Basic features of the demand for wellness
Tourists’ demand is provoked by their desire to change environment, their discretionary income that makes it possible to use the services, as well as their leisure time. (Michalkó G. 2004). On the demand side of wellness tourism one can find healthy individuals who, using their own money and leisure time, take advantage of a tourism package comprising health care elements and at the same time they are occasionally enjoying the support of private health insurance companies. (OES 2007).
The preservation of health, prevention, beauty care and keeping the harmony of body and soul will gain an increasing significance in the future, too, as the main motivation for travel. Initially famileies, and later - due to the expansion of one’s social space - schoolmates and colleagues play an increasingly significant role in the formulation of a health-conscious lifestyle. Employers may also contribute to the preservation of health (worksite wellness) and they may provide their employees with fringe benefits to contribute to their travel costs. (e.g. holiday vouchers) (Molnár Cs. 2011).
The main goal of guests who use wellness services on a voluntary basis is the creation and the preservation of harmony (physical, mental, emotional) necessary for health. Those people who primarily go for spa- or wellness experiences are relatively young, or middle-aged.
In specialist literature the kind of lifestyle, which is based on the philosophy of wellness, and which aims to create harmony between body, soul and mind and intends to foster a positive self-image , is called selfness, while mental fitness is known as mindness.
Consequently, on the demand side tourists are increasingly health-conscious, meaning, that on the market of health tourism today it is absolutely necessary to offer medically-based wellness services with long-term health benefits. This is the main reason why the so-called medical wellness, combining the elements of medical and wellness tourism, has lately gained extraordinary importance. The guests of medical wellness are people, who are in need of treatment, but who want health improvement by adopting wellness philosophy and using its medically-based tools. It is worth noting here the the expansion of medical wellness in Hungary is due to a general German-Hungarian cooperation; Germany is our primary sending market, and Hungary needs to meet its needs. (OES 2007). The most important sending countries in Europe include Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom.
Hungarian researchers have also noted that when considering people’s motivation in wellness tourism the desire to follow fashionable trends is occasionally more important in our country than pure health consciousness. (Priszinger K. et al. 2010, cited by Boros Sz. et al. 2011). In addition to health tourism services there is a notable demand, too, to explore cultural and intellectual experience opportunities and enjoy recreational programmes. When improving wellness tourism services it is an important factor to consider that the needs of different co-travelling generations need to be satisfied. (e.g. children-friendly swimming pools, anti-ageing programmes).
Wellness tourists generally stay for a 3-day-1 week period. They usually prefer accomodation of higher quality ( 3-5 star hotels). Seasonality does not play a significant role in wellness tourism, but weekly fluctuation may be noticeable. ( e.g. weekend tourists) When considering the basic trends it can be seen that there is a considerable difference between the needs of tourists who come from Western or Northern Europe, from North America or from Central and Eastern Europe. For more details see: