top five wellness travel trends 2021 | stylus · cue new niche brands or tailored retreats designed...
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Travel & HopitalitREPORT PUBLISHED: 9 JUL 2020 BY: ESTELLA SHARDLOW
What’s next for the $639bn wellness tourism industry? As travelling resumespost-pandemic, health and wellbeing-focused retreats are poised to beespecially in demand, bringing a wealth of brand opportunities. We spotlightfive major trends – from lab-led personalisation to nature connectedness – toreach the next wave of respite-seeking consumers.
ummar
Lab-Led Personalisation In-depth data-gathering consultations are becoming the firsttouchpoint of many wellness experiences, as amedi-spa approach moves into the mainstream.By assessing clients’ DNA, hormone levels,mineralogy and other biomarkers, retreatscreate tailor-made regimens for optimal results,including personalised nutrition plans.
Nurturing Through Nature Supported bynumerous studies linking green space to all-roundhealth, biophilia (human’s innate need to connectwith nature) is a major buzzword in wellness. Newretreats tap into the global popularity ofJapanese-inspired forest bathing (originallyexplored in Wandering Wellness), re-wilding andforaging – many adding a primal, groundingaspect of physical endurance.
Welcoming Wellness Newcomers Expandingbeyond the industry’s archetypal core (theaffluent female consumer) men’s wellness is amajor growth sector, as definitions of masculinityevolve and taboos around mental health fade;intergenerational family retreats are also on therise. Cue new niche brands or tailored retreatsdesigned to resonate with these specific groups.
Mind Over Matter For consumers seekingalternative (anti-Big Pharma) healing and cravingconnectedness, there’s a growing wellnessvanguard dealing in transcendent experiencesand altered states of consciousness. Premiumpsychedelics retreats are proliferating, while non-western mysticism – reiki, fire ceremonies, crystaltherapy – are being adopted by mainstreamwellness hospitality brands. See our podcast formore.
Altruistic Retreats: Self-Care Becomes LessSelfish Part of the wider bent towards mindfultravel, wellness stays that mutually benefitcommunity and personal wellbeing are emerging –scheduling philanthropic micro-actions alongsideyoga, fitness or pampering. Recent studieshighlighting how altruistic acts boost mental healthand happiness (University of Oxford, 2019) addimpetus to making self-care less selfish. Forearlier thinking, see Hospitality with Heart.
Wellness, a Post-Covid-19 Travel PriorityWith the pandemic impacting physical and mentalwellbeing – 45% of Americans say it’s causedpsychological distress (UN, 2020) – consumersare craving restorative, health-fortifying escapes.The $639bn wellness tourism market, projected toreach $919bn by 2022 (Global Wellness Institute,2018), will likely see travel’s biggest bounce back.
At A Glance The Regional Focus of this Report – Global
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Key Stats
Lab-Led Personalisation
$639bn The $639bn wellness tourism market is projected to reach $919bn by 2022
45% Forty-five per cent of Americans say that the pandemic has caused them caused psychologicaldistress
$11.5bn The personalised nutrition market is set to be worth $11.5bn by 2025
Nurturing Through Nature
90% Americans on average spend 90% of their day indoors
180% Google searches for ‘forest bathing’ soared 180% worldwide over the past year
Welcoming Wellness Newcomers
1/6 By 2050, one in six people globally will be aged over 65
5 Currently, men are expected to live five years less than women (76.1 years vs 81.1 years)
$4.4bn In 2019, the men’s personal care market was valued at more than $4.4bn in annual sales
34% One-third (34%) of American dads who use personal care products say they care about preventingthe signs of ageing
Altruistic Retreats: Self-Care Becomes Less Selfish
2/3 Two-thirds of Brits believe being kind to others positively affects their mental health
40% Four in 10 Britons currently engage in volunteering activities
Lab-Led Personalisation
Relevant Industries
Fitness/Sports/Outdoor
Food/Bev
Health Care/Pharma
Travel/Hospitality
Trend Duration
Innovation Platforms
Now 2 yrs 5 yrs 10 yrs 20 yrs
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Clinique La Prairie x OligoScan Clinique La Prairie uses nutrigenomics to inform guests’ dietary plans
Euphoria Retreat The Asaya Spa
Leading wellness retreats are harnessing scientific testing to prescribe increasinglyindividualised, quantifiable programmes. Analysing everything from chronotypes to microbiomes,this taps consumer demand for wellness travel that optimises and fortifies long-term health.
