Wellness tourism is on the rise globally

Wellness tourism around the world grew nearly 7% annually between 2015 and 2017 to US$639 billion – more than twice as fast as tourism overall – and is forecast to reach US$919 billion by 2022.

And while Europe may be the most popular destination for wellness travel, at an estimated 292 million trips in 2017, it’s North America that rakes in the big bucks, earning the most in tourism revenue.

Those are among some of the big takeaways from a report released by the Global Wellness Institute and presented at the World Travel Market London, a major trade fair that took place recently.

In the report, wellness tourism is defined as travel for the purpose of maintaining or improving health – not to be conflated with medical tourism, which involves travel to seek a specific medical treatment.

Overall, in 2017 world travellers made 830 million wellness trips – 139 million more than in 2015.

But while Europe and North America may lead the wellness tourism market now, analysts point out that wellness trips in Asia-Pacific have grown 33% in the last two years, making it the fastest growing market.

 Between 2017 and 2022, wellness tourism is also projected to grow 13% in Asia-Pacific to reach US$252 billion in revenue.

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Meanwhile, within the region, China and India are the strongest performers, having added roughly 22 million and 17 million wellness trips respectively from 2015 to 2017.

“Wellness tourism burst into the consumer consciousness just a very few years ago, and it’s hard to grasp the speed of its growth and evolution,” authors note in the report.

“Wellness, hospitality and travel are now converging in unprecedented ways, from the ‘healthy hotel’ concept going utterly mainstream to airports, airlines and cruises injecting so much wellness programming, to the profusion of ever-more-creative wellness destinations, retreats and tours.”

The report also showed that wellness travellers are well-educated, open-minded globetrotters with money to burn, spending on average US$1,528 per trip or 53% more than the typical international tourist.

That’s even higher for domestic wellness tourists, who spend 178% more than the average domestic traveller, at US$609 per trip.

Here are the destinations that made the most money from wellness tourism in 2017:

1. United States
2. Germany
3. China
4. France
5. Japan
6. Austria
7. India
8. Canada
9. Britain
10. Italy

Source - TheJakartaPost

 

#Bangkok tops Agoda’s 2018 list of Asian destinations

Online travel agent Agoda has found Bangkok to be the most popular Asian destination of 2018, “not only a convenient transit point to explore the rest of Thailand, but also teeming with energy, quirks and fascinating culture”.

 According to the year’s booking data from Agoda, beachside city Pattaya has been the 10th most popular Asian destination.

Tokyo is No 2, followed in descending order by Hong Kong, Osaka, Taipei, Seoul, Singapore and Bali, and then Pattaya.

 Thailand ranked second-most-booked Asian country this year. “From historic temples and sparkling white sandy beaches to rich culture and world-famous cuisine, it’s no wonder why Thailand continues to draw in travelers from around the world,” Agoda says.

 Japan has claimed the crown for top Asian country overall, the credit going to “ephemeral sights like cherry blossoms to the endless quirky, wonderful experiences such as robot cafes”. Malaysia ranks third.

Thai travelers have mainly enjoyed domestic trips in 2018, with Japan and Singapore the most popular countries further afield. 

 

Agoda says Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin and Phuket have been the top five destinations in Thailand for Thais, followed by “laid-back destinations” Khao Yai, Chonburi, Krabi and Chiang Rai.

Tokyo appeals to Thais because it has no visa requirements, additional flight routes and diverse cultural highlights.

Source - TheNation

Foreigners in Pattaya to get SMS alert before their visa expires

Immigration Police are going to start sending SMS reminders to foreigners in Chonburi province — including everyone’s favorite party city Pattaya — to make sure that they don’t overstay their visa.

Immigration Police Chief Surachate Hakpan said yesterday that the visa notification will first debut in Chonburi, thanks to the large number of foreigners staying there, and he has assigned the provincial immigration police chief Songprode Sirisukha to implement the service. 

The SMS will be sent out 15 days before the visa expiry date in order to prevent tourists and expats from forgetting or “misunderstanding” their length of stay.

One big question, however, remains unanswered. When will this actually kick off?

When contacted by Coconuts this afternoon, an officer at Chonburi Immigration Police, who requested anonymity, said there is no time frame yet set for when the service will be implemented in the province.

The alerts will only be sent to those who have registered their phone numbers when they applied for a visa or an extension.

The text notification is part of the Immigration Police’s project to decrease the number of overstayers to “zero.”

Surachate said that foreigners who do not sort out their visas and intentionally overstay will face “harsh measures,” including being deported and blacklisted anywhere from 5 to 10 years, depending on their cases. 

Source - Coconuts.co 

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#Indonesia - Mount Prau to be closed to hikers for three months starting Jan. 6

The hiking trail on Mount Prau in Central Java is to be closed for three months between Jan. 6 and April 5.

The closure will include all hiking base camps on the mountain, as decided during a meeting conducted by the Indonesia Mount Prau Coordinating Forum in Kalilembu, Wonosobo, on Nov. 26.

Among the reasons for the closure are the needs to repair the trail, clean up trash, conduct reforestation and collect and evaluate ecosystem data. 

Hikers, tour guides, travel agents and base camps that do not comply with the closure would be fined, kompas.com reported on Dec. 3. 

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 However, climbers are still allowed to visit the mountain on Jan. 9 to participate in reforestation. To join in, they can simply go to the Dieng base camp on Jan. 8 or early morning on Jan. 9. 

The reforestation is to be conducted around the Telaga Wurung area with at least 1,000 plant seeds. The seeds will be provided for free by the event committee; hikers are only requested to bring their personal supplies and small shovels if possible.

