The Global Wellness Institute has presented its second annual symposium, ÒThe Wellness Showcase: Wellness Experiences & Travel Trends 2018Ó at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai.
The focus was on the macro shift from experiential to more ÒtransformativeÓ wellness travel, and how travellers now seek (and destinations are innovating) more emotional, life-changing wellness journeys rather than the old programming, treatments and classes. GWI chairman and CEO Susie Ellis shared emerging trends that fall under the transformative umbrella: from brands creating multi-property wellness circuits or story-based wellness sagas to the rise of more extreme wellness at destinations (whether intense mind-over-matter challenges or empowering wellness travel for women).
The GWI also provided a sneak peek of key developments unfolding in the MENA wellness tourism market in advance of the Ò2018 Global Wellness Tourism Economy MonitorÓ being released in November at World Travel Market (WTM) in London, including the first truly comprehensive wellness resorts hitting the region and a hot springs development rush from Algeria to Saudi Arabia.
To bring wellness approaches to life, the symposium became an experiential theatre, with doctors, experts and master practitioners from Dubai Herbal & Treatment Center, Hilton Worldwide, International SOS, Jumeirah Resorts, Sofitel the Palm, State of One, The Retreat Palm Dubai and WTS International demonstrating. On display were ayurvedic approaches, ÒsmartÓ wellness screening and skin analyses, acupuncture, herbal medicine, tai chi, kung fu, colour and aromatherapy, sound/vibrational therapies like Tibetan singing bowls, gongs and laughter yoga. Leaders from Dubai’s Health Authority and the Caribbean Tourism Organization shared strategies for attracting the wellness tourist, and innovative properties like Switzerland’s new Burgenstock Resort shared impressive photography of their hotels and resorts.
ÒThe buzzword in travel today is Ôtransformative,’ and while it can never be precisely defined and often gets misused, for the wellness travel sector it’s the very brand and promise,Ó noted Susie Ellis. ÒWellness travellers increasingly demand true brain, body and soul shake-upsÐintense personal growth rather than just pamperingÐand destinations are creatively heeding the call.Ó
I) Aspects of the transformative wellness travel trend from the ATM symposium:
Destinations creating immersive, story-based, epic wellness journeys
The trend: moving beyond the piecemeal (and sometimes un-engaging) approach of classes, treatments and itineraries to a necklace of integrated wellness experiences that cast the traveller-pilgrim in an emotional, multi-chapter wellness journey or a theatrical saga of transformation. Example: Six Senses building the first multi-property wellness circuits from a hospitality brand, like Six Senses Bhutan (opening 2018), where people journey across five lodges, immersed in five pillars of Bhutan’s ÒGross National Happiness Index.Ó
More performance, music & art mixed with wellness
To spark the brain and emotion, more art, performance, music and literature is being served up with wellness. Examples: at China’s stunning new Amanyangun resort the vision is equal parts culture and wellness, where calligraphy, painting and Kunqu Opera performances take place in the ancient scholars’ studio. At the now-being-redesigned Peninsula Hot Springs (AU) people will be able to watch concerts, plays and talks while floating in a vast hot springs amphitheatre.
From generic to genetic: hyper-personalised wellness based on your DNA and biomarkers
Thanks to a wave of ever-better DNA, personal biomarker, intestinal microbiome and epigenetic testing (targeting genes that can be turned on or off with lifestyle changes), more medical-wellness destinations are deploying new deep-view testing to create specific-only-to-you health, diet, fitness and even skincare roadmaps. This transformative information can be acted on at home via telemedicine. Example: California’s famed Cal-a-Vie spa uses the new, super-comprehensive Wellness FX platform that tests cardiovascular, metabolic, hormonal and nutritional health, then combines that knowledge with consultations and online habit tracking, to create a precision wellness plan based on each person’s biology.
Brain hacks and optimisation
If wellness destinations have long focused on physical fitness, the coming surge is brain health and optimization Ð whether serving up eatable and drink-able brain-boosting nootropics or using cutting-edge brain neuromodulation technologies to create that better, less stressed, more focused brain. Example: Spain’s SHA Wellness Clinic just launched a Brain Photo Modulation program (using transcranial stimulation technology) to improve guests’ cognitive function and memory and reduce anxiety and depression.
Extreme mind-over-matter training
Transformative travel is about conquering challenges, even scary ones, and a key trend is wellness travel that goes far beyond lazing on a beach or gently practising yoga. Wellness warriors are seeking everything from survivor-style fitness challenges to training at the elite athlete level to extreme mind-over-matter workshops to achieve things they never thought possible. Examples: BodyHoliday in St. Lucia’s WellFit retreats where you train with Olympians and NFL champions or ÒIce ManÓ Wim Hof’s destination retreats where the fearless learn a meditation and breathwork program to brave extreme ice and master their immune and autonomic nervous systems. (Extreme ice/cold experiences are generally hot.)
Happiness travel
There’s a new science of happiness, like the annual World Happiness Report, that analyzes which nations are the happiest and why. And this new body of happiness research provides key lessons for wellness travel: drive more social connection (loneliness is unhealthy) and more tech disconnection (smartphones have created a depression and anxiety epidemic). With an unhappiness epidemic, suddenly no WiFi wellness destinations focused on contemplation, community and deep nature are the most sought after. More happiness (or joy-for-joy’s sake) programming will rise: from eating for happiness, with menus packed with serotonin-boosting foods; more Òhappy fitness,Ó or exercise that returns us to childlike play. More governments (from Bhutan to the UAE to Costa Rica) are putting citizen’s happiness at the heart of government policy and they will realize that a happy country is a strong tourism brand Ð as there’s insatiable consumer interest in the unique wellness philosophies of the happiest nations: from the Danish concept of ÒhyggeÓ (coziness and contentment) to Sweden’s ÒlagomÓ (a life lived in moderation) to Japan’s ÒikigaiÓ (finding true purpose in life).
