The therapeutic dimension of cultural heritage: insights from Santiniketan, India

Santiniketan, India, emerges as a living cultural-therapeutic space where art, nature, and pedagogy converge to evoke positive emotional experiences that enhance tourists' psychological well-being. The study reveals dominant themes of serenity, joy, and trust, reflecting its restorative atmosphere through four interrelated experiential dimensions: Educational-Cognitive, Aesthetic-Cultural, Natural-Restorative, and Relational-Experiential. Unlike traditional therapeutic landscape studies, this research integrates computational text analytics—such as lexical sentiment analysis, Plutchik emotion detection, and Structural Topic Modelling (STM)—with qualitative field engagement to analyze 587 TripAdvisor reviews and 15 on-site interviews. The findings extend theoretical frameworks into heritage contexts while offering actionable insights for sustainable destination management that preserves the multisensory and community-embedded essence of living sites.

Jana, S. K., & Abdul Sofique, M. (2026). The therapeutic dimension of cultural heritage: insights from Santiniketan, India. Tourism Recreation Research, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2026.2670287