the Travel Enthusiast
- 16 Dec
erato in Medical Travel | NO COMMENTSGlobal wellness tourism in numbers
Family in jacuzzi ©hotel-arabella/Flickr
Wellness tourism has been a really big deal in the past few years and it was projected to be growing with approximately 10% annually in the next 5 years so it is definitely a segment of the travel industry that’s worth paying attention to.
So let’s see a bit more about the details and numbers of global wellness tourism industry and its development. This might also be of interest to anyone who is a fan of spas and full scale wellness treatments.
What is wellness tourism
As a very official definition, wellness tourism is any activity that involves travel and has got as a purpose the maintenance and/or encouragement of a person’s well being – mental and physical.
Wellness clinic in Spain ©JohnONolan/Flickr
Basically it is made up of all kinds of activities that promote health from all points of view from meditation to sauna and massage and so much more. However, the term wellness tourism does not include only the activities themselves but everything connected to them: air or land travel, accommodation, meals and so on.
Wellness tourism in numbers
At the moment wellness tourism makes up about 14% (one seventh) of the whole travel industry, approximately $440 billion dollars a year and growing. According to studies, by the year 2017 it will be a $680 billion business, 16% of all the revenue coming from tourism – incredible, isn’t it?
Sauna at a hotel ©goldener-adler/Flickr
Domestic wellness tourism dominates the industry with 84% at the moment, so most people do not yet travel abroad to avail themselves of these kind of services. At this moment North America, Western Europe and Japan lead the industry, but by 2017 the growth of wellness tourism will be more accentuated in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America as well.
- Flights
- Hotels
- Packages
- Cars
- Cruises
travel search by Travelgrove (get this widget)Segments of wellness tourism
Spa tourism is a very important part of wellness travel, it makes up about 41% of it, but it still does not dominate the market. The other 59% are services not related to spa, such as yoga, travels to natural parks, bio restaurants, fitness, baths, cruises and the list goes on.
Family in jacuzzi ©hotel-arabella/Flickr
Stress of the 21st century lifestyle and an unprecedented rise of chronic diseases have a huge part is the growth of the health related travel all over the world, though especially in developed countries. The fact that masses of people do not only travel for pleasure but also to preserve or better their health is a rather new idea and it is going to reshape the travel industry as we know it.
You might also like
© Copyright 2004 - 2024 Travelgrove, Inc.