Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of July 3, 2017)

“Dr. Andrew Weil Says We’re Taking Too Many Medicines” – The New York Times – June 22, 2017

Dr. Andrew Weil, the integrative medicine pioneer, has a new book,Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better”. He argues here that people are now taking far too many medicines (whether statins, antidepressants or common cold remedies)  – a problem that’s been building this last century because of a mindset on the part of doctors that medication is the only legitimate way to treat disease. (Dr. Weil will keynote at this October’s Global Wellness Summit.)

Chinese Outbound Wellness Tourism will be a Huge Force

Chinese outbound tourism will shape the future of the global wellness industry for years to come. Not only because Chinese tourists are becoming much more health/wellness conscious, but because the Chinese traveling population is so incredibly massive, that even a marginal future increase means big numbers.

Trend to Watch: Will Global Populism Negatively Impact Tourism?

The issue of whether global populism is negatively impacting tourism in general – and wellness tourism in particular – is a burning one, but not easy to address right now. When you look at countries like Turkey or the U.S., there are so many causes to disentangle. Malleret argues that in the long term, countries that “turn inward” will ultimately deter tourism and lose travellers to other more welcoming destinations.

GWI Roundtable: The Future of Wellness in the Baltics

The GWI’s Eastern European Initiative recently hosted an expert roundtable – moderated by Initiative Chair, Alla Sokolova, and held in collaboration with the Baltic Spa Association – to discuss best practices, trends, opportunities, and challenges for the spa and wellness industry in the Baltics region.