We had a really fruitful session today on wellness and spiritual tourism in a post covid-19 world. Massive thanks to all the speakers for the stimulating conversation! It was really nice to hear about various key issues from very diverse perspectives. Whilst wellness has become ever more important for everyone during this time, it is interesting to think about wellness tourism in the COVID context. The conversation revolved around key questions: What would we see and envisage as big changes in wellness tourism post COVID-19? Would people travel more to wellness and spiritual destinations after the lockdown restrictions are eased, to cope with the stress from the pandemic? Whilst some speakers noted that there might be elite tourism all over again, they still see hope that there might be some positive opportunities of people from all backgrounds and budgets. Whilst it can be problematic that destinations seek luxury retreat tourists first to remedy the economic damage, local people in the Global South might have new opportunities to develop and own their own community based wellness tourism businesses. Whilst there are huge degrees of complexities and uncertainties in front of us, we hope that this time can be a wakeup call and a time to plan more holistic and positive futures.
The Poster.
