ITB Asia News 2019 Preview Edition
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
SPECIAL FEATURE<br />
WELLNESS<br />
13<br />
Yoga at the Handara resort, Bali<br />
Wellness is becoming an essential<br />
part of the travel industry around<br />
the world<br />
Wellness tourism is becoming increasingly important not<br />
only in <strong>Asia</strong> but also in other parts of the world. In recent<br />
years, countries such as Italy, Morocco, Spain or the USA<br />
are turning into popular destinations for wellness. While <strong>Asia</strong><br />
accounts for some of the most prestigious wellness retreats<br />
around the world, Europe is still leading in terms of wellness<br />
trips.<br />
In its annual Global Wellness<br />
Trends ,released at the end of last<br />
year, the Global Wellness Institute<br />
indicates that the wellness industry<br />
was worth US$639.4 billion,<br />
including all the programmes,<br />
services and products dedicated<br />
to the wellbeing of people.<br />
According to GWT, wellness<br />
tourism is a segment that has been<br />
growing by 6.5% annually from<br />
2015-2017 (more than twice the<br />
growth rate for general tourism)<br />
with travellers accounting for 830<br />
million wellness trips in 2017, a<br />
growth of 139 million trips over<br />
2015.<br />
The blossoming of the wellness<br />
sector in the travel industry is<br />
driven by the rapid rise of the<br />
middle class around the world and<br />
particularly in <strong>Asia</strong>. According to<br />
the latest report, Europe remains<br />
the destination for the largest<br />
number of wellness trips, while<br />
North America leads in wellness<br />
tourism expenditures.<br />
According to the Global Wellness<br />
Tourism Economy report,<br />
“Wellness tourism growth is<br />
very much a tale of developing<br />
markets, with <strong>Asia</strong>-Pacific, Latin<br />
America-Caribbean, Middle East-<br />
North Africa, and Sub-Saharan<br />
Africa accounting for 57 per cent<br />
of the increase in wellness trips.<br />
Over the past five years, <strong>Asia</strong> is<br />
the number one growth sector in<br />
both wellness tourism trips and<br />
revenues.”<br />
The report indicates that <strong>Asia</strong><br />
Pacific recorded 258 million trips<br />
with expenditures reaching US$<br />
136.7 bn in 2017. The continent<br />
was second after Europe with 292<br />
million trips and ahead of North<br />
America with 204 million trips.<br />
Growth has been driven by an<br />
expanding global middle class,<br />
growing consumer desire to<br />
adopt a wellness lifestyle, rising<br />
interest in experiential travel, and<br />
increasing affordability of flights<br />
and travel options.<br />
While there is a trend to practice<br />
holistic wellbeing at home or in<br />
a private environment, spas and<br />
hotels in <strong>Asia</strong> continue to attract<br />
travellers looking for a healthy<br />
mind and body. The continent has<br />
indeed some of the best renowned<br />
spas and wellness retreats in the<br />
world.<br />
But many countries are now<br />
looking at promoting wellness<br />
destinations to their visitors. The<br />
wellness thematic is also a good<br />
way for governments to diversify<br />
their tourist market, by carving<br />
out a niche which will can help<br />
reduce seasonality, fighting over<br />
tourism by promoting secondary<br />
destinations.<br />
The well-being factor is also<br />
accompanied by organic-driven<br />
gastronomy and eco-consumption<br />
and the inclusion of the person’s<br />
wishes. As an example, some<br />
luxury hotels offer free yoga<br />
sessions and meditation to their<br />
guests. A new trend is group of<br />
travellers bringing their own yoga<br />
coach.<br />
Wellness retreats are even<br />
expanding into urban destinations<br />
with many brands moving into<br />
metropolises to create “city oases”.<br />
As more consumers incorporate<br />
wellness into their lifestyles, there<br />
are many opportunities for the<br />
travel business to infuse wellness<br />
into their offerings and capture<br />
spending by wellness travellers<br />
ACCORDING<br />
TO THE ANNUAL<br />
REPORT OF<br />
GLOBAL<br />
WELLNESS<br />
TRENDS,<br />
WELLNESS<br />
TOURISM IS A<br />
SEGMENT THAT<br />
HAS BEEN<br />
GROWING BY<br />
6.5% ANNUALLY<br />
SINCE 2015-<br />
2017 WITH<br />
TRAVELLERS<br />
ACCOUNTING<br />
FOR 830<br />
MILLION<br />
WELLNESS<br />
TRIPS IN 2017.<br />
<strong>ITB</strong> ASIA NEWS • Thursday 10 October <strong>2019</strong>