Can Wellness Provide an Antidote to Overtourism?
Photo Credit: South Tyrol in the Dolomites mountain range Italy offers wellness tourism packages. VisualHunt / Peter Femto
Skift Take
We at Skift often discuss the dangers of overtourism. But during a recent forum on global wellness, we discovered a possible cure.
The 12th annual Global Wellness Summit, held in Cesena, Italy, wrapped up on Monday. The summit’s coverage of the wellness industry ran the gamut from day spas to workplace wellness to wellness tourism.
But one of the most interesting takeaways from the summit was the idea that wellness might just be a tonic for overtourism.
Much of wellness' growth is happening in underdeveloped areas of developed tourism markets. For example, Italy's South Tyrol region offers a literal breath of fresh air for tourists escaping Venice. Slovenia is promoting a "small is beautiful" wellness mantra as an alternative to neighboring Croatia.
The comprehensive 2018 Global Wellness Economy Monitor, issued by the Global Wellness Institute during the summit, highlights this overtourism theory. Wellness brings visitors to rural areas of over-visited regions. What's more, a great deal of the growth in the sector is taking place in the developing world.
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