Tourism, as an experiential activity, offers rich potential to foster positive behavior change in both individuals and society. However, traditional tourism design often lacks focus on promoting sustainable or wellness-oriented behaviors. This paper explores how the human-centered and iterative process of design thinking can be applied to redesign tourism experiences that nudge travelers toward more sustainable, health-conscious, and socially responsible behaviors. By integrating behavioral theories and the EAST framework (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely), the study demonstrates how empathetic research, prototyping, and co-creation can inspire meaningful transformation through travel. Case discussions illustrate how empathy-driven design can identify the motivators and barriers of behavior change. The paper also addresses challenges in implementing design thinking within the tourism sector, such as organizational inertia and cross-disciplinary collaboration, and suggests strategies to overcome them. This research contributes to the growing discourse on design for social innovation, emphasizing how thoughtfully crafted tourism experiences can act as catalysts for broader cultural and behavioral shifts.

Authors:
Chu Hsiang Hsin, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

About the Presenter(s)
I am Hsiang Hsin Chu, a graduate student at NCKU in Creative Industries Design. With a background in sports medicine and over six years’ experience in yoga instruction, I now explore wellness tourism and behavior change through service design.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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