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2020 is the decade where tourists of all ages are no longer opting for “adrenaline thrill seeking” holidays but instead they are desperately looking for respite from the whirlwind of their everyday lives.  In this day and age, we are all taking an active role in ensuring our well being and longevity to the best of our ability, and we are not facing the inevitability of age related infirmities and disease without a really good fight!  

So much information is out there about the “healthy lifestyle” but what exactly constitutes good health?   According to the World Health Organization, health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.  So in order to achieve a state of physical and mental well being what exactly do we need to do?  Those visions of yogis eating vegan meals, performing advanced yoga poses (thought suited for some) clearly is not achievable by all!

Enter “Wellness Tourism”. . . the new gentle way to decompress and unwind – within beautiful and serene surroundings where your day would comprise of locally sourced, healthy meals (with local wines of course), perhaps with a cooking class on how these delicious meals were prepared.   Follow that with a nature walk perhaps through the grounds of a beautiful French chateau, stopping along the way to listen to the leaves rustling, to gaze at the wild flowers, or listen to the bird songs. Are you imagining yourself there?

According to Wikipedia: Wellness tourism is travel for the purpose of promoting health and well-being through physical, psychological, or spiritual activities.

Many chateaux in France (some of which you will have seen on Channel 4’s Escape to the Chateau DIY TV series) offer long weekend or 7 day all inclusive retreats such as yoga with meditation, sound therapy, pilates.  Such “retreat” no longer have the same connotation as they used to have, everything is done at your own pace and you don’t need to be able to contort your body into a pretzel! They represent the new wellness holidays – many guests bring their partners with them, some of whom participate and others just enjoy the peace, tranquility and wonderful French food and wine.  The whole focus of wellness tourism is to give yourself the time and space for reflection, self healing and to give yourself the love you deserve.