Can restorative wellness destinations enhance tourists’ sense of meaning in life?

While living ‘a meaningful life’ is central to human pursuits, what tourism experiences foster remains under-researched. Drawing upon attention restoration theory and cognitive–affective personality system theory, this study quantitatively examines how perceived destination restorative qualities (PDRQs) in wellness tourism shape tourists’ sense of meaning in life. A total of 912 on-site questionnaires were collected from domestic tourists engaging in health-focused activities at two popular wellness destinations in China through accidental sampling. Results show that five PDRQ dimensions foster tourists’ sense of meaning in life. Emotional arousal mediates the relationship between four dimensions (excluding physically-away) and meaning in life, while self-reflection mediates the relationship between the four dimensions (excluding mentally-away). The mediating effects were stronger among those tourists with a high internal health locus of control. This research advances the wellness tourism literature by unveiling the meaning-inducing mechanism and offering guidance for designing transformative wellness destinations that promote deeper, more meaningful experiences.