Skift Take
Wellness travelers don’t just want cookie-cutter retreats anymore. In 2020, expect more creative, specialized wellness experiences that cater to more of what this style of traveler really wants.
Yoga retreats and spa getaways used to be the definition of wellness travel. Guests would fill their days with beachside yoga classes or couples’ massages, dine on healthy fare, and lounge poolside. And yes, those types of trips still exist, but the days of one-size-fits-all wellness travel are long gone.
Guests in 2020 want more than just a copy-paste wellness getaway — they have developed more nuanced and personal ideas of what wellness means to them.
“People are expecting more personalized experiences all around, not just with travel — the more personalized an experience or product, the better,” said Alexander Timmons, owner of Mountain Trek, a luxury hiking and spa retreat company in British Columbia, Canada.
And the wellness travel industry is growing fast to cater to this set. According to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness travel market is now estimated at $639 billion, with a growth rate of 6.5 percent a year — which is more than twice the growth r