Navigating Life-Course Transitions Through Tourism: A Dual Pathway Framework of Senior Wellbeing and Resilience

Seniors are particularly susceptible to mental health challenges when navigating life-course transitions, such as retirement or bereavement. Despite this, the potential of tourism to build resilience and enhance the wellbeing of seniors remains underexplored and conceptually underdeveloped. Drawing on positive psychology, this research critically examines how wellbeing derived from tourism contributes to seniors’ resilience against life-course adversities. Implementing a sequential two-phased research design combining biographical interviews with focus groups, guided by autobiographical sketches, this research unveils the compensatory and protective pathways through which each dimension of senior tourists’ wellbeing aids them in navigating life-course transitions. The manuscript proposes a dual pathway framework of senior tourist wellbeing and resilience. Complementing this, the manuscript innovates by presenting tourism-based interventions designed to enhance seniors’ resilience, aligning with the global healthy aging agenda purported by the United Nations. Future research should examine how tourism-based interventions mitigate the adverse impacts of navigating life-course adversities.