Travel has so many benefits – on a macro level, travel is the greatest invention humanity has devised for promoting peace, prosperity, progress and understanding by bringing different people together. On a micro level, travel is a life-enhancing, oftentimes life-changing experience that promotes personal health and well-being. Wellness travel is a major and growing segment of the wellness industry writ large, and the travel industry.

"The global wellness tourism market represents a small but rapidly increasing share of tourism trips. Compared to other leisure travelers, wellness tourists tend to spend significantly more, while exploring diverse destinations, activities and services. Governments, wellness businesses and local organizations can implement thoughtful wellness tourism strategies to benefit both the destinations and their surrounding communities," GWI research fellow Tonia Callender writes. "Now is an especially opportune time, as wellness tourists are increasingly interested in nature, curative waters, outdoor exercise, local healthy cuisines, and indigenous healing arts. Protecting all of these assets strengthens a destination’s appeal for wellness tourism." 

The Global Wellness Summit’s (GWS’s) The Future of Wellness: 2025 Trends predicts major shifts impacting the travel industry and wellness travelers.

One of the leading trends identified that I am obsessed with is slow travel. I have just returned from a perfect example: BoatBikeTours’ sailing and biking trip to Netherlands’ islands, which offers an ideal pace for personal reflection, for visual interest, for a boost of endorphins, the opportunity to stop and take a photo or engage with someone you meet, even to ask directions, to go through villages and towns and ride back roads where you can appreciate how people live that you would never see otherwise – in other words, engagement. Slow travel provides all the wellness benefits of the travel experience.

At the Global Wellness Summit, they dubbed this trend "Wellness on the Line" and focused on how cruise and rail travel fit into the desire for "slow travel" (but I would add biking, hiking, walking and pilgrimage tours offer much the same benefits).

Train travel fits the ideal of slow travel – both in pacing that promotes mindfulness (even the rhythm of wheels rolling on the track and the gentle rocking as you watch the landscape roll by, and being eco-friendly. 

Belmond, the luxury travel company that is part of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE and owns or manages 45 luxury hotels and spas, restaurant, train and river cruise properties, operates some of the most famous trains in the world including the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, the Royal Scotsman. Its new Britannic Explorer, UK’s first luxury sleeper train, has a first-of-its-kind wellness suite onboard, where as you travel to Wales, the Lake District, Cornwall, you can enjoy treatments based on circadian rhythms, with different treatments depending upon the time of day.

Nicola Herbert, Belmond’s global director of wellness strategies (its tagline is "Discover a new pace of travel", described the company’s global strategy for Belmond hotels, trains, cruises, safari camps, focus on wellbeing and why trains and wellness are such a good mix: "Guests on a Belmond train feel like they are stepping into a cocoon, a bubble, moving away from reality. There is a natural tendency to disconnect. The common theme: it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey; embrace the journey." 

Trains and boats have a naturally slow pace, their movement, and even sound, lull the body as you also see incredible natural landscapes floating by. 

"We provide amazingly curated aesthetic space where guests use their creativity to achieve wellness – guests find a sketch book gifted in the cabin, communing across a chess board. Passengers have permission to reconnect with relaxation. Traveling with companion or fellow passengers, discovering destination – bonding experience – create friendships for life on these journeys." 

You can find a plethora of wellness experiences at Belmond properties at a dedicated site, https://www.belmond.com/experiences/wellbeing.

Wellness is transforming cruising. We saw it in the 1980s, when cruiselines introduced luxurious spas and healthy dining on board, but what they are doing now is "integrated wellness" with onboard programming –a nutritionist lecture on "nutrigenomics," a three-day cellular detox, fitness classes that focus on mobility, balance, posture; yoga meditation; and activities like stargazing at night, classes to learn computer skills, art, or learning the tango – as well as onshore activities and excursions.

Viking Cruises is one line that has embraced this in a big way. "There are so many facets from the architecture of ship reflecting its Nordic heritage, an onboard snow grotto with snowballs scented with lavender, to excursions to thermal lagoons and nature walks;

Shore excursions also provide opportunities for these enhanced experiences, like a workshop on Aloe Vera in Cape Verde; a guided medicinal plant walk through the jungle in Mexico, said Suzie Ellis, GWI’s CEO.

Blue World Voyages, launching in 2026, is promising to be the epitome of active lifestyle cruising. A ship designed in yacht style it is dedicated to sport and wellness. It is striving to be the ‘healthiest ship at sea, with an entire deck designed around sports and fitness, the world’s largest functional training facility at sea, a state of the art golf school, and the largest luxury spa per passenger at sea.