Source TheJakartaPost

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Tourism and marine parks threaten #Thailand's 'people of the sea'

When Sutem Lakkao's grandmother and father died, they were buried much as their ancestors had been: on the beach, close to their beloved boats so they could listen to the waves and watch over the Chao Lay community of fisherfolk in their afterlife.

But when his time comes, Sutem will be laid to rest in a cemetery where all he will hear is the roar of traffic on Phuket, Thailand's largest island and a key tourism destination.

The land in which Sutem's ancestors were buried now heaves with daytrippers taking selfies, while the Urak Lawoi community of the Chao Lay are confined to a small patch of Phuket's Rawai beach that is also claimed by developers and individuals.

"Our way of life of the olden days is gone - when we could fish anywhere, and we had a connection to the land because of our ancestors' burial site and spiritual shrines," said Sutem.

"We do not have that connection any more," he said standing on the sandy beach of Koh He, a small island off Phuket's southern coast, where his ancestors were once buried.

The Chao Lay, or people of the sea, have lived on the shores of Thailand and Myanmar for generations, fishing and foraging.

Some, like the Moken, are nomadic, spending weeks on the sea and free-diving to spear fish. Others, like the Urak Lawoi on Rawai beach in Phuket, have a more settled life while fishing in the Andaman Sea with their traps of rattan and wire.

They grabbed the world's attention in 2004 when they escaped the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami by fleeing to higher ground when they saw the waters recede.

But the community may be facing its greatest threat yet as marine conservation efforts limit their traditional fishing grounds, and a tourism boom pits them against developers keen on the patch of land that their boats, homes and shrines sit on.

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 Shared by many

At the heart of the struggles of the Chao Lay - also known as "Sea Gypsies" - is not just their right to the sea and land, but also a more fundamental question of legality and identity, said Narumon Arunotai at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

"Their culture and traditions are not protected by the Constitution, and they do not have title deeds and permits, so it is difficult for them to assert their claim," she said.

"But they were there long before the tourists and the conservationists. If managed well, indigenous rights can go well with conservation and tourism," she said.

Across the world, indigenous people are fighting for the recognition of their rights to land, forest and water.

While they own more than half the world's land under customary rights, they have secure legal rights to only 10 percent, according to Washington D.C.-based advocacy group Rights and Resources Initiative.

 

 From Peru to Indonesia, laws aimed at conserving forests are leading to the evictions of indigenous people. 

 The Chao Lay's right to the sea is even more tenuous as they often lack permits and licences for fishing, and get arrested or fined for straying into newly established marine protected areas or island parks that authorities say are key to conservation.

The Chao Lay in Phuket, which lies about 700 kilometres (430 miles) southwest of Bangkok, face more than two dozen cases related to encroachment of land and trespass of national parks.

Two families on Rawai beach lost their cases, and have to leave the homes in which they had lived for about 40 years.

Source - TheJakartaPost
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#Indonesia second in global ranking of digital travelers

United Kingdom-based travel commerce platform Travelport released the results of its Global Digital Traveler Research 2018 recently. The online surveys analyzed different digital traveler habits, with 16,200 respondents participating from 25 countries. 

Indonesia ranks second on the list, a spot higher than last year, as reported by kompas.com.

India tops the list for the second consecutive year, while Brazil, China and Nigeria ranked in third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

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Most of the respondents in the surveys said gadgets were considered vital for tourists. In fact, almost half of the respondents said they booked and paid for travel expenses using apps.

Features such as electronic payments, audio search and electronic hotel room were also considered helpful in planning the trips.

Travelport is a travel commerce platform belonging to Travelport Worldwide Ltd. It provides technology, distribution, payment and other solutions for the travel and tourism industry.

 

Source - The JakartaPost

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Netizens disagree with official numbers: The miracle 20% rise in tourist numbers

A story from The Thaiger yesterday stirred up a lot of suspicion that the Ministry of Sports and Tourism are being ‘flexible’ with the truth.

The story quoted the Sports and Tourism Minister saying that, since they introduced the visa-on-arrival fee waiver (for 21 countries), the numbers of arrivals has surged 20%. He said in his quotes that the ‘bounce’ came mostly from Chinese and Indian tourists.

But some of our readers didn’t go along with the PR spin out of the Minister’s office. Here’s a few of the responses (we’ve corrected a few spelling and grammar errors)…

Totally bulshyt! I am 9 years in Thailand I didn’t see so less tourists like this year – GZ

I am not sure how they arrive at these figures, when other areas are reporting downturns (well, the actual Thais on the street and in the shops are). However, even if true, I ask myself what kind of quality tourist are they encouraging to come here and spend (!?!) if the decision to come or not is based on whether they can save 2000 Baht!?!? (That implies to me that they are on a budget big time?) – BC

So free visa on arrival was announced and then like 3 weeks later (before most tourists would have even heard of this let alone booked a trip) the tourist industry is magically saved? It’s interesting to sit here and read these “creative numbers”. As if the people couldn’t see with their own eyes that this wasn’t the truth – NR

What a joke, when I arrived the International Airport was almost empty – WJ

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 What a load of wallop… everyone in tourism worldwide could wish they could change tourism numbers by reducing a simple fee… common… what a load of wallop – GS

Tourist numbers recovered, all because they got to save 2,000 baht (70 US dollars)? Hmmmkay – YC

And one person shared his experiences in the seaside resort of Khao Lak, 2 hours north of Phuket…

Doesn’t look like from Khao Lak point. It’s actually the worst November ever for tourism businesses. And I hear its the same in Phuket – AK

The Tourism and Sports Ministry and the Tourism Authority of Thailand frequently release figures that sometimes don’t balance with the anecdotal commentary from tour operators or owners of hotels.

Source - The Thaiger