Health and wellness and the luxury market

Health and wellness tourism is often seen as a little sister to medical tourism. But in the real world, health and wellness tourism is several times bigger and makes a lot more money, than medical tourism.

While most of the medical tourism market seeks to target customers by concentrating on low price, health and wellness tourism has seen that the luxury market is the way to go.

At the 2014 International Luxury Travel Market a panel of experts predicted that by the year 2040, 90% of all luxury tourism will include an aspect of health and wellness.

Travel agents, tour operators and hotels are all jumping on to the health and wellness bandwagon. Wellness tourism is the new revolution.

There is growing interest from clients in health and wellness, so travel advisors have to help their clients travel well and know what health and wellness facilities are at every hotel.

Medical and health tourism

Medical tourism still tries to integrate itself into normal travel. This may work for Diaspora going home or travellers wanting a medical test before indulging in more consumption. Butmany attempts have been poorly thought through or just bizarre such as the idea that football supporters going to the World Cup in South Africa would have the time, money or inclination to stop off for cosmetic surgery.

Health and wellness travel used to be about people going for a trip for a wellness break or a specific cure for age, weight or other problem. And travel used to mean people going on business or holiday. Hotels began adding wellness facilities for these trippers- and over time the range of services has grown.

So you now have-particularly at the luxury end- a situation where people expect a certain level of health and wellness offerings. So luxury hotels and resorts are increasingly focused on elements of health and wellness.

So the two sectors have morphed into one, and many future guests choose where to stay based on the health and wellness facilities. This morphing has also segmented the market into the luxury one- and the basic spa/wellness one with very basic facilities. Many countries and wellness destinations are struggling to work out where they are and where they want to be in this morphing market.

The interest in wellness travel continues to grow at an accelerated rate and, increasingly, customers are honest in identifying it as a key motivator in their travel and purchasing decisions. The focus on healthy living continues to permeate into new areas of the travel experience and in the future many aspects of travel will feature some element of wellness.

Changing patterns

Among the factors driving growth are governments promoting healthy living to reduce medical expenses and health care costs, increased education, and better promotion of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

Wellness is about so much more than a spa treatment or a yoga class. Meditation and healthy dining choices are now also available at many luxury properties and even within mainstream global hotel brands.

Hotels, travel providers, and destinations are changing and adapting their offerings to reflect the benefits of health and wellness.

Together with this there is a massive rise in biking and walking tours plus a vast range of outdoor leisure activities. And these activities are increasingly bedding in to standard hotel, cruise and beach holidays.

Luxury trips

Many luxury trips are based on unusual experiences and it very much depends on the age of the traveller and their lifestyle. Luxury travel is also moving down in age from the older traveller to families. The younger generation—between 20 and 30—is increasingly aware of healthy lifestyles, and they will be active luxury travellers by 2040.

Luxury travel advisers have seen a dramatic shift in customer priorities over the past few years. Until a few years ago the primary focus was on luxurious accommodation, lavish food and beverage experiences, and sedentary activities. Now the vast majority want to design their travels so they return feeling better about themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally, and not feeling worse due to over consumption and lack of exercise.

Even this has moved on so that some customers have started focusing on fitness and adventure as the main activity of their trip, which is where the biggest growth will occur in the next two decades. Some people want to use their vacation time as a way to jump-start a healthier lifestyle.

Future

Wellness travel is on the up and it is not just a temporary trend, but also a permanent shift in direction.

What this means for medical tourism is for a future feature-but at present it seems that while the wellness traveller is in the luxury seats of a major airline, the medical tourist is on a budget airline.