MONTHLY BAROMETER Last month, we mentioned that global warming is raising the cost of capital in those countries most affected by climate change. It’s also hitting their prospects for economic growth through ripple effects, such as lower productivity during periods of extreme heat. Any assessment of climate change for investment purposes can only be undertaken in the most granular possible manner, but from a top-down…
A new study from Danish researchers suggests that people that played social or team sports, such as tennis or soccer, tend to live longer than those that who do solitary fitness, such as jogging, swimming or cycling. The study found that all exercise increased longevity, but, while cycling added 3.7 years and running 3.2 to a person’s life, tennis added 9.7, badminton added 6.2, and…
On Oct 6 at the Global Wellness Summit in Italy, the GWI will release a complete update of its research report on the worldwide wellness economy, filled with data on the size and growth in the 10 wellness markets as well as detailed regional-level analysis, trends and data. A record number of companies, 18 global organizations, sponsored the report to ensure the research would be…
How tourists are destroying the places they love – Der Spiegel, August 21, 2018 Over the past weeks, we’ve read dozens of articles on the rising backlash against tourism. This one is a bit long but particularly well researched. Mass tourism has created over-tourism, and, in many beautiful spots, the infrastructure and the local population are buckling under the pressure and the predatory nature of…
In the last Brief, we reported on a new study from the University of Illinois finding that their wellness program had “no causal effect on the activities, health, productivity and medical spending” for its 5,000 participants. This negative study led to an expected storm of headlines in the media, summed up by the one from Bloomberg: “Workplace Wellness Programs Really Don’t Work” – letting…
By Thierry Malleret, economist Barring a catastrophic deterioration in trade and international relations around the world, tourism in general and wellness tourism in particular, will continue to thrive and expand at a much faster pace than global GDP. As a reminder, international tourism rose from 500 million trips in 1995 to 1.3 billion last year. With the explosion of the “emerging middle class”, the number is expected to…
