2014 Wellness Travel Trends

Wellness Tourism Worldwide’s Top 10 Wellness Travel Trends of 2014 is based on data collection and research conducted throughout the year that consolidated trends across several sectors and industries to deliver practical knowledge to individuals and businesses, and to help businesses boost sales and maximize profits. 

Data and trend analysis included site visits, literary review, surveys, interviews, and feedback from consumers, travel trade, healthcare professionals, wellness experts, and academia.

"The multidimensionality of wellness opens the door to a whole new world," said Camille Hoheb, wellness travel industry expert, founder of Wellness Tourism Worldwide and editor of Wellness Travel Journal. “This forecast will encourage consumers and business to think of vacation travel in new ways. Our data shows that consumers view vacations as an important way to improve health, happiness, and productivity. Vacation trips are often a catalyst for transformation and consumers view wellness travel as a personal investment.” 

Snapshot: Top 10 Trends 

1. Mind Matters. Consumers have caught on to mindful vacations that offer mental restoration. Practices learned on a trip—meditation, yoga, qi going, journaling—could be incorporated at home to help manage stress, improve cognitive capacity, and maintain emotional equilibrium. 

2. The Rise of Wellness Travel Agents. As interest in trips to enhance mind, body, and spirit grows, wellness tourism has created a niche for travel agents to expand their business while offering a personally and professionally rewarding career specialty. 

3. La Local Vita. Consumers have developed a deeper appreciation for locally relevant and authentic experiences that emphasize living la local vita (the local life). Mindsets have shifted from tourist behavior to a keen interest in community-based exploration, where getting to know locals in a meaningful way sweetens the experience. 

4. Breaking Bread With Wellness. Food tourism is a big trend intersecting with wellness travel. Along with the physical aspect of sustenance, food tours, cooking classes, agriculture, and farm-to-table experiences speak to the emotional, social, intellectual, and sustainable aspects of well-being. 

5. Vacation RX. “Take two weeks and call me in the morning.” Physicians are prescribing vacations as an antidote to stress. Doctor’s orders for physical activity in parks are also being written, to help combat obesity and diabetes in children. 

6. Looking for Personal Enrichment. Understanding that wellness is more than fitness and nutrition, consumers are choosing trips that focus on personal enrichment solely or as a part of their travel. Many view vacations, weekend getaways, and retreats as a catalyst for change. 

7. Slow Travel. Have you ever felt pressured to run through your vacation, checking off sights to see and things to do? Slow travel advocates changing the pace to sip, savor, and revel in the vacation experience. 

8. Affluent & Altruistic. Spurred by personal growth and discovery, affluent travelers value experiences connecting them to charitable causes and local communities. Volunteering on vacation has become increasingly popular, and research shows altruism can improve well-being. 

9. Burgeoning Secondary Wellness Market. Many travelers may opt against wellness retreats or tours, but are committed to maintaining a healthy lifestyle on the road. Air transit and hotels are investing resources to attract these guests, both business and leisure travelers.

10. Spas on a Mission. The spa industry is staking a claim on wellness tourism and wellness in general. Eager to shake the image of pampering for the affluent, spas are repackaging and rebranding as wellness providers to attract a larger market.

Visit www.wellnesstourismworldwide.com to request a free download of the Top 10 Wellness Travel Trends for 2014 infographic.

Source: Wellness Tourism Worldwide