SPA and Wellness Tourism: A Luxury or the New Health Economy?

Can Türkiye transform wellness services from a hotel amenity into a scientific, measurable and holistic health offering?

Behlül ÜnverPresident, World Health Tourism Platform

When health tourism is mentioned, surgeries, advanced treatments, dental care, aesthetic procedures and hospitals are usually the first things that come to mind. SPA and wellness, meanwhile, are still often regarded as little more than massage, personal care, relaxation and leisure services offered within hotels.

Yet the world’s understanding of health is changing.

People no longer want to seek care only after they become ill. They want to live healthier lives, reduce stress, improve sleep quality, eat well and preserve their physical and mental capacity. This shift is moving wellness beyond its role as a complementary tourism service and turning it into an important part of the new health economy.

According to the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness economy reached USD 6.8 trillion in 2024. Türkiye ranked 16th worldwide with a wellness economy valued at USD 73 billion. However, an important distinction must be made: high wellness spending in a country does not necessarily mean that it is a strong global brand in wellness tourism.

This is where Türkiye’s real question begins:

Can we transform our potential into a trusted, sustainable and internationally preferred wellness tourism offering?

Wellness Is More Than Feeling Good

It is no longer sufficient to define wellness solely through massage, skincare, saunas and relaxation.

The new generation of wellness takes a combined approach to sleep health, healthy nutrition, physical activity, mental well-being, stress management, contact with nature and personal lifestyle habits. The objective should not be to provide a few hours of relaxation, but to help guests establish a healthier routine they can carry into their daily lives.

The World Health Organization identifies physical inactivity as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer. The fact that approximately one-third of adults worldwide do not meet recommended physical activity levels also helps explain the growing demand for preventive health and lifestyle programmes.

The wellness centres of the future should therefore be designed not merely as service facilities, but as places that help people develop healthier living habits.

From Hotel Amenity to Holistic Programme

Türkiye has many high-quality hotels, SPA centres, thermal facilities and healthcare institutions. Yet most of these structures operate independently of one another.

A hotel provides accommodation and SPA services. A healthcare institution offers medical tests and physician support. A nutrition specialist prepares a personalised plan. A fitness centre designs a physical activity programme. Yet systems that integrate all of a guest’s needs into a single journey are still not widespread enough.

An international wellness programme could instead be structured around the following journey:

A person’s expectations and lifestyle habits can be assessed before travel begins. After arrival, basic health assessments can be conducted within the scope of healthcare professionals’ authority and responsibility. Nutrition, movement, sleep, mental well-being, SPA services and nature-based activities can then be integrated into a personalised programme. Once the guest returns home, continuity can be supported through digital follow-up and advisory services.

Such a model could move Türkiye beyond being seen simply as a country people visit to relax and position it as a country chosen to learn how to live more healthily.

Wellness Should Not Be Overmedicalised, but It Must Not Abandon Science

There is an important balance to maintain.

It would be wrong to present every wellness service as medical treatment. Subjecting a healthy person’s needs for rest, movement, nutrition and mental well-being to unnecessary tests or exaggerated health claims can create serious ethical and trust-related problems. Yet it is equally wrong to leave wellness entirely to unscientific, unregulated practices with uncertain outcomes.

It must be clearly defined which services should be delivered by healthcare professionals and which should be provided by tourism or wellness specialists. The safety of the methods used, the competence of service providers and the quality standards of facilities should be monitored. Guests should not be given unrealistic promises, and the boundary between wellness and medical treatment must be protected.

Trust in Türkiye’s wellness tourism will be determined by this transparency and ethical approach before it is determined by impressive facilities.

Türkiye Has a Powerful Story to Tell

Türkiye is one of the few countries capable of bringing together, within a single geography, opportunities that many other countries possess only separately.

Coastal tourism, forests, highlands, walking routes, thermal resources, the traditional Turkish bath culture, healthy cuisine, strong accommodation infrastructure and advanced healthcare services are all major advantages. When Istanbul’s international connectivity is considered alongside the diverse lifestyles of the Aegean, Mediterranean, Cappadocia, Black Sea and Anatolian regions, Türkiye has the potential to become a multi-destination wellness hub. But possessing these resources alone is not enough.

A country becomes a brand by defining its assets, setting standards and presenting them to the world as clear and comprehensible offerings. Türkiye’s regions should not be positioned through identical SPA centres, but through wellness programmes shaped by their own natural and cultural characteristics.

The Aegean can focus on healthy nutrition, movement and coastal living; the Black Sea on nature, breathing and mental renewal; Cappadocia on silence and inner balance; thermal regions on safe programmes that support rehabilitation; and Istanbul on short urban programmes for stress, sleep and renewal. Wellness tourism could thus move beyond a service offered only in certain cities and during the summer, becoming a year-round model that generates value across Türkiye’s regions.

Success Should Not Be Measured by Room Count

If success in wellness tourism is measured only by visitor numbers, length of stay or facility occupancy, the picture will remain incomplete. The real value is what the guest gains from the programme. Has sleep quality improved? Has physical activity increased? Has the guest developed healthier eating habits? Can stress be managed more effectively? Can the programme be sustained after returning home? Would the guest return to Türkiye or recommend the experience to others?

Facilities capable of measuring the answers to these questions will move beyond selling services and become trusted wellness brands.

Measurability does not mean turning wellness services into medical treatment. On the contrary, it makes the purpose, boundaries and value of the programme more transparent for the guest.

Competition Should Be Based on Value, Not Price

It would be a strategic mistake for Türkiye to compete in wellness tourism solely on affordability. A price advantage can be lost easily. Another country may offer a cheaper package, open a new facility or spend more on promotion. Lasting competitiveness, however, is built through trusted services, qualified people, personalised programmes, strong experiences and relationships that continue after the journey.

Türkiye should make effective use of the space between hotels and hospitals. This field should not be left entirely to tourism or solely to healthcare institutions. Hotels, healthcare providers, universities, nutrition specialists, physiotherapists, psychologists, fitness professionals, technology companies and travel agencies need to operate within a shared model. In international promotion, clearly defined programmes addressing specific needs should take precedence over the image of a country that offers everything to everyone.

What Kind of Wellness Model Will Türkiye Build?

Türkiye has two possible paths ahead.

The first is to keep SPA and wellness limited to a few services added to hotel packages. This approach may generate short-term revenue, but it will not differentiate Türkiye in global wellness competition.

The second is to bring our natural resources, healthcare infrastructure, accommodation capacity, gastronomy and human capital together under a shared strategy. In this model, guests are offered not merely accommodation or personal care, but a safe, personalised and sustainable journey towards well-being.

Türkiye does not need simply to open more SPA facilities; it needs to develop a wellness model of its own.

The wellness tourism of the future will not sell people a few days of relaxation. It will offer them a journey through which they can reassess their bodies, minds and lifestyle habits.

If Türkiye reads this transformation correctly, it can become not only a country people visit for medical treatment, but a global destination they choose to learn how to live more healthily.