Global Wellness Trends Report:
The Future of Wellness 2021
with Mid-Year Update

To help you keep pace with the ever-evolving world of wellness in 2021, GWS has, for the first time ever, issued a 2021 Trends Report Update. The forecast includes the full 2021 Global Wellness Trends Report issued in January with new insights from the original authors of each of nine trends. It also features select news coverage on each evolving trend, published since January 2021.

1. Hollywood and the Entertainment Industries Jump into Wellness
Move over purists: big media means wellness for all
By Beth McGroarty, VP, Research & Forecasting, GWS & GWI

For wellness purists any trend about goliath TV, music and tech companies moving into wellness programming can cause eyerolls. But for anyone serious about “wellness for all,” more wellness experiences at more big media platforms is a story of unprecedented reach and affordability – and 2021’s big trend. The future? More collaborations between Big Media and the wellness world and binge-able wellness programming of all kinds – a trend that could impact billions of lives and feels awfully overdue. READ MORE

3. Spiritual and Numinous Moments in Architecture
The move from ostentatious fads to architecture that touches our souls
By Veronica Schreibeis Smith, Founding Principal, Vera Iconica Architecture and Developments

In recent years, cross-disciplinary studies demonstrated the connection between the built environment and our physical health and wellbeing. In 2021, look for spaces designed to make sacred and numinous moments part of our consciousness and wellbeing.  The power of this trend is the move from ostentatious fads and always-on consumerism to architecture that touches our souls. These “thin places” are an entirely new way to nurture spirituality and connect with our deeper selves. READ MORE

5. The Self-Care Renaissance
Where wellness and healthcare converge
By Cecelia Girr, Cultural Strategy Director, & Skyler Hubler, Cultural Strategist, Backslash, TBWA Worldwide

Three hundred years after the first Medical Renaissance (1400-1700) there is a new era in healthcare. Wellness is learning to lean into science, establish standards, and hold itself accountable. At the same time, healthcare is beginning to borrow from the wellness playbook, transforming a once sterile and strictly curative industry into a more holistic, lifestyle-oriented, and even pleasurable one. Look to a future where healthcare Videos of Trends Authors and wellness converge –and prescriptions may be coupled with hyper-personalized guides to optimal health. READ MORE

7. Resetting Events with Wellness
You may never sit on a banquet chair again
By Nancy Davis, Chief Creative Officer & Executive Director, GWI & GWS

In mid-March 2020, the pandemic brought in-person events to an abrupt halt. But there is a silver lining: a new trend that will forever change meetings and events was born, with wellness at the core. The trend reinforces top-of-mind topics like health, safety and immunity and employs new protocols and technologies that mitigate risk in engaging ways. In 2021 and beyond, creativity is driving connection – and how we gather is taking on new meaning. READ MORE

9. 2021: The Year of the Travel Reset
From manic getaways to slower, more mindful travel
By Elaine Glusac, freelance writer, Frugal Traveler columnist for the New York Times

The coronavirus pandemic acted as a near complete brake on travel in 2020 and consumers and suppliers looked to rebooting travel for the better. The next trend? Look for all travel to become wellness travel as manic getaways are replaced by slower, closer and more mindful experiences. The over tourism epidemic will be challenged, tentative travel will become a new buzzword, and people will strive to leave a place better off than they found it. READ MORE