Six of the top 10 nations globally for wellness tourism expenditures are in Europe, with the region responsible for almost 40 per cent of all domestic and international wellness-focused trips taken worldwide each year, according to research published by The Global Wellness Tourism Congress (GWTC).

Conducted for the GWTC by SRI International, the research also shows that Europe ranks as number one globally for annual trips taken (203 million) and comes in at number two for expenditures at US$158bn (£94.4bn, €115.3bn).

However, Europe lags slightly behind North America, which holds top spot with a 41 per cent share on the expenditures side of the market.

Germany ranks at the top in Europe for both trips and expenditures, while France and Austria come in close behind, with the three countries accounting for over US$80bn (£47.7bn, €57.7bn) in the wellness tourism spend each year.

Findings also show that domestic wellness trips have been more dominant than international ones, especially in the US.

Europe has been found to have slightly less dominant domestic travel for wellness offerings because of the ease of crossing borders to other countries in the continent.

“Europeans are the most sophisticated, experienced wellness- and prevention-focused focused travellers on the planet. They not only take frequent trips within their own countries and across Europe, they’re also pegged as the largest source market for international wellness travel,” said Susie Ellis, Chairman & CEO of the GWTC. “And with so many European tourism boards – from Austria to Slovenia – now smartly promoting their unique offerings, the region will only continue to attract more health-minded travellers from all over the world.”

The research has found that Europe will see a strong 7.3 per cent annual wellness tourism spend growth between 2012-2017, with the market growing from US$158bn (£94.9bn, €115.3bn) to US$225bn (£134.4bn, €164bn).