International wellness tourism growing faster than domestic

International wellness tourism revenues have been growing at a significantly faster rate than domestic wellness tourism. International/ inbound wellness travel grew at a much faster rate than its domestic equivalent from 2013-2015.

According to the Global Wellness Institute international wellness tourism revenues have been growing at a significantly faster rate (20% from 2013-2015) than domestic wellness tourism (11%).

Secondary wellness tourism (wellness services sought during travel, but where wellness is not the main purpose of the trip) is growing slightly faster than primary wellness tourism (where the main purpose of the trip is wellness).

Domestic wellness tourism represents the majority of wellness trips (83%) and revenues (67%). But international/inbound wellness travel grew at a much faster rate than its domestic equivalent from 2013-2015: 22% growth in trips and 20% growth in revenues for international, compared to 17% and 11% for domestic.

While international revenues grew more than twice as fast as domestic, both categories saw strong growth from 2013-2015: international trips grew from 95.3 million to 116 million, while domestic trips jumped from 491 million to 575 million.

The bulk of wellness travel is from secondary wellness tourists, those who seek wellness experiences during travel, but where wellness is not the primary motivation for the trip. Secondary wellness tourists accounted for 89% of wellness tourism trips and 86% of expenditures in 2015 – up from 87% of trips and 84% expenditures in 2013.

While the travel and hospitality industry tends to focus on the primary wellness traveller (where wellness is the main motivation for the trip) they need to pay keen attention to mainstream travellers who are increasingly incorporating more healthy experiences (spa treatments, fitness or food) into their overall leisure and business travel.

Revenues 2015 (international & domestic combined) 2015

Source: Global Wellness Institute