With the global wellness industry estimated value of $4.2 trillion in 2017, according to the nonprofit Global Wellness Institute (GWI), there is ever-growing interest and momentum in the development of that Industry. Quite interesting is the fact that the wellness travel market’s annual growth rate of 6.5 percent for the years 2015 to 2017 is more than double the 3.2 percent growth rate for the overall Tourism Market.
At the root of this historic growth is a major shift in consumers’ values and demands. Previously, wellness tourism was thought of mostly as a Female Gender user base industry, however, there is a noticeable trend of an increase in male-focused programs with an emphasis on mental health.
The major factors influencing the metamorphosis of wellness tourism into a tailor-made type of tourism are the evolution of the paradigm of digital Health, testing methods, artificial intelligence and the paradox of going back to nature!
Digital health has seen a rapid spike in the development of multilingual Electronic Health/ Medical Records that can be transferred and integrated through specific Protocols namely Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). FHIR is an open-source platform that has become the standard-setting tool of multilingual, variable coding language integration interface allowing interoperability of different electronic health records software. So, patients now can get their medical records easily transferred from their own country into foreign lands in a different language without having to go through the hurdles of obtaining their information files and the dilemma of translation with the risk of loss of data or information inaccuracies.
Telemedicine and patient management from afar enabling maximum patient benefit and virtually encompassing all services provided by the wellness center minimizing the reliance on the wellness facility’s anchored assets.
There is a growing sense from stakeholders including legislators of the need to address ownership of medical information with a tendency to head in the direction of complete Patient holding and full control.
User-friendly deep machine learning-driven chatbots and multivariate input conversational agents that guide the users on 24/7 and on-demand and as-needed approach delivering disease, wellness-oriented advice, and patient education, is showing a surge in demand and usage. These applications are delivered with a flavor of gamification to enhance and entice patient loyalty and augment utilization. Yet these communication and educational channels allow for prompt caregiver intervention and response control.
Easily manageable, simple method testing that addresses the root cause of chronic health ailments and can be done in the comfort of the wellness hotel or resort guest rooms with the minimal skilled nursing requirement is rapidly growing especially those that are coupled with the use of non-cumbersome, antiaging and lifestyle management techniques. There is a path of focus on the mind and behavior with self-improvement education and techniques especially in our current age and time of social desynchronization and nature disconnect.
There is a growing significance of environmentally friendly, chemical-free holidays and day to day life patterns including Organic, Non Genetically modified foodstuff and the appropriate use of Supplements to cater for the one’s specific needs that are applied to the preexisting programs that specifically remedy a better mind-body connection targeting more effectual sleep, relaxation, and spiritual growth.
All the above seem to be driving factors away from what has been known as hospitality hybrids to the new phenomenon of wellness facility unique branding.
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