Written by Sahara Rose De Vore

What wellness tourism needs

Travel wellness is being approach all wrong.

Travel can be stressful, cause anxiety, be exhausting, promote bad habits, and change the way that people see traveling in general.

There have been years of scientific data that proves that traveling, when done properly and mindfully, can actually improve a person’s mental, physical, and physiological health, consequently benefiting their personal, home, and work life.

Instead of putting a bandaid on a negative travel effect or provide another app or piece of technology, it’s time that travelers, whether they are employees, leisure travelers, or road warriors, are treated as individuals with their own unique wants, needs, problems, fears, and obstacles. When we gain a deeper understanding of travelers on a human level, we can better educate, guide, and support them before, during, and after their trip in ways that improves their overall well-being.

The foundation of the travel and hospitality industries is humanity.

Travelers are people who are choosing to travel for reasons far deeper than to sip a pina colada on a beach. Business travelers are reaching burnout and begin to dislike traveling. As travel leaders, the industry is lacking the opportunity to connect with travelers on a much deeper level, to understand them as individuals, and to join them on a journey that reminds them why they were drawn to travel in the first place. People want to become storytellers but not everyone is a travel expert. It is up to us to make that possible.

Tapping into a traveler’s true reason for traveling and their personal struggles and obstacles will enable HR, booking managers, travel brands, travel agencies, and any related-companies to really tailor an experience that improves a person’s mind, body, and work-life.

Why do they truly want to travel? What about life and work is stressing them out most? Do they have a disability, severe allergy, or other obstacles that they deal with? What are their travel fears or concerns? What does their ideal travel experience look like? What changes do they desire in their personal, home, or work-life upon returning? Do they wish to strength a relationship that they are in? Do they desire to spend more time with their children? Are they at a mental roadblock? What mental or physical health issues do they deal with? Do they have arthritis? Are they overweight? What does happiness look like to them? These are questions to be asked in order to really provide a meaning travel experience that improves a person’s well-being.

The Power of Travel

There are years of data collected on the wellness benefits of travel but it is yet to be fully utilized.

Travel has the power to heal the mind, body, and soul but only when done mindfully and purposefully.

Travel can boost brain health, improve cognition, lower the risk for heart disease, promote physical activity, keep the mind and spirit youthful, detox you emotionally and physically, boost immunity, improve bone health, improve digestive health by lowering stress levels, improve skin health, decrease depression, boost happiness hormones and endorphins, inspire engagement and human interaction, teach new personal and professional life and work skills, boost confidence and self-esteem, and so much more.

Breathing in salty sea air can improve reparation, soaking in a mineral-rich hot spring can improve aching joints and muscles, feeling sand beneath your feet can lower stress, being exposed to new environments can boost the immune system, taking brisk walks through nature can keep you fit, trying new nutrient-rich fruits and produce can spark open-mindedness and heal the body, sitting next to a tranquil body of water can promote self-reflection and bring inner peace, visiting a temple or spiritual place can spark self-revelations, having to problem-solve and make new decisions can boost self-confidence and worth, and meeting new people and engaging with locals can provide new perspectives and promote compassion and understanding for other cultures.

The effects of proper travel are endless.

Why aren’t these benefits being implemented into every traveler and business traveler’s experience? Isn’t that what personalization and customization really entails?

Business Travel Programs

Companies are analyzing traveler data and feedback yet they aren’t going the depth on the information that really makes an impact.

New travel wellness initiatives are focusing on the negative impacts of travel such as: delays, layover, being away for the weekend, airport stresses, flight cancellations, problems with sitting in the middle seat on a plane, red-eyes, poor diet, bad habits like smoking, weight gain, and more. They are using the collected data to “improve” the traveler’s experience by providing ways to eat healthier, stay fit by going to the hotel’s 24-hour gym, booking their preferred hotels and airlines, making sure they have a luxury lounge to relax in at the airport, providing 24/7 customer service, addressing poor sleep habits, providing desired amenities, booking a private luxury car service, making sure there is proper lighting in the hotel room and a comfortable bed to sleep on, supplying an app that enables early check-in, and expediting security check.  Aren’t these obvious components of every business traveler’s trip? Is that what an experience really means? Aren’t all competitors offering similar or the same services and benefits?

