Global Wellness Summit reveals 2025 theme and speaker line up

The theme for the 2025 Global Wellness Summit (GWS) has been announced as ‘Longevity Through a Wellness Lens’.

The 19th global spa and wellness conference, which is taking place in Dubai this November, will focus on longevity and healthspan.

Global leaders will discuss the future, the controversies and the evidence surrounding one of the biggest movements in wellness.

The event will bring together C-suite executives from wellness companies, doctors and academics, investors, tech leaders and policymakers. The delegates will explore all eleven wellness sectors, including wellness tourism, mental wellness, spas and wellness real estate.

“We will convene the innovators from across the [longevity wellness] space, often embracing dramatically different approaches, to have an open, evidence-focused discussion on what’s ahead and why,” said Nancy Davis, chief creative officer and executive director, GWS.

“We will explore the most promising innovations and the state of the evidence, with a special focus on the role of fundamental wellness practices in that future.”

The 2025 co-chairs

The 2025 co-chairs have been announced as longevity pioneer and Cleveland Clinic’s first chief wellness officer, Michael Roizen MD and Beautiful Destinations founder Jeremy Jauncey (lead image).

They are joined by president of Servotel and global hospitality strategist Ömer K. Isvan, and co-founder, wellness pioneer and strategic advisor for Six Senses Anna Bjurstam.

Together, they will bring cross-sector perspectives to the debate around longevity and the race to extend healthspan.

“Wellness naturally evolves to longevity. I’m excited to help create a Summit that will powerfully portray, and help the industry understand, this evolution,” said Roizen. “We will bring together the trailblazers and the most important new scientific research in longevity and healthspan.”

New for the GWS 2025

This year’s Summit will feature a special focus on the fastest-growing wellness market – wellness real estate.

The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) will present new research for this market, which is pegged to reach $1.1 trillion by 2029.

The GWI will also unveil the 2025 Global Wellness Economy Monitor, providing new data and insights on the global wellness market and each of its sectors.

Additionally, this year’s Summit will feature a new collaborative element. Executives from different hospitality and tech wellness segments will take part in closed-door sessions, where they will tackle the question: “What can we accomplish together that we can’t accomplish on our own?”

“The goal is to bring fierce competitors together to find common ground and solutions that can move the industry forward,” said Davis.

GWS speaker line up

Speakers already confirmed include:

• George Gaitanos, chief operating and scientific officer, Chenot
• Ramy Elnagar, co-founder, White Mirror
• Simone Gibertoni, CEO, Clinique La Prairie
• Philippe Zuber, CEO, Kerzner International
• Steve Nygren, founder, Serenbe
• Lucy Goff, founder, LYMA
• Professor Besma Al-Madi, president, Kadoon
• Isaac Bentwich MD, founder and CEO, CoreX
• Asha Gupta, COO, Amway
• Phil Newman, founder and CEO, Longevity.Technology
• Abraham Franklin Silverstein MD, president and CEO, Franklin Group

The Middle-Eastern wellness economy

The 19th annual Global Wellness Summit is taking place in Dubai from November 18-21.

This is the first time the Summit has been held in the Middle East’s Gulf region, which is seeing world-leading growth in its overall wellness economies and wellness tourism markets.

The Middle East-North Africa region’s overall wellness economy is now worth more than $165 billion. When it comes to wellness tourism, the Middle East is by far the world’s fastest-growing market.

The UAE plays a pivotal role as the region’s largest wellness market ($34 billion) and at the national level, it’s been the second-fastest growing wellness tourism market in the world (16.5 per cent annually), trailing only China (18%).

The event will be held at the soon-to-open Mandarin Oriental Downtown Dubai.

Registration is open and can be found HERE.