High-end health education holidays ‘take away the fear’
The luxury travel realm is responding to a demand for “health education holidays”, where guests leave with the knowledge and tools to better manage their condition. For example, luxury travel experience and event provider Absolute Lifestyle, is
introducing high-end retreats for newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes sufferers – of which there are 4.5 million patients in the UK – enabling them to return home feeling more able to cope. Duncan Grant, founder of Absolute Lifestyle, says: “The idea is to offer people a luxury holiday where there’s health education involved. We’ll have representatives from Diabetes UK come along to inform people about how to manage their condition. It really is about demonstrating a realistic approach, and taking the fear out of it. “We’ll have key professionals and nutritionists on hand to engage one-on-one with clients, group discussions on diet, and a private chef hosting cooking classes after trips to the local market. “We’re trying to keep the retreats within a certain area, so that when attendees
build relationships, they can easily stay in touch. We’ll also make it possible for people to bring their partners or families.” “The main focus is for people to be able to go home after the luxury retreat
having learnt useful things, and having a support network. We want the educational element to be very subtle, not too structured. It’s a holiday with ongoing benefits.”
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‘Wellness turns travel on its head’
Stella Photi, founder of Wellbeing Escapes, is working with Connections to prepare the programme for the inaugural Connections Wellbeing. Here’s her advice for getting to grips with wellness travel
The destination tends to be secondary “With wellness travel, it’s about how the destination can benefit someone’s wellbeing. At Wellbeing Escapes, our clients don’t call us and ask to go to a specific country or place. They give us their condition or dilemma and then we think about where would fit their needs and help them. It turns travel on its head.”
Every client has a different agenda with their wellness break “Not every client will need to address a specific health condition – although, if they do, whoever is advising them needs to be able to guide them towards a supplier that’s truly going to deliver. For other wellness travellers – those without a specific goal – travel advisors should find out what activities can be fitted into their itinerary – daily classes, specialist practitioners (not just a massage), hiking around the local area. Is there healthy food that fits in with their current lifestyle? So the requirements are softer, but it’s important to know that suppliers can meet them.”
Make the connection between product and client “At Connections Wellbeing, I don’t want suppliers to come to their one-on-one meetings and simply say: “We’ve got ten treatment rooms at a 2,000 sqm spa,” – because it’s meaningless. I want them to approach this differently, to really think about the questions they’re being asked and brush up on what really makes their wellness offering unique. And I want the buyers to think about their different types of travellers, what they would be interested in knowing, and to really seek that information.”
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