A private sector affiliate member of the UNWTO as of last June, the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), has signed an agreement with the organisation to jointly implement wellness tourism projects.

The planned projects will address the role of wellness tourism in key fields such as product diversification, specialisation of destinations, seasonality, quality standards, professional profiles and the production of a global report on wellness tourism for the UNWTO affiliate members report series.

The two organisations promote wellness tourism as a means to increase tourism overall – including overcoming seasonality.

UNWTO is also to attend and participate in the Global Spa & Wellness Summit (GSWS) and Global Wellness Tourism Congress (GWTC) each year.

They will also collaborate on spa and wellness publications and research.

As an affiliate member of UNWTO, GWI is part of a global network of more than 400 private tourism companies, non-governmental organisations, destinations and academic entities – each of which contributes knowledge and expertise to promote the development of responsible and sustainable tourism.

GWI hopes to benefit a wide range of public-private collaboration opportunities as an affiliate member.