ReviewArticle
ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiterature
Review–WithAssessmentofPotentialforSlovenia
DarijaCvikl
VocationalCollege forHospitality,WellnessandTourism,Slovenia
darija.cvikl@vgs-bled.si
InadditiontothefactthatinSloveniawenurturesustainabledevelopmentandare
committedtoenforcingtheprinciplesofendogenouspolicy,wearealsoincreasingly
strivingforinnovativedevelopmentsolutions.Thisopensupnewopportunitiesfor
the development of forest well-being tourism and forest-therapy tourism. The re-
searchproblemreferstothegrowingtouristuseofsocio-culturalforestvaluesfor
therapeutictourismpurposesontheonehandandaninsufficientamountoflitera-
tureontheother.Theaimofthepaperistopresentaliteraturereviewthatdefinesthe
beneficialeffectsoftheforestonhumans,andalsotoconnectthesefindingswitha
tourismpracticeactivity.Wehighlightedthepotentialandimportanceofforestther-
apytourismandforestwell-beingtourism.Basedonthe29relevantpapersfromthe
Scopusdatabaseandstudiedexamplesofgoodpractices,wegaveanassessmentof
thepotentialforthedevelopmentoftherapeuticforesttourisminSlovenia.Exam-
plesofgoodpracticearegiven.Opinionontheapplicabilityoftheimplementation
offoresttherapeutictourisminSloveniaisincluded.
Keywords:foresttherapy,foresttourism,well-being
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.15.25-41
Introduction
During the last decade, new and innovative sustain-
able development solutions in the field of traditional
aswellasnon-traditionaltouristuseofnature,espe-
ciallytheforest,havebeencreated.Sensualpleasures
inaudibleandvisualperceptionoftheforestaswellas
ofwildbeehoneyandbeeswax(Sanesietal.,2010;Ohe
etal.,2017;Ikeietal.,2015;Nilssonetal.,2011,p.3)are
consideredtobetraditionalrelaxingandleisureactivi-
tiesaswellasbeekeeping,huntingandphoto-hunting,
gatheringfruits, herbaceousplants, mushrooms,and
wildanimals(Article5oftheZakonogozdovih,1993).
On the other hand, new tourist forest practices have
emerged,such asforestbathing,called shinrin-yoku.
In Europe and the western world, it is a rather new
touristexperience(butnotinJapanandChina)which
hasincreasedthenumber offoresttouristwell-being
products (Farkic et al., 2021). Forest selfness (Konu,
2015),reflexology,naturopathicelements(Marselleet
al., 2021), etc., are considered to be non-traditional
relaxing and leisure activities. They refer to physi-
cal,mental,andsocialwell-beingdimensionssuchas
quality and performance of bodily functioning, both
cognitiveandemotional.Asignificantpositivefactor
influencingthedevelopmentofnon-traditionaltourist
andrecreationalforestuseisalsotheriseofthegreen
consumptionmovement(Collieretal.,2004).
Non-traditional relaxing and leisure activities are
rapidlygrowing,and,in some places,theyhaveeven
become a trend, such as restorative trips into areas
richinnature,whichhavebecomealeadingwellness
trend(Global Wellness Summit,2019). Furthermore,
spending time in green space is suggested as an im-
portantadjuncttherapytoclinicaltherapies(Koselka
etal.,2019).Atthesametime,researchersandser-
vice providers have focused on the valuation of the
AcademicaTuristica,Year15,No.1,April2022 |25

DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
tourist use of forests and the challenges posed by
the increased extent of tourist activities in the forest
alongwithsustainableandmulti-purposeforestman-
agement, and tourism has finally been defined as a
specific type of destination (Cvikl, 2020). A greater
understanding of the therapeutic potential of pro-
found use of nature can contribute to the reduction
ofallsortsofmoderndiseasessuchasrespiratorydis-
eases, psychosomatic diseases, mental illnesses, car-
diovascular diseases, lifestyle disorders, oncological
diseases, neurological diseases and some orthopedic
diseases, and preventively strengthens human physi-
calandmentalhealth(Schuh&Immich,2019).There
have been many beneficial effects of biodiversity on
humanhealth,suchasreducingharm(e.g.provision
ofmedicines,decreasingexposuretoairandnoisepol-
lution),restoringcapacities(e.g.attentionrestoration,
stress reduction) and building capacities (e.g. pro-
moting physical activity, transcendent experiences)
(Marselleetal.,2021).Asaresult,newandinnovative
sustainabledevelopmentsolutionsinthefieldoftradi-
tionalaswellasnon-traditionaltouristuseoftheforest
haveemerged.Itis claimedon theForest-basedSec-
torTechnologyPlatform(2020)thattheaddedvalue
fromnewmarketsfornon-woodforestgoodssuchas
mushrooms,berries,andcleanwateraswellasservices
suchasrecreation,tourism,andclimatechangemiti-
gationhasincreasedtenfold.Non-woodforestprod-
ucts include food, decorativeand ornamentalplants,
otherplantproducts,extracts,dyes,rawmaterialsfor
medicines,aromaticproducts,meatofwildforestani-
mals,wildhoneyandbeeswax,tannedhides,andtro-
phies.Themarketvalueofnon-woodproductsinEu-
rope is estimated at € 2.3 billion and the value of so-
cial,ecologicalandbiosphereservicesat€619million
(Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests
inEurope,2015,p.26).
Thisshifthasbeeninitiatedbysignificantdevelop-
mentdocuments(MinisterialConferenceonthePro-
tectionofForestsinEurope,2015;FoodandAgricul-
ture Organizationsof the United Nations, 2015; Mil-
lenniumEcosystemAssessment,2005,8).Theyindi-
cate the importance of sustainable development and
management of natural resources which, in addition
to economic indicators, also take into account other
indicatorssuchasenvironmental,social andclimate.
Furthermore,recentdevelopmentdocumentsdrafted
by some institutions and countries (European Com-
mission,n.d.;TheWorldBank,2016;MinisterialCon-
ference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, 2015;
GoS,2014)encouragedevelopmentofnon-woodfor-
est products, innovative solutions (European Com-
mission,n.d.),strengtheningthemultifunctionvalue
offorestsfromtheaspectofeconomicandsocialbene-
fitsandaskmanagerstoapplymoreup-to-datemeth-
ods of forest management in the sense of exploiting
allforestecosystemservices.Lastbutnotleast,there
have been some big changes in the economic sec-
tor,especiallyinthetourismindustry,duetorestric-
tions caused by the covid-19 pandemic. Turnšek et
al. (2020) also find that the covid-19 lockdown has
changedSloveniantourists’perceptions.Theysuggest
thattherecoveryof tourismshould focusondomes-
tictouristsandonlocalattractions.Thesechangesare
notonlycurrentbutshouldalsobetakenintoaccount
in development plans as the effects of global change
will require a transformation of sustainable tourism
business(Gösslingetal.,2020).
Ontheotherhand,duetorestrictedtravellingcon-
ditionssince2020,destinationmanagementhasbeen
striving for the transformation of the activity. A re-
gional approach has become more important, activi-
tieshavebeenredirectedfromdistantdestinationsto
domestic,oftenunderestimated,destinations.Tothis,
wecanaddthefindingthattransformationstakeplace
notonlyintermsofactivitiesbutalsointermsofthe
perception of residents (Juvan et al., 2021). Destina-
tion organisations and tourism providers should in-
vestigatewhichaspectsoftourismleadtohigherlev-
els of contentment and enjoyment of hosts. Satisfied
and happy residents may become an important des-
tinationattribute.Entrepreneurshiphascreatedcom-
pletelynewandinnovativemarketapproachesonthe
supplyaswellasonthedemandside(Brouder,2020,p.
