The Rise of Global Wellness Tourism, Now Worth Hundreds of Billions

The Rise of Global Wellness Tourism, Now Worth Hundreds of Billions

Global wellness tourism is worth billions, according to the Global Wellness Institute; here’s why many are opting for healthy, no drinking holidays.

Lucy Aitchison is a guest at Samahita Retreat in Koh Samui, Thailand. She says she found a whole new way of living at the retreat. “It was more than just relaxing, it was more about a whole lifestyle of wellbeing that I had never experienced before. I learnt so many things through yoga, through diet, through talking to like-minded people that I’m hoping to incorporate and bring back to my life at home.”

Patty van de Wal agrees. “ I’ve got a really stressful job back in the Netherlands and I wanted to relax and come to myself. In other holidays, you have many tourists who only lie on the beach and go swimming in the pool but here everyone is here with the same purpose so you can really connect to each other.”

Global wellness tourism was worth $639 billion in 2017 according to the Global Wellness Institute and grew at double the rate of other types of tourism.

Daniel Stringer works as a yoga teacher at Samahita Retreat and says people have different reasons for visiting. “There’s definitely an increase generally in the general population that they could be doing much more for themselves, for their health. We provide for many tastes and if people come here just to do yoga, that’s great. Or if they come here and just want to relax, then that’s great too.”

But wellness holidays aren’t for everyone.

Gina Quigley from Singapore says she prefers to drink beer on holiday. “No healthy food. No exercising. Just getting away from the city.”

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