Wellness and longevity travel: a deep dive

Like every year, we were at ILTM in Cannes, reconnecting with the who's who of luxury travel. For us, it is a great opportunity to reflect on how luxury travel advisors are capturing (or not) the longevity trend, and what the health wellness industry can do as a whole to unlock the remaining blockages.

Obviously, wellness travel is a niche in the global tourism industry, a small niche compared to leisure travel or MICE, but still a very big niche overall - and according to some sources, a growing one. Wellness travel and longevity is centered around enhancing one’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being, now as well as for the long term (living healthier for longer). This can materialize through travel - hence wellness and longevity travel - as well as through the rise of day clinics focused on in-depth diagnostics, a huge trend unfolding as we speak in major cities: London, NYC, Paris, Zurich, Berlin, Singapore ... (we'll soon write a post about this, too).

Unlike traditional vacations that prioritize relaxation or sightseeing, health wellness travel integrates purposeful activities like detox cures, specific treatments, holistic healing experiences, as well as lots of insights about lifestyle habits to integrate beyond the retreat.

According to the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), wellness tourism was valued at over $817 billion in 2022, growing at an annual rate of 7.5%. By 2025, it is expected to surpass $1 trillion. Not every travel agent is personally interested in wellness, but a market of this size just cannot be ignored. Also, when you are a luxury travel agent, there is a good chance that a few of your clients attend 1 or 2 wellness retreats each year - an important incentive to learn how to address the specific needs of longevity travellers.

On the other side of the market, the wellness hotels, longevity clinics and destination spas all face the same issue: high fluctuation in the bookings month-to-month, a relative unpredictability of the occupancy more than 3 months in advance, and a high proportion of last-minute bookings. And for most properties, most of the bookings come as direct bookings, when in fact, wellness travel sales is a sophisticated one which should require the advice of a health and longevity expert, able to direct guests to the best suited program amongst the 100+ different destinations worldwide.

Why Wellness Travel Matters

Market Demand: those who can afford luxury holidays are increasingly seeking meaningful, life-enhancing experiences. For some, these health retreats come in addition to their leisure travels, for others, it is a conscious replacement, investing in their long-term health. The trend started during the pandemic, as everyone was forced to reflect on self-care, immunity, and longevity. A strong driver towards longevity and wellness tourism.
Higher Spending: Wellness travelers spend, on average, more than regular tourists, making this segment more lucrative. The rationale is often around the perceived ROI and - obviously - the quality of the offer in terms of wellbeing experiences, in-depth diagnostics, aesthetics medicine, and longevity treatments
Repeat Customers: Wellness experiences often lead to life-changing outcomes, creating loyal clients eager to explore more wellness-focused destinations. In fact, a lot of properties have such a high percentage of repeat customers, that this represents a strategic problem in the long-term, as it also highlights the difficulty to turn existing customers into ambassadors who bring new customers. Having more than 50% repeat customers is very common in luxury wellness hotels and clinics.

Who Are Wellness Travelers?

Luxury wellness travelers come from most demographics, but the US and India represent very important segments for most clinics and destination spas. The wellness seekers you meet at the best longevity retreats share common motivations:

Stress Management: people living an intense professional and personal life, escaping from hectic lifestyles to relax and rejuvenate. This segment is not always interested in changing their life-style: having a profound rest, a boost of energy, before returning to their intense life, is all they're asking.
Health Goals: people conscious (or anxious) of the aging process and looking for assistance to address specific health needs, from weight loss to chronic stress, or simply to slow down the aging process. This is where most of the research happens, with fascinating advances: it is now possible to detect the possibility of developing certain conditions even before symptoms appear, and hence, to suggest preventive treatments at the earliest stage.
Life Transformation: people seeking a reset, be it through therapies, education, or inspiration. Usually leads to a different life, more alignment with a profound purpose - and sometimes looking for things even beyond wellness, longevity and health. This segment tends to need less technology, as the answers they're looking for were already well documented in traditional medical sciences hundreds if not thousands of years ago.

Key audiences include:

Solo Travelers, taking time for themselves, either because they live on their own, or because the significant other takes care of the family while they take care of themselves.
Couples aiming to bond and rejuvenate together.
Corporate Groups exploring team building through the angle of health and wellness: boosting individual performance at the same time as the collective strength.
Families looking for conscious holidays nurturing the body, the mind and the soul for each generation - and finding it difficult because the offer is less developed for this audience.