486).Thisisalsoreflectedintheincreasedtouristuse
offorests,asinthelast18monthspublicuseofforests
hasincreasedsubstantially. Onthe one hand,spend-
ingtimeintheforestisacounterbalancetotiresome
andfasteverydayworkandontheotherasescapism,
asaresultoftheepidemiologicmeasures.Forestspro-
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DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
videapassiveaswellasactiveexperience,andgivethe
feelingofbeingconnectedwithourselvesandwiththe
naturearoundus.Thosechangesarenotonlymomen-
tarybutalsohavetobetakenintoaccountindevel-
opmentplansas theeffectsof global changeswill re-
quiresustainabletourismactivitiestobetransformed
(Gösslingetal.,2020).
Forestwell-beingtourismandforesttherapytour-
ismbelongstothesenewtouristactivities,posingchal-
lenges to researchers during last five years. They are
bothbasedoninnovativeuseofthoseforestattributes
which have healing and beneficial effects on people:
the non-wood potential of forest products, and on
social and cultural resources,provided by ecosystem
services. Some examples of good practice concern-
ingthepotentialforthedevelopmentofforesttherapy
and well-being tourism in Slovenia have been given.
Onthebasisoftheresultsobtainedandthereviewof
literature, we provide some avenues for the develop-
mentofthisparticularformoftourismbasedonforest
bathing.
ForestTherapyTourismandWell-BeingTourism
Over the past ten years, researchers in various fields
of expertise, such as environmentalists, geographers,
psychologists, and public health professionals, have
addressedindepththebeneficialeffectsofforestson
humans(Marselleetal.,2021).Nevertheless,veryfew
articles have been published on the topic of thera-
peutic or well-being forest tourism. At first, the re-
searchersstudied nature as a unique attribute, which
represents 25 of the whole well-being experience
(Konuetal., 2011), but lateron,they startedtothink
aboutwhataspectofnaturemakesitsospecialand
givesaddedvalue to tourists as a well-being destina-
tion,andmentionthewholesomenessofforestberries
and the health effects of exercising in forest areas
(Konuetal.,2011).Ontheotherhand,manyresearch-
ersfromthemedicalfieldstartedtostudyforestsfrom
thetherapeuticpointofview.Amajornaturalresource
andtouristcapitalsourceforthedevelopmentoffor-
est therapy and well-being tourism are phytoncides.
They are also called natural antibiotics or air vita-
mins. During their evolution, trees have developed
unique chemical defence systems which are based
on advanced functional molecules. Therefore, they
areextremelyrichinbioactive,protectivesubstances,
which are found in antioxidants, anticanceroid sub-
stancesandoestrogens,whichhaveanextremelypos-
itiveaffectonthehumanimmunesystemandmental
well-being.Theyincludebioactivecompounds,found
in trees, and which contain flavonoids, lignans, stil-
benes, terpenoids, phyitosterols, fatty acids and vita-
mins.Bioactivecompounds,obtainedfromwood,are
usedasadditivesorindependentlyinthepharmaceu-
tical and food industry; such products, derived from
wood,areconsiderednon-woodproducts(Nilssonet
al.,2011,p.7).Researchersdiscoveredthatforestsare
therapeutic and relieve numerous symptoms of res-
piratorydiseases;psychosomatic,mental,andcardio-
vascular illnesses; disorders connected with lifestyle;
oncological, neurological and some orthopaedic dis-
eases;andhaveapreventivefunctionofstrengthening
physical andmentalhealth(Schuh&Immich,2019).
Lietal.(2007)wasthefirsttoprovethepositiveand
healing effects of the forest on people by medically
conductedphysiologicalandpsychologicalresearch.
Thereasonwhyforesttherapeutictourismandthe
well-being forest type of tourism have developed is
because of relaxation in the forest as a respite from
variousstressfactors.Itisarelativelynewtouristac-
tivity, although therapeutic tourist activity has been
a well-established practice in the last 30 years. Some
countries,withJapanandChinabeingamongthefirst
(Chen&Nakama,2013),andalsoSweden(Nilssonet
al., 2011), promote public health in the forest in ad-
dition to foresttourist activities. Konu definedforest
well-being tourism in 2015, and six years later forest
therapytourismwasdefinedbyOheetal.(2017),and
isbecomingtrendy.
ForesttherapytourismoriginatesfromJapan,em-
erging when the providers of tourist activities in-
cludedforesttherapy.Itisfocusedmainlyonpreven-
tive medicine, and unlike well-being forestactivities,
itisbasedonmedicallyconductedresearchandwell-
foundedevidence.Itisaprofitabletouristactivity,fo-
cusedmainlyonrelaxationeffects,withtheempha-
sismostlyonrelaxationactivitiesratherthanhealing
(Oheetal.,2017;Ochiai,Ikei,Song,Kobayashi,Miura
etal.,2015;Ochiai,Ikei,Song,Kobayashi,Takamatsuet
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DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
al.,2015).Foresttherapyprogrammesincludewalking
in theforest,anti-stressexerciseswhichstimulateall
thesenses,visualisationandotherpsychologicaltech-
niques, music therapy, chromotherapy, climate ther-
apy, heliotherapy,aromatherapy,eatingorganicfood,
arttherapiesandworkshops,massagetechniquesand
variousotheractivitieswhichbringusclosertonature,
culture, and the tradition of the forest where forest
therapiesareprovided.
ExamplesofGoodPractice
In accordance with the World Health Organisation
(who),1healthisregardedascompletephysical,men-
tal,andsocialwell-beingandnotonlyabsenceofill-
nessorhelplessness.Consequently,agenuinerelation-
shipwithnaturehastobeestablishedforahealthylife
(Mlakar Močilnik & Pirnat, 2010, p. 180). Japan of-
fersarelativelynewtraditionofmaintainingpersonal
health and well-being, the so-called ‘forest bath’ (or
shinrin-yoku),atypeofforestrelaxationtheory,com-
bined with recreation (Li, 2010; Konu, 2015, p. 6). It
belongstotouristproductsofwell-beingonthebasis
of forest. This theory explains how natural environ-
mentscanhelppeoplerenewexhaustedcapacitiesfor
focusing, mutual flexibility and merging (Nilsson et
al., 2011, p. 9) and to eliminate or mitigate psycho-
somatic illnesses and mental stress. The forest is the
first among green natural environments where peo-
plecanrelaxmosteasilyasconnectionwiththeforest
increasesthelevelofpsychologicalwell-being(pwb).
The Medical Spa Association of Serbia2 offers a
product in well-being tourism, developed recently,
called forest hamam. It is practiced in the form of
workshops conducted in protected forest areas. The
author attended one of those workshops in Serbia
(Belgrade)on24and25May2016.3Itwasconducted
byAmosM.Clifford,thefounderanddirectorofthe
RenovationProcessCentreinCalifornia.Heisapsy-
chotherapistwith 40 years’experience in connecting
people with nature. In Finland, Sweden and Norway
theforestisincludedintheregularschoolcurriculum.
1https://www.who.int/.
2https://mspaasrbije.wordpress.com/.
3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHkj-FlusNQ.
