CityNews – According to a World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) report, outbound Asia-Pacific travellers now represent 37% of the world’s total with international travel spending doubling in the last decade (APAC).
Add China to these figures: Outbound trips grew 20-fold since 2000; the Chinese are the world’s biggest travel spenders (US$258 billion annually, well ahead of the US at US$135 billion); Chinese travellers will represent 30%
of the entire international travel market by 2030; and China has been pegged to become the world’s No.1 travel destination by 2030, dethroning France
According to the latest Global Wellness Institute (GWI) report, wellness tourism is one of the fastest-growing travel sectors. Wellness trips now represent 6.5% of all tourism trips taken worldwide, growing a whopping 15.3% annually from 2015- 2017 to reach 830 million trips each year. In the midst of this explosive growth, Asia-Pacific now ranks second – at 258 million wellness trips annually — just behind Europe. The report went on to say that there are two types of wellness tourists: those who are drawn to a destination resort for its detox programme or yoga retreat; and those who go on a trip for a purpose other than wellness, but they’re interested in maintaining wellness when they travel. For example, a business traveller who deliberately choses a hotel that offers healthy food and a good gym and will try to squeeze in a massage.