In one of the most beautiful venues I’ve been to recently for a travel event, the Los Cabos Tourism Board last week launched a new promotion designed to “reinvent itself as a holistic wellness-forward destination and Mexico’s top destination for luxury wellness travel.”
On the 38th floor of the new Virgin Hotels in Manhattan, with a glorious sunset as a backdrop, the event emphasized the “personal fulfillment and overall wellness” that is possible in Los Cabos, thanks to its spas, gastronomy, sustainability, culture, community and hospitality.
As the day went from dusk to night, Los Cabos introduced its new brand ambassador, Diana Flores, the captain and quarterback of Mexico’s World Champion Women’s National Flag Football Team and NFL and IFAF Global Flag Football Ambassador, to serve as spokesperson for this Wellness Champions campaign. The previous campaign focused on consumers; their testimonials brought in 112 million impressions on social media, said Rodrigo Esponda, managing director of the Los Cabos Tourism Board.
“Los Cabos has always been a destination rooted in wellness,” Esponda said, and with this new campaign, “businesses across the destination are committed to showcasing their unique aspect of wellness into their offering.”
A New Definition of Wellness
Indeed, travel advisors who specialize in wellness say the definition of “wellness” has expanded far beyond a focus on fancy spas. Today’s luxury customers are looking for destinations that offer a variety of ways to renew their bodies and spirits.
“My customers want to have some space and grace, to define some peace and tranquility,“ says Denise Wiggins, a wellness mentor and Global Travel Advisor at Denise Wiggins Travel Services. “They are asking, ‘Where can I go to take care of myself?’ They are looking for a break from the noise and anxiety in their lives; they want to rejuvenate and reset their bodies, to recalibrate, to escape to a new place away from their current environment. They may say they want peace with water, or to take their exercise to a location that gives them a new perspective, whether that be for walking, running, yoga or meditation.”
They aren’t looking just for a spa, but for a complete destination in which nutrition and food are an extremely important element. “People want to experience new foods and other ways of fueling and taking care of their bodies,” Wiggins says.
Taking all that into account, “I’ll curate something – perhaps on a ship out on the water or someplace on a beach where they can do lots of walking, not necessarily for sightseeing and learning about history as much as just walking into their own world of serenity.”
Meanwhile, Australian travel advisor Georgina Gröne is preparing to attend “Synergy: The Retreat Show,” an event for travel professionals “who live and breathe wellness travel. She noted that the group forecasts that the wellness retreat industry will grow at an annual 9.95% for the rest of the decade, with sales of $1.02 trillion by 2030.
“Clients don’t go on a holiday just to read a book next to the pool,” Gröne told TRO. “Less and less clients are interested in all-inclusive resorts; they’ll rather have free pilate classes and good restaurants with healthy eating options, environmentally sustainable travel experiences and less time away but more quality experiences/excursions.”
Wellness Marketing
Los Cabos is hardly alone in seeing the potential for wellness as a marketing draw. This month, Ritz-Carlton launched a global multi-million dollar “Leave Better” marketing campaign designed to “capture how travel across the brand’s hotels and resorts can become a catalyst for personal evolution.” It will roll out in several languages across markets including the United States, Japan, China, Germany, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and include digital video, print, digital display and paid social.
The campaign is designed to capture “how travel across the brand’s hotels and resorts can become a catalyst for personal evolution,” answering the question “How will a stay leave you?,” and “inspiring consumers to envision the lasting impact of an experience at The Ritz-Carlton, and to consider the memories they will create, the connections they will forge and the inspiration they will draw,” the press release says.
“The Ritz-Carlton’s Leave Better campaign encourages guests to use travel as a vehicle for personal growth,” Jamie Kerr, The Ritz-Carlton’s senior director of global marketing, told TRO. “Creating unforgettable experiences across global destinations through exploration can have a great impact on overall wellbeing. Tapping into the transformational power of travel, guests across our hotels and resorts are invited to invest in the lifelong impact of thoughtful travel experiences.”
And in St. Lucia, Bay Gardens Resorts just wrapped up its “Weeks of Wellness” month of “diverse events that sought to enrich the body, mind, and spirit,” including Sunrise Yoga Sessions on Reduit Beach, interactive seminars on nutrition and healthy eating, massage therapy sessions and locally sourced dishes, herbal teas and fresh juice. The program was so successful it already is being planned for 2024.
In Los Cabos, meanwhile, Flores will help deliver high-visibility events, campaign advertisements and a global social media strategy to promote the destination in the coming months.
Born and raised in Mexico, and an athlete from the age of eight, Flores said she learned early on about “the power of no—no you are too young; no, you are too little, no you are Latina, no, no, no. What helped me overcome all these obstacles was to embrace the power of no to grow my willpower. For me, wellness means having the opportunity to disconnect, and focus on where you are now and what you want to leave to this world.” To that end, “Los Cabos has it all.”
“Los Cabos is reinvigorating its mantra, putting wellness at the forefront across six key pillars: spirituality and mental health, adventure and physical well-being, gastronomy, sustainability, culture/community, and hospitality,” said the press release.
In the end, no matter where you travel, “there’s just something to be said for making a new connection somewhere else that then gets embedded into your memory bank so you can always then draw from it,” Wiggins says.
Indeed, “your energy is your biggest currency,” noted keynote speaker Lucia Oneiva at the recent Avoya Travel conference. And that’s a message high-end travelers understand and embrace.
Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook. As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent, and Insider Travel Report. She also writes and edits for professional publications in the financial services, business, and technology sectors.
