The Global Wellness Summit has revealed that the 2025 theme for its 19th annual conference will be “Longevity Through a Wellness Lens”.

The conference will take place in Dubai, UAE, at the Mandarin Oriental Downtown Dubai between 18-21 November and will bring together wellness companies, doctors, academics and business leaders to discuss the future of the industry.

The longevity-focused theme reflects the recent global interest in increasing healthspans. This shift is creating innovation within different wellness market sectors as consumer mindsets demand new healthcare solutions.

Leaders in the longevity space will engage in debates about the future, the most exciting services in the field and the state of currently available evidence.

“The speed at which longevity has shaken up the wellness, health, tech and biotech industries is astounding; it’s a true inflexion point for our industry and world,” said Nancy Davis, chief creative officer and executive director of the GWS.

“We will convene the innovators from across the space, often embracing dramatically different approaches, to have an open, evidence-focused discussion on what’s ahead and why,” Davis added. “High-level, bring-everyone-to-the-table conversations are what we do best.”

2025 co-chairs

The GWS has also announced four co-chairs for the programme of events in medicine, business, hospitality and tourism.

Anna Bjurstam – Bjurstam is a Sweden-based wellness expert, investor and entrepreneur. She is a strategic advisor for Six Senses and the founder of wellbeing consultancy Raison d’Etre.

Dr Mike Roizen – An integrative medicine pioneer and the first chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic. Roizin is founder of the Real Age concept, an evidence-based programme that calculates the ageing effect of more than 100 different health behaviours. He has a decades-long focus on investigating the scientific basis for extending healthspans.

Ömer Isvan – Isvan is the president of global investment and development advisory firm Servotel Corporation, which is headquartered in Turkey. He has experience in consulting with investors at every stage of the development of hotels, resorts and integrated mixed-use destinations.

Jeremy Jauncey – Jauncey is a serial entrepreneur and is currently the CEO and founder of the strategic travel content creation company Beautiful Destinations.

New research and collaboration

In addition to discussions about the future of the 11 wellness sectors (including wellness tourism, physical activity, mental wellness, beauty and spas), there will be a special focus on the fastest growing market – wellness real estate.

The GWI will present new research and global case studies in this market, which is slated to be worth US$1.1 trillion (€900 billion, £820 billion) by 2029.

The GWI will also unveil the 2025 Global Wellness Economy Monitor, providing brand new insights into the global wellness market and each of its sectors.

This year’s summit will also feature new collaborative closed-door sessions where executives from different sectors will find ways to work together, even if they are “fierce competitors”.

These participants will find common ground in their attempts to answer the question “What can we accomplish together that we can’t accomplish on our own?”

The Middle East – a wellness growth leader

This edition of GWS will mark the first time the event has been held in the Middle East’s Gulf Region.

The Middle East-North Africa region’s overall wellness economy, now worth US$165 billion-plus (€141 billion-plus, £123 billion-plus), was the second-fastest growing regional market from 2019-2023 (6.7 per cent annual growth), behind only North America at 8.2 per cent.

Wellness tourism in the Middle East has been by far the world’s fastest-growing market. Revenues grew 11.6 per cent annually across those years, twice as fast as any other global region, to reach US$19 billion-plus (€16 billion-plus, £14 billion-plus).

The UAE plays a pivotal role as the region’s largest wellness market, which is worth US$34 billion (€29 billion, £25 billion) At the national level, it’s been the second-fastest growing wellness tourism market in the world (16.5 per cent annually), trailing only China (18 per cent).