The rise and rise of the wellness summit and how travel is capitalising on the trend

Young woman at the devil's Marbles sitting on a boulder exercises yoga at sunrise. Devils Marbles Conservation Reserve, Northern Territory, Australia.
Sofia Geraghty
By Sofia Geraghty


The Australian wellness market is the 6th most lucrative market in the world with Aussies on average spending $5239 per person per year on wellness.

With individuals increasingly moving towards preventative wellness the demand for insight and wisdom on keeping mentally, physically, and emotionally healthy is high. Enter the wellness summit.

The wellness summit gives like-minded people the chance to connect and hear from leaders in the field. It is a trend gaining popularity both in Australia and overseas.

For example, the 2024 Women’s Wealth and Wellbeing summit in Sydney is specifically focused to the needs of women, with start-studded panels tackling hard-hitting themes such as ‘pregnancy and miscarriage at work’, ‘menstrual health and endometriosis’ and ‘why are we burning out?’

Meanwhile, in Byron Bay, Kris Abbey’s wellness held at the Crystalbrook Byron is targeted at business leaders in the wellness space.

In the Maldives, the SOUL Festival features allows guests to hear from wellbeing visionaries and in Florida, the Eudēmonia Summit even offer guests baseline testing – enabling them to see their current levels of health.

How is the tourism industry adapting to demand?

Forward-thing hotels, resorts, and cruise ships have been quick to identify the trend with many now featuring wellness technology, or guest-hosting leading health experts.

Tourism boards

In June, Australia’s South West Regional Tourism Organisation (ASW RTO) launched its highly anticipated Wellness Tourism Strategy for the region. This comprehensive plan positions the region to become Australia’s premier destination for nature-based wellness tourism by 2034.

Supported by Tourism WA, the strategy has been undertaken by Australia’s South West Regional Tourism Organisation and includes a toolkit developed to help guide wellness and tourism businesses moving forward.

Australia’s South West Regional Tourism launches wellness tourism strategy

Cruise ships 

In July, Crystal announced two special sailings dedicated to wellness, promising guests “unparalleled journeys” of rejuvenation and self-discovery.

The cruise includes stops in Gibraltar, Morocco, the Canary Islands (Spain), and Cape Verde, offering indulging plant-based dishes specifically curated by Crystal’s culinary team, the possibility to follow a daily meal planning for fat mass reduction, personal training, fitness classes, yoga and meditation workshops, pickleball clinic, dance classes and lectures from renowned keynote speakers.

Crystal announces wellness offering including dance classes, digital detoxes and personal training

Hotels

Wellness is as the heart of the new Wafaifo Resort Hoi An in Vietnam which opens on 1 September.

Guests at the new 134-room and suite lifestyle resort can use the Wellness at Wafaifo facility to receive a detailed health diagnostic report using epigenetic testing. In the process, hair follicles are analysed by an S-drive computer which connects to a laboratory in Germany. Within minutes, guests receive a detailed 30-plus page report which assesses 800 personal markers.

The resulting information and scores are presented in graph form and linked to reports on the guest’s gut, circulatory and immune systems. Items are classified as “priority”, “advisory”, or “consider”. A medical consultant at the centre will go through the results with the guest.

Boutique Resort in central Vietnam focuses on technology-led wellness

With the demand for wellness insight continuing to rise, we can expect to see a lot more initiatives in this space.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Latest News

  • Tourism

Global tourism roars back to life with APAC leading the way

The global tourism industry is roaring back to life as international arrivals are up 16 per cent compared to 2023, a resurgence is largely fuelled by the Asia Pacific region particularly Australia, ForwardKeys reported at the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit in Perth. While the region still lags pre-pandemic levels, the current pace […]

  • Aviation
  • Tourism

Travel in Oceania could add $166 billion to the regional economy and 1.1m jobs

A new report by the World Travel & Tourism Council reveals that Oceania’s travel and tourism sector could inject an additional US$112BN (AU$166.4) to the region’s economy by 2034, bringing the total contribution to a record-breaking US$336BN. According to the report, in collaboration with VFS Global and launched today at WTTC’s 24th Global Summit in […]

  • Conferences
  • First Nations
  • Tourism

WA leverages Indigenous heritage as a key topic at WTTC Global Summit in Perth

Western Australia has leveraged its Indigenous heritage to be one of the key topics of the annual World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit being held in Perth (Boorloo). “Indigenous tourism has immense potential, empowering communities to be in control of their own stories and their own economic futures now that is regenerative tourism tomorrow,” […]

  • Aviation

Delta Air Lines opens the premium Delta One Lounge at LAX

Delta Air Lines has opened the Delta One Lounge at LAX, following the opening of the one at JFK in June 2024, bringing the premium lounge experience to the West Coast. The second Delta One Lounge, adjacent to the Delta Sky Club at terminal three and seats nearly 200 guests, is directly connected to the […]