FIT FOR TRAVEL

The global ‘health is wealth’ movement accelerated by the pandemic is giving hotels the extra push they need to offer travellers what they really want – flexible fitness and wellbeing choices for their body, mind and spirit

- GEMMA GREENWOOD

There’s no doubt about it; 2020 has been a game changer for the health, fitness and wellness sector. Pre-COVID-19, the global ‘health is wealth’ movement had gained strong traction, but nine months into the pandemic, body and mind wellbeing has become a priority for all.

Never before have so many people on this planet turned their focus to moving more, eating better and perhaps most poignantly, practising methods to improve their mental health to reduce anxiety and promote sleep during what has undoubtedly been ‘the’ most unsettling period in modern history.

Some 59 per cent of people are more conscious about their overall health as a result of COVID-19, and 73 per cent plan to eat and drink healthier, according to the latest research by FMCG Gurus.

The pandemic’s impact on our every-day routine has also led to a fast evolution of fitness and wellness trends. With more of us working from home (WFH) than ever before and gyms forced to close for extended periods, we’ve been fast to adapt.

Video-on-demand fitness classes, available anytime anywhere, have become a saviour for many, breaking up the monotony of yet another day of WFH and enabling us to try new training methods at a time that suits us. Demand for already popular sleep and meditation apps and videos have rocketed too.

In what Google CEO Sundar Pichai calls “a sign of the times”, daily views of guided meditation videos on YouTube (the streaming site owned by Google) have surged 40 per cent since mid-March, while San Francisco-based relaxation, meditation and sleep app, Calm, was downloaded 3.4 million times in April alone, according to figures from Sensor Tower.