Wellness Tourism - Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Wellness Tourism - Australia - Essay Example Some of wellness tourists are focused on health recreation, some of them are more focused on their appearance and others want to restore harmony and spiritual balance. Thus, tourism sectors are well-developed and Australian government creates perfect opportunities for turning tourism into an international strong competitive industry. Further on, it is relevant to underline that Australian government works hardly at international development of tourism in their country. The area of tourism is rather young and wellness tourism providers require essential investments from government. A major part of wellness tourism areas is developing in regional communities. The major preference of Australian wellness tourism is providing wellness services at lower price than in the United States and some parts of Asia. In order to define a popularity of wellness tourism in Australia, it is relevant to discuss a background on which this are is being developed. Wellness tourism: definition In spite of the fact, that wellness tourism is very popular in Australia, there are still ambiguities in its definition. Wellness and medical tourism are usually perceived as one common area. Moreover, even more complexities occur when wellness tourism is named as health tourism (Douglas, 2001; Hall, 2003) health care or holistic tourism (Smith, 2003). Different concepts can be named by these, at the first glance, interchangeable terms. In such a way, some researchers refer to a general ‘health tourism’ and don’t pay any special attention to variety of demand and supply in this sphere. It is relevant to make a distinction between wellness and health tourism on the basis of differentiation between ‘cure’ or ‘illness’ concepts and the ‘wellness’ (Voigt, 2008). Consequently, wellness tourism may be considered to be a sub-type of health tourism. Thus, some researchers claim that health tourists clearly differentiate between their orientatio n to illness or wellness. Tourists focused on illness treatment are more concerned about medical treatment and tourists who are interested in health and well-being pay much attention to wellness. In other words, wellness tourists think that they are healthy and health tourists want to be healthier after their ‘healthy’ vacation. As far as we can see, the boundary between health and wellness tourism is rather vague. Health tourists are focused on medical treatment and not on tourism, while wellness tourists are more considered about tourism and entertainment. Where concept ‘wellness tourism’ does come from? What, actually, does concept ‘wellness’ mean? In accordance with Voigt (2008) concept ‘wellness’ lacks scientific background. Voigt (2008) defines six basic principles of wellness definition. From the first perspective, wellness is a health of positive nature; this approach is more concern the issue ‘how to remain healthyâ €™ and not ‘how to get treatment against a certain illness or disease’ (Voigt, 2008). The second perspective considers wellness as ‘a multi-dimensional, holistic construct’, where ‘health’ integrates health mind, body and spirit. From the third perspective, wellness is an internal balance and harmony of any individual. The fourth paradigm of wellness implies ‘triggering of human potential’ (Voigt, 2008). The fifth perspective underlines that wellness is rather subjective concept and depends only on individual’s perceptions. Finally, the sixth perspective considers wellness as a goal to reach selfactualisation. Australian wellness tourism has successfully combined all these six principles and in such a way, it satisfies the needs of different wellness tourists. Australian welln