Call it another unanticipated outcome of the COVID pandemic.
Stress has been piling up on many people - and so have those stay-at-home, learn-to-bake-bread and homemade pizza pounds. Now that travel is opening back up, reports say many people are eager to seek new horizons - and return from their travels more fit and well than when they left.
Wellness travel is entering a boom phase. The Global Institute of Wellness predicts that wellness travel will be worth approximately $919 billion by 2022 - that’s about 18 per cent of global travel.
A CNN article notes that Slimmeria, a UK-based weight loss, detox and fitness retreat operator has been sold out since May.
"Most of our UK and European retreats that have been able to run have sold out this summer, although everyone says bookings are last minute," Caroline Sylger Jones, the founder of retreat guide and review site Queen of Retreats, told CNN. "Definitely people are looking to lose their lockdown weight and get fitter."
The same article mentions Hilton Head Health in South Carolina which has seen a 30 per cent increase in new inquiries since mid-February, with a six- to eight-week waiting list. Movara in Utah was also sold out for 18 weeks in a row.
Wellness means a lot of different things to different travellers. It can involve a spiritual or therapeutic retreat as well as traditional weight-loss resorts or innovative new fitness programs.
That makes the consultation process between travel advisor and client even more important.
“Making the traveller aware that wellness travel is not (always) just a weight loss clinic, it’s a way of living a healthier lifestyle and wellness travel is just an extension of this,” Murigheal Montecalvo, the founder and CEO of Vacayou Wellness Travel, described the challenge to Skift.
And it presents new - and newly significant - opportunities to the travel agency community and destinations.
As Open Jaw reported, Germany launched a new, 2021 tourism campaign focused on their health and wellness destinations.
And when UNESCO met in JUL, one of the new World Heritage Sites it named was a collection of “The Great Spa Towns of Europe.’ These historic wellness destinations - including Baden bei Wien in Austria, Spa in Belgium, Vichy in France, Baden-Baden, Bad Ems and Bad Kissingen in Germany, Montecatini Terme in Italy, Bath in the UK, and Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně in the Czech Republic - were all founded around natural mineral springs, and are seeing a new interest and revival today.
In Canada, Therme Group recently announced plans for a CAN$350 million waterfront wellbeing resort in Toronto at Ontario Place. The plan is for it to be a family-friendly experience with indoor and outdoor pools, waterslides and a wave pool, natural spaces to relax, sports performance/recovery services and botanical gardens.
However travellers define wellness or fitness travel, there are more and more ways for savvy travel advisors to help cement their value to their clients by helping create the perfect wellness trip for them.