Business travelers are individuals. They want more than what is already expected out of a business trip and travel “experience”. Business travelers are usually frequent road warriors who start off appreciating that their job enables them to semi-explore the world but quickly realize that traveling for business isn’t exactly what they pictured it to be. Business travelers deserve to have meaningful experiences that change the way that they perceive themselves, life, and the world. They deserve to return from a trip feeling excited about their job. They want human interaction with locals, they want stories to share with their loved ones, they want to try new foods in local markets, they want to see something incredible that leaves a lasting-impact in their memory, and they want to share their journey with their partner or family. They want to return a better person, a happier and healthier person, and someone who is motivated, inspired, and ready to use their travel experiences to be more well-rounded in the workplace.  

Travel has everything that it takes to improve a person’s work performance but only when it’s made aware. 

Some of the greatest creations were inspired by the founder while traveling such as Kevin Systrom who thought of Instagram filters while vacationing in Mexico, Lin Manuel Miranda thought of the play Hamilton while on a trip, Drew Houston thought of Dropbox while traveling on the east coast on a bus, Howard Shultz was inspired by the cafes in Verona, Italy and brought his ideas back to shift the way that Starbuck’s ran its business, and famous writers like Aldous Huxley, Mark Twain, and Earnest Hemingway were all greatly influenced and inspired on their international travels.  

Corporate Wellness Programs

Corporate wellness programs are missing out on the opportunity to implement travel perks and opportunities such as remote work, volunteering abroad, sabbaticals, business trips, and paid time off in an effective manner based on what people actually want and how travel can improve the workplace and employee well-being. This ultimately will save the company money with lowered medical costs, increased productivity, decreased burnout, lower turnover, talent development, and much more. Companies fill their wellness programs with yoga and meditation sessions, healthy meal options, free gym memberships, and child care but are lacking on providing employees with the proper tools, resources, and support to optimize on their ability to travel and to use their travel experiences to improve their overall well-being, mindset, and work performance.

In 2018, 52% of Americans didn’t take all their vacation days, according to the U.S Travel Association’s Project Time Off. This wasn’t because they didn’t want to . From lack of company encouragement to use their travel days and poor management support, fear of how it may make them look, fear of being fired or replaced, fear of not being promoted, poor planning skills, overwhelming booking management systems, heavy workloads, worries about expenses, and many other reasons, employees are missing out on improving their overall health and well-being both in and out of the workplace by not taking a vacation or not taking a vacation with purpose.

What Needs to Happen

Travelers and booking managers need to be educated on these unique benefits of travel so they can better plan and book trips with more purpose.

Travelers need to be empowered to be more involved and have more control over their travels so they can have the experiences that they want and outcomes that they need.

There needs to be new trainings and education sessions that help HR, booking managers, and travel agents tune into their true passion for the travel industry and working with people. When the people doing the booking and creating the itineraries for travelers or business travelers tap into their personal love for travel and own personal travel storytelling, then they can build deeper relationships with clients that inspire them while making them feel like they are on the journey with them. These trainings and education sessions teaches how to learn more about the individual so their experience can be personalized in a manner that truly reflects what it means to personalize something, not just a restaurant to book based on their favorite food, a hotel booked based on their preferred loyalty program, or seat assignment based on whether they like sitting next to the window or isle.

There is a myriad of travel wellness information that isn’t being utilized which is a huge missed opportunity for travel and hospitality brands.

This is the foundation of my travel coach approach and my mission to change the way that travel is viewed and used by all.

Read even more travel wellness benefits founded by studies here.