Wellness trends for 2021: a new scenario

With a new year approaching, it is common for media specialized in a sector -such as TIMP’s blog- to start evaluating the trends in that field for the coming months: booming disciplines within the industry, new technologies that come to make life easier for users and professionals, new work standards, etc.

But in a situation like the current one, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, defining the characteristics of the approaching scenario is not a simple task.

Therefore, in this article we will try to approach the keys that will set the trends in wellness in 2021, based on the opinion and research of leading wellness professionals.

The wellness industry expert platform Wellness Spain has prepared a survey aimed at spa center managers to find out their opinion on how COVID-19 will influence the wellness segment.

The results are quite enlightening and, although they are based on the opinion of the respondents, they are a good starting point to predict to some extent the immediate future of the sector based on the perception of its professionals in their day-to-day work at the head of their businesses.

An interesting finding of the study is that 80% of managers believe that as a result of this global situation the wellness sector will see a paradigm shift, i.e., a new approach that, although it will not significantly alter the disciplines covered by wellness, will change the consumption habits of these services and the extent to which they are consumed.

On the other hand, only 20% of respondents believe that there will be no major long-term changes in the sector, although they do believe that it will be necessary to adapt to the situation that has arisen as a result of this pandemic.

The new situation that is beginning to emerge after the onset of this pandemic allows us to venture changes at different levels, as indicated by the Wellness Spain study:

Significant economic changes are expected, possibly leading to a change in priorities for many wellness users.

What were previously services to be enjoyed by a large part of the population during the vacation season or as a reward for a season of hard work, will now be considered a luxury that not everyone will be able to afford or will relegate to a second place in their scale of needs.

We will now see what measures can be taken to balance this situation.

Social distance, which is a necessity to avoid new COVID-19 infections, makes it necessary to make changes in the way in which different services are offered in the world of wellness.

It will be necessary to adopt safety and hygiene measures to ensure that users of welfare centers attend with all the guarantees, precautions that have already been taken by those centers that have reopened their doors after the confinement and that will undoubtedly continue to be applied for quite some time.

As a result of the changes we have discussed above, it is easy to advance the trends to be followed in the wellness industry:

Since the world of wellness is often associated with a luxury or a whim in many cases, the industry will need to readjust its marketing strategies to change this perception among customers.

Thus, the focus of these new measures will be to show wellness as something very beneficial in these uncertain times, when finding a haven of peace among so many stressful circumstances is essential to move forward.

They will also direct their efforts to communicate new services adapted to this unprecedented situation, as we shall see below.

As we mentioned earlier, it is to be expected that with the economic changes that are about to take place , many users will restructure their scale of priorities.

In order for wellness to maintain its position on this scale, many wellness centers will offer different types of services, including smaller and more economical packages for users who need them.

All this while maintaining the most exclusive services at the usual price.

In the coming year, many wellness centers will choose to enhance in their catalog of services those activities that seek greater self-knowledge and emotional and spiritual well-being of the client, not only physical well-being.

Mindfulness sessions , yoga, meditation, aromatherapy or music therapy will occupy much of the calendar of services of many centers, also producing a greater demand for professionals in these disciplines.

As reported by the digital magazine Wellness Destiny, the World Federation of Hydrotherapy and Climatology made in its international videoconference of experts last April an interesting proposal: to enhance the use of medical hydrology in spas and thermal centers through telemedicine.

This will require an investment on the part of those centers that opt for this treatment modality, but in view of the fact that telecare will also become more important in this sector, it is an initiative to be taken into account.

More than ever, wellness centers will have to digitize their processes, automating tasks such as booking sessions through a booking app and managing appointments and capacity control through a management software for wellness centers.

In short, wellness is going through a crucial moment in which defining the measures to be adopted for the coming year will be essential to continue to maintain the influx of users to the centers.

And among these measures, specific wellness marketing, activities focused on spiritual wellness and the restructuring of services will play a key role in the maintenance and evolution of the sector.

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