Wellness travel may sound new and trendy, but it's a type of travel that's been popular for generations as people take time off from busy lives to relax at a hot springs or restore themselves in the natural beauty of the outdoors.
The difference is that today it's recognized as a distinct travel product and marketed to health-conscious travelers, and travel agents have the opportunity to market themselves as experts.
Along with the surge in wellness travel products, educational resources have expanded.
The Travel Institute last year launched a Well-Being Travel Specialist certificate program [link to Aug. 15 eletter], and, more recently, a for-profit company, California-based Wellness Tourism Worldwide, released its own training course.
Its Wellness Travel Academy is an online program with 16 training modules that sells for $397.
Camille Hoheb, Wellness Tourism Worldwide's president, said the program is designed for travel agents who "seek to champion wellness as a business strategy."
A former health industry executive, Hoheb wrote a 65-page PDF-based guide to selling wellness travel three years ago, after she began speaking on the topic at industry conferences. The response was immediate, she said, and many agents asked her for more information to make wellness travel their specialty.
"I saw the need and demand for a solid and objective, helpful and practical e-learning platform, free from sponsorship," she said.
The program takes about 20 hours to complete, but agents can spend longer on it if they like, because there is optional and recommended reading included, she said. Among the course topics are market demand, consumer profiles, types of travel, customer engagement, trends and branding. The training program offers a certificate on completion, and participating agents can use the Wellness Tourism Worldwide logo on their marketing and promotional materials, including in social media, to help brand themselves as wellness specialists.
Hoheb defines wellness travel as "purpose driven" travel that focuses on "discovery, connectivity, transformation and fulfillment and emphasizes positive engagement with the natural environment, with people and with activities that support personal and societal well-being."
Hoheb has been an advocate for a healthy work-life balance, serving on boards that promote the value of vacations and encouraging vacation-starved Americans to take their full allotment of time off.
That kind of advocacy is important for the travel industry, and it gives agents an opening to promote themselves as helping clients create a more healthy work-life balance, she said.
"Vacation time in the U.S. is so limited, people that want to use their time off wisely," she said. "People are asking themselves how they can get more out of their vacations. Travel agents can use that desire to promote their services because they can deliver inside knowledge than cannot be found on the Internet."
She added: "Agents who are dedicated to wellness as a specialty can promote themselves as as knowing the ins and outs of having a transforming vacation experience."