Health & wellness is not a niche category but a key aspect in the lives of the luxury consumer demographic. An APAC-wide insight report by Reuter: Intelligence, the leader in luxury insights & research, has been created in partnership with ILTM, the luxury travel business event specialists. Mindstyle: The Next Generation of Health & Wellness Travel, discovered that health & wellness is top of mind in diverse areas of daily life.
With wellness both the mindset and lifestyle, the defining word is ‘mindstyle’, which means ‘the cumulative attitudes and consistent habits of thinking that a person develops about her or his chosen lifestyle’.
Mindstyle is the ideal label to frame the wellness world – put simply: during luxury travel, your customers expect the same health & wellness experiences – or further elevated versions thereof – as they already have around them.
This excerpt from the report looks at sustainability – find the full report available here, free.
From Abstract to Impact
Luxury travel is already well on its way in terms of sustainability. Versus other sectors of luxury industry, hospitality brands are able to identify many ways to promote eco-friendliness and community – from ‘saying no to plastic’ to finding local charities and worthy causes to ‘give back to’. Thus, it’s now come to the point where travellers now take ‘giving back’ as a given, may recoil in horror at the sight of a plastic water bottle and might not feel particularly emotional when reading about a property’s LEED certification.
So what else in the sphere of sustainability might pique their interest as eco-conscious, global citizens?
Volunteer tourism – or voluntourism – is growing in popularity and market size. Defined as the ‘conscious, seamlessly integrated combination of voluntary service with the traditional elements of travel and tourism’, voluntourism is one of the fastest growing tourism niche markets in the world. More than 10 million voluntourists worldwide were estimated to have spent up to USD 2.8 Billion in 2016.
Charity Starts at Home
Where might APAC travellers look for voluntourism? Understandably, Asian travellers look for charitable causes that impact regions closest to their homes. Zuji’s Giving Back is the New Black study polled 855 Singapore-based travellers, finding that 60 percent of respondents would travel within Asia for a good cause, while just four percent would consider travelling to South America, with other destinations ranking in popularity based on distance from home. The most popular charitable cause was building and restoring communities, demonstrating a preference for activities that are long-lasting foundations for improving lives.
Of course, like any sustainable actions, voluntourism needs to be done with consideration for its true impact, meaningful contribution and real, long-term benefits.
Expert voice:
Mr. Thatcher Brown, President of Dream Cruises & Managing Director of Crystal Cruises Asia
“At Genting Cruise Lines, we remain optimistic of the continued demand for health and wellness options, especially for Dream Cruises that caters to the APAC upper-middle class and luxury markets. Sophisticated and well-educated with a global mind-set, Asia’s upper-middle and affluent classes place a healthy lifestyle as a high priority and see this as the definition of a good life.
In conjunction with Genting Cruise Lines’ year-long 25th Anniversary celebration, Genting Cruise Lines launched its inaugural regional Cruise Voluntourism campaign with its Dream Cruises and Star Cruises fleet in Asia, which are available for selected sailing dates and cruise itineraries. The introduction of the complimentary Voluntourism activities as part of our shore offerings provide opportunities for our guests, as well as our crew to connect and give-back to the community in a new, unique and fulfilling way.
Since the launch, we had guests from a wide spectrum of demographics participating in the voluntary activities including young couples, families, retirees, teens and from various nationalities. Interestingly, when it comes to voluntary work, it’s universal. Many of the participating guests shared their views and explained that they wanted to experience something different and yet meaningful while on a holiday, contributing in some way to the places they visit.
We had offered a myriad of complimentary Voluntary activities at different destinations including beach cleaning, interacting and assisting with the handicap and orphanage centres, schools and universities, cultural villages with many more to come. Also, with each visit, the company donates funds or what is needed from the respective charity foundations or centres.”
Sustainability in Luxury Travel
Where it was:
Abstract campaigns such as donating spare change to nominated causes.
Where it is:
Mainly centred on ‘no plastic’ and Mother Earth.
Where it’s heading:
Activities whereby luxury travellers choose to participate in sustainable causes during their holiday.
