Global Wellness Summit spotlights ‘Night-time wellness’ trend

In a world becoming hotter - and with younger generations looking for healthy social destinations - the Global Wellness Summit has flagged the rise in popularity of ‘night-time wellness’ and its associated offerings from star-gazing and full-moon meditation at resorts to a wave of urban social bathhouses.

While wellness experiences and spa hours have long been a daytime affair,  increasing temperatures are resulting in a distinct rise in social nighttime wellness programming. You see it in the surge in stargazing experiences and more nighttime everything at resorts - from meditation, to hot springs soaking, to guided rainforest walks, even night snorkelling.

The wave of new social bathhouses and wellness social clubs are rolling out everything from huge social saunas with DJs and dance parties to group ice plunges until midnight and beyond. 

The new ‘nighttime wellness’ is the meeting of two recent GWS trends. Their 2024 trend ‘Climate-Adaptive Wellness’ which explores how an increasingly broiling world is leading to innovative cooling solutions (from climate-adaptive clothing to cooling architecture) identifies after-dark wellness programming at hotels/resorts as a rising trend. The GWS 2023 trend ‘Wellness Comes for the Loneliness Epidemic’ details how the biggest post-pandemic trend is new wellness spaces/experiences where social connection is the whole point - and how new wellness clubs and bathhouses are reinventing the ‘nightclub’ as a healthy experience. 

GWS spotlighted that ‘Coolcations’ are grabbing the media’s attention. Travellers are choosing mountains over beaches and Northern Europe over the Mediterranean. But creating more nighttime wellness experiences at resorts/hotels (and re-embracing the siesta) will become crucial in warmer places as temperature records just keep being toppled. A new study last week in Nature revealed that last summer was the hottest in 2,000 years and 2024 looks to be worse. In just the last few weeks, a string of dangerous weather events globally—such as extraordinary heat in Southeast Asia -have killed hundreds. 

The new nighttime wellness experiences connect guests with nature and with each other, like The Four Seasons Bali at Jimbaran Bay’s full-moon yoga classes and outdoor NightSpa Ritual for couples, starting at 9 PM.

Astrotourism and expert-led stargazing experiences are booming in 2024, an extraordinary year for spectacular sky events, from the rare solar eclipse to the recent solar flares that brought the northern lights to unexpected places worldwide. There are now so many more poetic, awe-inspiring stargazing programs including Qatar’s Zulal Wellness Resort family stargazing.

In its report A Sustainable Future for Travel’ The Future Laboratory identifies ‘Chasing the Shade’ as an emerging trend.

The mega-trend of cold immersion- whether through ice bathing, cold plunges or cryotherapy - will also likely continue to grow as the planet heats up; indeed, ice baths are being used in medical situations to help quickly cool people suffering from heat stroke.

Discover the 10 Trends Shaking Up the Wellness Industry in 2024 

Image: Night yoga at Four Seasons Resort Bali Jimbaran Bay.