Wellness travel has moved well beyond the spa, with three in four engaged international travellers having taken an active wellness-focused trip abroad in the past two years, according to a new report from FINN Partners and GSIQ Tourism Insights. The report, "Wellness Travel on the Move", was formally unveiled at the Global Wellness Summit and published on Tuesday 10 November, according to PR Newswire and FINN Partners.
The research is based on more than 7,000 engaged international travellers across nine markets, according to PR Newswire. Nature-based travel leads participation at 65 percent, followed by sports-focused travel at 46 percent and wellness retreats at 41 percent. Readers should note the 75 percent figure covers the surveyed group of engaged international travellers, not all travellers, and the research comes from travel marketing firm FINN Partners working with GSIQ, rather than an independent academic study.
Connection is emerging as one of the strongest outcomes of these trips, according to the report. Just over half of travellers, 51 percent, reported a sense of connection after their trip, and confidence showed the largest gain of any outcome, rising from 38 percent who hoped to achieve it to 55 percent who ultimately experienced it, according to PR Newswire. The findings were previewed last week at FINN Partners' Global Lifestyle Voices Summit and at a World Travel Market London panel discussion, according to the release.
The report argues that travellers are redefining wellness through hiking, sporting events, outdoor adventures and immersive experiences rather than traditional spa offerings, according to FINN Partners. Retreats are diversifying beyond yoga and spa breaks into recovery, performance, women's health, burnout prevention and personal development, according to PR Newswire. Community-led experiences and personal growth journeys are now part of the category alongside nature escapes and sports participation.
For holidaymakers, the shift means wellness is increasingly something done outdoors and with other people, rather than a treatment booked alone in a hotel basement. The report's message for the travel industry is that the fastest-growing wellness trips are the active ones — a walk in the mountains, a sporting event, a retreat built around a shared interest — and that travellers judge them by how they feel afterwards, not by how many treatments were on the schedule.