Why wellness is booming at festivals in the UK

14 hours ago 2

Women and men wearing shorts and T-shirts are standing on yoga mats on grass underneath a red canopy

ByAlice Cullinane

West Midlands

Smelly outside toilets, muddy fields, day drinking and not sleeping might sound like a familiar festival experience to many.

But, as people spend more money on activities that improve their wellbeing - it is a multi-trillion pound industry - music events are dedicating spaces to things like yoga classes and wood-fired saunas, to appeal to festival-goers.

Worth more than £160bn, the UK's wellness industry is continuing to grow in 2026 and the average consumer spent about a third more in 2024 than five years before that, according to the Global Wellness Institute.

Organisers of the Boardmasters festival, in Newquay, Cornwall, said they have seen a massive shift in demand for wellness, as attendees seek to "maintain their at-home rituals" like morning yoga, runs or treatments while at the event.

"Five or 10 years ago, wellness was very much a niche add-on. Now it's a core part of why people come," organisers said.

Crowds are walking in the sea holding surfboards as waves crash around them. The sun is golden and setting in the distance.

Their festival programme has increased over the years to include run clubs, sound baths and Pilates, alongside activities like jewellery and candle-making.

They have introduced a boutique spa for 2026 as they said demand for wellbeing activities continued to boom and it will offer treatment tents, facials and aromatherapy as "moments of serenity" for festival-goers.

Attendees were increasingly looking for experiences that were not just about partying but where they could "recharge and reconnect" with their wellbeing, organisers said.

"People want both the euphoria of a headline set and the calm of a cliffside yoga session the next morning," they added.

A group of runners are wearing workout clothes and huddled in a group, smiling. They are standing near the edge of a cliff, with the sea in the background crashing onto the sand.

Lizzy McNamara, from Pembrokeshire, Wales, took part in Boardmasters' run club last year to have a bit of a "normal routine" while camping at the festival.

The club ran for three days, run by travel company Run Weekends and McNamara described it as "welcoming" and "lovely with great vibes" as everyone ran together at a slow pace.

She said running with the club meant she had done something positive for her body "in a weekend of little sleep and festival food".

"I don't drink alcohol so it was such a lovely way to spend a morning when others were feeling groggy," she said.

A woman with her hair tied back in a bun is wearing a blue tank top and moving her hands in the air. She is next to other women who are also dancing outside.

Brits are choosing to prioritise wellness as they become more aware of the risks of poor diets and sedentary health, external, global market insights provider Innova claimed.

Social media had increased access to health information and the trends were being driven by a "desire for emotional stability, weight loss and disease prevention", a spokesperson added.

To make health retreats "easily achievable", Alex Hyde and Sam Carter-Smith hosted the OneRetreat Wellness in Birmingham, a one-day festival with exercise classes, sauna sessions and professional talks.

The pair cofounded the event as they said they noticed a "massively growing demand" for in-person retreat weekends as attendees made more space for wellness.

"People are on their phones all the time and online events are harder to sell, they want to see real faces in real life," Hyde said.

Crowds sit around a stone dance floor as people dressed in long white shirts and skirts dance together.

Although wellness appears to have never been more popular, there have been enthusiasts in the industry for decades.

The Mind Body Spirit Festival was founded in 1977 in London to show the "inter-relatedness" of the mind, body and spirit while organisers said they tried to change the public's attitude "and perception of themselves in the world".

Its key highlights were a meditation sanctuary, vegetarian restaurant and "psychic" readings, organised by the British Astrological Society and Psychic Society.

A woman is wearing a red and purple coloured hat along with a red shawl. She has her arms pointed outwards to the sky. People are sitting on the floor on yoga mats, copying her arm actions.

Nowadays, more than 30,000 people attend their festival every year, held in London and Birmingham, with exhibitors selling organic food, crystals, homemade products and supplements.

"People have become a lot more aware of their own wellness in the last five years as they submerge themselves in health and wellbeing markets," event organisers said.

They claimed they have noticed attendees who feel anxious and depressed leave the festival feeling "inspired and motivated" with the "answer they came for".