As the world emerges from the pandemic, surveys have revealed that travellers are seeking wellness as never before.
Between 2019 and 2020, the global wellness tourism market was hit hard. Since then, it has been the biggest growth leader among all 11 wellness markets, clocking 36% annual growth between 2020 and 2022, to reach £520 billion.
With more recovery ahead, the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) forecasts that the wellness tourism market will more than double from 2022 to 2027, with dramatic spending jumps. Its 16.6% annual growth rate over the next five years will make it the second biggest future growth leader among all wellness sectors, trailing only wellness real estate at 17.4%.
Wellness tourism is growing significantly faster than tourism overall: Wellness tourism’s extraordinary 36% annual spending growth, and 30% annual wellness trip growth (from 2020 to 2022) is markedly higher than growth rates for overall tourism expenditures (28.4%) and trips (23.8%). One in five ‘travel dollars’ are spent on wellness tourism.
Wellness trips now account for 7.8% of all tourism trips but represent a much higher 18.7% of all tourism expenditures. Translation: wellness tourism accounts for almost 1 in 5 total “travel dollars” spent.
Wellness travellers also spend far more than “regular” tourists. International wellness tourists on average spent £1,405 per trip—41% more than the typical international tourist. The spending premium for domestic wellness tourists is even higher, at 175% more than the average domestic tourist.
The top five biggest national wellness tourism markets are:
| Market size | Annual growth rate | Percentage |
| 1) US | $256 billion (£204 billion) | 32% |
| 2) Germany | $70.2 billion (£55.9 billion | 50% |
| 3) France | $35.5 billion (£28.2 billion) | 36% |
| 4) Austria | $19.5 billion (£15.5 billion) | 28% |
| 5) Switzerland | $17.7 billion (£14.1 billion) | 37% |