Zoe Wall, group director of global hotel spa company MSPA International told Stylus: “Now, morethan ever, personalisation is critical: it’s about keeping the body in optimal health versus waitingfor the body to get sick... Going forward, consumer demand will focus on preventive wellness,using diagnostics as the foundation for tailor-made programmes.”
Medi Spa Runs R&D: At Swiss resort Clinique La Prairie, chief executive Simone
Gibertoni observes “a growing demand for ultra-personalisation” – consequently, “geneticshave taken an even stronger front seat”. Tests of DNA markers, mineralogy and heavymetals (via photometric device OligoScan) begin its signature week-long programmes,while nutrigenomics informs guests’ dietary plans. The establishment unveiled an in-houselife-science division in May 2020, researching how microbiota and senescent cells canpromote longevity.
In-Depth Dietary Planning: Euphoria Retreat, in Greece, analyses guests’ levels of
glutathione, a key biomarker of metabolic health, via a blood test to create personalisedenergy-boosting nutrition programmes. Meanwhile, The Asaya Spa at Hong Kong’sRosewood hotel curates personalised healthy mini-bars for guests, based on a WellnessLifestyle Assessment, Genetic Analysis and 3D Skin Analysis.
Forward Planning: In June 2019, Bali’s Revivo Wellness Resort partnered with DNA test
provider GenePlanet to launch individual nutritional advice and lifestyle plans; test kits areposted to guests prior to travelling, with results shared by the resort’s in-house wellnesscoach.
Meanwhile, pre-trip online health surveys, DNA tests and other diagnostics such as bloodand urine tests are also used by BodyHoliday, in St Lucia, to tailor its BodyScience Plusprogramme.
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Revivo Wellness Resort Revivo Wellness Resort x GenePlanet
BodyHoliday BodyHoliday
Friends Of Saanenwald Friends Of Saanenwald
Nurturing Through Nature
From boosting immunity to battling anxiety, recent research links time in nature to all-round health.Profound connections with the natural world, already sought-after as an antidote to today’ssedentary, screen-addicted lifestyles, will become even more pertinent post-pandemic asconsumers, at least temporarily, favour spacious outdoor isolation over hands-on spa treatments.
Forest Bathing Boom: Shinrin-Yoku, a Japanese mindfulness practice developed in the
1980s (initially tracked in Wandering Wellness), is inspiring wellness programmes in the
West, and Google searches for ‘forest bathing research’ soared 300% worldwide over thepast year (Google Trends, 2020). In autumn 2019, Swiss nonprofit Friends of Saanenwaldlaunched forest bathing retreats where wild camping is paired with foraging for medicinalherbs, and up to four hours of daily guided Shinrin-Yoku walks.
Luxury brand Rosewood was set to launch a four-day “restorative Forest Bathing andAnusara Yoga retreat” in March 2020 at its Castiglion del Bosco property in Tuscany, led byItalian bio researcher Marco Nieri (postponed due to Covid-19).
“The wonderfully complex instrument that is our physical body is designed to thrive in nature,”psychotherapist Claire de Boursac, founder of UK forest-bathing company Nature asNurture, told Stylus.
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Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco
Nature as Nurture
Primal Appeal: Stressed-out, purpose-seeking travellers are swapping cossetting spas for
hands-on wilderness challenges. Survival skills, woodland camping and icy dawn sea swimsare on the agenda at stress-management and wellbeing course Thera-Sea, in Cornwall, UK,founded by a clinical mental health nurse. Its next Rewilding Retreat (September 2020) isalready fully booked.
Similarly, UK company The Arrigo Programme’s four-day, tented Back to Nurture retreatsset out to “radically recharge” burnt-out consumers with a return to “community, nature, craft,and imagination – when we tap into these fundamentals, we activate something deep in thememory-consciousness,” says founder and psychotherapist Fiona Arrigo.
In November 2019, US luxury wellness brand Canyon Ranch opened its first retreat devotedto nature reconnection in California. Guests sleep in treehouses in a redwood forest duringthe multi-day ‘Connect’ programme, conceived to “challenge their physical abilities, whilegaining the tools to live healthier, longer.”
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Thera-Sea Thera-Sea
Thera-Sea
The Arrigo Programme The Arrigo Programme
The Arrigo Programme Canyon Ranch
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Canyon Ranch
Six Senses Bumthang Six Senses Bumthang
Nomadic Luxury Wellness: In May 2020, five-star spa hotel chain Six Senses opened its
fifth and final lodge in Bhutan (earmarked as one of our Top Five Travel Destinations 2020).
