Slicing the Global Wellness Institute’s 2014 research on wellness tourism always yields new insights. We have previously reported that domestic wellness tourism makes up 84 percent of this travel category’s total trips. But which nations are the winners in driving the most inbound/international wellness trips globally? READ MORE to find out the top 12 countries…
More Vacations: Less Heart Disease
It’s summer vacation time, and there is a solid, body of medical evidence that suggests vacations are indeed good for one’s health. For instance, the famed Framingham Heart Study found that women who took a vacation once every six years or less were nearly eight times more likely to develop coronary heart disease or have a heart attack than those who took at least two vacations a year. Another study of 12,000 men at high risk for coronary heart disease found that those who failed to take annual vacations were 32 percent more likely to die of a heart attack.
Productivity Is Falling Worldwide—Can Yoga Help?
Economist Thierry Malleret takes a look at an odd fact: Despite all the hype about technology and innovation, productivity is stalled, or falling, around the world—with India being one key exception. Critical, disturbing reasons—weak investment and cash hoarding by mega-companies in countries like the U.S.
Shifting to the wellness front, Malleret discusses how many businesses are now scrambling to increase productivity by rolling out employee wellness programs. And yoga is on the rise in those programs because a lot of anecdotal evidence indicates that “it works.”
So what about India and productivity? Malleret argues that any simple idea that India is more productive thanks to yoga is preposterous, but he explains how yoga is not only very much part of India’s cultural DNA but also how the new government is taking action. READ MORE about what India’s new prime minister is doing on the yoga front…making it more a part of “policy.”
Who’s Adding the Most Wellness Trips Each Year? Asia.
According to Global Wellness Institute research, no region is adding more wellness tourism trips each year than Asia-Pacific. The region now drives 152 million wellness trips annually—and is adding an amazing 32 million a year—meaning that Asia-Pacific is fast closing in on current wellness tourism trip leaders, Europe and North America. Read about the region’s powerful wellness tourism growth, and how the top 10 Asian markets stack up.
News: “Why Facebook Is the Junk Food of Socializing”
In this short piece (you can read it in three minutes!), a professor of cognitive science explains that when we interact with “friends” on social networking sites or through texting, “it can feel like we’re getting quality social contact, but we are not.” Research shows face–to–face interaction with other people—real people, right in front of us—is absolutely vital for longevity and happiness. In fact, it is a larger contributor than both exercise and diet.
Briefing paper: The Wellness Market in Japan
It’s no surprise technology goes hand-in-hand with most everything in Japan and that includes wellness. Wellness apps, such as yoga and meditation apps, are highly recommended adjuncts to a guest’s wellness program in Japan. And, in anticipation of hosting the 2020 Olympics, has put a sharper focus on wellness tourism, including the country’s extensive hot springs and forests, where stress-relieving forest therapy is growing in popularity.
