Our need to feel connected—to bond, belong and befriend—runs deep. And medical evidence shows that human connection is the lynchpin of our wellbeing, while other research shows that workplaces built on harmonious, productive relationships are linked to lower stress, greater happiness and peak performance. This month, The GWI’s Wellness Moonshot Calendar: A Year of Inspiration focuses on new ways to connect with our coworkers, family and friends.…
WHAT IS THE WELLNESS ECONOMY? GWI defines the wellness economy as industries that enable consumers to incorporate wellness activities and lifestyles into their daily lives. It encompasses 11 varied and diverse sectors. Wellness is estimated by the Global Wellness Institute to be a multi-trillion-dollar market, with global spending exceeding $4 trillion every year since 2017. Its growth rate has consistently outpaced global GDP growth, with positive…
WHAT IS WELLNESS? Wellness is a modern word with ancient roots. The key tenets of wellness as both preventive and holistic can be traced back to ancient civilizations from the East (India, China) to the West (Greece, Rome). In 19th-century Europe and the United States, a variety of intellectual, religious and medical movements developed in parallel with conventional medicine. With their focus on holistic and…
Last week, at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, GWI’s CEO Susie Ellis presented the latest research and trends for MENA wellness tourism markets at the GWI’s annual Wellness Symposium, this year focused on the opportunities in both medical tourism and wellness tourism. Key findings: In terms of recent growth percentages, no world wellness tourism market is growing faster than MENA’s: 13.4 percent annually and…
There are an ever-growing number of research reports from global economists that go far beyond the limited metric of GDP to gauge nations’ overall happiness and wellbeing. These studies all use somewhat different measurements, so rankings can vary. And because this research is giving us a clearer, deeper picture of the true health and wellness of people in countries worldwide, the GWI has created a…
The 2019 World Happiness Report was just unveiled and, once again, Northern European nations prove that they are out in front in cracking the happiness code, with eight of the top 10 happiest nations hailing from the region: 1) Finland, 2) Denmark, 3) Norway, 4) Iceland, 5) Netherlands, 6) Switzerland, 7) Sweden, and 10) Austria. New Zealand and Canada took the #8 and #9 spots.…
