As we recently reported, Asia-Pacific travellers are now searching for health and wellness products during their travels, making Asia one of the largest wellness tourism markets. A study has revealed that female travellers, affluent middle-age people, and Chinese millennial millionaires are the driving forces behind the phenomenon.
Conducted by branding and marketing agency CatchOn, in partnership with ILTM, a global collection of invitation-only events, the report “Asia: The Future of Global Wellness Tourism” has highlighted that at the core of wellness tourism’s explosive growth, APAC travellers make 258 million wellness trips annually, just behind Europe.
Female travellers are a forefront segment contributing to the rise of wellness tourism in Asia. The popularity of women-only vacations have soared significantly in the last decade. The report even cited that some tour companies had experienced over 200% growth of female-exclusive vacations over the last few years. Bali and Nepal are a couple of the more popular destinations, attracting female vacationers from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan to make getaways with just the gals.
Rising spending power, recurrent spending on wellness travel, and the pursuit of quality are some of the reasons driving women to go on wellness trips.
Longer life expectancies and growth in wealth has enabled more people from Asian countries to pursue personal wellness. According to the respondents included in the report, middle-age is a period when most have the resources and time to take on new adventures and explore the world.
When pursuing luxury travel experiences, affluent middle-age consumers are more demanding in ensuring they get the very best value for money, be it in glamorous accommodations or the exclusivity of experiences. At Lightfoot Travel, affluent middle-aged travellers are spending up to US$200,000 per trip with a 20% increase year-on-year.
For those seeking medical tourism and treatments. China, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand are some of the popular destinations.
Last but not least, the report has also named Chinese millennial millionaires as the driver in wellness tourism. This sector perceives wellness travel as a life-enriching experience, as they select destinations not for the types of experiences available, but for new knowledge or skills they can learn. The report found they also go for wellness travel to avoid hassles from their everyday lives, to relieve stress, and to discover local places that they can immerse in.
Source: Marketing Interactive
