Category Archives: Wellness Tourism

Belleville News , by Brett Mann

Wellness at the Black River Retreat–
Danella Hesler, a holistic healer from Eldorado, practises her healing arts on Shannon-Binder Bray at “Wellness in the Woods,” a presentation by nine holistic practitioners on alternative healing. The event was held at the Black River Retreat.

The Black River Retreat north of Tweed hosted its first “Wellness in the Woods” holistic healing fair this month. The original plan was to have the various alternative healing practitioners display their products and techniques in a woodland environment but steady day-long rain forced participants into a marquee tent. Nine holistic therapists explained and demonstrated a range of practices and associated crystals, oils and pendants. Life coaching, energy healing, Reiki, Tarot card reading, alchemical healing, Tai Chi and chakra alignment were only a few of the approaches demonstrated. Despite the inclement weather about 30 visitors came out for the evening event.

Trevor Telford has been the owner of the six-acre Black River Retreat since 2011 and is also the chair of Hastings County Wellness, a group of about 20 holistic healing practitioners.

“We’re in the midst of a membership drive. Our AGM is in September and hopefully we’ll see that number increase substantially in the coming year. We try to have several events and workshops throughout the year to keep everybody engaged and to bring some public awareness. We want to create ‘wellness tourism’ in Hastings County and show that we’re a wellness destination.”

The natural surroundings of forest, quartz-veined granite and the Black River offer a naturally healing environment Telford observes. “We thought it would be a neat, engaging event in the woods, but the tent is comfortable and appealing.” Mr. Telford loves cooking and had prepared an impressive selection of hors d’oeurves. Pork tenderloin, shrimp and chicken satay were among the mouth-watering treats on offer, included in the $10 admission fee.

The Wellness group has a marketing committee and hopes to create a niche tourism market to complement existing tourist attractions such as fishing and outdoor recreation.

“Here at the Black River Retreat we’re kind of catering to the ‘foodie’ tourist, and all these different groups bringing in tourists show that Tweed’s not just one thing.”

Mr. Telford is on the board of the Ontario Highlands Tourist Association which he reports has recently been focussing on motorcycle tourism. “The consultants we brought in say we have the best motorcycling roads in Ontario.”

In the marquee tent, visitors were treated to demonstration treatments of energy healing as they lay on padded tables and healers used hands, minds, crystals and pendants to rearrange energy patterns and open channels to healing energy. Holistic practitioner Ellen Williams explained the protective powers of orgonite which offers “simple and easy to use protection from electro-magnetic field radiation” according to an accompanying handout. “Great to throw several pieces at the base of cellular and Internet towers too!” the pamphlet advises.

It was clear from the Wellness in the Woods presentation that a substantial number and range of holistic healing practitioners and practices are available in Hastings County to those interested.

source: http://www.insidebelleville.com / Belleville / Home> WhatsOn> ArtsEntertainment / Belleville New, by Brett Mann / June 19th, 2014

Steve Dunne, executive chairman of travel marketing consultancy The Brighter Group

Last week I went for my annual health check up – a sort of body MOT if you like.

It was a harrowing old affair as I was prodded, bashed, pulled and pushed by people in white coats purporting to have my best interests at heart.

I’m glad to say that at the end I was given the green light and told that, generally, “for a man of your age” I was in good nick.

However, it was as the doctor was filling in my forms at the end of the session that she made a remark that oddly, had me thinking about the travel industry and, what I believe, is a huge opportunity for the sector.

My doctor’s remark was this:  “We have an ageing population, but while people may live longer they will still have health issues that will impact their quality of life in later years – and yet it could all be so different if they just indulged more in wellness in their younger years”.

Wellness. It’s a word that goes with spa and seems, at first glance for someone like me, previously not that interested in the sector, a luxury product for those with bags of time (and money) and who want to indulge themselves.

And yet, when the word wellness is used by a doctor to talk about quality of life it seems to take on a very different meaning altogether.

So, back at the office, I started pouring over reports and statistics. Surfing the Internet looking for information on wellness (and spa) and the possibilities it has for the travel industry.

And my investigations surprised me.

Worldwide, obesity has doubled since 1980. Almost 10% of the world’s population has diabetes and chronic disease is responsible for 60% of all deaths.

More strikingly, and picking up on my GP’s remarks, between the years 2000 and 2050 the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years of age will double.

As I read I started to see a whole new landscape of opportunity unfolding in front of me, for the consumer it seems is generally becoming more aware of wellness and the need to integrate it into every facet of their life – including travel and leisure.

The global tourism industry is estimated to be worth some $3.2 trillion according to SRI International, an independent, non-profit research institute, and within that the wellness tourism sector is already worth $439 billion.

However it was the next fact I stumbled upon that convinced me that the travel industry needs to take serious notice of wellness as an area of opportunity.

The wellness tourism segment is projected to grow by 9.1% annually for the next three years, a growth rate nearly 50% higher than that of overall global tourism.

Further facts consolidated my developing view. According to findings revealed in the Global Spa & Wellness Summit last year wellness tourists spend 130% more than the equivalent leisure tourist on a trip.

As I continued to dig around it rapidly began to emerge that the UK languishes some considerable distance behind the rest of the world in understanding and taking advantage of this developing marketing opportunity.

Whereas in the US, Canada the middle east and many parts of Europe too, wellness is the market being rapidly developed, here in the UK, with one or two notable exceptions of course, the market goes largely unnoticed.

But I also detected a stirring in the trade.

World Travel Market this year will have its first programme to support wellness tourism for example and there is a slow but steady dawning of this growing demand in pockets of the UK travel industry.

It’s clear that people today, regardless of age, are starting to think about their health far more than any previous generation.

As the “we’re all living longer message” grows it will lead, inevitably, to a secondary message infiltrating the consumers mind – that quality of life means the active pursuit of wellness. That presents a huge opportunity for agents and operators alike.

So perhaps the trade taking an interest in the customer’s desire to look after themselves could lead to a new phase of wellness for the UK travel industry. It’s worth a thought at least.

Maybe all that prodding, pushing, pulling and bashing that customers will increasingly put themselves through, in the interests of health, could have a big and positive side effect for us all.

source: http://www.travelweekly.co.uk / Travel Weekly / Home> News / May 28th, 2014