INTHEBLACK June 2025 - Magazine - Page 48
FEATURE
to many of us embracing it,” Droga
points out.
Mainstream tourists across the globe
are open to trying once-niche wellness
activities, whether it’s forest bathing
or a cacao ceremony, she reports. This is
good news for hotels and other
accommodation providers who are seizing
opportunities to add wellness elements
and grow their businesses.
Different countries have varying
wellness tourism propositions, but global
demand is high for sauna and bathing rituals,
where experiences include ice-cold, thermal
hot or mineral springs in a communal or
solo setting.
Australia is ranked the 11th biggest
wellness economy in GWI’s latest data.
Droga is watching the upswing of interest
in scientific evidence such as genetic testing,
monitoring gut microbiome and longevity
retreats that “hack your body for
futureproofing” with curiosity. This trend
is surfacing across Europe, Asia and to
some extent in Australia, where “people
are using scientific insights with natural
holistic remedies to balance their wellness
travel experiences”.
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48 INTHEBLACK June 2025
MOVE OVER GURUS
Wellness hits trouble worldwide in
its credibility gap, with growing calls
for scientific proof of its benefits.
The ongoing rise of self-proclaimed
“wellness gurus” on social media sometimes
spreading misinformation and, in some
instances promoting potentially harmful
advice, is not helping.
Bennett says clients are looking for
clinically proven wellness benefits — features
that are equally “extremely important and
extremely difficult [to ascertain]”, she insists.
Deloitte clients are taking a critical approach
to their investments, as “they want to invest
in solutions that make an impact and are
backed by evidence,” she says. “The challenge
is that there is often not enough [wellness]
data to create a clear link to health outcomes.
More work needs to be done in this space.”
Dr Nadia Zainuddin, behaviour and
social change researcher and University
of Wollongong senior lecturer, has been
studying the wellness space for almost
two decades. Broadly speaking, she notes
that “the market isn’t regulated in any way,
and there’s no oversight compared
to population-level health programs.
“Some providers might engage with the
evidence of how their products and services
can improve wellbeing, but from a marketing
perspective, it’s often all about positioning.”
WOMEN AND THE WELLNESS AGENDA
The internet’s democratisation of
information combined with the rampant
rise of social media plays to both sides
of the wellness sector’s credibility issue,
Zainuddin believes.
Social media is filled with freely
disseminated and unsupported claims
about wellness — frequently via “brand
ambassadors and influencers with a profile,
a platform and lots of followers” but
usually without verified expertise, she says.
Concurrently, “consumers have become more
discerning about the products and services
they choose to buy,” she adds.
Women are a major target for wellness
marketers. Zainuddin cites several reasons
why. “First, women are more proactive about
managing their wellbeing and self-care
as they age, getting health checks, watching
what they put in their bodies, compared
to men.
“Women also are a receptive target
audience, because their health concerns
are often dismissed in formal health systems.
They feel unheard,” she says. “The wellness
industry has spotted that gap and capitalised
on it for its growth and success.”
Since Zainuddin has been studying it,
wellness has shifted beyond the maintenance
of good health to its enhancement. “For a
lot of people now, it’s about how they can
get to the next level,” she observes. One of
the outstanding shifts she has seen is the
focus on mental health.
Boosting inclusiveness is vital for
the wellness industry, which to date
has substantially targeted wealthy people.
Zainuddin sees an opportunity for
wellness businesses to proactively rethink
their models to balance profit with social
benefit, “prioritising people over profit
by integrating social impact into their
core operations and making products
available to a wider range of audiences”.
Whether the lure is the rhetoric or the
results, getting the wellness sector in good
shape is a universally worthwhile goal. ■
