There has been a surge in healthy holidays in the past 10 years. People are no longer looking for those classic getaways where they escape to the sun to lounge on the beach and sightsee. We’re becoming more aware of our mental health, taking time to look after our minds and bodies – tying it all in with a vacation in the sun, of course. Travel trends are constantly changing, with tourist companies having to keep up with consumer demand each year.
Here’s a look into healthy holidays and the other travel trends and tips we’re likely to see in 2019:
Healthy Holiday Wellness Retreats
The staggering rise in wellness tourism is now worth $639bn globally. Customers are now opting for spas and wellness resorts for their summer holiday, quite the change from a week of partying in Benidorm, staying in a budget hotel. Package holiday pioneers Thomas Cook even swapped their ‘Club 18-30’ brand to the more exclusive ‘Cooks Club and ‘Casa Book’, featuring stylish hotels with gyms, tasting menus and yoga.
This shows the increasing demand is even affecting the way travel agents are advertising holidays. There are even well-known tourist hotspots that are tailoring their offerings to cater for this new market. The Algarve in Portugal, for example, has had its first longevity health and wellness hotel built to entice new guests. It features a range of fitness activities, a medical spa and meals that have been specially made for all dietary requirements.
A Ban On Single-Use Plastic
Last year the travel industry joined the fight against single-use plastic. Many tour operators, hotels and aparthotels have announced bans on plastic straws and cutlery, with some even getting rid of it all-together. There are even trips being introduced to encourage holidaymakers to ditch cocktails by the pool and instead help with litter clearing and beach clean-ups. This pro-active approach is going to continue in 2019, as many more countries commit to helping the global plastic crisis.
Furthermore, it was reported that 36% of people said they would opt for one travel company over another if they were more eco-friendly, up from 23% in 2014. However, for some chains, it’s not always been a choice. At the start of 2019, new regulations in the Caribbean islands and Santa Monica meant that all single-use plastic was banned.
Instagram Bans
It may seem normal to snap a pic of you in your travel pillow on the plane ready for take-off, but that’ll soon be a thing of the past when you’ve got a professional photographer doing it for you. Instagram has undoubtedly transformed travel, so it’s not like travel companies want to eliminate it completely. In fact, it has lured many a visitor from across the world to “instagrammable” hotels.
Now, hotels are paying photographers with large followings to post shots from their hotel onto their feed. On the other hand, there are some hotels that are against Instagram. In 2018, Vienna launched a campaign to get people off their phones with the slogan “Welcome to Vienna. Not #Vienna”.
Sunscreen Changes
With a focus on wellbeing and the environment, it’s no wonder that attention is being drawn one of the things every holidaymaker packs in their suitcase – sunscreen. Though sunscreen is vital for UV protection, there have been recent studies that indicate it can be harmful once they enter the water. Because they contain chemicals such as oxybenzone and octinoxate, which can be damaging to both humans and nature. They’ve even been implicated in coral reef bleaching.
Moreover, Hawaii became the worlds first state to ban the sale and distribution of any non-prescription sunscreen that contains such chemicals. This will greatly impact the industry if more country’s jump on board, as about 78% of the most popular brands are made with these.
Face Recognition Passports
New facial recognition technology was trialled last year at major UK airports like Heathrow and Gatwick. This included scanning your passport while looking into a screen that can identify your face at customs. However, Heathrow plan to go a step further by using facial recognition technology at check-in, bag drops, security and boarding gates. This will dramatically reduce the time it takes for travellers to pass through each of these stages when getting on a flight. There are claims this could reduce the time spent at airports by a third.
