Health tourism: aging more beautifully

Who doesn't want to become healthier, fitter, slimmer? Have a good, possibly longer life? Longevity is the buzzword for this, not only in the global wellness and tourism industry. Hotels, resorts and destinations are outdoing each other with offerings related to “healthy aging”. And an outstanding wellness temple like the Aqua Dome in Längenfeld in the Ötztal, Austria, offers the best conditions for this.

Everything is taken care of in the huge thermal swimming pool of 49,000 square meters with 2,300 square meters of water surface. The thermal baths are fed with 67 degree sulfur water with two indoor pools at 34 to 36 degrees Celsius, and a large gallery invites you to relax. The mountain peaks are reflected in the glass dome and it is Caribbean warm inside. From the large indoor area, bathers swim across a river basin into the open-air thermal baths. In the middle of it all sits the illuminated and heated glass crystal. If you climb the stairs, you reach the sensation of the thermal baths: the floating outdoor bowl pools, which give bathers in the brine bath, the massage pool or the sulfur bath the feeling of cozy warmth in the cold mountain air, even when the outside temperature is 25 degrees below zero.

Shareholders in the Aqua Dome include the state of Tyrol, the mountain railways, the municipality and the Raiffeisenbank with 60 percent. The architecture is copied from the mountains. The Aqua Dome is as powerful as the mountain massifs: gray stone, spruce wood and the shape of a rock crystal. The thermal baths are a mixture of a fun pool and an oversized wellness oasis. Feel-good fantasies of the trendy kind. Almost none were left out. The sauna landscape is impressive: loft, earth, log cabin, hay barn, herbal, brine sauna. A huge steam bath. In the adjacent relaxation room with a view of the glacier, the water beds rock the visitor into a comfortable doze. And of course there are all indoor and outdoor sporting activities: fitness room with spinning, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Tae-Bo, singing bowl therapy, yoga, jazz dance etc. Skiing, even in summer, is a given in the ski capital of Sölden, and there is a special course for Nordic walking. Mountain biking has long been popular. Here you have arrived in the beautiful, new world of leisure. Here you feel pampered after all the harassment. The tops of the leisure world are topped here. And of course cosmetics, foot care, massages, skin diagnostics.

Felix Graf, head of the fitness center in the Aqua Dome, analyzes your health and body condition with Tanita, the body analysis scale. It sends an electrical signal throughout the body to measure resistance through fatty tissue. Your information goes far beyond simply measuring body weight. It measures more than ten different values ​​such as muscle mass, body water and metabolic age. According to the philosophy of its developer, this is intended to make a contribution to global health promotion. The scale was developed in 1992 by the Japanese Tomio Sato, an employee of the Tanita company.

"Basically, this principle of longevity has always been there. But now we carry out measurements using the latest technologies, because the technology grows with us. You can track yourself using pedometers on your cell phone or using any smartwatches, using rings that record your vital signs," explains Graf. "Here we can carry out a metabolic analysis, including performance diagnostics, where the maximum oxygen uptake is determined. We look at how fit the cardiovascular system is, the cardiovascular system. How well the body can really absorb oxygen. These are the most important longevity values."

Longevity is intended not only to extend lifespan, but above all to maximize healthy years of life. Scientifically, the concept is based on findings from nutritional medicine, exercise theory, stress research and prevention. Factors such as a balanced diet, regular exercise, sufficient sleep, social integration and avoiding harmful habits are the central pillars. Many longevity offers in hotels consist of classic wellness and health components - supplemented by modern terms and expensive diagnostics.

Many luxury hotels are now specifically positioning themselves as “longevity destinations”. They offer programs that include detoxes, biohacking, sleep optimization, diagnostics, personalized nutrition or mental health. Wellness tourism accounted for $894 billion worldwide in 2024, according to the Global Wellness Institute. Growth is expected to reach around $1.4 trillion by 2029. The annual growth rate is significantly higher than traditional tourism.

“A thermal bath per se is good for your health,” says Bärbel Frey, managing director of the Aqua Dome, over dinner in the hotel dining room. “We can’t ignore the longevity trend because the health trend has simply become more extreme, much more extreme.” Bärbel Frey has been there since the Aqua Dome opened 24 years ago, as has her colleague, the hotel director Barbara Krabath - efficient female power with an eye for detail. Not just at the overflowing buffet, where it is difficult to decide between salad and cheese platters, between beef roulade and Tyrolean bacon dumplings for the “clean cuisine”. A low-calorie, gently prepared diet, with significantly less sugar, white flour and fat - suitable for the Longevity program.

“A visit to the gym is definitely recommended at a certain age,” says Julian Deinert, fitness trainer and nutritionist at the resort. People like to believe the well-trained Deinert, a prototype of the male model of the fitness scene. He describes in detail the need for muscle training to combat muscle loss in old age, poor posture and obesity. “You have to push yourself to your limits,” he says, casually increasing the weight on the shoulder press where an older man is practicing. Julian Deinert also gives nutritional tips, many of which you already know, but it doesn't hurt to think about the fact that sunflower oil has a lot of unhealthy, saturated fatty acids and that it's better to avoid the sugar in coffee. And he recommends Omega 3, creatine phosphate and other supplements. Deinert relies on the absolute desire for self-optimization.

“Longevity is state of the art, you have to have it,” says Barbara Krabath, the director of the Aqua Dome. "And we want to be there because we are convinced that it fits our resort and our product. That's why we started it last year and are now gradually expanding it." The Aqua Dome was built right in front of her feet. "I'm a native of Längenfeld and live a five-minute walk from the resort. I've been here at the Aqua Dome since 2024, i.e. since the construction period," she says. This is not a given in the tourism business with its high fluctuation. Of course, a lot has changed in the meantime. "We have become larger, from 140 to 200 rooms, and a new generation of employees is coming. They need different leadership, a different approach. The way we grew up in the industry no longer works. And of course we ourselves are required to say that we are continuing our education."

Tourism, especially extensive winter tourism in Sölden, keeps the Ötztal going, also economically. Things work well with the local population, says local resident Krabath. "When we opened, Längenfeld had around 2,500 residents, now there are 5,000 residents. That means a lot of people have moved to Längenfeld because a lot has changed in the valley. People have always rented out rooms in the district, be it simple rooms or apartments. My parents used to do that too. We grew up with tourism. And everyone here benefits directly or indirectly from tourism."

Longevity not only adds a new segment to tourism in the Ötztal, but above all it fits perfectly into a larger social trend: permanent self-optimization. Health is increasingly becoming a lifestyle product. Those who can afford it invest in programs, diagnostics and retreats. Longevity thus also becomes a social distinctive feature. The world's super-rich like Musk and Thiel have long made it their agenda. The less privileged have only one consolation: a healthy lifestyle has to be achieved every day through discipline, mobility and long-term nutritional awareness. Longevity begins in everyday life, not when recharging your batteries with a pampering program at a resort spa.