InSwedenanetworkoftherapeuticgardenshasbeen
developed over a long period of time (Nilsson et al.,
2011, p. 3). A similar practice is also implemented at
theFacultyofForestIndustryinBelgradewherestu-
dentsdoathree-daypracticalworkonthemountain
meadow Goč at Kraljevo in order to learn about the
protection of trees and strengthening humanity as a
value(personalcommunication,June1,2016).
Forest therapy and well-being tourism has also
beendevelopingintheinstitutionalsense.In2007the
International Association for studying the effects of
forest on human health was founded within the in-
ternational organisation iufro, followed by the In-
ternationalOrganisationforForest(infom),founded
in 2011. In the field of forest medicine, the Interna-
tional Society of Nature and Forest Medicine,4 and
InternationalSociety of Forest Therapy (isft),5 have
beenfounded.Withintheprogramme,PublicHealth
Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitätfromMunichopen-
edadepartmentformedicalclimatology,medicalspa
medicineandprevention,andalsofoundedaCom-
petency Centre for forest medicine and therapy in
the natural environment.6 Forest therapy and forest
bathingareofferedasforesttouristproducts,andcer-
tainforestareasalsoasforesthealthresorts.Forexam-
ple,inthenorthofGermanyinthecoastalbeechforest
Heringsdorf,thefirstcertifiedEuropeanforest,offer-
ing the programmes of forest medicine, was opened
in2016.ThesituationinKoreaissimilar.In2021the
firsthealingforestforchildreninEurope7wasopened
due to the fact that in Germany more than 30 of
children,whospendtoomuchtimeinthedigitalised
world, suffer from anthropogenic sleeping disorders,
whichhasresultedincompletelydifferentclinicalim-
ages of children. Therapeutic forest activities which
havealreadybeencarriedoutincludenaturopathicel-
ementssuchaswaterimmersion(e.g.Kneipptherapy)
and climatotherapy (climatic terrain cure, heliother-
apy,fresh-airrestcure)toenhancethehealthbenefits
4https://www.infom.org/aboutus/introduction.html.
5https://www.natureandforesttherapy.org/.
6https://www.komp-wald-natur.de/.
7https://www.heilwald-heringsdorf.de/en/Children-s
-Healing-Forest.
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DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
(Stier-Jarmeretal.,2021,p.2),forestmindnessmind-
fulnessandnutritionaltherapy(p.29).
Wecanalsoincludeatmospherichealing(Rikli&
Zolam, 1895; Schuh & Immich, 2019, p. 52) in thera-
peuticforestactivities,aswellascolourandmusicfor-
esttherapy(Vukin&Isailović,2018)andtheso-called
boulderforesttherapywithintheRehabilitationCen-
ter for the Treatment of Non-Chemical Addictions,
whichiscurrentlystillintheprojectphase(Lukovac,
2020).Alloftheabovecanbeconsideredasexamples
offoresttherapeutictourismactivities.
In Slovenia, there have been or were also some
touristpracticeswhichoffer(ed)forest-orientedther-
apeutictouristproductsandservices.Climatehealing
andstrengtheningofthebodywithnaturalattributes,
which took place in forests for tourist-healing pur-
poses,wasstartedinthe19thcentury.In1854,Arnold
Rikli (born in 1823, died in 1906) developed the first
wellness spa for strengthening of health and healing
illnesseswiththehelpofforest,air,waterandsun.In
1857hewroteabook AufrufandiekrankeMenschheit
an Körper und Geist, nach den Gesetzen der Natur-
Heillehre zu genesen, oder leicht faßliche Darstellung
der Natur. He founded and directed a Natural Heal-
ingCentreinBledinSloveniaforhelio-hydrotherapy
climatehealingintheheartofforestsandothernatu-
ralcharacteristicsoftheGorenjskaregion.Thetourist
forestproductcalledforestselfnesshasreceivedalotof
internationalattentioninthelastfewyears,including
theawardSnovalec2014asthemostinnovativetourist
idea;itisamongthefirsttoapplyaninnovativetourist
approachinforestsinthefieldofwell-beingtourismin
Slovenia.8Thefirstpresentationoftheprojectabroad
wasattheconferenceoftheJapanSocietyforScience
PolicyandResearchManagementinKusatsu,Japanin
October2014.
ThefactisthatSloveniahas99.2or1,237.40mil-
lionhectaresofforestarea(measuringatotalof1,184,
526hectaresofforest)accessibleforrecreationalpur-
poses and for the use of public benefit (Ministerial
Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe,
2015,p.311).Ofthis,only2.2or27,900hectareshave
been originally designated and managed for recre-
8https://www.gozdni-selfness.si/en/home/
ational and leisure purposes. Slovenian forests pro-
vide a fairly good production capacity, which is also
systematically recorded, while there is no recorded
data on annual tourist visits in the entiretourist and
recreationalforestareain Slovenia. There are 96 for-
estlearningtrailsregisteredinSlovenia,accordingto
The Slovenia Forest Service, which performs public
forestryserviceinallSlovenianforestsofwhich16are
directly included in the tourist offer. Two European
footpaths(e6 and e7)runthroughSlovenianforests.
Withintheregisterofimmovableculturalheritageby
typeofunit,Sloveniaalsohas226unitsofregistered
culturallandscapes,228unitsofgarden-architectural
heritage and 23 units of historical landscapes within
theregisterofimmovableculturalheritage.Bytypeof
heritage, there are 217 units of registered immovable
cultural heritage of parks and gardens and 318 regis-
teredculturallandscapes.9
Methods
Theresearchproblemreferstothegrowingtouristuse
ofsocio-culturalforestvaluesfortherapeutictourism
purposes in practice on the one hand,and to the in-
sufficient amount of literature that would link thera-
peuticforestpracticeswithforesttherapeutictourism
ontheother.Despitethefactthatmanyarticleshave
alreadybeenpublishedonthetopicofthephysiolog-
ical andpsychologicaleffectsofforestbathsorforest
therapy,wefindthatveryfewofthemarerelatedtothe
tourismindustry,althoughmostofthefindingspoint
tothedevelopmentofsuchleisureactivitiesbasedon
theperceptionandenjoymentofthenaturalresources
of the forest. That is why we decided to create a lit-
eraturereviewrelatedtoforesttherapyorforestwell-
beingeffectswithconnectiontotourismactivity.
Weanticipatedthatforesttherapyandthepractice
offorestbathingarejustifiablyassociatedwithtourism
due to the growing trend. To this end, we first pre-
sented the definition of forest tourism, forest thera-
peutictourismandwell-beingforesttourism.Forthis
purpose,welookedfortheliteraturethatfirstdefines
thebeneficialeffectsoftheforestonhumans,andalso
the main literature dealing with healing and benefi-
9http://www.zgs.si/eng/homepage/index.html
AcademicaTuristica,Year15,No.1,April2022 |29

DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
cialeffectsoftheforestonpeopleinconnectionwith
tourism practice activity. The study protocol for the
selection of literature was designed to present some
relevant findings from the field of medical research
provingthehealingeffectsoftheforestonhumans.In
thefirstplace,wewantedtoshowtheconnectionbe-
tweenmedicalstudiesofforestbathing,andthencon-
nectthemwithtouristactivity.Inordertobeableto
connectthebeneficialandhealingeffectsthatareob-
tainedthroughforestbathing,wealsopresentedsome
ofthecontributionsthatwereamongthefirsttoactu-
allyrecognisetheirtouristpotential.
