Although the smallest global wellness travel market, the Middle East/African region will lead the industry charge as the largest driver of growth until 2017, according to newly-released data from the Global Wellness Tourism Congress (GWTC).

The research, undertaken by SRI International for the GWTC, was released yesterday (7 May) at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) event in Dubai. It offers separate analysis of the Middle East/North African and Sub-Saharan African, finding that the former ranks first in the world for tourism growth (16.2 per cent annually) with market expansion from US$5.3bn (€3.8bn, £3.1bn) in 2012 to US$16.6bn (€11.9bn, £9.8bn) in 2017.

The Sub-Saharan African wellness tourism market is forecast to grow by 12.6 per cent annually, from US$2bn (€1.4bn, £1.2bn) in 2012 to US$5.1bn (€3.7bn, £3bn) by 2017. This will be largely driven by South Africa, whose well-established spa and wellness destinations and robust travel sector make it the pan-regional leader in terms of both trips and expenditures.

The Middle East/North African surge will be led by UAE, which is expected to add one million wellness trips from 2012 to 2017, with a 17.9 per cent annual growth rate that ranks it sixth in the world.

The findings were presented at ATM today by GWTC tourism and government liaison Anni Hood.

“Wellness-focused travel is growing fast across this vast, diverse region: in the Middle East/North Africa we have the luxury/spa hotel building boom across GCC nations, and the revitalisation of indigenous practices, such as historic hammams and baths,” she said.

“Africa is tourism’s next frontier: from the rise of healthy adventure/safari tourism in South Africa and Kenya – to continued growth for spa/wellness resorts on destination islands like Mauritius and just-emerging East African destinations like Ghana or Senegal. These many different stories add up to one big story: the fastest growing wellness tourism market in the world.”

A GWTC spokesperson told Spa Business that although the research formed part of the The Global Wellness Tourism Economy report from the October 2013 Global Spa and Wellness Summit (GSWS), the regional breakdowns have never previously been released. They added that the breakdowns would be published individually in the lead up to the

2014 GSWS in Marrakech.

To read the Spa Business report (p.70) from the 2013 GSWS conference in Delhi, click here.