the proposed CLD provides a transparent dynamic hypothesis and a conceptual foundation for future Stock-and-Flow simulation models, sensitivity analyses, and evidence-informed destination management strategies.