Eat, Treat, Retreat...

Close on the heels of medical and spiritual tourism, wellness tourism is the next star on the horizon. Mark Sands, Vice President of Wellness, Six Senses Hotels, Resorts & Spas, discusses this rising trend, and India as a healing destination.

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The tsunami of global travel unleashed in the wake of the receding pandemic is a natural reaction to recent restrictions we all faced on a global scale. Business travel has returned with companies and individuals more mindful of their carbon footprint, supported in part by the emergence of more evolved virtual meeting platforms. Also, a re-centering of health and wellness as a focus has driven the growth in wellness tourism. The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) valued the ‘Wellness Tourism’ industry at USD 817 billion in 2022. In recent years, international wellness tourists have spent on average 35 per cent more than other international tourists. By comparison, the beauty and personal care sector is worth USD 955 billion. The GWI predicts that the global wellness economy will exceed USD 7 trillion by 2025.