Systematic review protocol was based on the fol-
lowingsteps.Thefirststepwastoformulatearesearch
problemanddefineresearchobjectives.Theresearch
problemreferstotheabsenceofliteraturedealingwith
forest therapy in connection with tourism activity.
Secondly, the relevant literature and search strategy
are identified through the Scopus database, which is
alsousedinseveralrelevantreviewedpapers,andpre-
sented in results (Stier-Jarmer et al., 2021; Doimo et
al.,2020;Grilli&Sacchelli,2020;Hansenetal.,2017).
Twootherdatabaseswerealsousedforsearchingrel-
evant articles at the beginning: Web of Science and
ScienceDirect.However,duetoalargenumberofir-
relevanthits,wefinallyfocusedonScopushitsasthe
most relevant ones. The review period from 1998 to
2021iscovered.
ByusingtheScopusdatabase,currentliteratureon
forest therapy tourism and forest well-being tourism
hasbeenreviewed.First,weenteredkeywordsrelevant
toourresearcharea:forest‘and’therapy‘and’tourism
and obtained 11 documents and 4 secondary docu-
ments. Then we entered the keywords: forest ‘and’
wellbeing ‘and’ tourism and received 12 scores and
5 secondary documents. 16 articles from the Scopus
database were searched manually and 1 article from
2021 was found in Annals of Tourism Research Em-
pirical Insights. We focused on contributions high-
lighting the positive psychological and physiological
effectsoftheforestandtheforestatmosphereonhu-
man health. Within these, we further searchedthose
articleswherefindingsarerelatedtoforesttherapyor
forestwell-beingeffectswithtourismactivity.
Alltogether49paperabstractsfromobtainedhits
were screened. After abstract screening, study data
were consolidated and extracted in order to obtain
three types of papers. The search identified and se-
lected29relevantpapers.Wedividedthemintothree
different tables. In Table 1, review articles are pre-
sented. Table 2 presents contributions with medical
findingsofpsychologicalandphysiologicaleffectson
human well-being. Table 3 provides an overview of
contributionswhereforesttherapyorforestwell-being
effects are related to tourism activity. Information
about the author, year of publication, the examined
parameterand mainfindingsaregivenin eachtable.
Theconnectionofforesttherapywithtourismand/or
forestwell-beingwithtourismpotentialisgiven.
For the basic forest therapy tourism papers crite-
rionselection,wefollowedthedefinitiongivenbyOhe
etal.(2017)andwerelookingonlyfortouristactivities
withforesttherapyincluded.Wealsofollowedthedef-
inition given by Konu (2015) about well-being forest
tourismactivities.
Oheetal.(2017,p.323)definedforest-therapytour-
ismasoneoftheemergingtourismactivities.Forest-
therapytourismoriginatesfromJapan,anditwascre-
ated with the emergence of the providers of tourist
activities in combination with forest therapy. Forest
therapy programmes are based on medically guided
research and substantiated evidence and therefore
should be accompanied by implemented protocols
to confirm the effects of forest bathing. Forest-based
well-beingtourism,accordingtoKonu(2015,p.6),can
bedefinedasbasedontheforestsasthecoreresource.
Ittakesplaceinornearaforestenvironment.Theaim
offoresttherapytourismistodeveloparangeofwell-
beingtourismproductshighlightingthespecialchar-
acteristicsofforestsandfocusingonhowtousenatu-
ralresourcesforwell-beingpurposes.Shinrin-yokuis
thetermoriginallycreatedinJapananditrepresents
oneoftheirtraditionalforestrelaxationpractices.Lit-
erallytranslated,itmeans‘forestdive’or‘divinginto
the forest atmosphere.’ It is a good example of using
thesocio-culturalvaluesoftheforestfortourismand
relaxationpurposes.
The selection criteria for particular papers men-
tionedbelowistheconnectionbetweenmedicaland
well-beingfindingsandtheshinrin-yokumethodwith
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DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
forest tourist activity, especially therapy tourism and
well-beingtourism.Therefore,thefirstarticleisplaced
chronologicallyin2007,whentheconnectionbetween
forestbathingandthebeneficialeffectsonhumanpsy-
chophysicalwell-beingbegan.Thereisahugeamount
of literature on the healing effect of nature (not just
the forest) on human public/environmental health,
but Lee was the first to prove these effects based on
shinrin-yokupractice.Thisinformationisimportant
because shinrin-yoku is the basis on which interna-
tional centres of restorative and therapeutic forest
practices in the Western world have developed since
then(theyhaveexistedinJapanandChinaformuch
longer).Thosecriteria werechosen because shinrin-
yoku practice is the link which stimulated Konu in
2015andOheetal.in2017toconnectthesepractices
with new tourism products and point out the poten-
tial of the forest as a destination for therapeutic and
well-beingforesttouristactivities andthe touristuse
ofnon-timberforestproductsingeneral.Itmeansthat
we were looking for papers based on medically con-
ductedresearch,withmeasuringoftheeffectsofforest
and the natural environmenton the humanimmune
system.Asaresult,29relevantpaperswerereviewed
andpresented.Itincludesinformationontheauthor,
yearofpublication,theexaminedparameterofeffect,
main findings, and the connection of individual re-
searchwithforesttherapytourismand/orforestwell-
beingtourism.
Results
The results of browsing the Scopus database show
that contributions where forest therapy is linked to
tourismarederivedfromdifferentsubjectareas,such
as Forestry, Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Man-
agement,PublicHealth,SocialScience,Medicine,En-
vironmental and Occupational Health, General Arts
andHumanities,NatureandLandscapeConservation,
GeneralEnvironmentalScienceandPhysicalTherapy,
Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation. The results of 29
papersaregiveninTable1,Table2,andTable3.7pa-
persrepresentreviewpapers(Stier-Jarmeretal.,2021;
Rovielloetal.,2021;Andersenetal.,2021;Doimoetal.,
2020;Rajooetal.,2020;Yau&Loke,2020;Hansenet
al.,2017).Medicallyconductedresearchwithpsycho-
logicalandphysiologicalresponsesafteraforestther-
apy programmewas carried out in many papers, but
wedecidedtopresentthemostrelevant9(Peterfalvi
etal.,2021;Grilli&Sacchelli,2020;Bielinisetal.,2019;
Schuh & Immich, 2019; Korpela et al., 2017; Ochiai,
Ikei,Song,Kobayashi,Miuraetal.,2015;Ochiai,Ikei,
Song,Kobayashi,Takamatsuetal.,2015;Lietal.,2009;
Li et al., 2007). 13 papers promote forest therapy or
forest well-being tourism as new promising and dy-
namic types of forest tourism (Buckley et al., 2021;
Wajchman-Świtalska et al., 2021; Zhao & An, 2021;
Gűrbey, 2020; Sacchelli et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2019;
Dzhabarovaetal.,2018; Huang& Xu,2018; Farkic et
al.,2021;Oheetal.,2017;Cvikl&Vodeb,2016;Konu,
2015;Konuetal.,2011).Inallthecasesconcerned,for-
estbathingorforesttherapyisincluded.
Papersdealingwithasystematicreviewofphysical
activity aswellasforest-bathingontheimmunesys-
tems and generalhuman well-being are given in Ta-
ble1.
However,somelimitationshavebeenunderlined.
Small sample sizes and skewed distributions in the
age and/or gender of study participants were found.
Secondly,someoftheresultsofphysiologicaltests
werenotstatisticallysignificant(Andersenetal.,2021).
Also,itisinsufficientlyresearchedwhetheraparticu-
larforestortreespeciescompositionorenvironmental
feature, such as microclimate, have specific benefits.
