Wellness tourism

The primary goal of wellness tourism is keeping healthy.  First it emerged in the developed countries as a counter reaction to a situation in which citizens were more and more aware of their exposition to dangerous diseases. The word wellness – which was first used in its modern sense overseas in the late 1950s – is a mosaic word consisting of the words well-being and wholeness. According to another opinion it was coined from the words well-being and fitness, as an opposite of the word illness. The word in the form ’wealnesse’, meaning ’good health’, was first recorded as early 1654. (Hegedűs V. 2006). „It we accept the idea that the word was used as the opposite of the word illness, that is, its meaning is health, then wellness primarily represents lifestyle, the optimal harmony of body, soul and mind. (Michalkó G. 2004)”. Wellness is actually a life philosophy and it is relevant in everyday life, too. In a holistic sense it is a synonym for the harmony of physical, mental and spiritual abilities, thus it means the complexity of prevention, regeneration, relaxation and fitness.

In summary, wellness means that people strive to live a health-conscious life, in addition, they are able to improve or preserve their own physical and mental health. It is very difficult to keep to these principles in everyday life and situations, accordingly, there is an increased demand on the part of patients to use occasionally the services of  animators, recreators and tourism experts.  „In tourism it has been recognized that all these features have to be provided for patients in a complex, as well as spatially and temporarily concentrated form. This is why wellness hotels sprang up fast, where patients spend 3-7 days in luxurious setting with the aim of changing their lifestyle, concentrating on the preservation of their health, doing exercises on a regular basis, eating healthily and avoiding health damaging habits.  (Michalkó G. 2004, 154. o.)”. Since all wellness services represent the cultured way of spending one’s leisure time, wellness tourism is at the same time a form of recreational tourism.