There’s quite a buzz about wellness travel as an effective and affordable employee wellness benefit program (get a detailed fact sheet here). Many businesses are adding wellness vacation options to their employee benefit plans to leverage the surprising business results that arise from employees taking regular destination vacations. The research shows that vacations

• Reduce healthcare cost
• Lower heart attack and depression risk
• Reduce employee stress
• Improve workforce turnover
• Enhance worker productivity

So how do you get the most out of a wellness travel employee benefit plan? Make sure that it provides a cost shelter against rising travel costs. Why is that important? Two words: baby boomers.

New York Life reports that one baby boomer will retire every 8 seconds for the next 18 years, adding 10,800 new retirees every day. The same market force that made millionaires out of health club owners in the 80’s, mutual fund managers in the 90’s, and mortgage bankers in the 2000’s, will drive unprecedented volume into two major market sectors: healthcare and travel.

We’ve already detailed the boomer impact on healthcare costs, and there probably isn’t anyone alive who believes that cost increases in this sector will do anything but accelerate.

The boomers are having the same effect on the travel industry. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates the travel industry at $8 trillion annually – with an increase of over $1 trillion last year alone, during what many have started calling the “Great Recession.”

Travel grew by the size of the entire telecommunications industry last year.

There are currently 44 cruise ships under construction – in addition to the 81 new cruise ships the industry added over the previous seven years.

Why?

Boomers.

Everywhere Baby Boomers spend their money, prices inevitably increase. It’s Econ 101.

That’s why your employees need a budget wellness vacation plan in order for your business to reap the positive business benefits of employee vacations. Through industry-unique relationships, employee members’ wellness travel costs are 1/3 to 2/3 less than market average. That’s an important advantage – and a best practice for employee retention, by the way – for employers who see the value in investing in the health and productivity of their workforce.

The research shows that wellness travel really isn’t an option, it’s a necessity. Your business needs your employees to take wellness vacations. And your employees need a cost shelter to keep wellness vacations within their budget as the Boomer Factor continues to drive travel prices through the ceiling.