- Health tourism experts say preventive wellness programs can dramatically reduce healthcare costs.
- Spa and thermal resorts are pushing for recognition within national healthcare systems.
- The growing longevity trend is reshaping wellness tourism.
- Industry leaders say younger travelers must be targeted earlier.
- Natural therapies and holistic treatments are gaining renewed interest after the pandemic.
A New Role for Wellness Tourism
At ITB Berlin 2026, one of the world’s largest travel industry gatherings, the conversation around health tourism moved beyond spa packages and relaxation.
Industry leaders argued that medical wellness and preventive therapies should be treated as part of mainstream healthcare, not simply as tourism products.
Siyka Katsarova, president of the Bulgarian Union of Balneology and Spa Tourism, summarized the argument in a striking phrase.
“One year of prevention saves the cost of seven years of medical treatment,” she said during a panel discussion in the Medical & Health Tourism Pavilion.
Her message was simple: governments and health systems should invest more heavily in preventive wellness programs, particularly those rooted in natural therapies offered by spa destinations.
According to Katsarova, demand for spa and thermal resorts surged after the pandemic as people searched for fresh air, nature, and recovery.
But she believes the industry still faces an uphill battle.
Natural therapies, she argued, often struggle to gain the same institutional recognition as pharmaceutical treatments, even though they frequently adopt a broader, holistic approach to health.
Prevention Is Harder to Sell
Experts at the panel agreed that prevention remains a difficult concept to market.
Martina Lalli, vice president of the Italian thermal association Federterme, noted that the benefits of preventive health programs are harder to measure than those of traditional medical treatments.
“Programs that combine fitness, mental health support, natural therapies, and preventive structures are essential for extending healthy life expectancy,” she said.
Yet because prevention works quietly and gradually, its economic value is often overlooked.
Spa towns, medical hotels, and rehabilitation resorts frequently struggle to demonstrate the long-term financial benefits of these programs.
Reaching Younger Travelers
Frank Halmos, CEO of the international spa hotel group Ensana, suggested that the real opportunity lies with younger generations. “If a seventy-year-old comes to us wanting to extend his life, I have mixed feelings,” he said.
For Halmos, effective health tourism begins much earlier.
“We need to attract young people first, so they start living healthier lives from the beginning.” Still, he acknowledged that older visitors can also benefit from comprehensive wellness therapies. “It truly happens that guests leave after treatment and throw away their crutches,” he said.
Nature as Therapy
The panel also emphasized the therapeutic value of natural environments.
Halmos described one of his company’s properties in Transylvania, where forests surround the resort, and wild bears still roam nearby.
Yet the setting itself has become part of the treatment.
“In these forests,” he explained, “the calming and balancing effect of nature can help people recover from burnout.” The idea echoes a growing global trend: nature-based therapy, sometimes called “forest bathing,” which combines outdoor environments with structured wellness programs. Halmos also warned against relying too heavily on technology in hospitality.
Robots, he argued, should not replace human contact in wellness settings.
Human interaction, he said, is not only expected by guests—it is an essential element in healing mental health conditions.
The Longevity Economy
Underlying the entire discussion was the rise of the longevity trend.
As populations age across Europe and beyond, health tourism providers increasingly position their services around the idea of extending healthy lifespan rather than simply treating illness.
Panel participants agreed that policymakers must take the concept more seriously. Lalli suggested that the European Commission should incorporate preventive wellness approaches into future European health strategies.
If that happens, spa resorts, wellness clinics, and thermal destinations across Europe could become integral components of public health systems rather than just holiday destinations.
For the tourism industry, the implications are significant.
Longevity tourism sits at the intersection of healthcare, hospitality, and lifestyle travel—a space that is expected to grow rapidly in the coming decade.
And if the advocates at ITB Berlin are right, the future of travel may increasingly revolve not just around where people go, but around how long—and how well—they live.
