The health and wellness culture has seen an unprecedented growth in the last few years. What used to be a novelty, affordable only for the relatively well-off, is now almost as common as an annual vacation.

The popularity of wellness tourism can be attributed to the increasing interest in health promoting activities worldwide. Every day, we see a growing number of consumers travel abroad for the purpose of enhancing wellbeing through physical, spiritual and holistic activity. The majority of these are fitness conscious individuals as well as those craving for an adventure. However, a new trend has begun to emerge on the wellness tourism scene, that of companies and businesses incorporating healthcare and wellness tourism activities in their yearly routines.

Wellness Tourism as a Growing Industry

The trend of health and wellness has propelled the industry to new heights of popularity. In a short period of 4-5 years, the activity has seen almost twice as many enthusiasts travelling overseas to promote their personal health and wellness.

SRI International, a renowned research organization, has found that wellness tourism has now become an industry worth approximately $3.5 trillion. This can easily be justified by the variety of different activities that tourists can now participate in, as opposed to the spa and yoga retreats of the past.

Places like holistic wellness resorts, spiritual retreats and even internationally known hiking trails are being visited by more and more people worldwide. This increased flow of tourist traffic has enabled the destinations themselves to evolve and expand, in order to better cater to the variety of health seekers that head their way.

In the last few years however, a great number of companies have started to offer wellness tourism as an option to their employees, as a means to increase their efficiency and promote physical and mental health.

Related: 9 Facts About Medical Tourism You May Not Know

Reasons for Growth of Wellness Tourism among Companies and Businesses

There are a number of reasons for the rise of wellness tourism for businesses who wish to incorporate health practices and instil wellness values in their employees. For the most part, it is based on the number of wellness activities that have grown in popularity among big businesses looking towards employee health enhancement.

Below are 4 of the main reasons why wellness tourism is now a trillion dollar industry, and has seen an exponential growth in the business sector, as well as worldwide.

1. Previously obscure health and wellness activities are now emerging and getting adopted by more companies by the day. Practices such as various forms of Yoga, mineral spring bathing and spa therapy, as well as spiritual healing through Reiki and acupuncture, are all surging in popularity due to their unique benefits towards stress management.

2. Travel plans are now being geared specifically towards employee wellness and health enhancement. Travel agencies are now offering special plans that provide a tourism experience especially for companies.

3. Wellness travel has become part of employees’ health programs in various companies. The sheer volume of employees now being sponsored by companies for wellness tourism has been a major contributor towards the latter’s popularity.

4. Travelling abroad is search of self-enhancement has numerous benefits, both physically and spiritually. Employees experience an increase in productivity as well as overall fitness.

All in all, wellness tourism seems to be growing at a surprisingly high rate as compared to previous years, and it can be expected to become even more popular, in the coming years.

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