Thereisalackofconsiderationforthesynergiceffects
of the numerous features composing a forest ecosys-
temthataresimultaneouslyexperiencedbyallthefive
senses.Also,thetiminganddurationofforestbathings
were different, as well as the weather. A limitation
of the research is also the fact that a systematic re-
viewofpapersdidnottakeplaceinseveraldatabases.
We found that a huge number of hits were obtained
whenwebrowsedthepostsonthephrase:forest‘and’
therapeutic ‘and’ ‘tourism’ and on the phrase: forest
‘and’ well-being ‘and’ ‘tourism,’ but not many rele-
vantones.Wealsofoundthattherelevanthitsinboth
databaseswereidenticaltothoseobtainedintheSco-
pusdatabase.
Papersdealingwithmedicallyconductedresearch
aregiveninTable2.Thehealingpowersofforestswere
firstresearchedbyLietal.(2007).Itisprimarilydueto
AcademicaTuristica,Year15,No.1,April2022 |31

DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
Table 1 PaperswithReviewofSystematicReviewofPhysicalActivityasWellasForest-BathingontheImmuneSystem’s
andGeneralHumanWell-beingwithSomeHealingandBeneficialEffectsofForestonPeople
Paper Parameterexamined Mainfinding Connection
Stier-Jarmeretal.()
‘ThePsychologicalandPhys-
icalEffectsofForestson
HumanHealth:ASystem-
aticReviewofSystematic
ReviewsandMeta-Analyses’
Systematicreviewofsystem-
aticreviewswasconducted
ineightdatabasestoidentify,
summarise,andsynthesise
theavailableevidenceofsys-
tematicreviews(srs)and
meta-analyses(mas)onthe
preventiveandtherapeutic
psychologicalandphysical
effectsofforest-basedinter-
ventions.
Authorsarguethatforest-
basedinterventionshavea
positiveimpactonthecar-
diovascularsystem;some
immunologicaland/orin-
flammatoryparameters;and
mentalhealthintheareasof
stress,depression,anxiety,
andnegativeemotions.
Foresttherapy;forest
bathing;shinrin-yoku;for-
estmedicine.
Rovielloetal.()‘Forest-
BathingandPhysicalActivity
asWeaponsAgainstcovid-
:AReview’
Theeffectsofparticular
immune-strengtheningac-
tivitiesperformedinforest
areashavebeenreviewed.
Physicalexerciseinforests,
aswellas‘forest-bathing,’has
strengtheningeffectsonthe
immunesystem’sabilityto
fightdisease,especiallyasit
relatestocovid-.
Someactivitiestypicalof
outdoortourismarerecom-
mended.Aerobicandresis-
tancetraininglikerespira-
torymusclegentlestrength-
eningexercises,suchastai
chiandyogahavebeensug-
gestedasstress-reducingand
immune-boostingexercises
thatshouldbepractisedin
forestsforindividualswho
areingoodhealth,forthe
preventionof covid-.
Andersenetal.()‘Na-
tureExposureandItsEffects
onImmuneSystemFunc-
tioning:ASystematicRe-
view’
Systematicreviewofpapers
bymeasurementsofphysi-
ologicalandpsychological
effectsofforestonpeople,
conductedintheperiod
fromto.
Generalanti-inflammatory
effectsofvolatilesubstances
ofplantsintheselectedfor-
estecosystemonpeopleand
strengtheningofimmune
systemhavebeenproved.
Someoftheresearchcon-
cernedwasconductedinthe
forestwithaJapaneseforest
bathorshinrinyoku,iden-
tifiedasananti-stressforest
product.
Continuedonthenextpage
humanexposure to phytoncides,a volatile substance
emittedbyplants.Measurementsweremostlyfocused
on stress markers. Results were obtained from phys-
iologicalparametersthatmeasuredsystolicanddias-
tolic blood pressure, pulse rate, heart rate and heart
rate variability, salivary or serum cortisol levels, car-
diovascular and metabolic parameters. The psycho-
logical measurements included different parameters
suchasmoodstate,depression,anxiety,negativeemo-
tions,anxietylevel,happinesslevelandqualityoflife.
For example, physiological measurements included
measuring systolic blood pressure (Peterfalvi et al.,
2021), stress hormones, most often cortisol (Ochiai,
Ikei,Song,Kobayashi,Miuraetal.,2015;Ochiai,Ikei,
Song, Kobayashi, Takamatsu et al., 2015), and pulse
andmovementofnaturalkiller(nk)cellactivity(Liet
al.,2007).Themostcommonsubjectofpsychological
testing was measuring feelings, for example tension,
anxiety, depression, anger, stress, hostility, tiredness,
and confusion. Most often, medically conducted re-
searchmeasuredthehealingand beneficial effectsof
the volatile substances, phytoncides, on the human
immunesystemandgeneralwell-being.
Healingandbeneficialeffectsofforestbathingand
32 | AcademicaT uristica,Y ear15,No.1,April2022

DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
Table1 Continuedfromthepreviouspage
Paper Parameterexamined Mainfinding Connection
Doimoetal.()‘Forest
andWellbeing:Bridging
MedicalandForestResearch
forEffectiveForest-Based
Initiatives’
Anoverviewofexistingliter-
atureontheemergingtopic
ofhumanwell-beingwith
forestcontact.
Summaryofresultsofthe
literatureanalysisshowed
thatallpapershavemeasured
morethanonehealthparam-
eter.Themostmentioned
effectsarepsychological
(),whilephysiological
effects(.)andsocial
effects(.)arefollowed.
Medicineandforestrydisci-
plineareincludedincoding
criteria,buttouristindustry
isnot.
Findingsprovideaprelim-
inaryframeworkofusers’
well-beinginconnection
withforestcontact.
Rajooetal.()‘The
PhysiologicalandPsychoso-
cialEffectsofForestTherapy:
ASystematicReview’
Systematicreviewoflitera-
tureofforesttherapyphys-
iologicalandpsychosocial
effects(–),suchas
cortisollevel,systolicblood
pressure,diastolicblood
pressureandpulserates.
Basedontheresearchdata
foresttherapyplaysanim-
portantroleinpreventive
medicineandstressmanage-
mentforallagegroups.
Theaimoftheresearchis
notonlytoevaluatethepsy-
chosocialandphysiological
effectsbutalsotoencourage
healthcareprofessionalsand
thegeneralpublictofully
utiliseforesttherapyasa
formofpreventivemedicine.
Yau&Loke()‘Effects
ofForestBathingonPre-
HypertensiveandHyperten-
siveAdults:AReviewofthe
Literature’
Toexplorethephysiolog-
icallyandpsychologically
therapeuticbenefitsofforest
bathingonadultssuffering
frompre-hypertensionor
hypertension.
Thenaturalatmosphereof
forestsisbeneficialtohuman
health.Exposuretoforest-
derivedphytoncidescould
increase nk cellactivityand
improveoverallimmunity
function.
Hansenetal.()
‘Shinrin-yoku(Forest
Bathing)andNatureTher-
apy:AState-of-the-ArtRe-
view’
Athoroughreviewofpa-
persthatevaluatedtheuse
ofshinrin-yokuforvarious
populationsindiverseset-
tings.
Naturetherapyasahealth-
promotionmethodand
potentialuniversalhealth
modelisimplicatedfor
thereductionofreported
modern-day‘stress-state’and
‘technostress.’
