People not only travel to explore new places or to visit their favorite tourist spot sometimes they travel fro their health and well being. To travel nationally or internationally for your wellness or health is called health and wellness travel. This includes going to different hospitals, clinics, and other institutions for better health or treatment. Health and Wellness traveling has become an industry having an estimated size of $3.4 trillion. This industry is divided into two main categories
l Wellness tourism
l Health Tourism
Wellness tourism
This tourism includes various treatments, including beauty treatments, SPA, Weight management, physical fitness, stress management, and relaxation. This tourism also includes spiritual tourism including meditation and yoga. In wellness tourism travelers from Europe and America come to Asian countries for these treatments. Current wellness trends include wellness areas in airports. For instant Singapore, the airport has a wellness area where people can meditate as they wait for their flights. The use of Chinese herbal medicine is also increasing with time, now people travel to Hong Kong to get treated by Chinese herbal medicine.
Health tourism
This tourism includes those travelers who travel nationally or internationally for health treatment in hospitals and clinics. Health tourism is becoming a big business, travelers from underdeveloped countries travel to developed countries for their medical procedures which are not available in their countries. People can pay any amount to get their health back; for this reason, it has become an industry itself.
This type of tourism is very lucrative. Scads of tourists each year are attracted to this specific type of tourism. These tours include all facilities of hotels and other facilities where travelers live during their treatment. It is a major source of attraction for tourists in this particular case. In wellness traveling hotels are included in the program where travelers live during their treatment. Still, in the case of health tourism, the patient or traveler lives in the hospital or he has to manage his hotel by himself.
Conclusion
People are traveling in high numbers for their health and wellness. This industry of wellness traveling has great potential, especially for developing countries. The health traveling sector is an excellent source of income for countries situated in continents of Europe, America, and Australia since they have the latest health infrastructure which is impossible to find in countries of the third world. Other factors for health and wellness tourism include the currency exchange rate from the patient’s home country. Another consideration involves the specialty in different kinds of treatments; for instance, India has a specialization in Aiyorwadic medicine which is only found in India. Just like India, China has a specialty in herbal medicine which is not found at any other place. These are the reasons why people travel to other countries for their treatment.