Wellness Tourism Worldwide (WTW) was pleased to participate for the 5th year in Termatalia – an international expo focusing on health and wellness travel, thermal waters, hot springs and spas. The expo has both a professional and consumer focus with the event spanning three days showcasing exhibitors from 39 countries with 3,000+ industry professional in attendance and more than 10,000 visits in total. Termatalia provides an opportunity for destinations, properties and tour operators to present their newest offerings to entice consumers to visit; and for industry professionals to receive education and training with plenty of opportunities to network and conduct B2B meetings (for those that are fluent in Spanish) to grow their business. The expo toggles between the host city of Ourense in Galicia, Spain and a country in Latin America (Argentina and Peru in past years). This was the first year WTW sent a bilingual representative to provide information about their services and products in Spanish and English. Information shared including WTW's newly launched Wellness Travel Academy, recently updated The Guide to Selling Wellness Travel and Spanish version La Guía Para Vender Viajes de Salud y Bienestar, “La Guía”, as well as representation of international properties and resorts to the U.S. tourism market (both travel agents & direct to consumer) and a wide spectrum of writing and consulting services. Wellness Tourism Worldwide helped to promote their non-profit partners including the World Food Travel Association, Green Spa Network, The International Ecotourism Society, National Aesthetic Spa Network and Arizona Spa & Wellness Association. Each non-profit also benefited from being included in the printed Termatalia Conference booklet. FOOD AS PART OF WELLNESS TRAVEL Wellness Tourism Worldwide was the first to report on the synergy between food tourism and wellness travel with our partnership with the World Food Tourism Association and identifying “Breaking Bread with Wellness Travel” as one of our Top 10 Wellness Travel Trends, 2014. As WTW has reported in the past, food is an important part of wellness travel, this was evident at Termatalia. Through the enjoyment of the culinary delights many thermal retreats and hotels offer healthy food options to specifically address the health concerns of wellness travelers. At Termatalia, the Colombian Tourism Authority highlighted food as part of the countries wellness travel by providing conference attendees with a fruit and tea sampling bar. The sampling bar also included the inclusion of native fruits and food experts that gave insight about the regions unique tropical fruits and how they’re included in resorts menus." RECOMMENDATIONS Many countries are ready to embrace wellness tourism but many need professional guidance and know-how to develop their programs, train their staff on trends, consumer motivations and stakeholder involvement and also need help with marketing and promotion. This is where Wellness Tourism Worldwide can help. Contact WTW to for assistance in wellness travel training, webinars, keynotes, writing services, representation and to create a marketing plan to reach your business goals. Ana Lydia Monaco
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Gaining Exposure through Big Numbers
Big numbers get media attention and wellness tourism is no exception. Journalists and writers, Google key words to find statistics and facts about the industry and mistake a projection as fact. Lack of Data There are no booking categories for wellness tourism. Tourism boards, visitor’s bureaus and destination management organizations have no tracking system or resources for collecting data on wellness travel which is squarely at odds with the projections that are quoted consistently without question. How are these projections figured? Defining the Market One of the major challenges is defining the wellness traveler is: what behavior or activities qualify a tourist to be identified in this niche category? Does this include a vacation dedicated to improving well-being or a trip that includes some aspect of wellness? If it is the later, than practically any travel can be a wellness trip if it includes healthy food, physical activity, time in nature, volunteering and a plethora of other choices leading to improved well-being. Does wellness tourism involve both leisure and business travel? How does one truly define the market? Rather than count healthy lifestyle consumers (aka secondary wellness travelers), narrowing the focus to travelers who’s primary motivation is to vacation for well-being should provide more credible data. It is also a much smaller piece of the pie. Proceed with Open Eyes Destinations, investors and anyone seeking to enter the wellness tourism market should look with a critical eye. Overly optimistic numbers are a problem to every business (example: McKinsey’s report on medical tourism). Non-profits seeking grant funding, start-ups, existing businesses and even large investors are at risk when they blindly accept projections as fact. Looking Ahead While I believe that wellness tourism has enormous potential to change lives, communities, businesses and economies, a clearer picture is needed. Definitions need to be better understood and applied. Transparency in methodology is needed. Independent thought in a collaborative environment is highly valuable. Wellness washing is based on a term originally coined in 1986 called "green washing" and was later defined as "disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image" by the Oxford English dictionary.