Shinrin-yokuasapractice
todecreaseunduestressand
potentialburnout.
socio-culturalvaluesofforestsinconnectionwithfor-
esttherapytourismorwell-beingtourismisshownin
Table 3.
Tosumup,thefindingsshowthatonthebasisof
the healing and beneficial attributes of forests, forest
therapytourismandwell-beingforesttourismarede-
veloping rapidly (Zhao & An, 2021). Forest tourism
(Cvikl,2020;Chenetal.,2019;Chen&Nakama,2013,
p.2),forestwell-beingtourism(Konu,2015)andforest
therapytourism(Ohe etal.,2017)aredefined.Other
touristforestproducts,suchastherapeuticforesttrails
(Gűrbey, 2020; Ohe et al., 2017), forest selfness and
mindfulness(Farkicetal.,2021;Cvikl&Vodeb,2016),
are developing extremely fast all around the world,
evenfordisabledindividuals(Wajchman-Świtalskaet
al.,2021).
AcademicaTuristica,Year15,No.1,April2022 |33

DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
Table 2 PositivePhysiologicalandPsychologicalEffectsofForestClimateonGeneralWell-BeingandontheImmune
System
Paper Parameterexamined Mainfinding Connection
Peterfalvietal.()‘For-
estBathingAlwaysMakes
Sense:BloodPressure-
LoweringandImmune
System-BalancingEffects
inLateSpringandWinterin
CentralEurope’
Systolicbloodpressure. Forestbaths,conductedin
latespringinMayandin
winterinJanuary,showed
statisticallysignificantde-
creaseofsystolicbloodpres-
sure.
Forestbathing;forestwalk-
ing.
Grilli&Sacchelli()
‘HealthBenefitsDerived
fromForest:AReview’
Activities(‘walk’)andperfor-
mances(‘concentration’)are
investigatedingeneralterms
(‘subject’)orforspecificage
andstatus(‘student’).
Itappearsthatthetourism
tendencyofforestbathing,
i.e.shinrin-yoku,isem-
phasisedfromtheresults,
particularlyfor‘Japan.’
Bielinisetal.()‘TheEf-
fectofRecreationinaSnow-
CoveredForestEnvironment
onthePsychologicalWell-
beingofYoungAdults:Ran-
domizedControlledStudy’
Theyoungadultswereex-
posedtoasnow-covered
environment.
Forestrecreation,during
winterandwithsnowcover,
continuestohaveasignifi-
cantinfluenceonthepsycho-
logicalrelaxationofyoung
females.
Findingscontributetosea-
sonalityelimination.Such
therapypracticerecreation
couldbesuccessfullycon-
ductedduringwinterina
forestwithsnowcover,and
thereshouldstillbeaposi-
tiveeffectonpsychological
parameters.
Schuh&Immich()
Waldtherapie:DasPotenzial
desWaldesfürIhreGesund-
heit
Examinationofhealingand
beneficialeffectsofforest
climateonpeople.
Definitionofhealingand
therapeuticforestsandtheir
effectsonhumanhealth.
Dealingwithforestbathing
andshinrinyokuasaglobal
trend.
Korpelaetal.()‘En-
hancingWellbeingwithPsy-
chologicalTasksalongForest
Trails’
SignificantF-testvaluesin
thechangeinrestorativeex-
periences,overallsatisfaction
withthetrail,willingness
torecommendthetrailto
friends,andsatisfactionwith
thenumberofsignposts.
Experienceonawell-being
themetrailshowedpositive
andstatisticallysignificant
changesintwomeasure-
ments:restorativechange
andwillingnesstorecom-
mendthetrailtofriends.
Well-beingthemetrailsin
differentcountries.
Continuedonthenextpage
Foresttherapyisrecognisedasamentalhealthac-
tivitywithbeneficialeffectsonhumanwell-beingand
apowerfultourismattractionandeconomicopportu-
nity (Buckley et al., 2021). For example, in Japan as
many as 59 forest therapeutic bases in each of the
provinces and 6 therapeutic trails have been regis-
teredsincethefoundationoftheForestTherapyPro-
grammein2004.Chinafounded500foresttherapeu-
tic bases in the period from 2015 to 2020 (Wu et al.,
2019; Gűrbey, 2020; Ohe et al., 2017, p. 326). South
Korea, China, the usa, Finland, Sweden, Northern
Ireland,England, Slovenia,Croatia, andMontenegro
havealsostarteddevelopingforesttherapeuticproce-
duresandmedicaltourism.
Findings
Based on the findings of the literature review and
in relation to what is already happening in Slove-
34 | AcademicaTuristica,Year15,No.1,April2022

DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
Table2 Continuedfromthepreviouspage
Paper Parameterexamined Mainfinding Connection
Ochiai,Ikei,Song,
Kobayashi,Miuraetal.
()‘Physiologicaland
PsychologicalEffectsofa
ForestTherapyProgramon
Middle-AgedFemales’
Physiologicalandpsycho-
logicalparameters(pulse,
levelofcortisolinsalivaand
psychologicalindexes)were
measuredonedaybeforethe
foresttherapyandontheday
oftheforesttherapy.
Foresttherapyresultedin
significantdecreaseofpulse
rate,decreaseofthelevelof
cortisolinsaliva,increase
ofpositivefeelings,andde-
creaseofnegativefeelings.
Guidedandcontrolledpro-
grammeofforestanti-stress
therapy.
Ochiai,Ikei,Song,
Kobayashi,Takamatsuet
al.()‘Physiologicaland
PsychologicalEffectsofFor-
estTherapyonMiddle-Aged
MaleswithHigh-Normal
BloodPressure’
Physiologicalandpsycho-
logicalparameters(pulse,
levelofcortisolinsalivaand
psychologicalindexes)were
measuredonedaybeforethe
foresttherapyandontheday
oftheforesttherapy.
Foresttherapyresultedin
decreasedsystolicanddias-
tolicbloodpressure(bp),
adrenalineinurineand
serumcortisol(p<.).
Similarly,negativeparame-
ters,suchastension/anxiety,
confusion,anger/hostility,
andmoodswingsimproved.
Guidedandcontrolledpro-
grammeofforestanti-stress
therapy.
Lietal.()‘Effectof
PhytoncidefromTreeson
HumanNaturalKillerCell
Function’
Theeffectofinhalingvari-
ousphytoncides–essential
oilsoftrees–onhumanim-
munefunction,namelyon
enhancedhumannatural
killer(nk)cellactivity.
Theexaminedphysiolog-
icaltestprovedsignificant
increaseofnaturalkiller
(nk)cellactivity,butwithout
statisticallysignificantre-
sults.Thepsychologicaltest
concerned(poms)showed
decreaseintension,anxiety,
depression,anger,hostility,
tiredness,andconfusion.
Onlystatisticallysignificant
weretheresultsofthefactor
oftiredness.
Foresttherapytourismand
forestwell-beingtourism
dealwithstressfactorsin
ordertodecreasetheireffects
onhumanspiritualwell-
being(citations).
Lietal.()‘Forest
BathingEnhancesHuman
NaturalKillerActivityand
ExpressionofAnti-Cancer
Proteins
Effectsoftheforestbath
conductedonnaturalkiller
(nk)cellactivity.
Report,researchingdirect
effectofforestbathsonhu-
manactivity.Aphysiological
test,whichshowedsubstan-
tialincreaseofnaturalkiller
(nk)cellactivityandpositive
effectofforestbathingonthe
humanimmunesystem,was
conductedforthefirsttime.
