Society is moving from retirement living to wellness communities, according to Ingo Schweder, CEO of GOCO Hospitality, who spoke earlier this month at the Forum Hotel & Spa conference in Paris.

“The world gets older and older, but people are retiring younger,” said Schweder.

Also, he said the concept of retirement – and old age itself – is being reshaped by a record number of Baby Boomers who are approaching retirement age.

“The effects of this demographic shift are being felt globally,” he said.

Schweder claimed that Baby Boomers have 73 per cent of all the economic power in the world, which is helping fuel the growth of wellness communities.

“Retreat communities, living communities and wellness communities are starting to merge,” he said. “There’s aspects of each one in each one.”

Add to that the fact that more and more people live in multigenerational homes, and that there is a trend of smaller developments, healthy real estate, active living, and communities with nature preserves and extended golf communities, and wellness communities make sense.

“The world’s economy is becoming more collaborative – oriented toward what many call the ‘shareconomy,’” said Schweder. “In the future, many more people will be interested to live in communities.”

Schweder detailed GOCO’s upcoming wellness communities in Ubud, Bali, and at Glen Ivy Hot Springs in California.

The GOCO Retreat Ubud, due to open in 2017, will include both guestrooms and branded residences, along with a wellness restaurant, tea lounge, thermal bathing cafe, farm-to-table restaurant, cooking school, artists’ studios, aromatherapy distillery, organic farm, organic gardens, amphitheatre and jogging and bike trails.

It will also feature a wellness centre with 45 treatment rooms, as well as consultation rooms, TCM rooms, an ayurvedic centre, nursing facilities, a medi-spa, fitness studios, outdoor salas and an extensive outdoor rainforest bathing area.

The retreat will deliver integrative wellness programmes that are designed around the guest’s personal wellness journey, utilising extensive professional consultations to prescribe specialty treatments, along with focused nutrition and exercise.

As part of the deal, GOCO has also acquired an adjacent 65-acre plot next to the 20-acre hot springs and spa, where it plans to develop a world-class wellness resort community.

In California, GOCO recently acquired the iconic Glen Ivy Hot Springs Resort, and plans to expand into a GOCO Retreat with a comprehensive wellness centre, medi-spa, organic farm and retail village, hiking trails, additional hot springs bathing zones, yoga academy, wedding chapel, banquet and meeting rooms, an education centre for holistic medicine and 125 residential units.

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