Green washing describes when an entity invests more time and money on advertising on being “green” and environmentally friendly then they do on implementing practices that are truly eco-conscious. Organizations that do this for public relations often use press releases to promote the rebranding of products or services, committees and task forces when in actuality they take very little action in implementing policies that are environmentally-friendly. Misleading customers about services and products and their environmental benefits through unsubstantiated claims and misleading advertising is also green washing. Wellness washing unfortunately faces the same issues and is coming to light more recently in response to meet consumer demands for wellness-focused goods and services. I've mentioned this previously - global spa & wellness marketing company promoting bikini waxes and hair color services as a “wellness deal.” While spas are seeking to reinvent themselves as providers of wellness, marketing in this fashion is a disservice to the consumer, giving rise to skepticism of what wellness actually means. There is growing posturing across sectors due to lack of external monitoring on the proper use of the term wellness. Wellness washing is a threat to the wellness travel industry to workplace wellness. Using “wellness” irresponsibly for short-term monetary gain is problematic to the shaping and building of a newly emerging tourism product as well as retooling workplace wellness programs. One of my pet peeves this last year was observing how big luxury hotel companies with a spa component used a global wellness observance for self-serving promotion. Example: buy our $160 massage and receive a complimentary fresh watermelon smoothie! Ugh. Really? I could give many other examples but won't. In my mind, a true wellness day, week or observance, embodies a holistic approach to well-being and benefits as many people as possible not just those that can afford a $160 massage. Wellness includes community well-being, spirituality, intellectual pursuits, environmental conservation, protection of cultures and an abundance of goodwill. My hope for next year's annual observance is that the big lux brands will step up and offer wellness to their surrounding community in a meaningful way. Suggestions: volunteering to feed the homeless, a potluck community dinner, planting a tree, cleaning a beach and so many other ways to give and receive. Wellness is for every body. Wellness washing is not. Wellness tourism can be a game-changing opportunity to unify and influence industries to better meet consumer demand while serving public good. My goal at Wellness Tourism Worldwide is to encourage individuals and industries to expand their perceptions of wellness and travel and take a more proactive approach in collaborating for better social and economic outcomes in the United States.
Wellness (and wellness travel) can cut across multiple sectors to stimulate entrepreneurship, innovation and a more comprehensive approach to population health and economy. We are inviting different groups to unite and play a role in shaping the delivery and promotion of health and wellness. Our vision is to make wellness tourism accessible, fun and rewarding for as many people as possible. Those wishing to get involved in wellness travel are invited to contact WTW through the contact page http://www.wellnesstourismworldwide.com/contact.html. We have many resources available for travel agents including:
Wellness Travel in America: Shaping Health, Businesses & Economy provides unprecedented data on wellness travel in the United States, examining a broad spectrum of stakeholders and confluences between sectors affecting both population and economic health. A culmination of U.S. consumer survey data and extensive research across multiple industries, the report can be used to understand how wellness travel can play a significant role in disease prevention, workplace wellness, vacation policy development, tourism development and destination marketing. Over 40 tables and figures are in this comprehensive 100-page report resulting in a data-driven profile marketers can use to promote their brand. Wellness Tourism Worldwide offers online education training programs, onsite workshops as well as customized solutions to destinations and companies seeking to boost brand equity and revenue while improving the well-being of guests, passengers and customers. To subscribe to our industry newsletter sign up here http://www.wellnesstourismworldwide.com/contact.html or for more information, please visit www.wellnesstourismworldwide.com. There's been much talk about wellness and wellness travel as a lifeline to many businesses, especially spas that had a rough go of it when the economy took a nose dive. Pampering and indulgence are no longer "in" and healthy lifestyles, life balance and inner reflection are of high value today. The big multimillion dollar companies that shape the spa industry have the ability to either help or hurt themselves -- as well as put the entire wellness industry at risk.