Forestbathastherapeutic
activity(citations).
nia, we can conclude that forest therapy could pro-
videseveralbenefitsfortheSloveniantourismindus-
try.Biodiversity-healthframeworkreferenceswithan
environmentalandsocio-culturalcontextareneeded
(Marselleetal.,2021)suchasregisteredculturalland-
scapes and garden-architectural heritage units. Rich
Slovenian forests provide all of the above, as they
haveexceptionalgeomorphological,atmospheric,and
climatic conditions. On those bases nature therapy,
nature-based rehabilitation and nature-based treat-
AcademicaTuristica,Year15,No.1,April2022 |35

DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
Table 3 HealingandBeneficialEffectsofForestBathinginConnectionwithForestTherapyTourismorWell-being
Tourism
Paper Parameterexamined Mainfinding Connection
Buckleyetal.()‘Mental
HealthKeytoTourismIn-
frastructureinChina’sNew
Megapark’
Conflictsbetweenroadand
roadless-accesstourismin
theSanjiangyuanNational
Park,Qinghai,whichoffers
jinghuaxinlingtodomes-
tictouristsfromeastern-
seaboardcities.
InWesternnationscurrently,
thereiswidespreadrecent
recognitionofthevalueof
natureformentalhealth
andofdigitaldetoxifica-
tion.Thesefactorscreatethe
healthservicesvalueofparks
andtheresultingnewoppor-
tunityfornaturetourism.
Mentalhealthbenefitspro-
videapowerfultourism
attraction,andhenceeco-
nomicopportunity,forthe
regionaroundthepark.
Farkicetal.()‘For-
estBathingasaMindful
TourismPractice’
Sensoryethnographywas
usedtostudythewaysin
whichthesenseswereen-
gaged,activatedanddeep-
enedthroughguidedforest
bathingwalks,butalsowhat
theexperiencemeantinthe
broadercontextofthepartic-
ipants’well-being.
Findingssuggesthowforest
practicesthatinducewell-
beingstatesexhibitlatent
potentialastouristicexperi-
ences.
Theprocessesofawareness,
attentiveness,focusandre-
flectionthatweredistilledin
theanalysishaveultimately
ledtoconceptualisethe
Japanesepracticeofforest
bathingasamindfultourism
practice.
Wajchman-Świtalskaetal.
()‘RecreationandTher-
apyinUrbanForests–The
PotentialUseofSensoryGar-
denSolutions’
gardensandonesensory
pathhavebeenstudied.The
inventorywascarriedout
onthebasisofthefeatures
consideredimportantin
spatialorientationbyblind
andpartiallysightedpeople.
Theresultsshowedthatthe
solutionsusedwereonly
partlyadequatefortheneeds
ofselectedusers.Wefound
neithertactilewalkingsur-
faceindicators(e.g.commu-
nicationlinesandterrain),
spatialmodels,norapplica-
tionsinmobiledevices.
Foresttherapyleisureactivity
fordisabledindividuals.
Zhao&An()‘Be-
haviouralIntentionofForest
TherapyTourisminChina:
BasedonHealthBelief
ModelandtheTheoryof
PlannedBehaviour’
Thestudyaimedatverifying
anewbehaviouralattitude
patternafterthepeakofthe
epidemiconthebasisofthe
healthbeliefmodel(hbm).
Thisstudyexpandsthe
healthbeliefmodel(hbm)
withthevariableofattitude.
Practicalimplicationsare
offeredforthegovernment
sufferingfromtheepidemic
andforthetourismindustry.
Thestudyprovidestheben-
efitsofforesttherapyin
tourism.
Continuedonthenextpage
ment programmes can be developed (Schuh & Im-
mich,2019).Itisevidentfromfindingsthatsocialising
intheforestnotonlyincreasesnaturalkiller(nk)cell
activity,decreasestension,anxiety,depression,anger,
hostility, tiredness, confusion, systolic and diastolic
blood pressure (Peterfalvi et al., 2021; Ochiai, Ikei,
Song,Kobayashi,Miuraetal.,2015;Ochiai,Ikei,Song,
Kobayashi, Takamatsu et al., 2015) etc, but also that
forest habitat along with forest climate is one of the
basic attributes for the development of forest thera-
peuticandwell-beingtourism.Furthermore,exercise
inforestshasstrengtheningeffectsontheimmunesys-
tem’sabilitytofightagainstviraldiseases,especiallyas
it relates to covid-19 (Roviello et al., 2021). Signifi-
cantimprovementsindepressivesymptomswerealso
foundinalmostalltheprimarystudies(Stier-Jarmeret
36 | AcademicaTuristica,Year15,No.1,April2022

DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
Table3 Continuedfromthepreviouspage
Paper Parameterexamined Mainfinding Connection
Gürbey()New Trends
inEcotourism:Forest
Bathing/ForestTherapyin
theWorldandTurkey
Therapeuticforestcentres
andtrailsintheworld.
Foresttherapyprovidesben-
efitsandbeneficialeffects
onphysiologicalandpsy-
chologicalhealth,protects
forestbiodiversityandoffers
diversificationofeconomic
effectsarisingfromtourist
andrecreationalactivities.
Developmentoftherapeutic
foresttrailsandforestcentres
intheworld.
Sacchellietal.()‘Neu-
roscienceApplicationforthe
AnalysisofCulturalEcosys-
temServicesRelatedtoStress
ReliefinForest’
Inordertoanalysestress
relief,thestudyapplies
aRestorationOutcome
Scale(ros)questionnaire
andaneuroscientifictech-
niquegroundedonelectro-
encephalographic(eeg)
measurement.
Resultsshowdifferentout-
comesforconiferousand
broadleafforests.Theself-
assessedstresslevelsbefore
andafterexposuretodiffer-
enttypesofforestshowthat
aforestwithahighdensityof
conifersandalowdensityof
broadleavesseemstobethe
propercombinationforstress
recovery.
Acategorisationofforest
forhealthpromotionand
diseaseprevention,mindful-
nessandforestbathing,out-
dooractivitiesandtourismis
needed.
Wuetal.()‘Assessing
andMappingForestLand-
scapeQualityinChina’
Assessingandmappingforest
landscapequalityinorderto
establishanevaluationindex
system.
In,thenumberof
touriststoforestparksex-
ceeded.billioninChina,
accountingfornearlyof
thedomestictouristmarket.
Foresttourismhasbecome
themostdynamicand
promisingsectorinChina.
Dzhabarovaetal.()
‘Themedical-recreational
andbalneotherapeuticre-
gionsoftheKrasnoyarsk
Territory’
Systematisationoftheavail-
abledatacharacterisingthe
balneotherapeuticandrecre-
ationalconditionsofthe
KrasnoyarskTerritorywere
studied.
Comprehensiveassess-
mentofthelandscapeand
climaticconditionsofthe
medical-recreationalregions
ofthesouthernpartofthe
KrasnoyarskTerritorywith
favourablebioclimaticcondi-
tionsanduniquetherapeutic
resources.
Balneotherapeuticregions
representgreatpotentialfor
thedevelopmentofclimatic
spaandhealthresortfacili-
ties.
Huang&Xu()‘Ther-
apeuticLandscapesand
Longevity:WellnessTourism
inBama’
Conductedinterviewscon-
cerningthetherapeuticland-
scapetheory.
Theresultsprovideamulti-
scaleinterpretationofwell-
nesstourismtoexplorehow
wellnesstouristsachieve
healthinhealingplaces.
