Event report - Global Wellness Summit 2024

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Event report

Global Wellness Summit 2024

Jane Kitchen reports from the 18th annual Global Wellness Summit in Scotland as it declares 2024 a watershed moment for the industry

Published in Spa Business 2024 issue 4

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Water was everywhere during the 2024 Global Wellness Summit (GWS) – in the chilly waters of the North Sea, where delegates donned woolly hats for early-morning wild swimming; in the ice baths from Kohler and Remedy Place that attendees could test their stamina in; and in the presentations, which took on topics from water conservation to a resurgence of bathhouse culture. The GWS took place at Kohler’s Old Course Hotel in St Andrews and focused on the theme of A Watershed Moment for Wellness. As GWS executive director and chief creative officer Nancy Davis said in her opening remarks, “The word ‘watershed’ has a number of meanings: it’s a dividing ridge between drainage areas – it’s a crucial turning point.”

Our industry may be at a pivotal juncture in many ways. The sold-out summit, attracting more than 500 delegates from 43 countries, attested to just how many people are paying attention to the business of wellness. On p64, Spa Business’ contributing editor Jeremy McCarthy argues that 2024 is the year that wellness broke through the ceiling in hospitality. The latest research by sister organisation the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), which was revealed at the GWS by senior research fellows Katherine Johnston and Ophelia Yeung, shows the wellness economy has reached a record peak of US$6.3 trillion (€5.99 trillion, £4.98 trillion) and is forecast to hit US$9 trillion (€8.6 trillion, £7.1 trillion) by 2028 (see p32). But we’re also seeing something of a split within the industry, where things are increasingly shifting into two sides of the wellness coin – the high-tech world of medical wellness and longevity and a desire for the simpler side of wellness: a walk in the woods or wild swimming. Amy Eisinger, head of content for Well+Good, captured this brilliantly in a trends panel. “We’re seeing the wellness world become a place of extremes,” she said. “We have biohacking but we also have JOLO – the joy of logging off.”

WATER, WATER
The summit began by addressing the most basic necessity for wellness: access to clean water. J Carl Ganter, Circle of Blue founder, urged attendees to lead the movement in creating a new narrative to advance the conversation around water and safeguard its future. Ganter reflected on the growing global water crisis and urged delegates to think about how they can help. “What we do when we leave the summit will define our water history,” he said. “Most of the solutions are there – we just need to realign perception and reality.”

It was no accident that Ganter kicked off the summit with his call to action. The GWS has a long history of efforts to tackle some of the most basic impediments to wellness, including the launch of the Wellness Moonshot: A World Free of Preventable Disease in 2017 (see www.spabusiness.com/moonshot17). “I’ve always asked this question of the industry: What can we accomplish together that we can’t accomplish alone?” said Susie Ellis, GWS chair, in her welcome speech. “This pressing issue of water usage and water shortage will take all of us working together and modelling a new collaboration towards the greater good.”

Part of that collaboration starts with sharing and Sarah Livia Brightwood, president of destination wellness resort Rancho la Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, gave a presentation on how its new wastewater plant will be able to process 430 gallons of water per minute. “This process is like a miracle, turning domestic sewage into potable water in a place that’s beautiful, quiet and odour-free,” she said.

One of the reasons we, as an industry, should care about water is that it is central to spas. Robert Hammond, president and chief strategy officer for Therme US, spoke to design consultant and author Jane Withers about the idea of water being central to gathering and the new wave of bathhouses popping up worldwide. In Dallas, Texas, Christopher Barrett, CEO of Worldsprings, has the lofty aim of bringing the international cultures of water-based wellness to everyone. The first site, opened this year, has 46 mineral-enhanced pools that are recreations of locations like The Blue Lagoon or the Dead Sea and Barrett told attendees he plans multiple sites across the US.

An even simpler, more egalitarian form of water wellness exists in the rising popularity of wild swimming. Author Vicky Allan and photographer Anna Deacon, who have collaborated on books such as The Ripple Effect, spoke about its growing appeal. “People were coming to the water with grief or chronic pain and the water lets them release that,” said Allan. Importantly, many community groups have been formed and today, things such as men’s mental health swim groups are gaining much traction.

Community is something that many followers of the Wim Hof Method have found and the man himself, Wim Hof, joined the summit for the second time, leading delegates in a breathwork exercise set to live music. To read more about how to implement cold water immersion safely in spas, visit www.spabusiness.com/cwi.

CONNECTION & COLLABORATION
The importance of collaboration, community and connection was a theme that ran throughout the summit. “Our industry’s greatest achievements have always come from collaboration, not competition,” said Neil Jacobs, CEO of Six Senses. “The industry’s future is about weaving together heritage and progress, creating environments where like-minded people can come together and connect,” he said.

Jonathan Leary, founder & CEO of Remedy Place, spoke in detail about creating a community as part of his business plan for a social wellness club (see www.spabusiness.com/remedyplace). Leary’s aim was to find a way for people to socialise, but without the alcohol that normally accompanies a night out. Remedy Place has locations in Los Angeles and New York City and offers vitamin IV drip, ice bath and cryotherapy services. “The future of self-care is actually a form of entertainment,” said Leary. “Social self-care will make us healthier.” Turn to p42 and p48 to read more about the rapid rise of social wellness clubs and visit www.spabusiness.com/leary for Spa Business’ interview with Leary earlier this year.

Aradhana Khowala, CEO of Aptamind Partners, gave an entire keynote on working together. “So far, our industry has focused on self-care, but wellness isn’t isolated – self-care is community care – it’s global,” she said. “We live in a time that cries out for belonging. If wellness is the goal, then connection is the key.” In a previous issue of Spa Business, Khowala, who’s working on the world’s biggest resort projects in Saudi Arabia, has also highlighted her drive and passion for regenerative tourism (see www.spabusiness.com/khowala). She was a co-chair of this year’s summit along with Freddie Moross of Myndstream and Nina Kohler from Kohler Company, which partnered with the GWS on the event.