A big problem I've observed lately stems from inconsistent messaging. In the last year a global spa marketing company and their non-profit assembled a "round table" discussion intended to give valuable recommendations to wellness tourism stakeholders. The group suggested wellness tourism businesses should abstain from using wellness in marketing to consumers. This is a mega opportunity to promote wellness, not hide it or malign it, or treat it as if it is an unpopular word that should be stricken from marketing vocabulary. This seems especially odd, since the same company recently rebranded themselves and their multiple entities with wellness, wellness, wellness. Adding to the confusion, a spa marketing website recently promoted "wellness deals" including $15 haircuts, discounts on hair color and Brazilian waxes. These are spa services. Awhile back, I attended a spa event where a speaker stated enthusiastically, "Spas = wellness and wellness = spas." These terms are not synonymous and are not interchangeable. Spas hold a very valuable role in wellness. While a large number of spas have made significant changes in staffing, service mix, equipment, space allocation and marketing to incorporate wellness, I hope the rich history of spas will be honored, fully leveraged and not forgotten. Last year spa stakeholders were asked at a conference if spas have lost relevancy and if the word should be changed. Maybe the thought was to claim wellness. Who knows. If you are a spa, tourism, hospitality, healthcare or wellness professional, you have the ability to move wellness forward by using the word "wellness" responsibly and protect it's integrity. If wellness and wellness travel is to be taken seriously, the concept has to be clearly understood. It's more than semantics. A lot is at stake including population health and the economy. Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Vacation Commitment Summit in NYC | June 15, 2015The first conference of its kind, The Vacation Commitment Summit held in New York City on June 15th brought together corporate leaders, academics, work‐life balance experts, human resources executives and media from around the country. Headed by John de Graaf, author of Take Back Your Time and now officially a non-profit supporting vacation legislation, I was happy to support this effort as a speaker alongside of many notable brands such as Go Daddy, MasterCard and the U.S. Travel Association among other notable speakers. Below are excerpts from the conference along with some commentary: According to the United States Travel and Tourism Association, there were 429 million paid vacation days unused in 2013. Kenneth Matos of the Families and Work Institute shared research from the National Study of the Changing Workforce that showed a sharp increase in employee “time famine.” Growing numbers of workers claim they don’t have enough time to spend with their kids, spouses/partners, or by themselves. In fact, I discussed why this trend as a driver to wellness travel. (Check out WTW's infographic, "What Motivates You to Travel," published in 2013.) “Vacations are a major concern for everybody,” said Camille Hoheb, founder of Wellness Tourism Worldwide “Taking time off to vacation is a need not a luxury - facilitating not just better work productivity but also leading to personal happiness and fulfillment." Laurie Brednich, Director, Employee Benefits for Go Daddy talked about her company's progressive vacation policies. Research conducted by, Project: Time Off, a data‐driven initiative that looks at the personal+ business benefits of taking earned time off, entitled “The Mind of the Manager: What Your Boss Really Thinks About Vacation” revealed that while managers credit vacation time with maintaining team energy levels, improving employee attitudes, and enhancing productivity their communication with employees fails to deliver that message. Our own WTW research shows that employees believe vacations improve creativity, resiliency, problem solving among other positive outcomes. The conference was a first step in gathering stakeholders in corporate America together and in one place to discuss how vacations are a social, economic and social well-being issue - something Wellness Tourism Worldwide has been advocating since 2012 through our research and reports such as U.S. Vacations: Health, Happiness & Productivity, Wellness Travel: Shaping America's Health & Economy. 5/21/2015 0 Comments Spas and Health Resorts 2025: 20th Annual Congress of the European Spas AssociationThe European Spas Association (ESPA) celebrated its 20th anniversary with its annual congress in Sopot, Poland with representation from 18 countries. “We have seen a growth from 8 founding members in 1995 to 20 national members today”, said ESPA’s president Martin Plachy in his opening speech. “This reflects not only the growing importance of health related tourism in Europe – it also expresses the commitment of our members towards professionalism and innovation”. “This congress is a very unique opportunity for the entire industry to exchange on most current developments and innovations”, explains Joachim Lieber, secretary general of ESPA. The program of the first day covered a live webinar with US-wellness expert Camille Hoheb on marketing opportunities in the American Market a speech of Alain Libéros of and as well as papers on recent developments in health care sector and research. The three-day conference covers economic topics as well as updates on pan-European projects and a series of B2B-meetings for participants of the congress concluding with a Gala ceremony celebrating recipients of the ESPA Innovation Awards. Detailed Information on the congress and ESPA is online at http://www.europeanspas.eu On Social Media channels #ESPASopot2015
