Arabian
Travel Market to host Wellness Symposium - partnership between World Travel
Market and Global Wellness Institute to underscore opportunities in multi-billion
dollar regional industry
A Wellness Symposium, which will throw
the spotlight on the $8.3 billion industry in the Middle East/North Africa
(MENA), will be launched at Arabian Travel Market (ATM), which takes place at the
Dubai World Trade Centre, 24-27 April.
A partnership between the World Travel
Market (WTM) portfolio of events and the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), the symposium
has been organised as part of a schedule of events in ATM’s Wellness Lounge.
It will also analyse MENA’s thriving
domestic (4 million trips) and inbound (4.5 million trips) wellness tourism
markets – as well as trends in outbound wellness tourism from the Middle East.
ellis-susie |
“Wellness travel is not only growing
twice as fast as tourism overall, it’s evolving in bold new directions, both
globally and across the Middle East. Our ongoing mission will be to bring
together the top experts and latest research and trends in this travel space to
ATM and WTM’s tens of thousands of attendees,” said Susie Ellis, chairman and
CEO of the GWI.
The UAE leads the Middle Eastern
wellness tourism market. With an average of 1.7 million wellness trips
generating $2.7 billion annually, it accounts for 14% of the MENA spa market, according to research from Colliers Experiential Travel
Series.
“The UAE is followed by
Morocco (1.66 million trips), Tunisia (0.76 million trips) and Jordan (0.62
million trips). However, the growth in wellness tourism in MENA compared with
overall tourism over the past five years is truly remarkable.
“For example, wellness
trips in the UAE have grown by 17.9% during this period, while overall tourism
has grown 8.1%. It’s a similar story with Morocco (14.7% versus 6.6%), Tunisia
(9.4% versus 4.5%) and Jordan (12.8% versus 5.9%).”
Having already identified the demand
for wellness, ATM launched a dedicated Wellness and Spa Lounge in 2016,
connecting Middle East wellness and spa buyers with international suppliers.
Indeed, the
Dubai hotel spa market experienced a 9% increase in the average number of
treatments sold per day in H1 2016 compared to the same period in 2015 and 25
new hotel spas are expected to open this year, making a total of over 200 spas.
Designed as a hub for
wellness and spa professionals, the lounge returns to this year’s event and
will host two days of up to 35 pre-scheduled appointments with high calibre
Middle Eastern buyers and up to 35 international wellness suppliers.
Exhibitors in this year’s Wellness and
Spa Lounge include some of the most recognisable names in the industry from
Italy, Switzerland France, Hungary, Canada, India and The Maldives, such as the
Swiss Diamond Hotel, Lugano; L' Albereta, Lake Iseo, Brescia; Radisson Blu 1835
Hotel & Thalassa, Cannes and the Velaa Private Island Maldives.
After ATM, the partnership continues
at WTM London – the leading global event for the travel industry (6-8 November
2017) – with a focus on the global wellness industry, which has grown to $3.72
trillion.
WTM London, which was responsible for
£2.8 billion in agreed industry deals last year, will also host a dedicated
Wellness Lounge facilitating deals in the wellness travel and tourism sector.
“WTM and ATM are two powerful travel
industry events that attract more global travel professionals than any other,”
added Ellis.