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY

One of the ways people are increasingly connecting, of course, is through social media. Jeremy Jauncey, founder of social media content company Beautiful Destinations, reported that a third of consumers have bought something on social media and the market is projected to be US$1 trillion (€949.2 billion, £793.7 billion) by 2028. Importantly, he explained: “Rich video content sells products and services better than any other form of media. It’s where consumer attention is.”

It’s that attention, however, that has 17-year-old Lewis Swire concerned. Swire has started a youth-led campaign to end social media addiction and reported that the average 17-year-old spends almost six hours a day on social media. “Young people are wasting their passion – their life – scrolling on social media,” he said.

But that phone technology has also put wellness in the palm of many people’s hands and Michael Acton Smith, founder of the Calm, spoke about his quest to bring mindfulness to people through his app. “I wondered: could we take this ancient practice and make it simpler, more accessible?” he told the audience. He also hinted at a Calm-branded spa, resort or wellness community in the future. Smith was later honoured with the Debra Simon Award for Furthering Mental Wellness for his work in transforming wellbeing in the digital age.

Meanwhile, Amy McDonald of Under a Tree consulting was moved to tears when she was presented with the coveted annual Leading Woman in Wellness Award.

THE PLEASURE OF WELLNESS
Perhaps the answer is to make wellness practices as appealing – or even addictive – as social media scrolling or other dopamine-inducing activities. Anna Bjurstam, wellness pioneer for Six Senses, spoke about ‘pleasure health’ and asked the audience: “Why does getting healthy feel like punishment?” The key, she said, is to engineer anticipation. “The future of wellness lies in understanding the science of feeling good,” she explained.

Moving our bodies and engaging in sport is one way to feel good. Lina Almaeena, co-founder of Jeddah United Sports Company, detailed her personal story of the transformative effects that discovering basketball had on her life and how she’s on a mission to bring that feeling to other Saudi women and girls. Part of the goal of the country’s Vision 2030 plan is to increase physical activity from 13 per cent to 40 per cent. “Vision 2030 has opened up so much for women in Saudi,” she said. Gundeep Anand, founder and creative director of The Last Stand, charmed the audience with his glimpse into the world of street football in London and his mission of bringing at-risk youth together and uniting communities through sport.

LONGEVITY
Bjurstam also led a live Zoom conversation with Dave Asprey, CEO of Upgrade Labs, where they discussed the future of longevity. Asprey has spent US$2.5 million (€2.73 million, £1.98 million) in the last 25 years on reversing his age. He told the audience that health and longevity doesn’t have to be expensive. Things like sleeping in darkness has the best ROI, he said, because it costs nothing.

Simone Gibertoni, CEO of Clinique La Prairie and Isaac Jones, founder of Health Experts Alliance, spoke with Sue Harmsworth, founder of SATCC and ESPA, about wellness, longevity and optimal living. “The future is educating the consumer about everything – we want to be more preventative,” said Gibertoni. And he sees hyper-personalisation as the future of longevity treatments. This will be a key focus as CLP grows from one to 50 sites, as he’s revealed to Spa Business previously (see www.spabusiness.com/gibertoni). “At the moment, we say superficially that we’re all the same, but we’re not,” he said. For Jones, longevity will be fuelled by early diagnosis. “People can have cancer 10-15 years before it’s diagnosed – Alzheimer’s 30-50 years before – and there are things you can do to reverse it,” he said.

In another viewpoint, Dave Stewart, founder & CEO of Ageist, made a case for optimism being the key to longevity. “The most powerful lever in wellness is not knowledge, it’s mindset,” he said. “Longevity is increased by positive self-perceptions of ageing.” Stewart pointed to a Harvard study that found optimists have a longer lifespan than pessimists and drilling down, optimists are better at all sorts of behaviour that helps longevity, such as making an effort to stay connected.

FUTURE OF WELLNESS
GWI VP of research and forecasting Beth McGroarty shared her insights into wellness trends alongside Well+Good’s Eisinger, as well as Vanessa Fuss of VML Intelligence and Olivia Houghton from LSN Global. Much like the rest of the summit, the panel focused on two sides of wellness: the high-tech and the low-tech. “There’s a hunger to restore the human by disconnecting,” said McGroarty. “Analog living will soon become a pillar of lifestyle.” All panellists also noted how a new wave of celebrity scientists and doctors is helping companies to sell products and expressed concern about how that might impact trust in the industry. “We’re moving from ‘well-washing’ to ‘science-washing’ – it’s a much more confusing landscape,” said McGroarty. Fuss concurred: “Real science is getting mixed up with pseudo-science,” she said.

Cathy Feliciano-Chon, managing partner at Finn Partners, together with Jauncey, unveiled details from Finn’s new report, The Future of Wellness Tourism 2025. Feliciano-Chon highlighted Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iceland and Italy as emerging wellness tourism destinations. Feliciano-Chon and Jauncey both agreed on the importance of the wellness tourism sector adopting a regenerative approach. “You will not be able to call yourself a wellness destination if you do not follow regenerative practices,” said Jauncey. “The wellness [tourism] industry is going to be called upon to be the gold standard.”

As for the future of the summit… the location for GWS 2025 was unveiled as Abu Dhabi and will be held in collaboration with Shura Global Consultancy. Shura’s Mohamed Yousef Almadfaei, who joined Ellis and Davis on stage for the announcement, said: “Our partnership with the GWS is essential in achieving our goals of not only advancing the wellness economy but also influencing the global wellness narrative.”