Wellness Tourism Provides Unique Benefits for Local Communities
By Tonia Callender, GWI research fellow
While political and economic uncertainty are influencing tourism flows, analysts predict a rise in global tourism visits this year.1 The seasonal influx of visitors provides jobs and revenues for businesses and communities, but the volume of visitors can also pose threats to the local environment and the quality of life for residents. Focusing on wellness tourism can help stakeholders avoid these hazards and still benefit from hosting visitors.
The global wellness tourism market represents a small but rapidly increasing share of tourism trips. Compared to other leisure travelers, wellness tourists tend to spend significantly more, while exploring diverse destinations, activities and services. Governments, wellness businesses and local organizations can implement thoughtful wellness tourism strategies to benefit both the destinations and their surrounding communities. Now is an especially opportune time, as wellness tourists are increasingly interested in nature, curative waters, outdoor exercise, local healthy cuisines, and indigenous healing arts. Protecting all of these assets strengthens a destination’s appeal for wellness tourism.
Wellness tourists spend more per trip than other travelers. In 2023, wellness trips accounted for 7.8% of all tourism trips but represented 17.9% of all tourism expenditures. As a high yield category that attracts a larger portion of high-income visitors, wellness tourism can be an antidote to mass tourism and overtourism. Because wellness travelers spend more and favor experiences that are authentic and unique, there is less pressure for destinations to engage in a “race to the bottom” strategy that competes on price and quantity. Wellness tourism also provides destinations with an opportunity to reduce the seasonality of visitor flows. For example, ski destinations can attract wellness travelers interested in hiking and other outdoor activities in summertime.
Wellness tourism has the potential to spread tourism to less traveled destinations; bring economic benefits and innovations to rural areas; and increase the incentives to protect local culture, biodiversity, and the environment. The values and interests inherent in wellness tourism are well aligned with those of sustainable and responsible tourism. A region’s key assets for developing and promoting wellness tourism extend beyond its hospitality and wellness businesses, and include the wellbeing of its people, the integrity of its culture, and the quality of its natural environment. As shown by the examples of Costa Rica, New Zealand, and Bhutan, sustainable tourism policies and strategies can help protect key assets and foundations while creating a successful and competitive wellness tourism destination.
To learn how wellness tourism can benefit all stakeholders, see the Wellness Policy Toolkit: Wellness in Tourism.
1 See 1) Pacific Travel Association. March 2025. PATA Forecasts Strong Asia Pacific Visitor Rebound and Growth Through 2027 [Press Release]. https://www.pata.org/press-release/pata-forecasts-strong-asia-pacific-visitor-rebound-and-growth-through-2027. 2) World Travel and Tourism Council. April, 2025. Global Travel & Tourism is Strong Despite Economic Headwinds [Press Release]. https://wttc.org/news/global-travel-and-tourism-is-strong-despite-economic-headwinds. 3) European Travel Commission. April, 2025. Europe’s travel in spring-summer 2025: More trips, longer stays, and bigger budgets [Press Release]. https://etc-corporate.org/news/europe-travel-spring-summer-2025/
