Ticket To Good Health

Meet the new wellness traveller-young, Indian, discerning and ready to spend

- Susamma Joy Kurian

The Romans sure knew how to relax. Around CE 43, they built baths around Britain's only natural hot springs in the valley of River Avon, turning it into an ancient hub of rest and relaxation. They called it Aquae Sulis, after Goddess Sulis Minerva; the English, well, kept it literal, calling it simply Bath (in present-day Somerset). While initially known for its healing properties, Bath became a hotspot for pleasure and relaxation, especially among the English royals and high society in the 1700s and 1800s. (Bath, therefore, features in two of Jane Austen's novels-Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. A chronicler of her times, Austen called Bath home for a while, so did Mary Shelley). Apart from royal and literary visits, Bath, over the years, attracted many a tourist. In 1987, Bath became a World Heritage Site and, in 2021, was accredited as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe.

Long before the Romans though, Indians knew a thing or two about the healing properties of nature, thanks to Ayurveda. Today, Ayurveda and naturopathy form the basis of the wellness concept in India. And, like with Bath, wellness has evolved over time in India. From just spas and resorts, we now have holistic wellness centres. But the biggest shift in the industry, both globally and in India, happened during and post the pandemic.

As per the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), the wellness tourism market was $720 billion in 2019; it dropped to $436 billion in 2020. India ranked 12th in the top 20 destination markets for wellness tourism in 2020. In 2017, its wellness tourism expenditure, according to the GWI report, was $11.4 billion, rising to $13.3 billion in 2019. In 2020 though, it fell to $7.2 billion. But GWI predicts rapid growth in the coming years-a $1.1 trillion markets in 2025. And, if one goes by the trends in the Indian wellness industry, the growth prediction can very well apply here as well.