5/7/2015 0 Comments Camille Hoheb of Wellness Tourism Worldwide Leads 2-Day Community-Wide Wellness Travel Summit in ColoradoMore than 150 Estes Park business owners gathered at the Stanley Hotel in April for the Estes Park Wellness Summit to learn about the growing wellness tourism industry. Spurred by recent plans to build a $30 million state-of-the-art wellness complex, a joint project of the Estes Park Medical Center and Stanley Hotel owner Grand Heritage Hotel Group, the event was designed to increase local awareness of the opportunities presented by the multi-trillion-dollar travel sector. Elizabeth Fogarty, President & CEO,Visit Estes Park remarked, "Camille and her team have been integral in building enthusiasm for wellness tourism in our community. WTW helped to lead our Wellness Travel Summit steering committee, providing the clear advice and direction our group needed to succeed." As the key speaker presenting the keynote “Wellness & Travel: Two Major Trends, One Hot Commodity” at a dinner function, I was then tasked to facilitate five industry-specific breakout sessions the following day. One of the common revelations during the 2 day event was that even though wellness travel is a relatively new tourism product, Estes Park currently has a lot to offer the wellness traveler and has been serving this type of guest for more than 100 years. “The enthusiasm from the business community and representation from so many types of companies was exciting to see,” said Brian Herwig, Estes Park Medical Center CEO. 54 Take-ways from the Keynote: Wellness & Travel: Two Major Trends, One Hot Commodity
To facilitate engagement, business owners were asked to brainstorm on new opportunities and discuss what the community needs in order to truly become an internationally-recognized wellness destination. Remarked Frank D. Dumont, MD, FACP, Internal Medicine Physician, Medical Director, Estes Park Wellness Center “I appreciated all of the data on the health and wellness needs of Americans. Camille helped me better understand where the traditional western medicine model is not meeting those needs. Her facilitation of stakeholder group discussions brought to light many ideas and means for us to partner on delivery of what wellness travelers desire.” "Camille presented the keynote and multiple breakout sessions for our stakeholders, tailoring her material to each market segment – providing detailed, relevant information for each session. From our experience working with Camille and WTW, our area tourism partners are excited about the possibilities that wellness tourism can bring to our destination and Estes Park is prepared to take the next steps" explained Elizabeth Fogarty. About the Estes Park Wellness Initiative: The Estes Park Medical Center’s new 19,000-square-foot Wellness Center, to be built in 2016, will be a hub for future Estes Park wellness travel offerings. The Wellness Center will provide health and lifestyle transformation retreats that engage guests in personalized programs based on their health goals, cutting-edge medical assessments and techniques proven effective through scientific research. Grand Heritage Hotel Group, owner and operator of The Stanley Hotel, will own and operate the five-star hospitality component physically connected to the Wellness Center to integrate lodging accommodations, spa services, food and beverage, and resort amenities. Thank you to the Event Sponsors: The Wellness Summit was sponsored by the Estes Park Medical Center, Estes Park Economic Development Corporation, Visit Estes Park, Estes Valley Partners for Commerce, Estes Area Lodging Association and The Stanley Hotel. In addition to the sponsors, the Summit’s steering committee also included representatives from the Estes Park Wedding Association, Restaurant Partners, Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Valley Recreation and Park District, and several independent business owners. Wellness tourism has been gaining momentum over the last several years. Invited to give a webinar to members of the National Tour Association (NTA), I was pleased to see the level of interest continues to grow, especially among this group. Since NTA only partners with the best the industry has to offer I was especially pleased at the huge compliment to provide education on wellness travel and tourism to NTA membership. To give some background, NTA is a long established, well-respected group of seasoned tourism professionals and is considered a leading business-building association for professionals serving customers traveling to, from and within North America. Members include 1,500 tour operators who buy and package travel product domestically and around the world and over 600 destinations and 1,500 tour suppliers. If registration