To better connect with the mindstyle of today’s luxury travellers, travel brands and advisors must upgrade their health and wellness propositions. There are new demands such as healthy plant-based dining, medical spas and digital detoxing — but there is a huge gap between expectations and reality.

For example, a new insight report by Reuter: Intelligence, created with ILTM Asia Pacific, found that there is a lack of simple vegetarian options, massage rooms and even worse, a lack of free Wi-Fi being offered by some travel businesses today.

“Luxury Asian consumers now have a health and wellness mindstyle”

Lee Folland, research director of Reuter: Intelligence, said: “The report, analysing diverse categories of industry, discovered that luxury Asian consumers now have a health and wellness mindstyle – both their mindset and lifestyle are centred around the world of wellness.

“This means that travel and hospitality businesses must shift away from simply promoting intangible escapes to tangible, results-based holistic health and wellness.”

New forms in the face of modern lifestyle

The Global Wellness Summit (GWI) Global Wellness Tourism Economy report stated that the industry is worth USD 4.2 trillion globally, a year-over-year growth of over 12%.

In APAC, the corporate wellness market alone is expected to reach USD 7.4 billion by 2024 representing a growth rate of 9%. Moreover, Asia has been the fastest-growing region in both wellness tourism trips and revenues for each of the last five years.

Travel brands and advisors can expect more affluent Asian consumers today seeking new forms of wellness experiences in the face of hectic modern lifestyles and the pressures of professional demands, environmental pollution and social media.