Wellness Tourism
Author: Yohanes Algian, Communication Officer
The term Wellness itself has been developed since 1959 by Dr Halbert Dunn of the National Wellness Institute (NWI), USA. Wellness is a state of being in an optimal condition. Wellness is also an integration between Wellbeing and one's Fitness. Wellbeing is a person's overall happy and healthy state, Fitness is more about one's physical condition. Wellness is an overall harmony between body, mind and spirit, with personal responsibility, attention to physical condition/beauty, healthy diet, relaxation/meditation, learning/mental activity, and social contact/responsiveness to surroundings as fundamental elements. Based on this concept of Wellness, Mueller and Kaufmann define wellness as the sum total of relationships and phenomena derived from the life journey of people whose primary motive is to maintain or improve their health.
Compared to Medical Tourists whose primary motivation for travelling is to seek a cure for illness, Wellness Tourism is undertaken by healthy people who care deeply about their lifestyle, who travel in search of improved physical fitness, spiritual balance, and cultural experience and relaxation.
Wellness Tourism has become a travel trend in recent years and is seen as a growing market segment for several countries. The 2017 Global Wellness Economy Monitor report states that in 2015 there were 691 million wellness trips, an increase of 104.4 million compared to 2013. Wellness travellers are also travellers who spend more on their trips than general travellers. In 2015, the spending level of wellness travellers reached US$ 563 million, with a percentage rate of only 7% of the world's total tourists, but managed to account for 16% of the world's total tourist spending.
Indonesia is the second largest market in Southeast Asia (after Thailand) with 1.3 million people working in the Wellness Tourism industry, and wellness traveller spending reaching USD 6.9 billion in 2017. Annual traveller growth also increased by 21.5% in the period 2015-2017.
The magnitude of this potential must be utilised as well as possible by all relevant stakeholders. Government agencies, the private sector, academics, and the community must create an environment that supports the creation of inclusive businesses in Wellness Tourism. The existence of business inclusion in Wellness Tourism is an important factor in creating sustainability. Business inclusion in Wellness Tourism provides opportunities for overall benefits for all business actors in the economic value chain. This can take the form of involving the community around the business, buying operational materials from local businesses, incentivising investment and involving academics in research.
Source:
1The Typology of Wellness Tourism in Bali; I Gede Darmawijaya, Ni Made Tirtawati, Ni Ketut Sekarti; 2018; Atlantis Press
2Leonardi Lucky Kurniawan, 2018, “Promoting Indonesia as a Wellness Tourism Destination
3Global Wellness Institute, 2018
4ESCAP, 2019
