13-16 May 2024
Conrad Chia Laguna Sardinia ,
Italy
|
18-22 May 2024
The Ravenala Attitude Hotel,
Mauritius
|
23-24 May 2024
Large Hall of the Chamber of Commerce (Erbprinzenpalais),
Wiesbaden,
Germany
|
30-30 May 2024
Four Seasons Hotel George V,
Paris,
France
|
30 May - 02 Jun 2024
Rimini Exhibition Center,
Rimini,
Italy
|
06-07 Jun 2024
Sataman Viilu ,
Jyväskylä,
Finland
|
11-13 Jun 2024
Raffles City Convention Centre,
Singapore,
Singapore
|
22-22 Jun 2024
Worldwide,
|
|
|
|
Panel asks: How can wellness help create a destination? |
|
By Jane Kitchen 19 Oct 2016 |
The panel was part of a breakout session at the Global Wellness Summit in Kitzbuhel
|
A panel gathered for a break-out session at the Global Wellness Summit in Kitzbuhel, Austria this week to discuss how to make a destination successful by incorporating wellness.
David Wickline, chairman of investment group Alchemy Ventures Group, said he looks for resorts that can be transformative but also sustainable financially.
“I look at it as a subject where to do well, you have to invest and be invested both with the heart and the mind,” he said.
Wellness communities can be small villages, areas or even a country, said Dr Eleni Michopoulou, a senior lecturer in business management at the University of Derby in the UK. Some destination wellness communities can take everyday life activities and showcase them as wellness activities, she said, such as picking mushrooms in Finland.
Robert Ranzi, cluster manager for Standortagentur in Tirol, Austria, said nutrition, movement, body workouts, fitness, relaxation and and water therapy are all important in incorporating wellness.
“Water is a very basic part of our life – people are attracted to water, sea and the mountains,” he said. “More and more people are looking for solutions for their work-life balance, and are heading towards transcendence and spirituality.”
Nature and natural activities were mentioned by many on the panel as being crucial to incorporating wellness. “You want to be in a space that inspires you,” explained Wickline.
Paul Limburg, medical director for Mayo Clinic Global Business Solutions, however, said that sometimes, an outside-in perspective can create a wellness destination, much like his company has done in its wellness community in Minnesota.
“Rochester is not a tourist destination and never will be,” said Limburg. “We had to look at how we can truly create something that is more integrative that puts the person at the centre. The needs of the person comes first – that is how we can create something that we can draw people in.”
Josh Luckow, executive director of Canyon Ranch in the US, said that the experience of the destination rather than the locality is what makes it work.
“Each area is going to have its own unique qualities, and you want to draw upon those, but it’s more the passion, and the facilitation of the space where transformation can happen,” he said
Sometimes, an area has something that unites it in wellness activities. Charles Davidson, CEO and co-founder of Peninsula Hot Springs in Australia, is working on bringing together an entire hot springs wellness region in Victoria, Australia.
“For me, to bring wellness destinations together is about connection and cooperation – so rather than competing, you have to be able to work together,” he said.
Luckow said that having an integrated environment is important for a wellness destination.
“First and foremost, the experience that somebody has is front and centre, so when someone comes into a wellness resort, they have an opportunity to explore their life, their health and their wellness from end to end,” he said.
But at the end of the day, creating a wellness destination has to be marketable. Creating someplace with a purpose, making a location and programming personalised, having good travel connections, incorporating local agriculture and staffing, and creating a place with a sense of culture were all mentioned as being important.
“In creating the culture, what we need to do is to get the buy-in from everyone in the region,” said Davidson. “It has to permeate throughout the whole community – you live it and breathe it.”
One of the challenges with creating a wellness destination, said Wickline, is that there are high expectations from the guest.
“If you have a beach resort, it’s kind of easy,” he explained. “But when people come to a wellness resort, they expect to be transcendent and come to a whole other level of wellbeing. You have to ask: can you be true to the outcome that people expect?”
And measuring those outcomes can also be tricky.
Limburg said said Mayo asks guests to set their own personal goals, and judges its succes on how often they are able to meet those goals – and whether they’re sustainable in the long-term. Luckow said at Canyon Ranch, guest loyalty is a good indicator that they’re doing something right, as well as their high level of staff retention.
Wickline said it’s down to three things: “Did you deliver on your promises to your guests? Did you deliver new standards of excellence? And can you pay the bills?”
|
|
News |
1 to 12 of 8715 news stories |
|
|
14 May 2024
Paul Hawco, a seasoned figure in the international wellness industry, has assumed the role of executive director – integrated wellbeing at independent, hospitality group Banyan Group. With a background in therapy and fitness training, Hawco ... More
|
|
|
|
10 May 2024
The Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee in the southeastern US state of Georgia is celebrating a new milestone after unveiling its newly renovated 27,000sq ft destination spa. The vision behind the refresh was to create a ... More
|
|
|
|
09 May 2024
Art’otel, Radisson’s contemporary art-inspired lifestyle hotel brand, has strengthened its presence in London with a new hotel in Hoxton fusing art, design and hospitality. The location features 357 art-inspired guest bedrooms and suites all with ... More
|
|
|
|
08 May 2024
HoloBike, a holographic training bike that simulates trail rides in lifelike 3D, is aiming to push indoor cycling technology up a gear. A California-based group of engineers and designers, Saga Holographic, have been working on ... More
|
|
|
|
08 May 2024
Luxury hotel brand Aman, widely known for its strong spa focus, has just launched its much-talked-about sister brand Janu in Tokyo – complete with a 4,000sq m urban wellness retreat. Janu Tokyo is only the ... More
|
|
|
|
07 May 2024
Equinox, has teamed up with health platform, Function Health, to offer 100 comprehensive laboratory tests, giving members vital insights into their internal health as part of an Optimize by Equinox membership. Priced at US$40,000 a ... More
|
|
|
|
07 May 2024
Spanish wellness brand SHA Wellness Clinic is busy preparing to bolster its wellness portfolio in 2026 with a hyper-exclusive island wellness enclave in AlJurf, UAE. SHA Emirates Island at AlJurf – created by Abu Dhabi-based ... More
|
|
|
|
03 May 2024
The historic Breakers Hotel in Long Beach, California, is set to reopen in mid-2024 as a Fairmont Hotels & Resorts property after a significant restoration and redevelopment project. The project, initially unveiled in 2022 by ... More
|
|
|
|
03 May 2024
High-end five-star hotel company Kempinski Hotels is making its mark in Vietnam with a luxury waterfront property overlooking the Saigon River. Set to open by 2026, Kempinski Saigon River – designed by Kengo Kuma & ... More
|
|
|
|
01 May 2024
Marriott International has signed a new deal with Neom to open a Ritz-Carlton Reserve property as part of Trojena, a brand new year-round mountain adventure destination in Saudi Arabia. Launching in 2026, Trojena is a ... More
|
|
|
|
27 Apr 2024
The Bannatyne Group says it has officially bounced back from the pandemic, with both turnover and profits restored to pre-2020 levels in 2023, according to its year-end results. Owned by former BBC Dragon’s Den investor, ... More
|
|
|
|
25 Apr 2024
Kerzner International has signed deals to operate two new Siro recovery hotels in Mexico and Saudi Arabia, following the launch of the inaugural Siro property in Dubai this February. Designed to offer guests a holistic ... More
|
|
|
|
|
|