News and Insights
The Future of Wellness Tourism
November 29, 2022
How has the pandemic changed the way we travel?
As travel gets back on its feet, what does the future hold? At the 2022 Global Wellness Summit held in Tel Aviv, our global travel practice presented a multi-research study identifying the factors shaping tourism’s recovery and how the pursuit of wellness is influencing how we travel.
According to the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), wellness tourism is travel associated with the pursuit of maintaining or enhancing one’s personal wellbeing. GWI valued the wellness tourism market at $720 billion in 2019. This figure has shrunk to $436 billion during the pandemic, with wellness trips dropping from 936 million to 601 million.
But while the pandemic has exacted the heaviest toll on the travel industry, it has also ushered in a wellness revival that is having a profound influence on how we travel. The impressive 21% annual growth rate projected for wellness tourism by GWI through 2025 reflects new traveler values as well as a period of rapid recovery from pent-up demand.
To understand this shift, we partnered with Mabrian Technologies, a travel intelligence consultancy that uses big data analysis to identify and predict consumer trends. We also drew insights from JLL’s Destination 2030 report created in partnership with the World Travel and Tourism Council, which identifies the factors determining cities’ readiness for sustainable tourism growth.