The global wellness industry was worth $6.32 trillion in 2023, according to a new report from the Global Wellness Institute, a leading industry group. That’s 25% larger than it was in 2019, making it bigger than the sports and pharmaceutical industries.
“Growth was even stronger than we predicted,” says Katherine Johnson, one of the authors of the Global Wellness Economy Monitor. She added that the wellness industry was boosted by the focus on health and well-being as a result of the pandemic. Research from the nonprofit argues that trends such as an aging population, chronic disease and an increased focus on mental health are helping drive growth.
This staggering figure is partly due to the GWI’s broad definition of wellness. For its purposes, wellness is “the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.” The report tracks spending across 11 sectors, including tourism, real estate and public health endeavors.
The largest of the 11 sectors is personal care and beauty, which the report values at $1.21 trillion alone. The next two largest categories are healthy eating, nutrition and weight loss, which totals $1.09 trillion, and physical activity, which is $1.06 trillion.
Wellness real estate has shown substantial growth, becoming an appealing investment with both health benefits and significant property value impacts. Properties located near wellness amenities or integrated with wellness-focused facilities, like gyms, meditation rooms, and recovery centers, see a boost in value and demand. According to the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), wellness real estate has surged with an 18.1% annual growth rate, and properties integrated with wellness facilities can increase in value by up to 25% on average. This trend is driven by a rising global focus on well-being, as real estate investors and developers recognise that wellness features can lead to higher returns by appealing to consumers’ lifestyle priorities
“Businesses and investors and consumers and people who build offices across the board are starting to recognise that if we want to shape people’s wellness, we have to shape the environments that they’re in,” says Yeung. “There is very solid evidence that the physical environments and social environments that we live in are fundamental to our health.”
Companies like Cavcorp are increasingly focusing on the wellness real estate market. The brand, which started off as a residential developer, has just released and almost sold-out of their wellness-lifestyle sky-homes, with home prices starting at $5.7million.
There are also new ventures such as Total Fusion Platinum in Newstead, and the Estate, led by Sam Nazarian and Tony Robbins, which is planning 15 hotels and residences and 10 longevity centers by 2030; the first is set to open in Los Angeles next year. Both companies are capitalising on the growing consumer desires for longevity and medical wellness.
Hospitality companies are getting increasingly competitive with offerings as the wellness tourism trend—valued at $830 billion according to the report— grows in popularity with consumers prove more willing to shell out for these experiences.
Siro, a new hotel brand owned by luxury company Kerzner, opened its first wellness-focused hotel in Dubai earlier this year. Everything from the workout equipment and snacks in the suites to the 1,000-square-foot fitness floor are dedicated to health and well-being. Another Siro is set to open in Montenegro next year.
When the Emory hotel opened in London earlier this year, it dedicated four floors and 21,500 square feet of space to the wellness club Surrenne, with membership at more than £10,000 ($20,000) a year.
Additional GWI categories in the report include public health, prevention and personalized medicine, a $781 billion category, along with traditional and complementary medicine, a $553 billion segment. There’s also the $233 billion mental wellness market.
The smallest categories are spas as $137 billion, thermal and mineral springs like Japan’s onsens at $63 billion and workplace wellness (think programs aimed at boosting employees’ health and well-being, such as fitness and educational classes) at $51.8 billion. The report notes that the figures don’t total up as there is overlap between categories. but doesn’t specify the exact difference.
“Once wellness starts to permeate your personal or consumer values, it starts shaping your purchasing decisions and just becomes a bigger and bigger share of your out-of-pocket spending,” says the GWI’s Johnson. The report predicts that as the sectors continue to recover from the pandemic, the wellness economy could reach nearly $6.8 trillion by the end of 2024.
