Why Dubai needs a proper health resort

Before the pandemic, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) was the world’s fastest growing region for wellness tourism. MENA’s three largest wellness tourism markets are the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco and Israel. In 2017, the UAE saw more than 1.8 million wellness trips which generated spending of $3.75 billion – this exceeded the total spend in Morocco and Israel combined (see Table 1 below). Historically, the United States, Germany, China and India have been among the world’s leading medical & wellness destinations. However, due to the pandemic and the sheer number of people that were affected by COVID in these countries, international wellness tourists may be slow to return to them. Thus, there is a window of opportunity for the UAE to strengthen its position as a safe and trustworthy destination for holistic health and wellness. Moreover, the UAE has a strong domestic economy for wellness tourism; in 2017, roughly 1/3 of the 1.8 million wellness trips came from domestic tourists.

Table 1 - Top Ten Wellness Tourism Markets in MENA, 2017

?Source: Global Wellness Institute

The Opportunity

As India recovers from the pandemic, there is strong anecdotal evidence that the biggest foreign patrons of Indian health resorts are currently (as at June 2022) coming from the Middle East, Russia, and Africa. Many of these health tourists tend to transit through Dubai or Abu Dhabi on the way to India. They could just as easily go to the UAE – if only there existed a credible resort for Ayurveda and holistic health.

The unfortunate reality is that the UAE – despite the enormous variety and architectural splendour of its countless hotels and resorts – does not actually have a proper wellness resort with Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine), yoga, and other complimentary forms of medicine. There are Ayurvedic clinics and outpatient centres peppered across Dubai and Sharjah, but no residential-based Ayurvedic resort for treating obesity, diabetes, chronic pain, stress, insomnia, digestive problems, cancer and myriad other health problems that typically attract medical tourists from the Gulf states to India.

To be clear: the UAE needs a flagship wellness resort that makes the best of Indian holistic health available within a short drive of Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

Valuing Wellness Travel

In 2017, international and domestic tourists typically spent more than US$2,000 on a wellness trip in the UAE (see Table 2 below). The premium earned on selling a wellness trip versus a leisure trip was 41% for international tourists and 56% for domestic tourists. To put this in perspective, a leisure resort that currently sells rooms at US$500 per night could easily raise its tariff to $700 to $800 per night by becoming a full-fledged wellness resort.

Of course, there are many steps involved and significant investment required in order to convert a leisure property into a wellness property, but therein lies a massive opportunity. Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman already have dozens of attractive beach resorts with very similar offerings, but none of them offer holistic healthcare. The first to fill this gap could become the industry leader in the region.

Table 2 - Wellness Tourism Spending Premium in the Top MENA Markets

Source: Global Wellness Institute

The Product

While the term wellness is used very loosely today, it is important to understand what happens on a wellness trip and what is included in a wellness package. A wellness trip is essentially a vacation whose primary purpose is to achieve a health benefit, goal or outcome. It may be to loose weight, destress, or heal from a particular injury, disease or other ailment.

A wellness package, according to Ayurooms, has the following features:

1. Accommodations in a private room;
2. Detailed consultation with a qualified Ayurvedic doctor or other holistic health practitioner, such as a naturopath;
3. A personalized meal plan, appropriate for one's body constitution, health condition, and personal objectives;
4. All medicines for duration of stay;
5. Physical body treatments such as massage, scrub, medicated bath, enema and other appropriate treatments;
6. Yoga, meditation and/or other forms of mild exercise and relaxation; and,
7. Daily health check-up.

The above is a list of the essential inclusions in a wellness package, which one could expect to receive a holistic health resort in India. There may be variations of country to county.

It is also important to note that a wellness trip should be “all inclusive”, where there is a fixed price for all the services mentioned above. This is in stark contrast to a leisure trip, which typically involves a fee for each individual service.

Build or Convert?

Our experience at Ayurooms has shown that converting an existing leisure property into a wellness resort is incredibly complex, but not impossible. It requires a complete paradigm shift, an overhaul of business practices, and usually extensive renovation and/or new construction. Moreover, running a leisure business and a holistic health spa under one roof can be highly problematic, both for management and the guests. One should make the decision to be either a leisure property or a wellness property but not both.

Either way – whether one decides to build a holistic health resort from scratch or convert an existing leisure property into a wellness resort – the process calls for meticulous planning, from architecture and construction to business strategy and HR.?To be sure, it is not as straightforward as building a hotel.

The Ideal Leader

Let us now return the central thesis of this article, namely that the UAE needs a flagship wellness resort that would offer Indian holistic health at the level of international best practice standards. To seize this opportunity, the ideal leader is an entrepreneur with the financial capacity to invest in a wellness hospitality project. He or she desires not only to become the industry leader in UAE’s burgeoning wellness tourism market, but also wishes to make an ongoing social impact. This is a critical point: investing in wellness hospitality is not just about making money but rather transforming people's lives by investing in residential spaces and holistic health resorts that address public health problems. These include obesity, chronic pain, stress, anxiety, depression and countless other lifestyle diseases.?If such important work were to be undertaken by the private sector or through public-private partnerships, it would not only benefit public health and strengthen civil society, but also diversify the UAE's tourism industry. Sizeable profits and tax revenue would surely follow in due course.

This article was written by Alykhan Alidina, a wellness consultant and the CEO of Ayurooms, a leading wellness tourism operator in India. For feedback, information or collaboration, write to [email protected]