The impact of experiences on Italian Pathways on subjective well-being

This study investigates travelers’ experiences on Italian pathways (Cammini d’Italia), defined by the Italian Ministry of Culture as "cultural itineraries of European and/or national relevance that can be traveled on foot or by other slow mobility means to enjoy natural and cultural heritage providing opportunities for enhancing natural and cultural attractions of the local territories". Specifically, it aims to improve the understanding of how these experiences contribute to enhancing travelers’ subjective well-being, in line with SDG 3 “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” and the priority area “Culture and health” in the Workplan for Culture 2023–2026. Travelers’ experiences on the Cammini were analyzed through online user-generated content. Specifically, text mining techniques were applied to automatically extract insights from 742 reviews relating to 10 Italian pathways, which were collected from TripAdvisor using a web scraping procedure. The analysis found that about 23% of travelers’ reviews contain expressions pointing to the role of experiences on the pathways for subjective well-being. In more detail, the findings provide evidence of how the experience enhances the different elements of subjective well-being, as defined by OECD (2013, 2023), including life evaluation, affect and eudaimonia. Based on the findings, theoretical and managerial implications are provided to advance previous research and to raise awareness of their role in promoting people’s well-being.