The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) has confirmed details of the Wellness Travel Symposium (WTS), taking place in London, UK, in November.

Held on 6 and 7 November, as part of the World Travel Market, the WTS will include two dedicated sessions.

The first day, under the theme The Future of Wellness Travel, will explore the wellness markets direction of travel. During the day, Susan Harmsworth, founder and chair of ESPA International, will give a keynote speech entitled Luxury: Past, Present, Future.

A wide range of topics – from marketing and consumer behaviour to healthy hotels – will be discussed during the day and GWI CEO Susie Ellis will present findings from the Wellness Trends 2030 report.

The theme for the second day will be Differentiation in Wellness Travel is a Competitive Advantage.

Speakers will include tourism stalwart Jean Claude Baumgarten, former president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council, who will present a keynote under the title ‘Tourism & Wellness: Endless Discovery’.

“This session will emphasize differentiation,” a statement from GWI said.

“The traveller is becoming increasingly conscious of what they need and want when it comes to wellness.

“Wellness travel is growing twice as fast as tourism overall and has shown robust growth every year since the Global Wellness Institute first defined the category and began tracking its revenue.

“It is now more than a US$500bn (€423bn, £372bn) market and shows no sign of slowing down – expected to reach $800 billion-plus by 2020.”

The symposium is part of a strategic partnership between the World Travel Market and the GWI.

Earlier this year, GWI held a similar event at the WTM’s Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

For more information on the WTS in London, click here.