is a sign of interest, well, wellness travel was on par with other webinars so we took that to be a good sign. There were registrants from around the world (but mainly from the US) representing destinations, suppliers, travel agents and tour operators. Also, attendees had a lot of great questions and the level of engagement was good. Also, it looked like no one dropped off the webinar early - another good sign. Lastly - the thanks you's starting coming in by chat. All of these factors showed us (NTA & me) that wellness tourism among these stakeholder groups is of interest and one of the take-aways to tour operators, especially in the U.S. - the wellness travel world is your oyster. This is an untapped market with very little competition and huge market potential. Questions you will want to ask yourself if you are tour operator - do you want to dedicate your business to wellness travel or add on wellness to your existing offering? Adventure, food and faith tourism are synergistic already....What will your brand stand for? How will you connect with your consumers? Will you be the face of your wellness tours? Will you incorporate "wellness" into your brand strategy? (This is key for SEO as well as for being invited for speaking at conferences, press inquiries etc) If you are an association, business or group who would like to have WTW present a wellness travel webinar to your stakeholders, send an inquiry here. Here's What NTA Had to Say....Great job, thank you! Your presentation spoke to our diverse membership of tour operators suppliers and destinations through-out North America and around the world! It was fascinating information and very well done! The legendary Beverly Wilshire was a perfect location for ISPA’s first inaugural West Coast media event. In the heart of Beverly Hills, this is a hotspot to see and be seen, it’s a place where power meetings are commonplace and “lights, camera, action” is all in a day’s work.
The “Hello World. Meet ISPA” media program read, “Welcome to the first annual West Coast ISPA Media Event. We’ve been holding media events in New York for 20 years and knew it was time to make it over to you.” Love it! There were some California spa-goer fast facts – such as “42% of California residents indicated they had visited a spa in the last 12 months compared to the 36% of the total sample.” The number one reason worldwide why men and women visit a spa is to manage their stress,” said ISPA President Lynne McNees. “When it comes to stress relief, spa-goers are looking for treatments that help them achieve their desired results.” Are Californians are more stressed then the rest of the population I pondered? Upon entering the multi-tiered ballroom, the space was transformed into an elegant and welcoming spa sanctuary, with low lighting to set a relaxed mood and a large, impressive array of healthy cuisine, stunning floral designs and plenty of opportunity to partake in mini spa services, learn about spa trends and socialize. There were over 100 attendees including well-established, top-tier journalists representing the Health Magazine, InStyle, Conde Nast and Shape to name a few. A successful event, word has it there is already a waiting list for sponsors for next year’s West Coast Media Event. This year there were a total of 15 sponsors, 12 booth sponsors (listed below) in addition to ResortSuite, which provided the booking service for appointments SpaWeek, which sponsored an awesome swag bag. Booth Sponsor (in order of appearance on the floor plan):
There were a couple mini treatments I scheduled and first up was the “Food for Thought” experience at the Oaks at Ojai. Fun and interactive, Cathy Cluff, President and CEO walked me through concocting my own bottle of Italian seasoning. It didn’t take much encouragement from her to try to the chocolate mousse (main ingredient – tofu!), which was so darn good, I made the recipe less than 24 hours later and will be posting it to the Wellness Travel Journal. The Oaks is an all-inclusive wellness/weight loss property that has been a leader in healthy vacations way before the term wellness tourism started being used. My second stop was Mandarin Oriental’s signature treatment “Calm Mind.” This fits right into WTW’s wellness travel trend, “Mind Matters.” Who doesn’t want peace and calm for goodness sake! I liked having to sit and think about how I was feeling at the time of completing the lifestyle and personality profile. Therapists use the assessment to recommend which Mandarin signature essential oil blend was best and a 10-minute chair massage followed. It was a lot of fun talking to the team of Spa Directors about travel, healthy hotels, favorite destinations and trends. At the end of event, attendees were presented with a swag bag full of nifty spa and wellness products. My favorites - the bag itself and my new favorite travel tote in a gorgeous turquoise made by Haiku, the “Hecho in Mexico” hand-painted salsa bowl with accompanying salsa book from Rancho La Puerta Sponsors demonstrated their unique brand and specialty services. This was a very fun and positive experience for this first-time of the ISPA media event. Many thanks ISPA and sponsors! Hats off to your success. Looking for to next year! |
Photo used under Creative Commons from ** RCB **