Further reading
- Sisson, Patrick (16 November 2024). "How sleep tourism became a booming business for hotels". Fast Company .
Sleep tourism is a sector of the wellness tourism industry and slow travel movement.
Slow travel, which focuses on relaxation, restoration and spending time in a single place rather than sightseeing in multiple locations over the course of a trip, has roots dating back to the 19th century. [1] [2]
Hotels began focussing on amenities that would improve sleep by the 1960s, advertising their use of luxury mattresses, sheets, and pillows and offering blackout curtains and white noise machines. [3]
From around the mid-2010s, the focus on sleep as a wellness issue increased. [3] The COVID-19 pandemic increased interest in sleep as a part of wellness and in sleep tourism. [4] [5] As this became a focus, hotels and resorts recognized a marketing niche they could exploit. [6] [3] [5]
Programs may focus on medical treatments or on other approaches, and may focus on people who have difficulty falling asleep, people who experience interrupted sleep, people who don't feel rested after sleeping, snoring, breathing difficulties, and dreaming. [6]
Some programs do sleep assessments and recommend treatments, which may include dietary, exercise, and other lifestyle changes; supplements; training in meditation; hypnosis; traditional medicine; salt floats; or therapies like CPAP, phototherapy, electromagnetic therapy, vibration therapy, hydrotherapy, and infrared therapy. [6] [3] Some hotels offer artificial-intelligence assisted beds that can be paired with a guest's phone or distraction-free rooms that include no television or artwork. [3] Resorts in Sweden promote the country's long cool winter nights and culture as ideal for a sleep vacation. [7]
There are programs in multiple countries, including Australia, Bali, Fiji, Greece, India, Italy, the Maldives, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the UK, and the US. [2] [6] [3] [7] [8]
