Southeast Asia’s wellness ambitions have moved far beyond spa menus and scented candles.

At HWONFEX 2026 in Manila, tourism, healthcare, trade, food, technology and community development were put on the same table. The big question was simple: how much of the world’s booming wellness economy can ASEAN win if its members work together?

The Health & Wellness Confex ran from 4 to 6 September. The main conference and expo took place on 4 and 5 September at the SMX Convention Centre in Pasay City, with related activities involving Newport World Resorts, before the wider program concluded with the Go & Get Better Wellness Festival Run at Manila’s Quirino Grandstand on 6 September.

This year’s theme was “Go Explore, Grow Communities, Glow Together”. Organisers pitched the event as an ASEAN platform where public policy could meet private investment. It also linked traditional healing with modern health services, and tourism with the fast-growing longevity market.

There is serious money behind all this talk of feeling better. The Global Wellness Institute says the global wellness economy was worth US$6.8 trillion in 2024. It expects the figure to reach about US$9.8 trillion by 2029. Its latest country data values the Philippines’ wider wellness economy at about US$47 billion in 2024, placing it 23rd worldwide.

That makes wellness far more than a fashionable extra on a holiday brochure. It now affects hotels, airlines, hospitals, farms, fitness operators, technology firms, retirement services and travel sellers.

In other words, this is no longer only about lying very still while somebody rings a singing bowl.

A regional wellness identity

The ASEAN Health Tourism & Wellness Economy Summit opened on 4 September at the SMX Convention Centre in Pasay City.

Senior participants included Department of Tourism health and wellness tourism director Dr Paulo Benito S. Tugbang, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Ferdinand “Perry” Ferrer, ASEAN Business Advisory Council Philippines chairman Jose Ma “Joey” Concepcion III, Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian and HWONFEX organiser Macky Beltran-Soriano. Tugbang’s role as the DOT’s health and wellness tourism director is independently confirmed, while PCCI records confirm Ferrer as its president in 2026.

Ferrer argued that ASEAN should aim higher than having 11 countries chase the same traveller or investor on their own. He called for a clear regional wellness identity and closer links between sectors that have often worked apart.

“Collaboration means 11 nations choosing deliberately to stop competing for the same investor or the same visitor,” Ferrer said.

The idea is timely. Health tourism now crosses old industry lines. Hospitals work with hotels. Nutrition meets technology. Fitness meets recovery. Mental wellbeing is becoming part of workplace and public policy. Retirement living can involve visas, property, healthcare and travel.

Travellers are doing the same thing. A visitor may combine a medical check, a resort stay, a food program, traditional therapy and a few days in nature. The trip no longer fits neatly into one box.

ASEAN’s chance is to make those links easier to understand and easier to buy. It also needs common trust signals, good standards and clear consumer protection.

The summit carried extra weight because the Philippines holds the ASEAN chair in 2026. Herrera-Lim said the region should build a health system that is resilient, sustainable, fair and centred on people.

Wellness cannot be only for the wealthy

One of the more important themes came from DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian.

Much of the wellness industry talks about premium clinics, luxury retreats and expensive tests. Gatchalian pushed the debate in another direction. He said wellness is shaped not only by personal choices, but also by the systems and communities around people.

“When we talk about wellness, we often think about the individual,” Gatchalian said.

His wider message was that growth must include ordinary people. Families need access to nutritious food, secure work, essential services and support when financial or social shocks hit. People should also have a chance to join the wellness economy as workers, small business owners and partners, not only as customers.

That point matters greatly for tourism.

Strong wellness destinations rarely succeed by importing everything. Their appeal often comes from local food, local therapists, local culture, farming, nature and the character of the place itself. When tourism uses those assets well, visitor spending can reach communities beyond the hotel gate.

When it does not, wellness can become a shiny bubble with little local benefit.

That is why HWONFEX’s focus on grassroots business is more than good public relations. It goes to the heart of whether wellness tourism can deliver broad economic value.

From medical travel to longevity

The summit covered retirement living, investment, digital health, diagnostics, medical tourism and traditional care.

Philippine Retirement Authority General Manager and CEO Roberto Z. Zozobrado represented a growing market often called the “silver economy”. Older consumers can spend across retirement, healthcare, housing, leisure and travel. His position as PRA chief remains current.

The Philippines already offers the Special Resident Retiree’s Visa, or SRRV, a special non-immigrant visa administered through the Philippine Retirement Authority and Bureau of Immigration. That gives the country another way to compete for long-stay international residents who want lifestyle benefits as well as access to health services.

Investment was another major theme. If the Philippines wants more medical and wellness travellers, good marketing will not be enough. It also needs reliable hospitals, clinics, transport, resorts, digital systems and clear rules.

Digital health is becoming part of that picture. Speakers discussed health data, remote monitoring, predictive tools and better diagnostics. These ideas sit at the centre of modern longevity medicine, which tries to spot risks earlier rather than wait for illness to appear.

There is a warning here for travel sellers.

Words such as “biohacking”, “regenerative” and “longevity” are powerful marketing tools. But the scientific evidence behind individual products and treatments can vary greatly. Travellers need to know what is proven, what remains under study and what is mainly promotional.

Medical travel also needs proper clinical standards, privacy rules, informed consent and clear accreditation.

A glossy brochure, after all, is not a medical licence.

Traditional healing gets a bigger stage

HWONFEX also put traditional and complementary medicine in the spotlight through HilomX.

