PurposeThe purpose of this practice-led article is to explore yachting tourism and its impact on visitors' well-being. This is specifically addressed through the lens of yacht spaces on luxury boats, their use and therefore the enjoyment they facilitate for guests. The article argues that the sense of well-being and satisfaction with life can be facilitated by creating stylish and comfortable spaces which allow a closer connection and interaction with the outdoor environment, ability to combine work and pleasure, and offer retreat for personalised well-being activities such as beauty treatments.Design/methodology/approachThe article is supported by knowledge derived from relevant books, academic and practitioner journals and media, including newspaper articles and websites. The article utilised a qualitative methodology to obtain first-hand luxury yacht practitioner knowledge through ethnographic methods of the life-course of the researcher. Primary data were qualitatively analysed in the context of prior knowledge of the industry.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that interior and exterior spaces on luxury boats can contribute to and enhance the state of well-being and satisfaction with one's life by providing spaces which are not only unique and exclusive in their beauty and comfort but also can facilitate the quality of overall experience when on a luxury yacht holiday. This includes connection with the broader environment of the area, tranquillity, possibility to enjoy one's holiday while being able to engage in one's work, enhancing the quality of a luxury yacht holiday experience through customising one's recreational and relaxation activities such as beauty treatments, sunbathing and offering space for personal seclusion and privacy. Design of yacht spaces in some cases also offers recreation areas for crew, which is a considerate approach towards the well-being of staff. However, this is not currently common practice, especially on smaller boats.Practical implicationsOne potential implication is recognition of the use of space on luxury yachts for the particular benefit of guests. This is a critical consideration at the stage of architectural design of the yacht and its interior planning. Another practical implication is the introduction of recreational/well-being spaces for crew to maximise their productivity by offering them space to recharge their physical and psychological state while working away from home and at intense work levels.Originality/valueThe value of the article is in shedding light on the importance of spaces on luxury yachts and discussing their impact on the well-being of guests and crew. The article provides an insight into daily operations and the use of space to achieve the enhancement of well-being of guests and crew. It also offers recommendations to relevant stakeholders in the luxury yacht industry, charter companies and luxury yacht architects and designers regarding the importance of spaces for owners and guests of luxury yachts to maximise their satisfaction with their luxury yacht experiences and, more specifically, their state of well-being. Understanding the reality of the luxury yachting experience contributes to our academic engagement with this sector of Special Interest Tourism (SIT) which is currently under-researched.

Luxury yacht spaces and their impact on the well-being of guests and crew

One of the highest risk groups the highest during COVID-19 were chronic patients. In addition to being a population at risk, in the lockdown they had to combine the pandemic with their own disease. Through a qualitative study of visual–emotional analysis, the perception of patients and their social environment (immediate support network) about the domestic confinement in Spain was requested during the State of Alarm in the Spring of 2020. For this, 33 participants filled out an online questionnaire with narratives and images describing their experiences. They were asked to share their experiences about quarantine from several perspectives of the housing spaces: the workplace (or alternatively, if they did not work, the most used occupational space), the least pleasant spaces or aspects of the dwelling and the most pleasant or comfortable area. The results suggested the importance for participants of natural and adequate lighting in spaces and tidiness, with both being linked to well-valued spaces. Moreover, rest was the activity most undertaken, for those who did not telework. Likewise, the narratives provided by participants were mostly positive, despite their condition, maybe due to their own coping with the disease. Dwellings were the adaptive means to tackle the situation of physical isolation as a place of protection against an external threat. The living room and bedrooms were chosen as the most prominent places. The characteristics of the dwellings conditioned the experiences lived during the quarantine of chronic patients.

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A Visual–Emotional Analysis of Perception in the Homes of Chronic Patients during Confinement by COVID-19 in Spain

In modern society, humans spend most of their time in the indoor environment (home, work, school...). This indoor lifestyle constantly poses challenges to our physical and mental health by affecting our hormone levels and circadian rhythm. This article deals with the possible connection between human and working environment factors and the emergence of health problems in connection with work. Using statistical methods, the dependence between the six characteristics (age, length of employment, visual demand of the work task, satisfaction with lighting conditions, and shift work) and occurrence of health-related problems and discomfort (i.e., eye discomfort, headache, eye fatigue, and seasonal affective disorder symptoms) was examined. The paper also deals with the evaluation of lighting conditions in the workshop using the lighting design software DIALux evo 9.2. Using this software, two lighting variants were modeled. The first simulated variant included lighting parameters according to the currently used luminaries and the second variant contained more efficient LED luminaries.

Analysis of the Impact of Working Environment Factors on Employee’s Health and Wellbeing; Workplace Lighting Design Evaluation and Improvement

Against the background of severe problems related to environmental noise, there has been a significant increase in the demand for its controlling. It has led to an increase in research efforts to develop the correct ways of measuring acoustic descriptors with the closely related research of soundproof and highly sound absorptive building materials. The sound insulation capacity of a barrier is indicated by two acoustic parameters - sound absorption and transmission loss. The contribution describes the principle, methods, and process of measurement of acoustics parameters using an impedance tube, explains the notion of sound absorption and transmission loss, and demonstrates this knowledge in the experimental measurement of acoustic parameters of selected materials (textiles from the automobile, polyurethane foam and absorbent cotton).

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Laura Džuňová

Papers

Analysis of the Impact of Working Environment Factors on Employee’s Health and Wellbeing; Workplace Lighting Design Evaluation and Improvement

Impedance Tube as a Tool for Evaluating Acoustic Noise Descriptors - The Experimental Measurement of Acoustic Parameters