Conceptualisationandinter-
pretationofthetherapeutic
landscapewithinwellness
tourism.
Continuedonthenextpage
al.,2021).Tosumup,thephysiologicalandpsycholog-
icalrelaxationeffectsofforesttherapyandwell-being
tourism are verified. According to Ohe et al. (2017)
andLietal.(2007),theseeffectslastthreetofivedays.
Regardless of the identified advantages, certain
negativeaspectsandfindingshavetobementionedas
well.Thelimitationsmentionedintheresultsshould
be also taken into account, especially regarding the
methodologicalapproachandtheprotocoloffurther
researches.Although positive findings were reported
AcademicaTuristica,Year15,No.1,April2022 |37

DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
Table3 Continuedfromthepreviouspage
Paper Parameterexamined Mainfinding Connection
Oheetal.()‘Evaluating
theRelaxationEffectsof
EmergingForest-Therapy
Tourism: A Multidisciplinary
Approach’
Amultidisciplinarycollab-
orativeapproachwasused
toconductmedicalresearch
ofphysiologicalandpsycho-
logicalrelaxationeffectsof
forest-therapytourism.
Theresultsverifiedphysio-
logicalandpsychologicalre-
laxationeffects,whichlasted
fromthreetofivedaysafter
foresttherapy.
Foresttherapytourismdefi-
nition.
Cvikl&Vodeb()‘The
PotentialofNon-Wood
ProductsforDevelopment
ofForestTourism’
Useofforestsocio-cultural
valuesasnaturaltourism
capitalforthedevelopment
offoresttourism.
Socialandculturalbenefits
offoresttourism.Newgreen
touristproduct–ForestSelf-
ness.
Forestselfnessasatourist
product.
Konu()‘Developing
aForest-BasedWellbeing
Tourism Product together
withCustomers–AnEthno-
graphicApproach’
Casestudyofinvolvingcon-
sumersin nds –newservice
developmentintourism.
Developingaforest-based
well-beingtourismproduct.
Forestwell-beingtourism
definition.
Konuetal.()‘Wellbeing
TourisminFinland:Finland
asaCompetitiveWellbeing
TourismDestination’
Destinationproductfeatures
oftheNordiccountriesand
NordicWell-beingconcept.
DefinitionofNordicWell-
beingconcept.
ForestNordicWell-being
activity.
inalmostallstudies,insomecasestheresultsofphys-
iologicaltestswerenotstatisticallysignificant,sample
sizesweretoosmallandtherangeofexposuretimeto
theforestatmospherewasverydifferent.Insummary,
forest-basedinterventionsarebeneficialtothecardio-
vascular system, immune system, and mental health
inadultsandtoatopicdermatitiswithchildren.Tobe
abletodevelopclimaticspaandhealthresortfacilities
(Dzhabarova et al., 2018), categorisation of forest for
healthpromotionaswellasconceptualisationandin-
terpretationofthetherapeuticlandscapewithinwell-
nesstourism(Huang&Xu,2018)isneeded(Sacchelli
etal.,2020).
Thepotentialforserviceprovidersandthetourism
industry in Slovenia is huge as none of the above-
mentionedtypesofforesttourismactivityisdeveloped
orsystemicallymonitoredattheinstitutionallevel.If
adestinationwantstosystematicallydevelopthisspe-
cifictypeoftourism,ithastomakeanassessmentof
the potential healing forest attributes and determine
thesufficientinterestofproviderstocertifyforestsand
developacompatibledestinationoffer.Inaddition,in
order to start forest therapy tourism practice imple-
mentation in Slovenia, it is necessary to assure plan-
ning and development of marketing activities, such
as segmentation of target groups of tourists. Service
providerscanthendevelopproductsforanewinno-
vativetypeoftourismandhighlightthespecialchar-
acteristicsandcomparativeadvantagesofthisspecific
typeoftourism.Ascanbeseenfromthefindings,
the use of forest socio-cultural values as the natural
tourismcapitalforthedevelopmentofforesttourism
is highly applicative. With the development orien-
tation towards therapeutic forest tourism, which is
sustainable and based on ecoremediation principles,
Slovenia can gain a completely new competitive ad-
vantageinthetourismmarket.
Appropriatefundingforfurtherresearchunderthe
auspices of the state institution is neededin orderto
reachanunderstandingofrelationsbetweenbiodiver-
sityandhealth(Marselleetal.,2021).
Conclusion
Based on the results of the review of literature, the
healing and beneficial effects of the forest do affect
people in a positive and healthy way. Also, the con-
nection between forest therapy and well-being ac-
tivity and tourism is evident. Medically conducted
38 | AcademicaTuristica,Year15,No.1,April2022

DarijaCvikl ForestTherapyandWell-BeingTourismLiteratureReview
researches usually measured the positive physiolog-
ical (i.e. included measuring systolic blood pressure,
stresshormones,mostoftencortisol,etc.)andpsycho-
logical (i.e. measuring feelings, for example, tension,
anxiety, depression, anger, stress, hostility, tiredness,
and confusion) effects of the forest climate on gen-
eralwell-beingandontheimmunesystem.However,
better-designed studies with appropriate parameters
areneeded.Sufficientexposuretotheforesthealingat-
mosphere,terpeneconcentration,microbialdiversity,
biodiversity, noise or quiet (psychoacoustics), light
conditions, forest composition, and climatic factors
shouldbeincludedinstudies.
Slovenia provides the most suitable environment
forthedevelopmentofforesttherapyandwell-being
tourism with anti-stress practices. With many reg-
istered cultural landscapes and garden-architectural
heritage units for recreational and leisure purposes,
Sloveniacandevelopauniquecompetitiveadvantage
over other tourist destinations and countries whose
attractivenessreliesonnaturalresources.Therefore,it
wouldalsobereasonabletodevelopforesttherapeu-
tictourisminSloveniaontheabove-mentionedbasis.
Practitionersshould be involvedin researchbecause
they are already implementing some good practices
aroundtheworld,butitseemstheyarenotawarethat
they could also be applied internationally. From the
results in Table 1, it is evident that there is a tourist
foresttherapeuticpotential,whichcanbesaidtohave
healing,therapeutic,orbeneficialproperties.
The problem, associated with the practice of for-
esttherapeutictourism,referstocapturingempirical
knowledgeandhorizontalintegrationinthefieldsof
differentprofessionssuchashealth,tourism,environ-
ment, and social sciences with researchgroupsfrom
differentdisciplinesandprofessions,suchasforestry,
psychology,andlandscaping.Itcanbeconcludedthat
foresttherapytourismitisatypeoftourismwhichis
indemandandthatforest-therapeuticandwell-being
tourismhaveagreatdevelopmentpotential.Thefacil-
itatedopeningofforesttherapeuticbasesinJapanand
ChinaandKoreareflectshighdemandfortherapeu-
ticforesttouristproductsthatcouldalsobeappliedin
Slovenian forests. By orienting towards the develop-
mentofforesttherapyandwell-beingtourism,Slove-
niacouldachieveextremeadvantagesincomparison
withothergreenoutdoordestinations.Bydeveloping
forest tourist infrastructure and competency centres
for the verification of forest health tourism, Slovenia
couldbecomealeadingdestinationforforesttherapy
tourismintheworld.Lastbutnotleast,itisobligatory
tounderline,inordertopreservetheintegrityofthe
ecosystem services, that forest managers must make
tourismdevelopmentandmanagementanimportant
partoftheirwork.
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