The State of Retreats Report Reveals wellness retreat trends and What US Travelers Are Seeking

BookRetreats.com just released its first-ever State of Retreats report, drawing on ten years of booking insights and a survey of more than a thousand U.S. travelers, and the picture it paints is luminous. Retreats have moved from the margins of wellness into the center of how people choose to spend their time, their money, and their attention. For retreat venues and the practitioners who lead them, this is one of the most encouraging moments the industry has seen.

I read the full report so you can have the highlights that matter most, the wellness retreat trends worth building your year around. A quick note before we begin: this study surveyed more than a thousand U.S. leisure travelers, so the numbers reflect the American market most directly, even as the trends echo across the global retreat landscape.

Retreat trends point to a thriving, growing market

Americans are choosing immersive experiences over products and subscriptions, and that shift is fueling a wellness tourism market that already sees more than 207 million trips a year. People are not just curious about retreats, they are committing to them. Nearly two in three U.S. travelers (64%) already have a retreat planned within the next twelve months, and close to 40% of those are returning guests. That repeat behavior is the quiet engine of a healthy industry, because it tells us retreats are becoming an annual habit rather than a one-time experiment.

The why behind the trend is just as strong. 81% of travelers say purposeful travel genuinely matters to them, while only 2% say they travel with no intention at all.

When people are asked where they plan to invest their wellness dollars in 2026, retreats now top the list at 49%, ahead of spa treatments, supplements, gym memberships, and therapy.

The retreats people are actually searching for

If you are shaping or refining an offering, the demand signals in this report are gold. Travelers are gravitating toward experiences that feel layered and alive.

Multi-activity retreats are surging. 42% of yoga retreat seekers now want to combine yoga with something else, surfing, hiking, cooking, sound healing, so the practice sets the rhythm of the trip while the experience around it carries equal weight. Alongside that energy, there is a deep appetite for softness: 33% are drawn to restorative, nervous-system-focused yoga, and interest in nervous system reset retreats has grown 105% year on year.

Mental and emotional wellbeing is now the heart of the matter. 37% of travelers say mental health is their main reason for attending a retreat, and the language in reviews has shifted with them (mentions of crying in retreat reviews have risen 533% since 2018). Connection is another powerful current, with 91% expressing interest in retreats built around relationships and community. Couples retreats are growing more than four times faster than solo retreats, and creative, skill-led experiences are booming too, with 65% of travelers interested in learning a new skill on retreat and culinary retreat searches up a remarkable 394%.

How US travelers are discovering and booking retreats

Beyond why people retreat, the report reveals where their attention is going. Travelers are broadening the map: while more than 70% of U.S. retreats still sit in coastal states, interest is moving inland toward quieter, more affordable destinations, and globally, places like Costa Rica continue to climb (wellness retreat interest here rose 42% year on year). If the question on your mind is when guests actually book, I dug into that timing in detail in my breakdown of the Retreat Guru data, 2026 Retreat Industry Trends, on the blog.

Discovery is evolving along with Ai tools. Personal recommendations from friends and family still lead at 46%, yet for Gen Z, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube now outrank word of mouth, and a full 84% of travelers are either using AI to plan or open to it.

Stay close to wellness retreat trends

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The opportunity for retreat venues and hosts

Read together, these numbers describe a rare alignment. Demand is rising, guests are returning, mental and emotional wellbeing has become the central motivation, and travelers are willing to invest in experiences that feel meaningful. The experiential travel movement, transformational, skill-led, nature-based, is widening the doorway for exactly the kind of work conscious retreat leaders do best.

The opportunity, then, is to meet this moment with clarity and intention. The venues and practitioners who understand what their ideal guests are searching for, and who can speak to that desire with warmth and confidence, are the ones who will fill their calendars in 2026 and beyond.

Marketing insights from my desk to yours

Here are 4 key takeaways from a retreat marketing perspective. This how I read the State of Retreats data as a roadmap for marketing a retreat in 2026:

1) Lead with vision Travelers are choosing retreats for meaning, growth, and emotional restoration, so your marketing for retreat venues should speak to who your guest becomes, the clarity and reconnection they carry home, rather than cataloguing features or amenities. The data shows people are buying a feeling and a transformation.

2) Package for the way people actually want to experience a retreat With multi-activity and skill-led formats surging, there is real magic in thoughtfully combining practices: yoga with surf, breathwork with nature immersion, culinary days woven through a wellness week. When you market a retreat as a layered, soulful experience, you are speaking directly to where demand is heading.

3) Pay close attention to AI and the changing landscape of search

Chapter 9 of the State of Retreats report is essentially a marketing brief in disguise. 84% of travelers are already using AI or open to it for retreat planning, and 62% would use it to research destinations. At the same time, friends and family still inspire the most bookings (46%), while Gen Z increasingly discovers retreats through Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. The takeaway for marketing for retreat venues is that discovery is splintering across new channels, and the way people find you is being reshaped in real time. Understanding how to rank, how to structure your website and content so both search engines and AI tools surface you accurately, has become part of the work. This is exactly why keeping up with the trends matters so much right now.

AI can help you show up, yet trust and credibility are built by the words your guest reads when they arrive, and by whether those words feel true.

4) Let your values be visible Sustainability, local connection, and care for community are now part of the booking decision for the majority of travelers. If those values already live in how you run your retreats, your marketing should let them shine.

Let's talk about your place in this story

The retreat industry is expanding with rare momentum, and the venues and practitioners who move with intention now are the ones who will thrive. If you have been thinking about launching a new offering, refining one you already love, or simply growing your visibility in this beautiful niche, this is a wonderful moment to be strategic about it.

I would love to help you find your footing in all of this. Book a discovery call with me and we will talk through what is happening in the industry, where your offering fits, and how to position it with clarity, confidence, and heart so the right guests find their way to you.

Data source: BookRetreats.com State of Retreats 2026 Report. Access the full report here https://bookretreats.com/blog/the-state-of-retreats-report/