Well-being in digital-free tourism: A mixed-methods rhythmanalysis

Cai, Wenjie, McKenna, Brad ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2219-7508, Li, Shanshi, Cohen, Scott, Waizenegger, Lena and Riedl, René (2026) Well-being in digital-free tourism: A mixed-methods rhythmanalysis. Annals of Tourism Research, 121. ISSN 0160-7383

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Abstract

Tourism research has largely treated well-being as a motivation or outcome, neglecting how it unfolds in-situ and relying on self-report data. Through a mixed-methods rhythmanalysis, this study examines how well-being emerges and evolves in digital-free tourism. Following 23 participants through three-night digital-free cabin stays, we integrate electrodermal activity, interviews, and diaries to capture embodied experiences of disconnection. Participants experienced rhythmic re-attunement from linear, digital temporalities towards cyclical, embodied rhythms aligned with nature and interpersonal connection. Physiological data showed varied responses to disconnection and fewer detected skin conductance responses post-trip, supporting qualitative accounts of calm and rhythmic re-attunement. Through attunement, plenitude, stillness, and reflexivity, we reconceptualise well-being as a dynamic rhythmic process shaped through embodied experiences, environmental cues, and relational synchrony.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data availability: Data will be made available on request.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	digital-free tourism,well-being,rhythmanalysis,processual,mixed methods,electrodermal activity,4*,das in place,data availability data will be made available on request.,2026 ,/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/REFrank/4_
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Innovation, Technology and Operations Management
Related URLs:	https://www.scopus.com/pages/publication...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	13 Oct 2026 10:23
Last Modified:	01 Nov 2026 04:01
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/104766
DOI:	10.1016/j.annals.2026.104307

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