Empowering all-women wellness travel
In this fourth wave of feminism, more destinations and tour companies are focusing on all-women adventures and retreats that are part women’s empowerment and part wellness. There’s a boom in more challenging all-women’s adventure travel, from companies like AdventureWomen, WHOA, Intrepid and Exodus. More ÒpainmoonsÓ: emotional healing retreats for women who have suffered loss or grief, like Borgo Ignazia’s (Italy) Tarant Program. Bold new concepts like Finland’s SuperShe Island, a membership-based remote island destination where only women roam, immersed in meditation, yoga, sauna, farm-to-table cookingÉand female bonding. Mainstream hotels like W are programming around gender equality, with ÒWhat She SaidÓ events that mix empowering female speakers with fitness/wellness.
II) Key developments in MENA wellness travel & spa markets:
The Global Wellness Institute also presented important new wellness travel and spa developments across MENA, prior to the release of their new wellness tourism research at WTM.
GWI Senior Researchers, Katherine Johnston and Ophelia Yeung, reported on big-picture reasons why MENA wellness tourism Ð an $8.3 billion annual market as of 2015 – will be a growth story.
Why MENA wellness tourism is growing
Johnston and Yeung noted that the MENA region (especially Gulf nations) is suffering a chronic disease epidemic, with some of the world’s fastest growth rates for obesity, heart disease, diabetes and depression. This makes preventative wellness an imperative and something more governments will support and people will seek.
Inbound travel is also growing fast overall: from 64.7 million arrivals in 2007 to 128 mil. in 2022, with receipts, projected to skyrocket from $55.9 mil. to $1 billion in the same period. This is much faster inbound tourism growth than the global average.*
Travellers from many top MENA inbound markets embrace wellness as a lifestyle (the UK, France, U.S. and Germany are all top-12 source markets); more primary wellness travellers will flow into the region.
While MENA’s wellness travel market has traditionally revolved around uber-luxury spas/hotels, now hospitality development is shifting towards far more comprehensive wellness in ways never seen before: a holistic blend of physical, mental and spiritual offerings.
III) Key MENA developments:
A hot springs development rush
Countries like Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Iran all have extensive natural thermal/mineral springs resources but haven’t had the hospitality/tourism infrastructure to support them. That’s changing fast. For instance, Tunisia is building 54 new thermal/wellness centres by 2020 and Algeria is investing $100 mil. to modernize eight government-owned hot springs centres and 40 hammams. Countries without established hot springs markets are taking action: Saudi Arabia is planning extensive development around the Jizan Dam hot springs while developing the Jizan coastal region as a wellness tourism destination. Egypt is redeveloping (and seeking investment for new wellness resorts) in regions famed for natural therapies/resources: the black sands of the Safaga/Red Sea region, sand baths and hot springs in the Siwa Oasis, and sulfur springs in Helwan. Even Iraq recently reopened its historic Hammam al-Alil hot springs facility that received thousands of visitors prior to the war.
Spa & medical-wellness projects boom in the Gulf region
The Gulf region hasn’t been known for strong wellness offerings, but investment and growth in the region’s tourism infrastructure are changing this picture. One factor: the explosive growth in the hotel industry overall, with Colliers reporting that fifty new five-star hotel spas will open between 2017-2021 in Dubai alone. Countries like Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are all investing in big resort spa developments. Billions are being invested in massive medical-wellness projects that interweave green building, fitness amenities, world-class medical and complementary wellness services, targeting both residents and tourists. Examples: Dubai Healthcare City/WorldCare Wellness Village; Dilmunia Island project, Bahrain; Kuwait Silk City project; Qatar Foundation Stadium and Health & Wellness Precinct/Education City project. And international spa brands/chains are rushing into the UAE’s day spa market, leading to greater competition and more price points.
First destination wellness resorts are hitting the Middle East
The Middle East is now developing the very first properties catering to primary wellness travellers: true holistic, multi-dimensional wellness and spa destinations. Examples: The Retreat Palm Dubai (MGallery by Sofitel) opened in 2017 and the deeply integrative Zalal Wellness Destination Retreat now under construction in Qatar, which will be the first destination to revolve around Islamic culture and wellness traditions, with approaches based upon Hakim Ibn Sina’s (Avicenna’s) Islamic Golden Age philosophies of health.
First Òhealthy hotelsÓ hit region
The first Òhealthy hotelÓ concepts – a mostly Western phenom that brings mainstream, more affordable wellness to leisure and business travellers – are now opening in the region. The Al Shaqab healthy/active lifestyle concept hotel opened in Qatar’s Education City and in Dubai, Smartotels is launching its FORM Hotel concept this year, focused on well-being, lifestyle, and technology-driven and socially-responsible design Ð offering everything from private yoga sessions to sustainable, healthy food.
Visit ATM’s Wellness Lounge: ATM offers a dedicated Wellness & Spa Lounge with Chenot Palace Health Wellness Hotel, NG Sapanca Wellness & Convention, Santani Wellness Resort & Spa, The Begnas Lake Resort, L’Albereta Relais & Chateaux, Soukya International Holistic Health Centre, Aitken Spence Hotels, Heritance Ayurveda and Velaa Private Island Maldives as exhibitors. It’s open Tuesday, April 24th from 10 am – 6 pm and Wednesday, April 25th from 10 am – 5 pm. On Tuesday at 4:30 pm, ATM will host an educational session to learn more about the eye-opening wellness travel sector and meet the exhibitors.
