Nadine Dilong Could this be the largest global travel survey?
For many of us, the uncertainty of when we will be allowed to travel again is stressful. While international travel is a privilege, not an essential, having to cancel holidays some of us have worked hard for all year is a big disappointment, especially when it was a wellness trip to reset, relax, improve your physical and mental wellbeing, and generally feel better about yourself.
At this stage, with Australian state borders still largely closed, jetting over to Asia or Europe seems to not be on the cards for us this year, with most experts saying it may be more than 12 months away. Meanwhile, the travel industry is suffering, and as such, the best thing to do right now is to prepare for the time post COVID-19, when the sound of planes will hopefully no longer be a rarity.
The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) wants to support the international wellness tourism industry and has just launched the COVID-19 Wellbeing and Travel Intention Survey. This short global consumer survey takes just five minutes to complete and will help the tourism and wellness industries understand guest needs and intentions when travel resumes.
Chair of the Wellness Tourism Initiative, Katherine Droga, says her “hope is that this will be the largest global consumer survey of its kind. The more operators and industry who complete it and share it with their customers, the better the insights for all.”
“Right now, the wellness and travel industries are facing unprecedented and challenging times. It’s really a moment for us all to reset our businesses and an important factor in doing this successfully will be to deep dive into how the consumer is behaving, thinking and feeling at this moment.
As Chair of the GWI Wellness Tourism Initiative, it felt like the exact right moment to release our COVID-19 Global Wellbeing and Travel Intention survey. It takes just 5-10 minutes to complete and I would encourage all operators to complete this and also share with friends, families, staff and importantly their customers.”
With wellness resorts, retreats, spas, and other health and wellbeing facilities closed for several months this year, what will the future of wellness travel look like?
“Travel will evolve so much in the coming months and years ahead,” says Droga.
“While international travel globally is 12+ months away, I think Australia will be in a fortunate position with its domestic travel market and also the potential travel bubble with NZ and possibly the South Pacific. This provides Australia with a solid market base for the sector to survive and thrive.
The biggest shift I see is in the increased demand for wellness travel experiences as part of a regular holiday. Wellness Travel will no longer be seen as a high yield niche experience but one that is embraced by more and more holidaymakers as they seek to add a ‘wellbeing’ component into their trip. This could be a spa experience, an immersion in nature, a mindful practice, great food or another authentic and local experience linked to wellbeing. Our goal in the industry should be to identify the consumer unmet need state and provide and awesome offering to fulfil this.”
You can take the survey here and go in the draw to win one of five wellbeing packs delivered to your door with goodies courtesy of Waterlily, Daily Greatness and Wellness Solutions valued at nearly $1,000 each.
