Expert Sees Rapid Growth for Health Travel

As more travel suppliers, medical facilities and nations around the world invest in health and wellness travel, the appeal and accessibility of such travel is broadening.

Coupled with consumers’ growing interest in health travel of all types, the developments are driving rapid growth in health and wellness travel, according to author and educator Laszlo Puczko, PhD.

“It is no longer travel only for the rich and famous. There’s more democratization. That should be good for agents,” he told Travel Market Report.

Comprehensive new book
Puczko is co-author, with Melanie Smith, of a comprehensive book on the subject – Health, Tourism and Hospitality: Spas, Wellness and Medical Travel, Second Edition (Routledge, December 2013).

Laszlo Puczko

The new, completely revised edition covers “all aspects of traveling for health, everything from medical and surgical procedures to holistic and spiritual activities, ” said Puczko. “We also include spas, hotels and the hospitality sector. We wanted to show how broad this topic has become in the last couple years.”

Puczko is head of the School of Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality at BKF University of Applied Sciences in Budapest. He is also the founder of The Tourism Observatory for Health, Wellness and Spa and Head of Tourism at Xellum Advisory Ltd.

Travel Market Report spoke with Puczko for an update on health and wellness travel and where travel agents fit into the picture.

What are the global trends in medical and wellness travel?
Puczko: We’re seeing a lot of convergence. By that I mean that hospitals and hotels are combining to offer services to travelers.

Traditional service providers and assets – places such as India, Thailand, China and the Eastern European thermal springs – are developing new facilities and nicer hotels where guests receive treatments. Even the most average places these days are offering their spas as a wellness center.

What other trends are you seeing?
Puczko: One brand new trend is that people are traveling for holistic and spiritual reasons, as opposed to religious reasons. For example, there is great interest in visiting all sorts of chakras – earth chakras, heart chakras. And not just in India. One of the earth chakras is outside Budapest.  

We’re also seeing very specialized wellness clinics spring up. There’s also a focused development of retreats, ashrams and hideaways in secluded areas. These are becoming more popular and offer a wide variety of services for the health and wellness traveler.

Where are the emerging destinations for this type of travel?
Puczko: South America is developing eco-spas and adventure and wellness spas. Dubai and the Gulf area have built some amazing spa facilities. And the Caribbean is another area where they are building up wellness getaways for the luxury market.

The industry has developed rapidly in last five or 10 years. Now, you can find a very wide variety of services literally anywhere.

It seems as if more destinations are recognizing the potential. Countries are eager to develop national strategies for health and medical tourism clusters.

What about medical procedures?
Puczko: The medical treatment side is still new in terms of invasive procedures. We’re seeing travel for dental treatments, plastic surgery or IVF [In vitro fertilization].

For invasive procedures, the trend for North Americans is to travel to Latin America. Also, for evidence-based medicine, medical/thermal spring-based therapies, Southeast Asia is emerging.

What are the reasons people travel for medical treatment?
Puczko: People are traveling for convenience and the faster availability of a procedure. They travel for price or even for a celebrated physician or hospital.

You say that agents are a major link that is still missing in the field. What do you mean?
Puczko: I mean that various aspects of this business very much need travel agents. Agents help a lot by communicating to the industry why people travel. They know what motivates their clients and have a tremendous amount of information about them.

But agents are not as well-served at the moment as they can be. The problem is that the medical, wellness and spa industry don’t necessarily understand tourism.

How can that be addressed so that agents play a more important role?
Puczko: It’s a basic problem with the way things operate. Spa hotels are outsourced; spa managers don’t even talk to the front desk. Hospitals don’t speak to tourism people.

Even at medical tourism events you will see government officials, facilitators and hospitals. Many of the organizers of events don’t deal with travel agents at all.

The industry is missing out on a great opportunity. The fact is old routines don’t provide new business.

What additional trends in the field should agents know about?
Puczko: They should know that this is an area of rapid growth. I’ve been an educator and trainer in this field for 15 or 20 years. I can tell you that all around the world, everyone is buzzing.

Major hotel chains are looking at health and wellness travel. Deepak Chopra is working with Qatar Airways on an onboard well-being program. Lufthansa is investing lots of money on medical tourism specialist services.

It’s not yet mainstream travel, but it’s more available. It is no longer travel only for the rich and famous. There’s more democratization. That should be good for agents.