Billed as ‘a forest within a forest’, each timber guest cabin at Six Senses Bumthang has apine sapling planted in its open-air vestibule to unite inside and outside. Tapping into thespiritual allure of this destination and its remote Buddhist temples, the brand encouragesguests to complete a pilgrimage-style circuit of all five lodges.
Welcoming Wellness Newcomers
As wellness enters mainstream health vocabulary, its audience is diversifying. Tailoredprogrammes now cater to previously overlooked groups: men, seniors and kids. FrancesGeoghegan, founder of wellness-focused tour operator Healing Holidays, told Stylus they’ve seen“a big growth from the male consumer, wanting to take charge of their health in a demandingworld.”
Male Mind-Camps: Men’s Health magazine held its first fitness retreat in summer 2019 at
Italy’s Falisia Luxury Collection Resort, while Men’s Vitality at Absolute Sanctuary, Thailand,pairs stress management sessions with personal training, nutrition coaching and spapampering. US operator Hero’s Journey Experience taps into indigenous ayahuascaceremonies to aid self-development and empowerment on monthly, men-only retreats inEcuador and Peru. Such schemes reflect the shifting societal perceptions of male strengthand vulnerability, as explored in Enlightened Masculinity.
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Men’s Health Fitness Retreat Men’s Health Fitness Retreat
Men’s Vitality at Absolute Sanctuary
Hero’s Journey Experience Hero’s Journey Experience
Tapping the Silver Spend: By 2050, one in six people globally will be aged over 65 (UN,
2019), and baby boomers already represent America’s fastest-growing health club membergroup (IHRSA, 2018). SHA Wellness Clinic, Spain, targets this demographic with its HealthyAgeing Men programme, as does the Senior Citizen Retreat at India’s Vishwa WellnessCentre. Designed to aid independence and mobility for “ageing gracefully”, activities
comprise gait, balance and posture training, stretching and light strength building. See also
Accelerating Ageing Well.
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SHA Wellness Clinic Vishwa Wellness Centre
Rosewood Growing Together Rosewood Wellness For Kids
Balance Holidays organises family creativity retreats
Family Values: Rosewood Hong Kong’s Asaya Spa has created two programmes to aid
familial relationships – "Growing Together" and "Wellness for Kids" – which includecoaching mindfulness for juniors and intergenerational communication skills. The initiativewill appeal to families described in Gen Alpha Influences Family Travel.
Inclusive Wellness: Italy-based wellness travel company Balance Holidays organises
family creativity retreats, where families sleep in treehouses and practise yoga andmeditation together. Founder Livia Manca di Villahermos also reports “an unexpectedly highnumber of men attending our retreats – they’re our most loyal clients,” and has introduced aninstalment payment option to boost inclusivity.
Mind Over Matter
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Myco Meditations Myco Meditations
Synthesis Synthesis
As reported in Beyond Burnout, the quest to improve emotional and psychological wellbeing,
alongside growing disillusionment with conventional medicine, is seeing consumers – particularlyaffluent millennials – delve into mind-altering experiences and non-western rituals. An emergingcrop of full-service retreats recontextualises these adventures, with stylish surroundings andprofessional supervision.
Getting High, High-End: All-inclusive, premium magic mushroom retreats are flourishing in
countries where psilocybin is legal. Jamaica’s Myco Meditations offers tiered packages(classic, comfort, or, for $10,500, concierge) and follow-up video calls with therapists, whileDutch coastal hideaway Synthesis entices wealthy professionals with sleek architecture andvegetarian fine-dining. “Not everyone interested in trying psychedelics wants to travel to the
depths of the Amazon, lay on a mat for six days and puke their guts up,” says founder PaulAustin. Listen to our podcast for more.
Alternative Salves for Mental Health: Hosting Psilocybin Retreats across Latin and North
America, The Buena Vida Retreats sold out all 14 of its 2019-2020 itineraries. Its age-diverse, equally gender-split audience (18-82 years old, with 45-65 most common) citeanxiety, depression and trauma as reasons for attending, and three-quarters stopped allSSRI medication (antidepressants) post-retreat. Research (2019) by Johns Hopkins andImperial College London validates psilocybin’s effectiveness in remedying treatment-resistant depression.
Founder Amanda Schendel told Stylus: “Government bodies are finally lifting draconianrestrictions on psychedelics’ scientific study, and the Big Pharma ‘sick care’ approach tomental health has been shown at a minimum to be ineffective in the long-term... These twofactors have pushed even more conservative citizens to question the benefits of these onceculturally outcast medicines.” She adds: “The other reason seems to be loneliness – ourmodern, western culture has lost almost all forms of ritual and ceremony, but these help usfashion a life of meaning.”
