Wellness tourism: 4 health and wellness products perfect for the leisure & tourism market

There are two trends in tourism that have seen an incredible growth in the past decade, that come from the desire to maintain health and wellbeing. One of them seems to be disproportionately overrepresented in media due to its controversial nature and the other one is an underappreciated market by many health and wellness brands. The first one is called medical tourism and the latter is wellness tourism.

There’s a chance that you know someone from your family or your friend circle that has gone abroad to fix their teeth or to obtain cosmetic surgery - that’s medical tourism at its finest and if you’re a healthy food or drink brand  there’s little to no chance that you can capitalise on its growth. However the rapid rise of travel for the purpose of promoting health and well-being through physical, psychological, or spiritual activities, although less recognised in the media, presents tremendous opportunities for you to make great profits. 

Wellness tourism was a $639 billion market in 2017 worldwide and is projected to reach $919 billion by 2022, and it’s worth mentioning that domestic wellness tourists spend 178 percent more than average domestic tourists. Yes, 178 percent! If you operate a health and wellness food or supplement brand you can certainly see the potential that it presents.

In this article we will take a look at the types of health and wellness products that are the most likely to succeed in the market and why, so read on to find out 4 health and wellness products perfect for the leisure & tourism market!

 

Smoothies

When you go to a holiday park or a spa to enjoy all the health benefits of the natural environment, hot tubs and saunas and fitness facilities, the last thing you’re thinking about drinking is a full fat coke. Smoothies however are a whole different story - full of vitamins and refreshing taste are a perfect compliment to all the physical activity and treatments that one can enjoy in a wellness resort.

Smoothies are also very versatile drinks, the smoothie machines can be installed just as well in a spa reception as in the restaurant at a holiday park. Many resorts also own leisure facilities with gym, swimming pool or a bike rental point where smoothies certainly would enjoy huge popularity, especially considering the crazy rate at which the smoothie market is growing.

Whether you supply smoothie making machines, ready to make packs of fruit or bottled smoothies, the wellness travel trend can boost your revenue if you get your product into the resorts, holiday parks and spas.

 

Vitamin drinks

But smoothies are not the only way to supply the necessary vitamins and nutrients to your body after sweating in the sauna for three hours straight. Many customers opt for more direct ways to replenish their micronutrients, such as vitamin enriched drinks.

The dietary supplements market is forecasted to grow at 7.8% rate to 2025, which means that the demand is there among the general public. If you extract the people that are concerned about their health enough to take part in wellness tourism, the demand for vitamins in that market segment will be enormous. One of the ways to reach those people is to stock your vitamin products in the retail spaces located in resorts, holiday parks, leisure complexes and hotels.

Another way is to, again, locate your products in the on-site swimming pools and fitness facilities. For example one in four holiday parks offers their guests access to a swimming pool and another one in three will offer some sort of fitness activities to their guests. Places like this are perfect to situate vitamin and isotonic products if your goal is to make a lot of money.

 

Supplemental snacks

With the vitamin drinks now covered, it only makes sense to look how other supplemental products can find their success among the people participating in wellness tourism. As we established earlier in this article, people that motivate their travel decisions by their health and wellbeing usually extend their healthy lifestyle to what they consume as well. Especially in destinations that give the visitors the chance to spend their time actively like holiday parks and resorts it can be quite difficult to provide the exact amount of each macro and micronutrient.

This problem can be solved by various supplement snacks such as protein bars, vitamin candies, superfood snack packs, fit yoghurts and many other snacks. If you’re a supplier for one of those, the possibilities for you are enormous, from distributing them to retail spaces and restaurants in holiday parks, to wellness resorts, to leisure centers or even visitor attractions. Yes, attractions! 

Supplemental snacks are inseparable from high-impact activities like trampolining, quad biking, paintballing or climbing walls. By supplying these types of venues you can target the customers who decided for wellbeing tourism to pursue fitness goals and weight management.

 

CBD drinks

There is another side to wellness tourism. Not one focused around fitness goals weight management but rather on relaxation, stress relief and even spirituality. If you’re a CBD drink supplier perhaps you’re rubbing your hands thinking “my turn”, and for a good reason. CBD beverages are proven to relax and reduce anxiety which means that there are a perfect choice for wellness tourists looking for stress relief and peace of mind.

The CBD drinks market has been growing enormously in the last couple of years and it shows no signs of stopping. Nevertheless it is still a fairly new concept to many people. It is no secret that people are more likely to try new things while on holiday and that combined with the previously mentioned fact that wellness tourists spend much more money on average makes the leisure and tourism market a match made in heaven for CBD brands.

Health resorts and holiday parks are again the perfect place to distribute this product to. Many of them operate yoga classes and breathing exercise sessions. Another perfect spot for CBD drinks would be spas - most tourists go there primarily to relax which is exactly what CBD drinks help with. The perception of CBD drinks as an organic and close-to-nature option also fits perfectly with rural resorts and glamping sites where the wellbeing tourists would be able to purchase such drinks in the on-site shop.

 

Conclusion

We assume that if you reached this point in the article, you’re in some way involved in the health and wellness industry and perhaps you sell one of the products that we listed here. We hope you walk away from this article with a fresh understanding of the wellness tourism and the leisure and hospitality industry as the potential target market for your products.

If you are looking to present your products to the key decision makers from holiday parks, resorts, spas, boutique hotels, family attractions, leisure centers and other leisure and tourism businesses, Leisure Food & Beverage Expo is the best place to do that. With 18,000 visitors and the opportunity to interact with them directly this is the best way to boost your profits. 

Get in touch to find out more: patryk.kielsa@prysmgroup.co.uk