The statistics of recent years show a clear trend: wellness tourism is growing dramatically. More and more people seem to care about their well-being on a number of different levels. So what’s behind this trend? Any business with the specific purpose of taking care of people both from a health and wellness point of view and an aesthetic point of view, are experiencing a moment of extraordinary fortune. These services are attracting an increasing number of people, and there are no signs of it slowing down any time soon. Contrary to what many people might think, it’s the youngest people, people between 18 and 40 years of age, who appreciate dedicated centres to well-being with 40% and 50% saying they would like to spend an average of one week a year on body care in these centres.
The
data in this research, relating to European countries, refer to holidays that include a trip, an overnight stay and a complete package of services: it is easy to imagine that if you added all those activities that were easily accessible in the cities these figures would increase significantly.
The wellness tourism boom
What is the reason for this important growth? According to several experts, the reason is to be found first in the increasingly hectic lifestyle that characterises life in the city and in the greater attention paid today to all issues relating to health and personal image. The emergence of more photographic social networks has led people to pay more attention to their appearance. Increasingly polluted cities and a greater awareness of the risks of neglecting health have done the rest.
Wellness centres, on the other hand, have invested heavily in research and technology, becoming increasingly effective, targeted and available to all income groups. Entrepreneurs in this sector have also managed to transform "care" into a real experience capable of involving all the senses: from the breathtaking views, the smells, the flavours of the food and the soothing experience of a massage. In short, caring for oneself is now a diversified and experimental sector, but at the same time within everyone's reach.
Beyond fashion
When you take a wellness holiday you learn to let the body guide the mind, just as you would when allowing yourself to relax with the expert hands of a masseur where the brain sensations transmit feelings of peace and deep relaxation. The heat, the cold, the scents, the essences, the human contact can stimulate something inwardly, reconciling the person to connect only to themself. In short, a wellness holiday could be described as a full immersion meditation, in which to rediscover onself and take advantage of a moment of rest and relaxation to improve lifestyle and learn new and healthier habits. The wellness holiday is therefore to be considered today a need that belongs to a society increasingly stressed and "polluted", a need, more than a fashion that is useful to recover energy and regain contact with your body, to love and learn especially the value of time dedicated only to oneself.