At the heart of many of the wellness trends is a rejection of the digital, overly techno, virtual world in favor of a return to the simplicity and authenticity of the analog, spawning a trend to "analogtravel"– old-school, old-fashioned, basic creative pursuits and opportunities for in-person social interaction and communication.

"The online and social media world has gone too far," said GWI’s Beth McGroarty. People are resenting the manipulation, the intrusive marketing, the evil algorithms, the lies. People are sick of ‘brain robbing,’ polarization, and the time-suck from life spent in front of screens. People are getting aggressive about logging off in life and in travel. More travelers are seeking out destinations and experiences where the phone is locked up or properties that do not have wifi (think "White Lotus"). More hotels and resorts and destinations are channeling this zeitgeist, introducing retro, pre industrial programming, tactile experiences like embroidery, clay modeling– analog experiences that restore what the digital world stolen." 

Analog experiences are as varied as blacksmithing and birdwatching, or the use of "retro tech" like old-school film cameras, dumb phones (that can only be used for emergencies), typewriters, paper maps and old-fashioned alarm clocks. The common denominator is going "unplugged." 

Vinyl listening is now the rage, she said (and as if to prove the point, Newsday reported, "Vinyl bars in NYC to explore " https://www.newsday.com/travel/vinyl-bars-nyc-g4cu5v7v)

There are deep listening sauna sessions, where you settle in for a group audio meditation – take complete vinyl album from classic artist; and "social reading"; wellness resorts and retreats are offering art as wellness therapy, arts and crafts, painting, ceramics, writing, knitting workshops. embroidery, clay modeling.

"It’s not just going retro, but back to pre-Industrial pursuits." 

At the Viceroy at Ombria Algarve in Portugal, for example, guests can sign up to be a "Shepherd for a Day" learning traditional sheep herding practices from a local shepherd and drive the flock home; also "Hive to Honey" and "Traditional Pottery Workshop" with a local artisan (Viceroy at Ombria Algarve, www.viceroyhotelsandresorts.com)

On a restored 17th century farm resort, you can do blacksmithing, milk cows, leatherworking, carpentry, wheat milling.

Tourism boards are jumping in. Japan’s tourism Board has created a road map for travelers to find traditions like paper crafting, copper and gold smithing.

Nightlife is also going analog, with super social clubs, spaces where people craft, read, listen to music, play games; reading parties where an hour of reading is set to live music in beautiful settings. 

People are also giving up booze and seeking a nightlife beyond eating and drinking: a rise in night experiences and wellness experiences like stargazing and night kayaking (also a reaction to global warming which is making daytime activities oppressively, even dangerously hot).

Saunas have been around for thousands of years, but saunas are enjoying an incredible renaissance and renewal, a trend which GWI calls "Sauna Reimagined." 

"From new urban saunas in New York and Chicago, to rustic waterfront saunas in Oslo or Brighton, to saunas with immersive art installations in Tokyo, today’s saunas represent a reinvention of an age-old tradition—and an increasingly younger, hipper crowd is taking notice, the GWI reports. "These younger consumers, craving real-life connections beyond bars and clubs, are flocking to social saunas, which can feature DJs, drag queens or full-blown concerts. Where saunas were once a sad, dark, lonely box in a basement, today they’re lively, social, cultural and entertainment hubs, often with fantastic views and in incredible locations, and people just can’t get enough." 

Saunas are increasingly paired with other forms of entertainment ("saunatainment", which resonates with a younger demographic. In London, sauna festivals and pop-ups combine music, dance workshops, bands and DJs with sauna rituals, cold plunges and hot tubs, even comedy, while in Norway, Deep Listening sessions at Farris Bad bring people together to hear a favorite classic album while in the sauna. 

"People used to think of sauna as sad, dark, lonely box in a basement that smelled like sweat. Today, they are lively social hubs with fantastic views in incredible locations." 

The Future of Wellness 2025 Trends report is available from the Global Wellness Institute, https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/

Travel Industry Responds to Travelers’ Desire for Wellness

The travel industry is adapting to the growing demand for wellness tourism, emphasizing slow travel, analog experiences, and integrated wellness programs in cruise, train, and resort offerings. Trends include wellness-focused cruises, analog travel, and saunas reimagined as social hubs, driven by a shift away from digital overuse and a focus on mindfulness and authenticity.