Did your summer vacation plans include a yoga retreat, bicycle tour, or guided mountain hike? For wellness-minded consumers, the ability to seamlessly incorporate their healthy lifestyle into their vacation plans is a top priority. When making holiday plans, health-oriented leisure travelers are searching the web for destinations that will allow them to temporarily immerse themselves in their passion. How do consumers plan their perfect getaway? Women’s Marketing looked at how wellness market trends are shaping the multi-billion dollar travel sector.
The Purchase Funnel: Research to Reservations
When choosing a travel destination, consumers may visit up to 38 websites in search of the best deal. Although 41% of consumers research trips on their smartphones or tablets, 55% use their laptop or desktop to book the trip. Wellness marketing research reveals that small mobile screens and hesitancy to book a trip through a mobile device contributed to users logging on to their desktop to secure the final booking. This underscores the need for easily-navigated mobile sites and eye-catching photography. Travel brands that offer tailored experiences to each vertical, as well as active social media platforms and consumer oriented content to tell their brand story, will likely engage consumers with their unique message.
The Well Hotel
Spas and massage treatments have long been fixtures in the hotel industry as add-on amenities. Now, more hotels are introducing wellness programs that include everything from juice bars and healthy menu options to organic linens and all-natural premium bath products. Both large and boutique hotels are taking wellness marketing a step further by investing in eco-friendly accommodations, offering naturally-flavored waters, morning light therapy, on-site yoga classes, and other wellness initiatives. Consumers are seeking out hotels that offer a lifestyle experience, not just a bed. As brands tap into their underlying story and create connections with consumers, they’ll become destinations for aspirational wellness travelers.
Getting Physical
While many health-oriented consumers still want to experience beach and spa vacations, there’s a very strong trend to include a fitness component to their trip. While sports enthusiasts may choose to immerse themselves in their passion for a week, taking extreme cycling vacations or active sailing excursions, others want new experiences to enliven their trip. Snorkeling, stand-up paddle boarding, day-long hikes, and surfing lessons are other add-on options for travelers.
Lean Cuisine
Along with exercise, food is a major component of a healthy lifestyle and interest of the wellness market. Many spas and hotel destinations are offering retreats that teach consumers how to prepare tasty cuisine along with cultural immersion programs that include a wellness component. Brands offering engaging lifestyle experiences that continue the cycle of discovery and exploration make the “been-there-done-that” nature of traditional travel new and exciting again, and they draw on wellness marketing to do so.
Today’s health-focused consumer wants a vacation that allows her to indulge her mind, body, and spirit. Brands that create wellness destinations and provide the types of amenities that appeal to her lifestyle will drive engagement, loyalty, and sales.
Reaching the Wellness Market
Women’s Marketing has a deep understanding of the passionate health-focused consumer and the wellness marketing concepts that will reach her. Our proprietary research provides insight into her motivations and purchasing priorities. Watch our video to learn more, then reach out to our experts to discover how we can help your brand influence her at every touchpoint throughout her day.
Sources: Millward Brown Digital/Expedia Media Solutions, Traveler’s Path to Purchase, Kift Travel IQ Megatrends Defining Travel in 2015
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