This could be one of the Philippines’ strongest points of difference.

The country has its own wellness story built around hilot and other traditional practices. Across ASEAN, Thailand has Thai massage, Indonesia has jamu, and other countries bring their own healing traditions to the regional mix. HWONFEX itself has promoted an ASEAN Wellness Village built around regional healing practices.

That matters because global wellness can sometimes become rather uniform. One luxury resort starts to look much like another once the white robes arrive.

Authentic local practice can give a destination a stronger identity. But it must be treated with respect. Traditional knowledge should not be reduced to visitor entertainment. Qualified practitioners, cultural integrity and proper health safeguards are essential.

The Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care had a strong presence at the event. The Design Centre of the Philippines also confirmed its role in launching PITAHC’s Herbacare+ herbal soap line during HilomX.

It sounds like a small product story, but it points to a larger opportunity. Local ingredients and traditional knowledge can become export-ready products when they are backed by good design, clear standards and credible claims.

Five pillars move from policy to practice

The second-day program shifted from policy to practical wellbeing.

According to event program material, sessions were grouped around five pillars: Mind, Body, Heart, Soul, and Balance & Vitality.

Topics included diagnostics, home screening, gut health, nutrition, movement, workplace wellbeing and leadership. Speakers came from organisations including Health Design, Yuurea International, TrioHealix, United UBE PH, House of Gaia, Surge Fitness, Naheal, the MLAC Institute and Maxwell Leadership Philippines.

The common thread was prevention.

The longevity industry increasingly talks about “healthspan”. That means the years a person lives in good health, rather than simply the total number of years lived.

For tourism, that is a major shift. Wellness travel is moving beyond a weekend of pampering. More products now focus on sleep, fitness, stress, food, recovery and measurable health goals.

Resorts are adding tests and assessments. Fitness groups are adding recovery services. Medical groups are adding hospitality. Hotels are adding sleep and nutrition programs.

Everyone, it seems, would quite like a slice of the same kale-flavoured pie.

The challenge is to join those services without confusing the customer.

Wellness circuits put travel back in the centre

The “Go & Get Better” Wellness Circuit is where HWONFEX brings the idea squarely back to travel.

Official event material describes a circuit incorporating Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, along with planned ASEAN wellness stops including Bali and Phuket. The broader concept is to create journeys around health, nature, culture, recovery and regenerative tourism.

For travel advisors and tour operators, that is where things become interesting.

A well-built wellness circuit could combine resorts, farms, clinics, healthy food, traditional therapies, outdoor activities and cultural experiences. It could also encourage travellers to stay longer and spend in more places.

But the trade will need clear product lines.

A yoga retreat is not a hospital procedure. A spa program is not clinical treatment. A longevity assessment may include medical services, or it may not. Travel advisors need to know exactly what is being sold, who is providing it and what insurance or health advice may be needed.

Those details are not red tape.

They are the foundations of trust.

Business meets the public

HWONFEX was designed as a B2B2C event. That meant government and business meetings sat beside public wellness experiences.

The official program confirms that the main conference and expo ran on 4 and 5 September, with the Go & Get Better Wellness Festival Run following at Quirino Grandstand on 6 September. The run included 3km, 5km and 10km categories as part of the wider HWONFEX program.

Business matching also connected hosted buyers with suppliers. At the same time, the public could meet wellness brands, traditional medicine providers, fitness operators and tourism businesses.

That mixed format makes sense. Wellness itself sits between many markets. It is tourism and trade, healthcare and hospitality, food and fitness, technology and public policy.

The Philippines has useful assets in this race. It has nature, beaches, a strong service culture, an English-speaking health workforce and established resort destinations.

It also has serious regional competition. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia already have strong medical or wellness tourism propositions.

The answer for the Philippines is not to copy them.

Its better chance is to combine Filipino healing traditions, community tourism, food, nature, retirement living, hospitality and credible healthcare. The mix must be backed by standards that international visitors can understand and trust.

The bigger ASEAN prize

HWONFEX 2026 did not solve ASEAN’s wellness challenge in one weekend. No conference could.

Regional standards, professional licensing, health data, investment rules and cross-border travel products are complicated. They will take sustained work.

Still, Manila made one point hard to ignore.

Wellness has become too large for travel businesses to treat as a niche.

At US$6.8 trillion globally and still growing, it touches almost every part of the visitor economy. The question is whether ASEAN keeps selling separate national wellness products or starts to present itself as a connected and trusted wellness region.

For the Philippines, HWONFEX offered a clear direction: build the policy, support local communities, attract investment, protect traditional knowledge and make the travel product easy to understand.

Then, preferably, remember to breathe.

Official information: HWONFEX official website
Industry data: Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2025

 

By: Octavia Koo – © 2026.

Read Time: 8 Minutes.

 

Author Bio:

Octavia Koo arrived in Australia in the early eighties with little fuss and a good eye. Sydney suited her. At UNSW, she studied Arts, then found her footing in graphic design before drifting, quite naturally, into the digital side of things, building websites and shaping words that made people want to stay.

Singapore followed, and with it, the fast pace of tourism platforms and ITB Asia. Long before SEO became a buzzword, Octavia understood how stories travelled online. That’s where she met Stephen, and the seed for something more was planted.
A few years later, she joined Global Travel Media.

Today, Octavia works with quiet assurance, blending art, instinct and experience to produce stories that don’t shout; they simply work and linger.

 

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