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The Buena Vida Retreats The Buena Vida Retreats
Psychedelic Journeys Psychedelic Journeys
Tabula Rasa Retreat
Indigenous-inspired Addiction Therapy: Niche detox retreats are emerging around
ibogaine (another plant-based psychoactive substance) as a treatment for substance usedisorders. Psychedelic Journeys will host an iboga eco-retreat in Costa Rica in March 2021,with guests consuming iboga root bark on two overnight sessions, alongside an on-sitedoctor and post-retreat check-up calls. Portugal’s Tabula Rasa Retreat pairs ibogainetreatment with equine therapy, yoga and drumming circles; clients receive free Skypesupport sessions for life.
New Horizons: MDMA could potentially be the next drug assimilated into wellness therapy,
since the US authorised Phase 3 trials (completing 2021) into its usage for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); the Israeli Ministry of Health already approved MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD sufferers in 2019.
Altruistic Retreats: Self-Care Becomes Less Selfish
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Voluntourism is being more top-of-mind for travellers
Souljourn Yoga Souljourn Yoga Souljourn Yoga
Reflecting a growing inclination to offset personal indulgence with positive impact on thedestination, The Global Wellness Institute forecasts an industry-wide shift from 'me' to 'we', withvoluntourism and community initiatives becoming as scrutinised as the spa’s treatment menu.Taking the impact full-circle, altruistic activities in turn boost consumers’ wellbeing – volunteeringresults in happiness levels comparable to a major pay rise (Harvard Health, 2019), while two-thirds of Brits believe being kind to others positively affects their mental health (Mental HealthFoundation, 2020).
“The thinking of wellness is evolving to not just what’s good for me, but what is this bringing to thecountry and region,” says Katherine Johnston, senior research fellow at the Global WellnessInstitute. “[Wellness] lends itself to a more sustainable model for communities.”
Yoga Fuels Female Empowerment: Heading to Cape Town and Peru for its 2021
retreats, US nonprofit Souljourn Yoga supports girls’ education by partnering with a localcharity in each host country, donating a portion ($300-500) of the retreat fee for projects suchas building boarding houses or schools, and taking guests to visit the girls they’re aiding.
Time Well Spent: US-based ‘transformational travel’ company 109 World goes beyond the
donations model – for instance, its five-day ‘yoga x volunteering retreat’ in Morocco (late2020) sees travellers assisting in free community classes for disadvantaged womenalongside their daily yoga and meditation classes.
See The Altruism Movement and Towards Mindful Tourism for more.
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109 World 109 World 109 World
Future Inight
Topic
Architecture & Spaces | Brand Experience & Activations | Coronavirus | Digital Worlds |Fast Consumption | Food & Beverage | Hospitality & Service | Inclusivity Outlook |Luxury Perspectives | Parenting & Families | Science & Technology | Sports & Leisure |Sustainable Futures | Travel | Wraparound Wellness
109 World
Fine-Tune Treatments for UnderservedDemographicsAs wellness becomes assimilated intomainstream health messaging – a right, not aluxury add-on – brands must eradicate a'one-size-fits-all' approach and addressspecific needs of long-overlooked consumergroups. Family retreats, seniors and malemental health are key growth markets; tailorexperiences that speak to their nichewellbeing needs and lifestyles.
Think Long-Term: Reforming Habits &Follow-Up CareRobust, evidence-based therapies arerequired to win over today’s sophisticatedwellness consumer, for whom longevity, self-optimisation and habit reformation arebuzzwords. Looking beyond arbitrary healthassessments (e.g. weight) and quick-fixescapism deepens retreats’ efficacy throughin-depth scientific testing and holisticcustomer care that extends pre- and post-retreat.
Rewild Your Wellness OfferInfluenced by social distancing, experiencesoffering space and solace in nature areprimed to dominate as travel resumes. Fromforest bathing to wilderness lodges, biophiliadelivers the “big emotional, spiritual andphysical recharge” that Blair Campbell, headof strategy at Asia-Pacific health conferenceFIT Summit, predicts will usurp “traditionalspa offers with hands-on treatments.”
Put the ‘We’ into WellnessTapping into The Altruism Movement, enablepurpose-seeking travellers to move fromconsumers to contributors, getting anendorphin-boosting kindness boost frommicro-actions that aid community or climate.The drive to enrich hard-hit communitiesalongside personal R&R will only beheightened in Covid-19’s wake; expect to seeself-care and voluntourism converge.
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Please think before you print.
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