Wellness Travel

What is wellness travel? Like many of the labels attached to travel, the term can be a little misleading. Some hotels will claim to be a wellness facility because they have a spa attached to it. And they may qualify as a wellness tousism destination, but many do not.

Wellness travel is defined as travel to enhance a person’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Effective wellness travel should address all three aspects, and should go far beyond a spa with sauna and pool. A desert camp with no spa facilities can qualify as luxury wellness travel if the right ingredients are in place to achieve a person’s wellness goals.

If you are planning wellness travel, a holiday with the principal  intention of maintaining or improving your mental, physical or spiritual health, it is best to start with the end in mind. What do you want to get out of the holiday? What are your goals? Essentially, what is your why?

Then you can start to think about the where, and perhaps also the how, the budget and the when.

Wellness travel can range from a weekend break away at a spa hotel, to a fortnight in the mountains to a month in a holistic treatment centre.

You could be in an urban spa, a jungle retreat, by the sea, in the desert. You could be seriously challenging yourself or you could be stepping slightly out of your comfort zone.

Try, for example, a thalassotherapy spa in Normandy. Read about Thalassotherapy in Normandy

A Wellness Travel adviser will start by asking you what you want to achieve, and then will start to help you plan. Wellness travel is designed around you and it is this bespoke aspect that makes it so important to take advice on how to make the most of your wellness holiday.

What sort of Wellness Traveller are you? 

The Global Wellness Institute identifies two types of Wellness Traveller: 

• Primary:  the traveller who is primarily motivated by a wellness goal, perhaps to lose weight, or to improve sleep, to increase fitness.
• Secondary:   the traveller who wants some wellness activities alongside traditional holiday elements. 

Anthony Kingsley Travel can help you achieve your goals whether you are a primary or secondary wellness traveller, with advice on the type of wellness holiday that meets your goals, the destination  country and the type of wellness facility. 

The above graphic illustrates the types of wellness you can expect from wellness tourism destinations from around the world. The treatment of course are not specific to a particular destination. India is the home of Ayurveda, but many Indians will travel to Abano Terme near Padua because they belive the Metropole Hotel offers Ayurveda that is equal to, if not better, than anything in India. 

Italy and Hungary not mentioned at all, and yet both host many thermal bathing establishments of the finest quality. The Philippines has long been recognised for the quality of its carers, and this is fully recognised in the quality of both their treatments and those who administer them. The Farm at San Benito is recognised as one of the best wellness destinations in the world, and Araw Hospitality rivals them with several of their wellness resorts.