Wellness Tourism Provides Unique Benefits for Local Communities

By Tonia Callender, GWI research fellow

While political and economic uncertainty are influencing tourism flows, analysts predict a rise in global tourism this year. The seasonal influx of visitors provides jobs and revenues for businesses and communities, but the volume of visitors can also pose serious threats to the local environment and the quality of life for residents. Focusing on wellness tourism can avoid these hazards and optimize the benefits of welcoming travelers. This edition explains how thoughtful wellness tourism strategies can benefit wellness destinations and the whole surrounding community.
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New Global Flourishing Study: Indonesia & Mexico Rank Highest

The headline-grabbing World Happiness Report is based on a single question put to people in 164 countries: how do you rate your life satisfaction on a scale of one to ten? Northern European nations––Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, etc.––always ranks highest for happiness. The new “Global Flourishing Study” gathers more multidimensional wellbeing data on 200,000-plus people in 22 countries to identify what makes people flourish––which isn’t just happiness, success, or how you feel on the inside. Yes, it asks people about their happiness, but also their physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and financial situation.

The results are surprising. Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines took the top three slots. Despite having lower incomes, people in these nations report having strong spiritual ties, meaningful lives, and a sense of purpose and family. Among the 22 countries, wealthier nations like the US (15th), Sweden (18th), UK (20th) and Japan (last, in 22nd) are not faring as well: they score high in financial stability but lower in meaning and connections. Other key findings: young people are struggling more compared to the past; flourishing scores are notably higher for married people; people who go to religious services regularly report higher scores in all areas (particularly happiness, meaning, and relationships); and childhood events (your relationships with your parents, whether you felt safe/healthy as a kid) predict your ability to flourish as an adult.

READ the study.

READ The Conversation for more findings.

Smartphones, AI and Rising Unwellness

By Thierry Malleret, economist

Malleret discusses NYU Professor Arpit Gupta’s recent argument for “the smartphone (and social media) theory of everything.” Put simply, Gupta posits that the widespread use of smartphones and social media (that began around 2011) are a major cause of unhappiness in individuals and larger problems across society. The fact that so many observable negative trends began at roughly the same time in so many countries, and nobody has yet offered a plausible alternative explanation for it, gives credence to the argument.

Malleret also discusses a book coming out in July, Wellbeing Intelligence: Building Better Mental Health at Work, where two Cambridge University professors argue that an overreliance on AI tools risks harming our mental health. For instance, AI erodes traditional ways of collaborating at work and increases employee loneliness.

Study Suggests We Don’t Just Hear Music, but “Become It” 

A 2025 study from McGill University shows our brain rhythms actually sync with sound to create emotion, movement and meaning–– shedding new light on the neuroscience of music and what makes music powerful. Our brain and body don’t just understand music, they physically resonate with it––and it shapes our sense of timing, musical pleasure and the instinct to move with the beat. The discoveries, the researchers argue, support Neural Resonance Theory (NRT) and have “big implications” for music as therapy and for technology.
ACCESS THIS STUDY on music therapy.

Must-Reads from The Wellness World

Is all of this self-monitoring through wearables making us paranoid?
–The New York Times

What a scientist who studies ‘super agers’ learned and how he now exercises for a longer life
–The Washington Post

You might live to be 100. Are you ready?
–The Guardian

This is your priest on drugs (a university study reveals interesting things that happened when clergy members experienced psilocybin)
– The New Yorker

A STRIKING STAT:

Almost half of young people (46%) would prefer to live in a world without the internet. Nearly 70% feel worse about themselves after spending time on social media.

Source: New British Standards Institution survey of 16 to 21-year-olds in the UK

Read more findings and their implications.