50% of the worldwide population is now classified as “middle class or rich”
But out of 1.3 billion international trips taken every year, 46% of all travellers visit just 100 destinations. This places an increasing amount of pressure on the local infrastructure in popular destinations such as Venice, Italy and Bali, and at iconic landmarks such as the Louvre in Paris and the Ginza in Tokyo.
Wellness travel is often described as an opportunity to connect with nature and focus on improving holistic well-being through a personalised mix of meditation, yoga, massage, cultural activities and cleansing diets, to name just a few. As wellness travel continues its exponential growth worldwide, many travellers are taking trips that are focussed on reconnecting with oneself through mindfulness and self-care.
The Global Wellness Summit’s 2019 trends report identifies wellness as an ‘antidote to overtourism’. This shift has already begun to relocate wellness travellers away from busy tourist destinations in favour of lesser-known, off-the-beaten-track locations that allow for the physical and mental space that is often one of the defining factors of a wellness destination.