In the movie ‘Eat, pray, love’ we witnessed Julia Roberts travelled to India on a trip to rediscover herself. Post the movie's release, tour operators began offering tours to Italy, India and Bali. This created hype though travellers had already started exploring these destinations.

Musicians and artists around the world are fascinated with Indian culture. They travelled to India to know more about the rich Indian culture. Gradually the concept of wellness bloomed and India became an aspired destination for people around the globe.

We live in a global village and boundaries are fading. Travellers now travel world over to explore various destinations to take a break from their mundane routine life.

What is a wellness tour?

 Reboot life

• Wellness Tourism Association believes: Wellness travel enhances a healthy lifestyle of a traveller and boosts a sense of wellbeing
  
  
• Thus, emphasizing the prioritisation of physical, emotional and spiritual well-being
  
  

• It puts the traveller on the path of physical and spiritual transformation through self-exploration by visiting natural and historic places
  
  
• It involves relaxing and being away from the mundane routine
  
  
• The schedules are not hectic and involve a healthy diet, therapies, spa treatment, yoga, meditation, and being in nature’s company  
  
  
• Quite often it leads to spiritual rejuvenation
  
  
• People feel stressed due to hectic schedules and want to take short breaks
  
  
• Especially after COVID norms were relaxed, people started crowding nearby destinations to feel distressed and relaxed. 

What is Luxury Travel?

Customized culture

• Exclusivity is inherent to luxury travel
  
  
• It is expected to bring unique experiences personalized to the requirements of the traveller
  
  
• These are customized tours and the traveller’s preferences for luxurious travel and stay are included
  
  
• It enhances the feeling of being special and involves luxurious amenities rendering a rich experience
  
  
• It involves speedy service, maximum comfort and the best quality cuisine. 
  
  

Lately, tour operators are focusing on luxury and wellness travel & what are its benefits to the tour or travel operators?

How can offering luxury and wellness tours benefit your travel company?

Growth of the luxury and wellness industry:

• Luxury hotels are surging due to an increasing demand among travellers and people are willing to spend money to ensure safety, hygiene, exclusivity and isolation
  
  
• This is an effect of the pandemic. But there are other reasons as well for a surge in luxury hotels
  
  
• More and more people wish to experience a luxurious living while they travel, where they wish to feel special. Also, it ensures a hassle-free experience and an ideal way to relax
  
  
• Initially, Westerners visited India for a luxurious experience but now the narrative has changed
  
  
• Domestic travellers have begun to choose luxury travel
  
  
• A study conducted by Research Dive reveals that the global luxury travel market is set to generate a revenue of $1,369,103.8 million
  
  
• It will grow exponentially at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 8.8% between 2021- 2028.

The Wellness Travel Industry is growing:

• Wellness tourism is expanding the world over thus making it a major contributor to the world economy
  
  
• The major offerings are meditation, yoga and Ayurveda retreats
  
  
• These healing therapies have been developed through centuries of wisdom appreciated by the Western world and Indians as well
  
  
• Spirituality is an inherent part of all these healing therapies
  
  
• Tour operators can benefit by arranging these exclusive luxury and wellness tours where the revenues are high bringing in foreign exchange earnings.

The reason for the growth of the luxury and wellness industry!

1. Luxury travel

• Certainly, pent-up demand and disposable income have added to the desire to travel, especially post-pandemic
  
  
• Also, an aspirational segment is spending more and more on luxurious vacations

• Solo tourism is catching pace and has become a growing trend due to increasing concerns about mental health and remote work culture
  
  
• This global solo market is to grow at a rate above 15% through 2030
  
  
• Self-exploration is the main aim of travellers and they are ready to invest time and money while doing so
  
  
• This trend is popular among Gen X. As per the Triplt survey conducted in 2021, more than 24% Gen X will mostly travel by themselves in 2022. When they travel solo, they prefer it to be comfortable and equipped with the best service thus encouraging the luxury travel industry.

2. Wellness Travel

• Yoga and wellness retreats are in great demand now due to the excessive stress levels in our lives, which leads to mental health issues
  
  
• So now the focus is on holistic well-being, nutrition and rejuvenation through detoxification, and meditation
  
  

• People choose to take short trips to build their energy levels and immunity
  
  
• India has been attracting the attention of international travellers as it’s undoubtedly the hub for various streams of alternate therapies like Ayurveda, naturopathy and Tibetan medicine
  
  
• Bali offers exotic spa treatments like water massages, full moon yoga classes and Balinese mud masks
  
  
• Hawaii has gorgeous tropical landscapes along with activities like hiking, snorkelling and beach yoga
  
  
• As compared to the regular traveller, wellness tourist spends 130 per cent more
  
  
• Thus, there is rapid growth in wellness tourism
  
  
• It attracts foreign exchange adding to the revenue of tour operators and the country’s economy as well
  
  
• It generates business opportunities and employment. This sector is growing thus, it is a lucrative business opportunity for travel companies.

 3. The target audience

• Gen Z and Millennials with high disposable income have the desire to spend on luxuries
  
  
• Tour operators and travel companies need to offer a luxurious personalized experience to differentiate themselves
  
  
• Targeting a niche audience will reduce marketing sales cost, and increase brand loyalty
  
  
• This can be done by integrating technology while extending services by using data-driven insights to know more about the target audience
  
  
• This is possible by using travel management software and CRM software offered by companies like ETOS ( Click here to Book a Free Demo) 
  
  
• This systematic study on a niche audience would result in qualitative lead conversion
  
  
• The same goes for the wellness tours
  
  
• This same target audience is stressed due to highly demanding jobs that trigger emotional stress
  
  
• Now they crave to relieve this stress by travelling to tranquil destinations like Bali, Mauritius, Maldives, Vienna, etc.

 4. The spending capacity

Millennial travellers are ready to spend on customized packages where they want to be a part of travel planning as per their expectations.

5. Global travellers get attracted to different cultures

• Especially foreign tourists are fascinated by the colonial British period, hearing stories of Indian royal families, their lifestyles, jewellery, artefacts, museums, wars, palaces, forts, love stories, and escape to the serene gardens with lakes
  
  
• Undeniably it has a charm that lures foreign tourists
  
  
• India has tranquil and serene spots filled with natural resources that are ideal for meditation retreats
  
  
• Destinations like Japan, Rome, China, Greece, Athens, Spain have rich culture that travellers wish to explore
  
  
• These give deep insights leading to self-exploration.

How can travel companies benefit from this growing demand for luxury and wellness tours?

All these factors mentioned above make both luxury and wellness tours a lucrative option for travel companies. It is a fast-growing market that hasn’t yet reached its full potential. Thus travel companies and agents should make the most of the growing trends.

Travel agents can work hand-in-hand with spas, yoga centers, meditation centers, and local travel operators to create packages, and vouchers that attracts more customers. Travellers then don’t have to worry about researching about various centers that suit their preferences.

Various choices should be provided by travel companies. Even arranging workshops or camps can boost their revenue. 

ETOS travel software products make it possible for tour operators and travel companies to plan wellness and luxury tours and offer customized packages. 

Also, as millennials and Gen Z like to have an immersive experience, ETOS offers a 3D tour walk-through of hotels https://www.etosglobal.com/3d-tours-walk-through

Connect with ETOS team to know more and also request a demo https://www.etosglobal.com/request_demos