Healing with sounds and good vibes: a party at Palmaïa The House of AïA. Photo credit: Palmaïa

Core Components of Wellness Travel

Wellness travel experiences generally fall into two categories:

Well-being experiences: Focused on feeling good, eating healthy, sleeping well and having a good time. A massage or 2. Sometimes a few holistic treatments. But rarely a consultation with a medical doctor, and rarely a fully-organised program. Examples include:
- Palmaïa the House of Aïa - a holistic wellness pure-player on the Riviera Maya in Mexico, providing a unique experience to families and conscious travelers
- Siro in Dubai - a hotel where fitness is an integral part of the experience, be it to stay fit while travelling, to come for a stay focused on improving performance, or to restore performance after an injury
Transformative Programs: Aimed at addressing specific goals, these often take place in longevity clinics or dedicated retreats offering diagnostics, medical consultations, treatments and dedicated activities. Examples include:
- SHA Wellness Clinic in Spain, which blends integrative medicine with nutrition, exercise, and stress management. There is a strong emphasis on helping guests to come back home knowing what to do to stay healthy.
- The Ranch Malibu, a transformative group experience. The program combines relatively intense hikes, plant-based cuisine, movement classes and stretching, in an environment that fosters digital detox and connecting with the other participants. At The Ranch Malibu, there is no medical consultation per se, but the guests can choose various diagnostics if they wish, to track their progress against certain indicators of health.

The Ranch offers an approach leveraging group dynamics to make it easier and more fun to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Photo credit: The Ranch Malibu

Where are the longevity hotspots in the world?

Western Europe

Western Europe has a tradition of thermal spas and some of its leading longevity clinics boast 50, if not 100 years of expertise in this field. Some of the most renowned destination spas and health clinics are in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. Spain, Austria and Portugal are also hot destinations in this domain. Examples of the most renowned players in this field include:

Clinique La Prairie in Montreux, with an approach where sky is the limit. Also one of the first modern longevity clinics in the world.
Chenot Palace Weggis, also in Switzerland, known for offering the ultimate detox program
Lanserhof, a very reputable reference in this space, providing very in-depth diagnostics
Buchinger, sometimes the first name that comes to mind when you ask luxury wellness travelers their recommendation. A heaven for fasting cures

Southeast Asia

Beyond the affordable holistic retreats in Thailand, Bali, and Vietnam, there are many high-end destinations focused on transformative experiences, longevity, aesthetics and integrative health. Examples of famous longevity clinics and wellness hotels in South East Asia include:

Chiva-Som Hua Hin in Thailand
Kamalaya in Koh Samui, also in Thailand
COMO Shambhala Estate in Bali combining Ayurvedic treatments with yoga in a tropical setting

The region is also the first to witness the development of urban health hotels, when historically longevity clinics an destination spas were more often next to a lake, a sea or on top of a stunning mountain. A great example is RAKxa in Bangkok - a place which is immersed in nature, and yet a few minutes away from the buzzing life of Thailand's capital city.

The unusual setting of RAKxa, opening new perspectives for wellness travel. Photo credit: RAKxa

Mexico and the US

Can we even talk about the US and Mexico together ? From the point of view of the development of wellness travel, these 2 destinations are very intertwined indeed. It used to offer an approach to longevity and wellness very separated from the health and medical considerations, and now progressively merging to offer a holistic understanding. Also the level of innovation in longevity and biohacking coming out of the Silicon Valley is a strong driver to raise the interest of the upper american classes towards the need to plan for longevity, when the health system is broken.

Example: Rancho La Puerta in Mexico is one of the world’s oldest wellness retreats, offering immersive mind-body programs.
The Ranch in the US, with 3 locations and a wellness approach where every guest is at his own pace

India

The birthplace of Ayurveda and yoga, and perhaps of all traditional medical sciences, India attracts travelers seeking authentic, transformative experiences.

Ananda in the Himalayas specializes in Ayurvedic therapies and meditation. A very authentic experience. Literally a life-changing one.
Six Senses Vana, an amazing destination for Ayurvedic cures, but also, the only one in the luxury travel universe to offer Traditional Tibetan Medicine, an incredible approach for emotional healing and releasing traumas.
Amanbagh offers an experience marrying the ultimate standards of hospitality of Aman, with a resort perfectly located before or after visiting parts of India, and a wellness offering that invites to forget about the world entirely!

Besides those examples - very famous health wellness hotels and clinics - there are many, many other incredible longevity clinics and destination spas that are the perfect fit depending on the guest needs and objectives, making this universe relatively complex to navigate.

Many of those places can only welcome a relatively small number of guests at a time, because of the size of their facilities and because of the high level of customer care that is needed in order to facilitate such profound life transformations. Examples of small destination spas with the utmost level of customer care include:

The incredible yoga deck at ZihFit. Photo credit ZihFit

For each one of us, the journey to health and wellness is different, and we have seen first hand what resonates the most for each kind of client: and it's not about how famous the clinic is! A transformative retreat is not something you will post on Instagram. It is a profound experience, hard at times, which opens to new perspectives.

Tip for luxury travel agents: start by learning the unique selling points of each destination: in longevity travel, a sale is obviously not just about the price and the size of the rooms! Don't hesitate to check on our detailed information sheets for each wellness destination and the inclusions and prices for each program, as it makes it easier to compare apples to apples.

In case you were wondering, the cover of this post is the stunning pool of the spa at One&Only Portonovi, with its Chenot Espace. Photo credit One&Only.