A panel at the World Travel Market in London earlier this week – part of the Wellness Travel Symposium hosted by the Global Wellness Institute – explored how to create a winning wellness travel strategy, looking across a variety of destinations across the world for examples.

“All tourism takes place in a place, and that place is a destination – but what makes a wellness destination?” asked Terry Stevens, an international tourism consultant and managing director of UK-based Stevens & Associates, who moderated the panel.

Anni Hood, founder and CEO of wellness business consultancy Anni Hood, said that we’re heading towards a “new normal,” with macro-trends such as air pollution becoming more relevant to the way people will travel.

“Ninety per cent of the world’s population breathes air that doesn’t meet the minimum standard,” said Hood. “More people – in particular millennials – will make decisions based on that.”

Hood said that means there needs to be more collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Vinod Zutshi, secretary of tourism for India, looked at how the Indian government has successfully backed up wellness programmes across the country.

“India is traditionally a hub for wellness tourism,” said Zutshi, but the government backing gives wellness programmes even more credibility.

India is projecting a 22 per cent increase in wellness tourism, he said.

Dr Eleni Michopoulou, a senior lecturer in business management at the University of Derby in the UK, said it’s important to look at urban markets as potential wellness destinations.

“It’s not just the natural environment, it’s also the built environment and what we do with technology,” she said. “We need to integrate wellness in the urban market where it's needed most. There may be an opportunity to use virtual reality to create a wellness environment.”

Dr Franz Linser, CEO of Linser Hospitality, pointed out that wellness travellers are relatively free of seasonality, and that they spend more per day and stay longer than the average traveller.

Alla Sokolova, founder and CEO of wellness consultancy Inbalans, looked at how the government in Transylvania invested in hiking trails and natural mineral pools to create a wellness destination with unique Transylvanian features.

She also discussed her plans working with the Jurmula City Council to create a wellness community within Latvia’s Kemeri National Park.

“Authenticity is key – local is key,” said Sokolova. “...There is a demand and a gap in the market. This can really become the new regional tourist strategy...There’s never been such a conducive time for wellness travel.”