The idea of a holiday is changing. For an increasing number of travellers, getting away is not simply about seeing somewhere new, but about returning home feeling better than when they left.
That is creating new opportunities for wellness travel in Zimbabwe, where luxury spas, retreats and nature-based experiences are beginning to complement the country’s established tourism offering.
Zimbabwe has many of the ingredients needed for the sector to grow. The tranquillity of the Eastern Highlands, the wilderness of Hwange and the extraordinary setting of Victoria Falls. The challenge is turning those natural advantages into a more developed wellness experience.
Luxury spa consultant Avalon van Leent believes the opportunity is significant. With more than 18 years’ experience in the industry, she is helping hotels and lodges build spa and retreat offerings while pursuing an ambitious goal to help make Zimbabwe the spa capital of Africa.
What is wellness travel?
Wellness travel places wellbeing at the centre of the travel experience. That can mean spa treatments and skincare, but it also encompasses rest, fitness, nutrition, mental wellbeing, nature, social connection and time away from the pressures of everyday life.
That broader understanding is important in Zimbabwe, where the possibilities extend well beyond the treatment room.
A visitor can combine a stay at a luxury lodge with a massage, spend time in nature, take part in outdoor activities or retreat to a quieter setting in the mountains.
Van Leent sees wellness as a combination of physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual wellbeing.
It is also a response to a problem increasingly familiar to travellers everywhere: exhaustion.
She is often struck by the number of people struggling to balance work and life, with stress and burnout leaving little room for self-care.
“Watching people relax once they finally make time for themselves is one of the most rewarding parts of my work,” she said in an interview.
Building spas around the destination
Van Leent’s work goes beyond running treatment rooms. She helps hotels and lodges incorporate spas and retreats into their existing operations, with the aim of improving profitability while creating greater awareness of wellness travel.
She is currently consulting on two spas, one at the Victoria Falls Hotel and another at Verneys Camp in Hwange.
Over the past four years, she has opened nine spas in Victoria Falls, Hwange and Harare. She is also developing a medi-spa in Harare and working towards two destination wellness retreats, one on the edge of the Victoria Falls gorge and another in the Eastern Highlands.
The geographical spread is significant.
It suggests that wellness need not be confined to conventional urban spas. Zimbabwe’s tourism landscape offers an opportunity to connect wellness with some of the country’s strongest destinations, from wildlife areas to mountain retreats.
A spa should feel like Zimbabwe
One of Van Leent’s defining approaches is to make each spa distinctive to its location and the property around it.
Rather than applying the same formula everywhere, she develops what she describes as a unique spa journey and selects a signature product range that fits the character of the establishment.
At Miombo Mountain Lodge and Spa in Harare, for example, Healing Earth products complement the lodge’s connection with nature and restorative experiences.
Victoria Falls Safari Spa uses Africology, a range whose identity is closely connected to African beauty and the continent’s natural heritage.
Mvula Spa uses Eminence skincare, combining natural ingredients with a results-focused approach.
The differences may appear subtle, but they point to a wider opportunity for Zimbabwe’s hospitality sector: wellness can become part of the destination story rather than simply another hotel facility.
A spa overlooking or situated near a major natural attraction has a very different appeal from one in a city hotel. A retreat in the Eastern Highlands can offer an entirely different experience again.
From safari to self-care
Wellness could also strengthen the wider tourism product by giving visitors another reason to extend their stays.
Victoria Falls is already one of Zimbabwe’s best-known international destinations. A traveller may arrive for the falls, adventure activities and wildlife, but a spa treatment or wellness retreat can add another layer to the journey.
The same applies in Hwange, where safari experiences can be paired with more restorative time, and in the Eastern Highlands, where the landscape lends itself naturally to retreats, outdoor activity and slow travel.
In Harare, meanwhile, wellness can form part of the city’s growing luxury hospitality offering for residents as well as visitors.
This mix could help move wellness away from the idea of a standalone indulgence and towards a broader tourism experience.
Zimbabwe is still catching up
Despite the opportunities, Van Leent believes Zimbabwe remains somewhat behind more established international wellness markets.
One of the industry’s biggest challenges, she says, is that spas are too often treated as an afterthought rather than as an important part of a hotel’s overall operation.
That matters because wellness tourism is not simply about installing a treatment room. Done properly, it requires investment in the guest experience, trained professionals, suitable products and treatments, and an understanding of what travellers increasingly expect from luxury hospitality.
For Zimbabwe, the challenge is therefore not necessarily a lack of attractions but recognising wellness as a tourism product in its own right.
Taking wellness beyond the main tourist centres
Perhaps the biggest opportunity lies outside the country’s best-known tourism hubs.
Van Leent believes wellness tourism could bring attention and economic activity to less-travelled parts of Zimbabwe.
“Wellness tourism has the potential to spread to less-travelled areas of the country, bringing awareness, economic benefits and innovations to rural areas and increasing the incentive to protect local culture, biodiversity and the environment.”
It would also encourage local travellers to explore their own country and boost the tourism industry.
That could be particularly important for destination retreats, which depend on their surroundings as much as the facilities themselves.
A secluded mountain lodge, forest retreat or countryside wellness centre offers something difficult to replicate in a conventional city setting
Could Zimbabwe become Africa’s spa capital?
Zimbabwe has no shortage of ingredients for a successful wellness tourism industry.
Its wildlife, landscapes, hospitality, culture and relatively undeveloped destinations provide a strong foundation. Victoria Falls offers international visibility, while places such as the Eastern Highlands present an opportunity to build a more immersive retreat experience.
What is still needed is the investment and industry recognition to turn those advantages into a coherent wellness offering.
For Van Leent, that is the opportunity.
Her vision of Zimbabwe becoming the spa capital of Africa may sound ambitious, but the foundations are already beginning to appear: established spas, new projects, destination retreats and a growing understanding of how wellness can complement tourism.
The next step is to stop seeing the spa as an extra and start treating it as part of the journey itself.
For a country accustomed to selling the thrill of the safari and the spectacle of the falls, wellness offers a different proposition — one built around slowing down, reconnecting and leaving Zimbabwe feeling restored as well as inspired.