Wellness tourism is defined by the US-based non-profit Global Wellness Institute (GWI) as “travel associated with the pursuit of maintaining or enhancing one’s personal well-being”. While ‘activity’ holidays have existed for years, embarking on one of these new journeys – from hiking in Morocco with Equinox to sailing towards the Italian Riviera with Goop’s Gwyneth Paltrow – usually means a luxurious bounty of strictly curated meals, supervised workouts and an emphasis on mindfulness and enlightenment.

While critics might highlight these trips, which often come with price tags of several thousand dollars, as another example of how wellness is most accessible to the most affluent, proponents say they offer opportunities for personal betterment and community engagement. So what does their emergence augur for the rapidly expanding wellness sector?

New frontiers

From 2015 to 2017 the wellness tourism market grew from $563bn to $639bn, or 6.5% annually – more than twice as fast as the growth of tourism overall, according to GWI. By 2022, GWI predicts the market will reach a whopping $919bn – representing 18% of all global tourism – with well over a billion individual wellness trips to take place around the globe. Anne Dimon, president of the Wellness Tourism Association, adds that while wellness travellers can be anyone, the bulk tend to be higher-educated women between ages 30 and 60.

Yet despite its new visibility, the idea of travelling with the express purpose of improving well-being is by no means novel. Think back to the pilgrimages taken to the Dead Sea, ancient baths in Rome and natural hot springs across Asia – or the yoga retreats and Thai colon-cleansing holidays of more recent decades. But according to GWI, wellness tourism today is about much more than the destination or activities – it is an extension of the very values and lifestyle of the traveller.