The Noosa Ultra-Trail running event, March 2025( source: SC Lennon & Associates)
For many, trail running is less about competition and more about mental health, escape from urban life, connection with nature, and overall wellbeing and is being used as a form of psychological reset( like any good holiday).
Of course, trail running represents just one example, with a wide variety of other growth sports and recreational activities such as road cycling and mountain bike riding offering destinations with the right environment other avenues for attracting the active traveller.
HEALTHY TRAVEL Travel for the purpose of wellness, both spiritual and physical, to activate the mind and body, will continue to grow in popularity. While recreational tourism such as trail running or mountain biking offers an active form of‘ wellness’, there are many ways that travellers seek out experiences to sooth their body and their mind. The most obvious perhaps is the‘ wellness travel’ concept such as the yoga retreat or similar escape focussed on activities such as meditation or healing practices tied to the destination’ s culture and its natural surroundings.
There are other tourism trends growing in prominence which in large part, have a‘ wellness’ element to them. Research has shown that one of the top major Australian domestic travel trends in recent years has been people planning a working holiday. Known as‘ workcations’, these trips combine work and vacation and represent a hybrid form of tourism. The‘ work-fromanywhere’ mentality that was boosted by the impacts of Covid, with the necessity to work remotely for many industries, and the increased flexibility that employees gained during the pandemic, is likely to stay. CEDA reports that in 2024, over a third of Australians( 36 %) still worked from home regularly, sustaining much of the increase since before the pandemic.
Research by International Workplace Group found that 77 % of Australian hybrid workers considered taking a workcation in 2024, if their employer supported it. While Sydney remains the top choice for workcations, there is an opportunity for regional centres, particularly those well connected by air, to tap into this phenomenon. Many people are either adding an extra day to a business trip to explore the area they are visiting, or they just choose to work from another location for a few days or even weeks.
Natural environments are especially popular for workcations, and some working travellers identified benefits such as boosting their mental health through switching their working environment and getting out of the 9-to-5 grind. For many regional locations, workcations could be an interesting trend to attract visitors and / or extend their length of stay.
Other trends emerging include‘ calmcations’ where travellers seek opportunities to rest and restore through experiences that create a sense of tranquility. Off-the-grid eco-escapes present one means of fulfilling this desire of travellers who are looking for peace and quiet and an opportunity to reconnect with nature. Another is the concept of the‘ quiet escape’.
For example, in Europe Havila Cruises offers tours to nature-based locations along the Norwegian coast where the objective is to immerse the traveller in an environment of pleasant, natural sounds that are healing for the mind and body. The idea is to take a break from the ill-effects of everyday urban noise pollution and re-energise on the principle that“ sounds from natural environments have a profound positive impact on our mental health and well-being.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL VOL 18 NO 3 2025 31