Constitutional Convention: Traveling Healthy at Well-Being Travel Symposium 2014

PHOTO: Paul Scialla, founder of Delos, talks to attendees at the Well-Being Travel Symposium. Delos worked on the wellness technology for the MGM Grand's "Stay Well" rooms. (Photo by Ryan Rudnansky)

In the early 1900s, a man by the name of Roy Martin stepped off a train in a dusty desert town.

His plan was to stroll around the town’s streets until another train arrived at night.

While he was walking around, he encountered a doctor who offered to sell his entire practice, including equipment, for $10.

Martin didn’t have the money, so he improvised. He found the town’s fastest runner and challenged him to a footrace for $10.

Martin won, paid the doctor, and decided to stay in the town a little while longer. He ended up building an 8-by-10 hospital out of a tent. Then, in 1931, he formed a state-of-the-art, 35-bed hospital.

The town was Las Vegas, and the hospital was the Las Vegas General Hospital.

So, when you tell somebody that Las Vegas is a health and wellness destination, and somebody inevitably scoffs, perhaps you should tell them this story.

The Well-Being Travel Symposium was founded in 2012 to discuss the health and wellness trend rapidly growing in Vegas and beyond. This year's installment, Feb 18-19  at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, was a success.

It’s going to be difficult for people to ignore the health and wellness trend moving forward. Last year, it brought in $438 million, per Well-Being Travel, and SRI International expects it to grow by nine percent annually through 2017.

The conference, attended by a significant number of travel agents, hotel executives, spa directors and destinations, covered a wide variety of topics related to health and wellness. Among these topics: facts and studies about the trend, how hotels are responding, what spas in Vegas are doing, marketing/social media strategies (including ways other countries market the trend), what consumers are looking for, hot health and wellness destinations (including Malaysia, a very underrated hotspot), issues for agents within the industry and “soft adventure” spots surrounding Vegas.

A number of interesting things were covered during the symposium.

For one, it was interesting to hear of all of the outdoor activities available in Vegas. Everyone thinks of The Strip, but there is plenty of terrain to explore outside of the entertainment hub. Jim McMichael, diversity and cultural manager of the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA), listed several activities in the area, including: scenic drives, lake and river sports (White Rock Canyon and Icebox Canyon), kayaking (Lake Mead), hiking and biking, skiing and snowboarding, ziplining (Bootleg Canyon), skydiving, bungee jumping and tours of historical Native American sites, all within an hour drive of The Strip.

Of course, Vegas also hosts a variety of health and wellness-related events, including the Rock n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon (the only time The Strip is closed off), Spa Week, Restaurant Week and themed museums.

There are also 45 spas in Vegas (including nine spas rated four stars and five stars by Forbes), more than 80 restaurants, the MGM Grand’s revolutionary “Stay Well” rooms, boot camps, 16 hospitals and 3,500 patient beds, river wellness cruises and the world-renowned Cleveland Center, which provides brain-related research for the NFL, boxing and rugby. Trump International Hotel also has wellness rooms, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has launched the EVEN Hotels brand focused on the trend (its first four hotels will be introduced in Connecticut, Maryland and New York).

PHOTO: EVEN Hotels provided a tasty chicken lunch with vegetables and rice my photo.

Vegas isn't the only destination that is underrated when it comes to health and wellness. Malaysia appears to have all the ingredients for a health and wellness getaway, but has somehow been lost in the shuffle.

Dr. Mary Wong Lai Lin, CEO of the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council, talked to TravelPulse about the country's many benefits.

Wong noted that benefits include highly regulated hospitals for medical wellness, low costs, multicultural food, spas and hot springs, rainforests, well-maintained rehab facilities and a variety of different massages and treatments to accommodate travelers' various preferences for traditional or complimentary medicine).

In fact, Malaysia has an entire destination devoted to well-being called Mines Wellness City. Included in the destination are The Golden Horses Health Sanctuary, a 40,000-square-foot center focused on preventative care and awareness, boasting state-of-the-art technology.

A number of issues agents faced when selling health and wellness were discussed during the symposium.

First off, there aren’t a whole lot of opportunities for agents to earn commission on health and wellness packages yet. Part of that is the fact that most spas are franchises and hotels themselves don’t own them.

Anne Marie Moebes, executive vice president of Well-Being Travel, also noted “suppliers are behind the times.” While agents have largely recognized the opportunity in the health and wellness industry, most suppliers are still coming around.

“Agents are ready,” Moebes said. “They’re begging for suppliers and destinations to jump on the bandwagon.”

It’s only natural for there to be an adjustment period, though, especially considering the trend has really only started to pick up in the last four years, according to Moebes.

Moebes also recognized the fact that agents aren’t doing enough, either, particularly when it comes to marketing. Some agents at the symposium had just started using popular social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Well-Being Travel will also be adding a much-needed supplier section to its website soon.

While agents are ahead of the curve when it comes to health and wellness, they still need to learn a lot to effectively sell the trend, which encompasses much more than spas. In fact, some in the industry don’t like the term “wellness” because they think too many people think of just spas when hearing it. The reality is, wellness includes a variety of components, including meditation, yoga and exercise. Some, including those from Well-Being Travel, prefer the term “well-being”.

Agents also face obstacles when trying to send clients abroad, as destination marketing managers and Companion Global Healthcare Operations Manager Phil Midden discussed. Not only are safety and the stress of travel big concerns among travelers, agents must also worry about being sued if medical procedures go awry in other countries (insurance can only cover so much, at least for now).

Overall, the symposium focused more on potential solutions than just the problems. Those who attended appeared to enjoy the two-day event, and get a lot out of it. There was plenty to talk about, and the open nature of the forum allowed for effective communication.

It appears as if the Well-Being Travel Symposium is here to stay, based on how the event went on Feb. 18 and Feb. 19 in Las Vegas.

Now the goal is for Well-Being Travel to attract more suppliers and destinations to the symposium moving forward.

Well-Being Travel will be accepting applications from suppliers and destinations starting this spring. Go to well-beingtravel.com for more information.

Note: The top 10 ways to sell health and wellness travel will be featured in the April issue of Vacation Agent magazine, based on what was presented at the 2014 Well-Being Travel Symposium.